A Sales-Driven SaaS Business Model with Kaumana Rindlisbacher, Co-Founder and COO of Pickle

In this episode of SaaS Origin Stories, Phil speaks with Kaumana Rindlisbacher, Co-Founder and COO of Pickle, a platform designed to help companies of any size understand their customer conversations and strengthen their relationship by transcribing audio into text. He is also a member of the Revenue Collective, RevGenius, and Modern Sales Pros. Prior to this, he was an Enterprise Account Executive at EasyPost.

They discuss Kaumana’s atypical journey into becoming a founder, how COVID influenced the creation and popularity of Pickle, why he quit his job in order to pursue his vision, and the importance of having a distraction free space. Not only that, but they also delve into why having a sales-driven business model works so well for them.

Guest at a Glance:

Name: Kaumana Rindlisbacher

Kaumana Rindlisbacher is the Co-Founder and COO of Pickle, a platform designed to help companies of any size understand their customer conversations and strengthen their relationship by transcribing audio into text. He is also a member of the Revenue Collective, RevGenius, and Modern Sales Pros. Prior to this, he was an Enterprise Account Executive at EasyPost.

A previous colleague of his, Carlos Diamond, said about him, “Kaumana is one of the hardest workers I have ever met. He comes in early and stays late. Not only is he working hard to reach his goals, but he also goes out of his way to help others too. Kaumana is the type of worker you want on your team no matter what project you are a part of. He will learn what is required of him and find success whatever it takes”

Kaumana on LinkedIn

Kaumana on Twitter

Pickle on LinkedIn

Pickle’s Website

Topics we cover:

• How Pickle utilises artificial intelligence for high quality transcriptions
• Kaumana’s atypical journey into becoming a founder
• COVID’s influence over the creation of Pickle
• Quitting their jobs and funding the business
• Diversifying your content and marketing
• The importance of having a good sales team
• Pickle’s ambiguous product market fit

Key Takeaways:

From Salesperson to Founder: Kaumana’s aTypical Journey

Kaumana says it’s not all that common to see salespeople become business founders, especially in SaaS. It’s for that reason that Kaumana’s journey was an atypical one, especially considering his dense background in sales. But this gave him a unique perspective as a founder, enabling him not to fall into traps his peers do. 

“A lot of people think that if you build it, they will come, especially first time founders,” he says. “They focus heavily on product, and they think ‘if we just focus on product, the rest will take care of itself. That’s not the case. You have to be able to sell”

“This Call Will be Monitored for Quality and Training Purposes”

We’ve all heard those words spoken into our ears the minute you call a business or a call center. But how much of those calls are actually monitored and reviewed? According to Kaumana, even the biggest corporations only review about two percent of their customer phone calls. 

This is how Pickle came to be, and because of the pandemic and the uprising of Zoom calls, they were able to really focus in on and transcribe different conversations, making a name for themselves and really coming into their own.

The Fundraising Process: All in or Nothing

Kaumana says that Pickle wasn’t something they just did as a side project. In fact, they were so determined and enthusiastic about the idea that they quit their jobs to pursue it and rented an office space. However, this isn’t to say that you should do the exact same thing. After all, it is a very risky move to pull off, and if it wasn’t for how lucky they were with the fundraising, it could have gone very wrong. 

But luckily, it didn’t! Their passion for the project and their willingness to learn elevated them to heights beyond what they could have imagined. If you have a project that you’re passionate about, or a business idea you’re certain will work, you should follow through with it! You never know what could happen!

The Importance of a Distraction-Free Space

There is something unique about working in an office compared to working from home; we are social creatures, and being able to see and talk to people in the flesh can make a huge difference in our outlook. While it may seem like SaaS companies don’t need to meet in person, you’d be surprised just how much of a difference it can make to your morale.

While remote working has revolutionized the way we work, Kaumana points out just how important it was for him and his co-founder to have a distraction-free place to work while building their company. As they both had infant children at the time, they needed to be able to meet up and work in order for the business to be successful.

A Sales-Driven SaaS Business Model

The secret to building a successful sales-driven business model is actually quite simple: content. Produce lots of good, diversified content with a focus on SEO and creativity. Think about all the different routes you could take in terms of marketing: blog posts, podcasts, LinkedIn posts, website SEO - there’s so many tools at your disposal, just waiting to be used!

“A lot of our buyers are on LinkedIn, so he’s posting on LinkedIn everyday, doing a blogpost every week. We’re releasing a podcast every week - forty episodes at this point. So we’re generating content, working on SEO, driving people to us on LinkedIn, driving people to the website.”