Making the jump to a 'professional CEO' with Maxio's Randy Wootton
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09/26/22 • 29 min
Summary:
This week on How to Win: Randy Wootton, CEO of Maxio, a platform offering subscription and revenue management solutions to SaaS companies. Founded in 2022, Maxio is the product of a merger between SaaSOptics and Chargify, brought together by private equity investment firm Battery Ventures. In this episode, we discuss the challenges of transitioning to a non-founder CEO, how assessing your business honestly is essential, and the idea of competing against non-consumption. I share my thoughts on the benefits of hiring a 'professional CEO' and how developing a core focus builds resilience.
Key Points:
- Randy talks about the merger that formed Maxio (01:11)
- Randy breaks down the art of choosing companies for a merger (04:01)
- I weigh in on the uniqueness of every merger with a quote from Seismic's Doug Winter (06:48)
- Randy talks about the experience of being a 'professional CEO' (08:06)
- I explore the differences between a founder and professional CEO (09:14)
- Randy maps out Maxio's strategy (10:28)
- I lay out some of the key aspects of a successful strategy with a quote from Roger Martin (13:28)
- Randy describes how he shares his strategic vision with his leaders and teams (14:40)
- I break down the V2MOM with a quote from Salesforce's Marc Benioff (16:44)
- How is Maxio going to win? (18:14)
- A quote from Clayton Christensen about his theory of non-consumption (19:36)
- Randy reflects on the importance of understanding client growth stages (21:44)
- I discuss how having a core focus is linked to resilience (24:28)
- What are the strategic trade-offs that Maxio is making? (25:31)
- Wrap up (28:24)
Mentioned:
Playing to your strengths and strengthening your brand identity with Seismic's Doug Winter
Roger Martin's Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works
Clayton Christensen's Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice
My Links:
Summary:
This week on How to Win: Randy Wootton, CEO of Maxio, a platform offering subscription and revenue management solutions to SaaS companies. Founded in 2022, Maxio is the product of a merger between SaaSOptics and Chargify, brought together by private equity investment firm Battery Ventures. In this episode, we discuss the challenges of transitioning to a non-founder CEO, how assessing your business honestly is essential, and the idea of competing against non-consumption. I share my thoughts on the benefits of hiring a 'professional CEO' and how developing a core focus builds resilience.
Key Points:
- Randy talks about the merger that formed Maxio (01:11)
- Randy breaks down the art of choosing companies for a merger (04:01)
- I weigh in on the uniqueness of every merger with a quote from Seismic's Doug Winter (06:48)
- Randy talks about the experience of being a 'professional CEO' (08:06)
- I explore the differences between a founder and professional CEO (09:14)
- Randy maps out Maxio's strategy (10:28)
- I lay out some of the key aspects of a successful strategy with a quote from Roger Martin (13:28)
- Randy describes how he shares his strategic vision with his leaders and teams (14:40)
- I break down the V2MOM with a quote from Salesforce's Marc Benioff (16:44)
- How is Maxio going to win? (18:14)
- A quote from Clayton Christensen about his theory of non-consumption (19:36)
- Randy reflects on the importance of understanding client growth stages (21:44)
- I discuss how having a core focus is linked to resilience (24:28)
- What are the strategic trade-offs that Maxio is making? (25:31)
- Wrap up (28:24)
Mentioned:
Playing to your strengths and strengthening your brand identity with Seismic's Doug Winter
Roger Martin's Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works
Clayton Christensen's Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice
My Links:
Previous Episode
Engineering the product mindset with 3Pillar Global's David DeWolf
Summary:
This week on How to Win: David DeWolf, President and CEO of 3Pillar Global, a software product development company. 3Pillar Global was founded in 2006 and now has over 2000 employees with annual revenue of over $100M. In this episode, we discuss going beyond a great product offering, why leaders should regularly reinvent themselves, and why scaling company culture is key to successful growth. I weigh in on innovating for customer value, why you should always be generous with your knowledge, and why success depends on being clear when it comes to your obstacles.
Key Points:
- How David created his own software product niche based on client satisfaction (01:04)
- I share my thoughts on innovating for customer value with a quote from Nest's Tony Fadell (03:17)
- David breaks down the problem of commoditization in software development and how 3Pillar Global sets itself apart (07:19)
- I discuss what makes a great product team with a quote from the Silicon Valley Product Group's Marty Cagan (09:03)
- How 3Pillar Global communicates its market niche (10:22)
- I stress why you should always be generous with your knowledge with a quote from Seamless.AI's Brandon Bornancin (12:27)
- David talks about some of the strategic trade-offs that 3Pillar Global has made (15:58)
- I explain why to be successful, you need to understand your obstacles (17:40)
- David discusses how he managed to scale to over 2000 employees (18:47)
- I weigh in on hiring people that can solve your business's problems with a quote from Scaling Up's Verne Harnish (21:03)
- How David has positioned himself and 3Pillar Global as thought leaders (23:52)
- Wrap up (27:44)
Mentioned:
David DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall's The Product Mindset
Focus-fueled growth with Seamless.AI's Brandon Bornancin
My Links:
Next Episode
Identifying the ICP with the greatest need with Aircall's Jonathan Anguelov
Summary:
This week on How to Win: Jonathan Anguelov, co-founder & CSO at Aircall, a cloud-based call center and phone system that seamlessly integrates with common productivity and help desk tools. Since its founding in 2014, Aircall has raised over $226M in funding and now sits at over $100M ARR with over 700 global employees. In this episode we discuss the massive opportunity Aircall saw in the market, how they got an early leg up on the competition by being specific about their ICP, and why innovation remains a core part of their strategy. I share my thoughts on the wisdom of entering a market with lots of demand, how to choose which JTBD to focus on when your product support multiple, and why there is so much value in hiring folks with deep expertise (even if they come with a higher price tag).
Key Points:
- Jonathan explains the opportunity Aircall saw in the market (01:13)
- Jonathan describes the competitive landscape that Aircall initially entered (03:16)
- I explore the benefits of entering a high-demand market with a quote from Terminus' Sangram Vajre (05:13)
- Jonathan maps out Aircall's go to market strategy (06:53)
- I take a look at choosing a job to be done to focus on with a quote from Olivine Marketing's Raechel Lambert (09:27)
- How Aircall nailed their ICP and identified their greatest need (10:43)
- I unpack what a go to market strategy is with a quote from DemandMaven's Asia Matos (13:20)
- How does Aircall allocate their funding strategically? (16:42)
- I discuss the value of hiring for experience with a quote from Malcolm Gladwell on the ten thousand hour rule (18:30)
- What advice does Jonathan have for fellow founders? (21:48)
- Wrap up (24:59)
Mentioned:
Marketing a movement over a product with Terminus' Sangram Vajre
My Links:
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