Setting up for early success as a SaaS startup with Cristina Vila

On this week’s podcast, we talk with Cristina Vila, Founder of Cledara, which was crowned the Best SaaS Startup of 2018 during SaaStock18 in Dublin last year.

Cristina grew up in Spain and from a young age enjoyed the dinner conversations with her dad, in which he would speak about running his business. The aptitude for entrepreneurship only increased from there, and on June 30th, 2018, Cristina left the startup she had been working for to start her own. The problem she had decided to solve was managing the abundance of SaaS products that companies were using. She had faced that very issue and upon failing to find a solution to help her, she decided to build one.

Cristina raised a small angel round, employed the services of a dev agency and applied for the SaaStock Best SaaS Startup of 2018 competition as her master plan for launch. What followed were a chain of smart decisions and hard work, which led her to ultimately winning the title.

Listen on to hear:

• How one single event determined their go to market strategy
• How Cristina managed to get the Cledara Virtual Debit Mastercard much
  faster
• What’s the most important feature of a Best SaaS Startup

In 2019, we will be running our signature startup program at each of our events around the world. Zendesk is our global startup partner helping us support the next generation of SaaS startups. From Sao Paulo and Hong Kong, through to New York and Dublin, all the way to San Francisco to Sydney, the opportunity to fast track your growth through workshops, networking and connection will be just a short flight away at most. If you are interested in participating, send an email to gabriel@saastock.com to learn more.

Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward: 

🇮🇪 SaaStock Europe: 14-15 October 2025 | Dublin, Ireland
Book tickets: https://saastock-europe.com/tickets/

🇺🇸 SaaStock USA 2025: April 2026 | Austin, Texas
Book tickets: https://saastock-usa.com/

🤝 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)