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SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success

SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success

Ken Lempit

Join us as we interview CEOs and CMOs of fast-growing SaaS firms to reveal what they are doing that’s working, and lessons learned from things that didn’t work as planned. These deep conversations dive into the dynamic world of SaaS B2B marketing, go-to-market strategies, and the SaaS business model. Content focuses on the pragmatic as well as strategic, providing a well-rounded diet for those running SaaS firms today. Hosted by Ken Lempit, Austin Lawrence Group’s president and chief business builder, who brings over 30 years of experience and expertise in helping software companies grow and their founders achieve their visions.

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Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success - Ep 20 - The Perils of Being a One Woman Army (Marketing is a Team Sport)

Ep 20 - The Perils of Being a One Woman Army (Marketing is a Team Sport)

SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success

play

12/20/21 • 30 min

It's a pattern we're seeing out there, and some agency friends experience in their careers when they make the mistake of putting themselves in this situation. CEOs at young companies hire a marketing leader, usually a woman with substantial experience, and expect her to singled-handedly transform the fate of the organization.
And being the "one woman army" is a really difficult position from which to generate success.
In a meaningful discussion of recent experiences she's had as a marketing leader, Jenn Edwards takes us through the highs and lows of being the sole marketing pro at a young company, questions to ask and her point of view on whether or not it's a good idea to even take such a position.
If you're thinking about a new CMO / head of marketing job and you think you'll be a OWA or OMA, this is probably a great episode to listen to.
Let me know what you think! Thanks!
Resources for SaaS Execs
Recently closed a funding round and need to ramp growth?
Check out our comprehensive "scale-a-saas" guide:

Think your website could generate more leads?
Get our inbound lead generation self-assessment
Want to be a guest on SaaS Backwards?
Click to meet with Ken Lempit to talk about an episode.
SaaS Backwards is a free service to the SaaS community.

---
Thanks for listening to the SaaS Backwards Podcast, brought to you by Austin Lawrence Group. We help SaaS firms reduce churn, accelerate sales, and generate demand. Learn more at AustinLawrence.com.
---
Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free messaging audit.
We’ll look at your website’s messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today’s buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos.
And the best part? It’s absolutely free.
Get started today!

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SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success - Ep. 133 - Why Efficient B2B SaaS Advertising Requires a Holistic Approach

Ep. 133 - Why Efficient B2B SaaS Advertising Requires a Holistic Approach

SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success

play

07/26/24 • 29 min

Paid advertising is often one of the largest budget items for SaaS companies, making it a critical channel for facilitating sales and driving growth.

In this episode of the SaaS Backwards Podcast, we flipped the script and had our very own Ken Lempit, President and Chief Business Builder at Austin Lawrence Group, as the guest. Ken shared his insights on the challenges SaaS companies face in achieving capital efficiency in their go-to-market strategies, particularly focusing on advertising.

Our conversation explores the prospect experience as a foundational element of successful advertising campaigns. Ken discusses key areas where companies have the most control and can significantly impact the prospect experience, including optimizing landing pages and providing sales reps with proper training and resources.

This episode highlights the significance of taking a holistic approach to advertising strategy, continuous optimization, and being hands-on with internal teams and external agencies to ensure advertising budgets are spent effectively.

Ken's insights into diagnosing issues within existing campaigns and media spend and his actionable tips for optimizing advertising performance make this episode an invaluable resource for SaaS marketing leaders and CEOs.

