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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Top 10 SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success Episodes
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.
Ep. 105 - Finding SaaS Product-Market Fit - With Anvil Co-Founder Mang-Git Ng
SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success
12/29/23 • 27 min
When going through a repetitive and time-consuming mortgage application process in 2017, Mang-Git Ng was surprised that the process wasn’t automated.
He realized that there were many industries that still operated in the internet dark ages and that moving all these PDFs and paper documents to online forms could solve a major problem.
But after he and his co-founder had built their initial product, they struggled to gain traction, especially with limited sales and marketing experience.
Through much experimentation, they started identifying patterns in their customer base and certain industries (like human resources workforce management and insurance) that had a need for generating, processing, and signing documents, and their product was a great solution.
By focusing on these verticals, Anvil was able to deeply understand the challenges and language used in these industries, allowing them to speak to their target customers more effectively.
Six years later, Anvil is a seven-figure ARR SaaS company that has raised $10M in funding.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- Finding patterns in your customer base that can be exploited for niche-based selling
- How to sell to companies that are resistant to change
- Why you should focus on sales and marketing early in the process
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!
Ep. 121 - The Art of the Exit: SaaS Strategies and Insights - with Jeremy Lessaris, CEO of Payment Brokers
SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success
05/03/24 • 36 min
Building a business with the intention of a future sale requires meticulous planning and organization from the outset.
In this episode, Payment Brokers Founder and CEO Jeremy Lessaris, a serial founder with multiple successful exits, emphasizes the importance of the early organization of books, records, contracts, and agreements as a critical factor in boosting valuation and streamlining the exit process.
Jeremy also stresses the significance of maintaining a well-organized data room for due diligence during a business sale. He recommends creating a dashboard with KPIs and metrics to provide a clear overview of the company's performance and demonstrate the business's progress to potential buyers.
Throughout this episode, Jeremy explains how SaaS entrepreneurs can position their companies for a seamless exit process and maximize their valuation when it comes time to sell.
This episode is ideal for SaaS CEOs and CMOs seeking strategies for accelerating growth, enhancing profitability, and understanding the importance of building a business with a focus on revenue and profitability from the start.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- Focusing on revenue generation early
- Keeping costs low while striving to reach revenue milestones
- The value of mentorship in helping entrepreneurs navigate business challenges
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!
Ep. 115 - Data, Combating SaaS Churn, and Increasing Productivity - with Jason Radisson, CEO & Founder of Movo
SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success
03/22/24 • 36 min
In this episode, we delved into the transformative power of algorithms in business with Jason Radisson, CEO & founder of Movo, a platform that provides real-time scheduling flexibility and improved workforce management for large companies with frontline workers.
Jason recounted his time at Harrah's Entertainment, where they used data to optimize customer interactions and significantly increase profitability over others on the strip. He explains how his background in algorithmic management has influenced his approach to business models.
Jason also shares his thoughts on combatting SaaS churn by identifying the root causes and understanding customer behavior to accurately predict and deal with it proactively.
This episode covers algorithmic management, churn reduction strategies, the gig economy, and innovative solutions for optimizing workforce management. SaaS CEOs and CMOs interested in understanding the intersection of technology, workforce management, and operational efficiency would find valuable insights in this episode.
Key Takeaways from this episode:
- The importance of modeling and forecasting to drive profitability, especially in the context of reducing churn
- Building models to predict customer behavior to leverage marketing spend
- The challenges and opportunities of the gig economy
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!
Ep. 104 - Strategies for Maximizing Value in SaaS Exits– with Marty Magida, Managing Director of Berkery, Noyes & Co.
SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success
12/22/23 • 31 min
Because of the challenges in the current financing environment and the cautious approach of strategic buyers and private equity firms for SaaS companies, we invited Marty Magida on to discuss practical strategies to enhance company value and navigate the complexities of the M&A market.
Magida is the managing director of Berkery, Noyes & Co an independent investment bank providing mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory to middle-market leaders in the global information, software, services, and technology industries.
Marty advises listeners to stay informed about industry trends, cultivate relationships with potential buyers, and pay attention to the metrics that drive acquisitions.
It’s a must listen for all SaaS leaders that plan to raise funding, exit the business or participate in a merger or acquisition.
Key Takeaways from this episode:
- Manage risk profile by reducing concentration and striving to be asset light.
- Improve consistency of results by focusing on recurring revenue and making it costly for customers to switch.
- Maximize value by building a strong management team, ensuring reliable financial reporting, and cultivating relationships with potential buyers.
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!
Ep. 99 – The Data-Driven, Revenue-Focused SaaS Marketing Leader – with Brandee Sanders, CMO of Revenue.io
SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success
11/29/23 • 19 min
Coming from sales positions where she’s carried quotas, Brandee Sanders knows what having skin in the game for marketers looks like.
And it’s not tracking MQLs or developing a strong tech stack.
It does look like examining the data to find repeatable opportunities for sales pipeline.
In other words, do we truly know how and why closed/won opportunities entered our orbit and what motivated them to take action to purchase?
According to Sanders, the disconnect is that “Most marketers just roll over in the morning and say, ‘Hey, I have a great idea for a campaign.’ They won't look back and say, retrospectively, ‘Is this at a target audience that we know is an ICP? Is this going to be the type of content that even performs for us? Are we going to do a video when, like, 99.9% of closed/won came through a webinar or a podcast?’”
