Paddle's traction and growth is the stuff of dreams. A company helping software creators sell since 2012, it has been recognised by Deloitte as the fastest growing software company in the UK. With hundreds of customers and a recent $12.5 million Series B round, the company has remained under the radar most of this time.

How does that happen?

On this episode, Christian Owens, Paddle's CEO gives a very clear explanation. In the heart of the growth are the sincere customer relationships that Christian and his co-founder Harrison have been building and maintaining since day 1. The two co-founders fostered genuine friendships with their first hundred customers by trying to deeply understand their challenges and building Paddle together. Christian and Harrison approached these people as human beings they admired rather than businesses they sold to. Their belief was, if Paddle was the right tool to address their challenges, they could become customers one day.

Listen on to learn:

• How Paddle approached people initially and got their first customers
• How they built sincere relationships and maintained them
• Why they never advertise their referral program
• How to make product decisions with both customers and strategy in mind
• What Christian has learned as a Thiel fellow

P.S. Christian is one of 129 incredible speakers we have lined up for SaaStock18. If you are based in London, hop over to the Meetup https://splashthat.com/sites/view/saastockmeetup-leaseweb.splashthat.com we are hosting together with Leaseweb on September 27th where Christian will share even more details on how to scale worthy of a Deloitte first place.

Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

🇺🇸 SaaStock USA 2025: 13-15 May 2025 | Austin, Texas. Connect, learn and thrive at the leading conference for B2B SaaS Founders, Operators and Investors from Pre-Seed to Series C. (https://ti.to/saastock/saastock-usa-2025)

🇮🇪 SaaStock Europe 2025: 12-14 October 2025 | Dublin, Ireland. "The best SaaS conference for founders, execs & investors in Europe, period." - Christoph Janz, Partner, Point Nine. (https://share.hsforms.com/1FbUpCXpJT8um3MehUUYcAg3upof)

🤝 SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/)

🌎 SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world, bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home)