Key takeaways from this episode:

  • A holistic model for understanding where advertising touches across the business and how to view all elements that contribute to successful advertising
  • Insights into how to diagnose problems in current campaigns
  • The importance of looking at the entire prospect experience and optimizing landing pages and follow-up processes

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.
The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.
And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting

---
Thanks for listening to the SaaS Backwards Podcast, brought to you by Austin Lawrence Group. We help SaaS firms reduce churn, accelerate sales, and generate demand. Learn more at AustinLawrence.com.
---
Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free messaging audit.
We’ll look at your website’s messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today’s buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos.
And the best part? It’s absolutely free.
Get started today!

bookmark
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You may have noticed that deals today take longer to close and scrutinized heavily.
So, what do SaaS companies need to do?
Spencer Dent, Founder of Clozd says to make sure you understand the how the decision-making process, people involved, and priorities have changed.
And since the CFO plays a bigger role, it’s less about ease of integration and more about the bottom line—and you’d better be ready to prove it.
Key takeaways:

  • Are ROI calculators worth it anymore? With people caring more about potential loss versus gain.
  • Determining the narrative customers must believe for your solution to be a good decision.
  • How should win/loss analysis impact your positioning and messaging.

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.
The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.
And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.

---
Thanks for listening to the SaaS Backwards Podcast, brought to you by Austin Lawrence Group. We help SaaS firms reduce churn, accelerate sales, and generate demand. Learn more at AustinLawrence.com.
---
Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free messaging audit.
We’ll look at your website’s messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today’s buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos.
And the best part? It’s absolutely free.
Get started today!

bookmark
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share episode

We often emphasize the importance of understanding what’s being talked about in sales conversations to shape content strategy and tell unique, compelling stories.

In this week's SaaS Backwards podcast episode, we talk with Parthi Loganathan, Founder and CEO of Letterdrop, a platform designed to help companies do just that.

Parthi explains how Letterdrop’s AI assists companies in creating content that resonates with more buyers by leveraging the language their customers actually use, cutting down the time and improving the quality of their thought leadership content.

He also shares how Letterdrop supports SDRs in delivering value and helps companies uncover and understand their customers' unmet needs.

We also discuss the ongoing shift in SEO, the growing focus on LinkedIn, and the decline of traditional outbound sales tactics such as cold calling and cold emailing.

Our conversation with Parthi offers valuable insights for SaaS CEOs, CMOs, and marketing and sales professionals in the B2B space.

Key takeaways from this episode:

  • The importance of getting context and relevance right before scaling it
  • Why cold calling and cold emailing no longer works
  • Insights on future opportunities for content on LinkedIn

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.
The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.
And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting

---
Thanks for listening to the SaaS Backwards Podcast, brought to you by Austin Lawrence Group. We help SaaS firms reduce churn, accelerate sales, and generate demand. Learn more at AustinLawrence.com.
---
Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free messaging audit.
We’ll look at your website’s messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today’s buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos.
And the best part? It’s absolutely free.
Get started today!

bookmark
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share episode
SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success - Ep. 8 - Cyclr CEO on how his iPaaS Creates Connectivity and Opportunity for other SaaS Firms
play

03/22/21 • 28 min

Accelerating SaaS growth is a multifaceted challenge. For the right kinds of SaaS applications there might be nothing that accelerates growth faster than a strong integration or "platform" ecosystem. Fraser Davidson, CEO of iPaaS Cyclr goes deep in this episode on the value and strategy for building integrations.
Davidson puts forward the idea that there are three kinds of integrations: Strategic to the product, which should be built in-house (think Google Maps for a real estate SaaS); Commercially important to drive sales and retention (the more integrations in use, the stickier your SaaS); and, Emerging use cases that aren't yet important but might need a path to support and could develop into something meaningful.
Fraser also talks about what a CEO needs to consider post-funding - setting priorities as you scale your SaaS fueled by VC or PE money. It's a revealing and valuable conversation with a CEO who used to be a private equity exec, so he really knows the subject in depth. Lastly he talks about leadership at Cyclr being a match between a business exec and a tech visionary (he's the former) and how he makes that work to Cyclr's and his clients' advantage.
Fraser is a fascinating interview subject and his company is a valuable resource to SaaS firms which are scaling up. Take a listen and let me know what you think!
Resources for SaaS Execs
Recently closed a funding round and need to ramp growth?
Check out our comprehensive "scale-a-saas" guide:
Think your website could generate more leads?
Get our inbound lead generation self-assessment
Want to be a guest on SaaS Backwards?
Click to meet with Ken Lempit to talk about an episode.
SaaS Backwards is a free service to the SaaS community.

