#28 Ward van Gasteren: Advicing giants & growing a SaaS in a purple ocean

What does it take to build a SaaS product without a clear market leader?

Find all of the answers in the latest episode of Grow with the Flow where Clément Dumont and Georgi Furnadzhiev sit down with Ward van Gasteren, a growth consultant for giants like TikTok, Pepsi, Cisco, and Nestlé, co-author of Growing Happy Clients, and founder of Growth Orange—an experiment management tool for growth teams.

This episode is a must-listen if you're building in a purple ocean—a market with no defined demand, benchmarks, or buyer expectations. Inside the episode:

✅ Lessons from working with 8-figure brands and building scalable growth teams

✅ Why retention is the biggest growth lever

✅ How to define minimum valuable experiments

✅ What's like building a software in untapped market Whether you're growing a new product, leading a growth team, or trying to break out of the acquisition hamster wheel—this episode will give you a new lens on how sustainable B2B SaaS growth really works.

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Useful links:

Connect with Ward on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wardvangasteren/

Check out Growth Orange: https://www.growthorange.com

Follow The Growth Syndicate on LinkedIn: /thegrowthsyndicate

Check our exclusive community for B2B Marketing leaders: https://www.thegrowthsyndicate.com/community

Take part of the TGS CON 2025 - A vetted conference for 200 founders and GTM experts: https://www.thegrowthsyndicate.com/conference

Highlights👇

02:18 – Introduction to Ward's story

08:09 – What makes successful companies stand out

09:01 – How to deal with companies where ego plays a huge role

13:20 – Building effective growth teams

22:12 – Defining minimum valuable experiments

23:49 – Insights from "Growing Happy Customers"

25:30 – Tips for writing a book

28:38 – Growing a SaaS in a non-developed category

35:48 – Finding your purple ocean

54:35 – Chatting about the TGS Community

59:29 – Retention as the main driver of growth

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrowthsyndicate.substack.com