As the new CMO of Revenue.io, Sanders immediately got entrenched in the data to find opportunities for repeatable processes that would fuel her roadmap to success.
Key Takeaways from this episode:
· How to build a roadmap to ensure your success as a new CMO/marketing leader
· Where AI is today in analyzing sales conversations and delivering real-time insights
· How the role of the CMO is evolving to become more data-driven and revenue-focused
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!
Ep. 139 - How SaaS B2B Companies Can Leverage Sales Calls for Content Creation - with Parthi Loganathan, Founder & CEO of Letterdrop
SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success
09/20/24 • 30 min
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!
Ep. 53 - Finding PLG Nirvana while avoiding a Hype Cycle beat down with Peter Zawistowicz, Head of Marketing at Pace
SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success
02/03/23 • 34 min
There’s a lot of hype with Product-Led Growth (PLG) with the promise of low-cost customer acquisition and streamlined expansion.
But as Peter Zawistowicz, Pace’s head of marketing says that when you introduce a PLG motion into an organization with an existing direct sales motion, you get an interesting set of problems.
Most notably, sellers in a PLG motion are almost always left in the dark while still trying to hit their numbers.
Intercede too early and it could artificially inflate price points.
On the flip side, self-serve customers that lack proper guidance when problems arise could leave money on the table and lead to churn.
That’s the problem that Pace is tackling with a new set of tools that are built for customer facing roles that allows them to focus on the users that really need their attention and eliminating the rest of the noise.
In this episode, Zawistowicz draws on his (and the founders’) background with companies like Gremlin and MongoDB that successfully implemented PLG motions to help Pace customers to find enlightenment—the right mix of sales and customer service intervention to maximize growth.
Other notable topics include:
- What to do when you don’t have product-marketing fit
- Not getting beat by hype cycles
- Getting the DIY champion on your side
- How to provide salespeople with actionable insights vs letting them self-serve
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!
Ep. 51 - When status quo bias works in your favor with Tim Riesterer Chief Visionary for B2B Decision Labs
SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success
01/20/23 • 36 min
As fans of the Challenger Sale methodology, we know that getting prospects to move off their status quo to make a change is paramount to winning a new deal.
But as Tim Riesterer Chief Visionary for B2B Decision Labs (and self-professed “research nerd”) talks about in his new book The Expansion Sale, growth for a vast majority of companies comes in retention and expansion.
Because most deals start out too small, underpriced, and overserviced, the question is how to keep and grow those customers when it comes to renewal time? (Oh, by the way, the price is going up.)
In many ways, renewing isn’t just renewing. And upselling isn’t just upselling. It’s all reselling.
Therefore, challenging their status quo won’t help you—you are the status quo, and you want to leverage that.
And there’s more commercial activities in that existing customer interaction and engagement that you need to be savvy about, such as:
- How to defend your position as the status quo bias
- Transitioning from the decider to the doer and setting up the business case
- The four must-win commercial moments of the client relationship
- The framework and content choreography for having the renewal conversation
- Documenting mutual investment so they view change as a loss and view the new vendor as “risky business.”
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!
Ep 49 – The single thing SaaS companies must get right for growth with Michael Bertoni, founder and CEO of PhillyTech
SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success
12/29/22 • 27 min
If you want to make good on the promises you made to investors and grow the company the single most important thing the C-suite needs to get right is hiring.
That’s why we spoke with Michael Bertoni, CEO of PhillyTech.co—a hiring agency dedicated to SaaS.
Most startups have no idea how to hire people and build high-performing teams. They think they can do themselves and find out quickly where the mines are buried.
With a background in sales and lead generation, Bertoni has developed a method that is 100 steps deep. They’re hunting talent by hyper-targeting, and that specialization, combined with his prowess for lead generation, is what makes them so successful.
In this episode, Bertoni shares some of the ingredients to his secret sauce including:
- Finding SaaS specialized help that understand how the business operates and the roles and responsibilities required
- Must focus on hypertargeting – much like Account Based Marketing (ABM)
- How to optimize the hiring process and provide the candidate a great experience
- Why the best candidates aren’t on the market, and how to attract them.
---
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!
Ep. 138 - Prioritizing and Enriching Data for SaaS Enterprise GTM Success - with Elio Narciso, Co-Founder & CEO at Scalestack
SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success
09/13/24 • 36 min
The ability to leverage data and prioritize sales and marketing efforts is essential to the success of enterprises with broad addressable markets.
Recognizing the struggles enterprises face in managing vast amounts of data, this week’s SaaS Backwards podcast guest Elio Narciso, saw an opportunity to improve how sales reps identify targets and prioritize their efforts.
Elio is the Co-founder and CEO of Scalestack, an all-in-one data enrichment, prioritization, and activation platform that allows go-to-market teams to easily map GTM data from many different sources to their ideal customer profile and their sales engine.
In this episode, Elio gives us a look into Scalestack’s origins. He recounts his background in advising startups at AWS and how it led him to uncover pockets of inefficiency in their go-to-market motions, such as a productivity gap for sales reps and a general dissatisfaction that companies have with their data.
Throughout this episode, Elio reflects on lessons from his past ventures, addresses common sales and marketing challenges, and highlights Scalestack’s mission and capabilities.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- How hiring well is essential for scaling startups and managing that scale
- Why focusing on enterprise clients can be advantageous for a startup
- Strategy for building partnerships to reach more potential customers
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!
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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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