---
Thanks for listening to the SaaS Backwards Podcast, brought to you by Austin Lawrence Group. We help SaaS firms reduce churn, accelerate sales, and generate demand. Learn more at AustinLawrence.com.
---
Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free messaging audit.
We’ll look at your website’s messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today’s buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos.
And the best part? It’s absolutely free.
Get started today!

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

As martech SaaS founder, Steve McDonald acknowledges the tendency to believe that their product is so exceptional that customers will naturally flock to it.
But then reality sets in and you realize that maybe Shoeless Joe Jackson wasn’t whispering in your ear after all.
There’s a lot of risk for customers to invest in something new, and content marketing is the obvious way to build trust. But with the volume of noise out there today, your development process must be strategic, methodical, and efficient.
In this episode, Ken and Steve geek out on the role that content plays for today’s SaaS and how thought leadership actually works to spark conversations with prospective customers.
Key takeaways:

  • Why podcasting is still an effective way to create thought leadership content efficiently and effectively.
  • Marketers should consider creating themed podcast series that focus on specific topics or industry challenges.
  • Why it's important to invest in thought leadership that delivers customer insights early on to establish the company as an expert to spark conversations with prospects.

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publish a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.
The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.
And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.

---
Thanks for listening to the SaaS Backwards Podcast, brought to you by Austin Lawrence Group. We help SaaS firms reduce churn, accelerate sales, and generate demand. Learn more at AustinLawrence.com.
---
Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free messaging audit.
We’ll look at your website’s messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today’s buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos.
And the best part? It’s absolutely free.
Get started today!

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

In this episode, Allyson Havener, VP of Marketing from TrustRadius is back to talk about their yearly report on the B2B buyer-seller disconnect with some serious updates.
Last year, the report focused on the self-serve economy—they want product information readily available without talking to sales and then they would validate customer proof points.
All of that still holds, and the good news for vendors is that companies are still spending on technology.
The bad news is that with the changes in the economic climate, it’s all about consolidation, time and cost savings, third-party validations, and in many cases, adding the CFO to the buying committee...
Yuck.
That all translates to some significant changes for most B2B vendors’ go-to-market strategies if they want to align with today’s buyer.
For example:

  1. Because the content noise volume confuses buyers, they’re relying more on their own past experiences and ability to research proof. That goes way beyond what vendors are used to providing in their content.
  2. If you’re not transparent in your pricing, buyers will find it, potentially from your competitor.
  3. More than ever, buyers are resistant to talking to sales until they’re way down the funnel. And if they easily can’t get the information they’re looking for...

This is a must-listen episode for all B2B marketers that want to stay ahead of the competition.

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publish a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.
The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.
And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.

---
Thanks for listening to the SaaS Backwards Podcast, brought to you by Austin Lawrence Group. We help SaaS firms reduce churn, accelerate sales, and generate demand. Learn more at AustinLawrence.com.
---
Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free messaging audit.
We’ll look at your website’s messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today’s buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos.
And the best part? It’s absolutely free.
Get started today!

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success - Ep. 73 - Nailing product-market fit, adaptability, and brand building, with Aviso CMO Amit Pande
play

06/23/23 • 19 min

What are you trying to do in your forecasting process that you're not getting from your CRM?
That’s the question Aviso set out to answer for its clients by leveraging advanced analytics. Their software helps sales teams optimize their strategies, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions to improve their sales outcomes.
At the recent Ascent Conference in San Francisco, we sat down to talk with their chief marketing officer Amit Pande who shared how they found their product-market fit during the pandemic, the ability to adapt to changing market dynamics, and the significance of building a strong brand.
Key takeaways:

  • Leading with pain points instead of demoing features.
  • Investing where others aren’t in a cost-efficient way.
  • Positioning agility when copycats catch up.

