The SaaSiest Podcast

In this episode, we speak with Robin Daniels, Chief Business & Product Officer, LMS365, the cloud-based learning platform built into Microsoft 365 with millions of users in 60+ countries globally. We talked with Robin about what it takes for a SaaS organization to attract top talent. We are particularly looking into the role of the leadership, and what you as a leader can do to become the most attractive employer: - What is top talent looking for today? - What key leadership qualities are key to attracting top talent? - How do you create a culture that attracts and retains top talent? - What major challenges have you faced in attracting top talent and how did you overcome them? - How do you align your organization's vision with the aspirations of the talent you're trying to attract?  These are some of the many topics we address with Robin. Please tune in to hear his thoughts on what you as a leader and representative of an organization can do to attract and retain top talent.

In this episode, we speak with Riika Söderlund, CMO, Katana, the platform that optimizes inventory levels and manages all your sales channels with cloud inventory software that tracks it all and more in real-time. We talked with Riika about how a CMO should plan her marketing budget for 2024. We are particularly looking into how the structure of the budget shall look: - What's the guiding principle for setting the 2024 marketing budget in B2B SaaS? - What are the main changes in your 2024 marketing budget compared to previous years? - Which marketing trends or channels look promising for B2B SaaS in 2024?? - Are there any strategies you're discontinuing in 2024 that worked before? - How do you assess the impact of your marketing spend?? These are some of the many topics we address with Riika. Please tune in to listen to her thoughts about how CMOs can distribute their marketing budgets in 2024.

Wes Bush, CEO of ProductLed.com, discusses the challenges of adding a PLG motion to sales-led and marketing-led companies. Topics covered include misconceptions about PLG, strategic shifts required for success, cultural and operational changes needed, role of product design and user experience, and key metrics to focus on for successful PLG efforts.

In this episode, we speak with Mick Weijers, Director Customer Success, Channext, the partner marketing engagement platform that scales and measures through-partner marketing and partner engagement. We talked with Mick about the dynamic role of CSMs and how it has evolved into a customer-owning function. We are particularly looking into how CSM compensation models should be structured: - What are key deliverables from the CSM function? - Should CSMs have a variable income piece, and if so related to what? - Why NRR, Adoption, and Customer advocacy should be the guiding metrics for CS? - What does the future CS role look like and why does it matter?  - What is the profile of a future CS - which skillset is required to be successful? These are some of the many topics we address with Mick. Please tune in to listen to his experience in building compensation plans for future-proof CS teams.

In this episode, we speak with Marcus Wennmo, CEO, Eletive, the fast-growing People Success platform that allows companies to measure and increase engagement and performance in their organisation. We talked with Marcus about growing efficiently with their own capital with a strong outbound strategy. We are particularly looking into how they've structured their outbound efforts to success: - What are the critical parts of an outbound sales strategy? - How to define messaging that works for your ICP? - How is their team set up? - What channels and tools are used and how do they interplay? - Volume vs super personalized, how to think about the two methods?  - What is the difference between markets, and how to approach it? These are some of the many topics we address with Marcus. Please tune in to listen to his experience in building a self-financed, growth company based on a strong outbound sales strategy.

In this episode, we speak with Remco de Vries, VP Revenue Marketing, Gainsight, the Customer Success & Engagement platform that has pioneered the CS profession, a powerhouse in the space with an ARR of 200M+ USD and customers all over the world.  We talked with Remco about building engaged communities. We are particularly looking into how you as a SaaS company can secure high engagement in your community:   - What defines a community? - Why it is so important to define the USE CASE for your community? - How to best explain what is in it for the community members? - How to get to the point where the community drives some of the initiatives?  - How to measure the effects of a successful customer community? These are some of the many topics we address with Remco. Please tune in to listen to his experience in building engaging customer communities.

In this episode, we speak with Heta Pirttijärvi, VP Product, Sievo, the SaaS procurement analytics solutions which include: Spend Analysis, Savings Lifecycle, Contract Analytics, Materials Forecasting, and CO2 Analytics which is used by many of the largest enterprise in the world today. We talked with Heta about building products together with customers. We are particularly looking into how that can be operationalized:   - What does it mean to build with the customer? - Which channels can you leverage to interact with customers for product discovery? - What is it in for the customer to engage in such a process? - How to avoid the Mum trap when asking for early feedback? - What are the risks to be aware of when involving the customer in the building?  These are some of the many topics we address with Heta. Please tune in to listen to her learnings from both good and not-so-good experiences when building products together with customers.

In this episode, we speak with Ashley Herbert Popa, Global Director of Product Marketing, Tellent, the Talent Management Suite, that enables People teams to improve the full employee lifecycle with a cutting-edge Applicant Tracking System, CoreHR, and Performance Management Software. Today they empower over 7,000 organizations across 100+ countries with their HR tech solutions We talked with Ashley about the strategies to put in play when releasing new products and features. We are particularly looking into the topic of what makes a good Product Release Strategy:   - What is the difference between a Product launch vs a Feature Release? - Which internal stakeholders, and how, are involved in a Product Launch? - How do you align between product engineering and GTM teams? - What is the role and output needed from the Product Marketing team to support a launch? - How and when do you involve external stakeholders such as customers and partners? - Which KPIs do you track to measure the success of a Product Launch?   These are some of the many topics we address with Ashley. Please tune in to listen to her learnings from bringing several key launches to the market in recent years.

In this episode, we speak with David Heinemeier Hansson, CTO, 37signals, who built Basecamp, Hey, and created Ruby on Rails! We talked with David about his decision to leave the cloud. Yes, you read that right, they've moved their offerings out of the cloud setup we all know as standard in B2B SaaS. Here is what we address in this episode:   - What does it mean to leave the cloud? - Why and how is it done? - What are the risks associated with such a move? - How does this affect internal competence needs? - What does it do to customer relationships? These are some of the many topics we address with David. Please tune in to hear from his learnings on doing what many would consider, the unthinkable, moving out of the cloud. A big thanks to Vanta for sponsoring this episode. SaaSiest listeners get 20% off Vanta at https://vanta.com/SaaSiest

In this episode, we speak with Evelien Sanders, Global Director Customer Success, GoodHabitz, the learning platform used by companies worldwide to support the personal development of their staff. We talked with Evelien about the setup of a Revenue organization and the role of CS in such a setup.  We are particularly looking into the topic of leadership and process:   - What is the definition of a Revenue team? - What is the role of CS in a revenue team? - What role does internal enablement play in aligning the revenue team? - Which are the key different roles in a CS team that complete a team? - How should a revenue team be led? These are some of the many topics we address with Evelien. Please tune in to listen to her learnings from optimizing the collaboration between CS, Marketing and Sales.