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publish a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.
The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.
And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.

---
Thanks for listening to the SaaS Backwards Podcast, brought to you by Austin Lawrence Group. We help SaaS firms reduce churn, accelerate sales, and generate demand. Learn more at AustinLawrence.com.
---
Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free messaging audit.
We’ll look at your website’s messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today’s buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos.
And the best part? It’s absolutely free.
Get started today!

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

Probably best known for helping Gong grow from $200K to $200M in five years, Chris Orlob talks about following his passion for helping people learn valuable sales skills through his new company pclub.io. (That’s short for President’s Club for non-salesy folks).
But sales training wasn’t the original focus.
Originally, they started out to build a company called QuotaSignal that sold a hiring value proposition, but since hiring took a nosedive in the current economic climate, had been developing an online sales training course that took off.
One of his biggest differentiators in his training is the focus on selling the CFO—and if you’ve paid attention to this year’s TrustRadius report on the buyer/seller disconnect, you know that they’re playing a bigger role in most enterprise purchases.
Other key Takeaways from this episode:

  • Why every SaaS should re-evaluate their pricing model on a regular basis
  • How to find the right buyers in an account, arm your champion, and write compelling business cases, and multi-thread.
  • How they quickly grew their training through email, Linkedin and word-of-mouth.

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publish a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.
The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.
And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.

---
Thanks for listening to the SaaS Backwards Podcast, brought to you by Austin Lawrence Group. We help SaaS firms reduce churn, accelerate sales, and generate demand. Learn more at AustinLawrence.com.
---
Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free messaging audit.
We’ll look at your website’s messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today’s buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos.
And the best part? It’s absolutely free.
Get started today!

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

As a seasoned sales expert and popular sales podcaster, Brian Burns has more than a few opinions about how companies are selling to the enterprise today.
Most notably, because reps haven’t been taught the difference, they try to make up for the lack of pipeline by increasing outreach activity.
That may have worked in 2011 when the Predictable Revenue Model gained prominence (and our inboxes weren’t flooded with sales pitches).
But today, the compartmentalization of prospecting and closing won’t result in more complex deals, where decisions are ruled by committees and often end in “no decision.”
In this episode, Burns talks about how today’s reps should be learning about selling in the enterprise, such as working with champions and how to continuously move the deal forward.
This episode is ideal for SaaS CEOs and CMOs looking to enhance growth and profitability in enterprise SaaS sales.
Key takeaways from this episode:

  • Why much of the complex deal is counterintuitive and relies on guiding the sale instead of reacting.
  • Why measuring outcomes that lead to revenue generation is more important than tracking activities that may not directly contribute to sales.
  • Why you shouldn’t hire salespeople based on their Rolodex (or industry connections for the youngsters).

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.
The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.
And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.

---
Thanks for listening to the SaaS Backwards Podcast, brought to you by Austin Lawrence Group. We help SaaS firms reduce churn, accelerate sales, and generate demand. Learn more at AustinLawrence.com.
---
Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free messaging audit.
We’ll look at your website’s messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today’s buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos.
And the best part? It’s absolutely free.
Get started today!

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

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FAQ

How many episodes does SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success have?

SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success currently has 140 episodes available.

What topics does SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success cover?

The podcast is about Marketing, Management, Cmo, Saas, Software, Podcasts, Business and B2B.

What is the most popular episode on SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success?

The episode title 'Ep. 120 - The Role of AI in SaaS Solutions: A Deep Dive - with Brandon Most, Head of Marketing at GoLinks' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success?

The average episode length on SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success is 30 minutes.

How often are episodes of SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success released?

Episodes of SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success are typically released every 7 days, 1 hour.

When was the first episode of SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success?

The first episode of SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success was released on Oct 30, 2020.

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