SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success

Send us a textYou’ve probably heard the criticisms of B2B marketing—it’s boring and lacks creativity. And besides, it’s way too expensive to produce ads like B2C companies.In this episode, Melissa Rosenthal, Chief Creative Officer at ClickUp shares her approach to creating remarkable content without breaking the bank. Coming from B2C powerhouses like Buzzfeed and Cheddar, Rosenthal immediately saw the blue-ocean opportunity in B2B to differentiate. So, she built an in-house creative agency at ClickUp by investing in the right people and equipment to produce Madison Avenue quality content at a fraction of the cost.  As a result, they’ve taken on the gorillas in its crowded space, growing from 60 to over 1000 employees in under three years. Key takeaways from this episode:The portfolio approach to creative that enables ClickUp to create hundreds of pieces of content cost-effectively instead of betting the farm on a singular campaign.Why you should treat your entire content strategy as an evergreen campaignWhy securing leadership buy-in from the beginning is crucial in fostering a culture of creativity.Check out some of ClickUp’s Youtube ads here:Before ClickUpSuper Bowl Ad 2022 Jira Gets FiredEvolution of GPTOther resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publish a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch. 🔗 Get a Free Messaging & Conversion Review We’ll analyze your website and content through the eyes of your buyers to uncover what’s stopping them from booking a demo. Then, we’ll give you a personalized report with practical recommendations to help you turn more visitors into sales conversations. And the best part? 💡 It’s completely free. No commitments, no pressure—just actionable advice to help you book more demos. Your next demo is just a click away—claim your free review now.

Send us a textWorking at Google’s mapping team, Steve Benson thought that field salespeople needed a lot more functionality to adequately plan their routes. So, in 2012 founded Badger Maps and set out to build a tool where field sales teams could not only build routes, but also visualize their customers on a map on their mobile device that automatically connected with their CRM. To ensure product/market fit, Benson personally talked to hundreds of field salespeople to ensure that this was a problem worth paying for and not just a nice-to-have. Key takeaways from this episode: When and what skills/background to look for when hiring the first salesperson. The importance of founder involvement in early product management. Debt vs. equity financing and how Badger Maps used debt most effectively.The role that thought leadership content played in building their reputation. Other resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publish a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch. 🔗 Get a Free Messaging & Conversion Review We’ll analyze your website and content through the eyes of your buyers to uncover what’s stopping them from booking a demo. Then, we’ll give you a personalized report with practical recommendations to help you turn more visitors into sales conversations. And the best part? 💡 It’s completely free. No commitments, no pressure—just actionable advice to help you book more demos. Your next demo is just a click away—claim your free review now.

Send us a textWhen Susan Peich joined Monitaur AI as their head of marketing earlier this year, the power (and dangers) of AI was still mostly talk amongst data scientists. How quickly things change. With the rise of ChatGPT in recent months, AI's power (and danger) are now at the forefront causing companies to scramble to figure out how to handle its governance.That’s where Monitaur.ai comes in. They help companies in highly regulated environments such as insurance, healthcare and financial to not only leverage the potential of AI and ML but also to mitigate risks.In this episode, Peich talks with host Ken Lempit about what companies should be thinking about today with AI Governance including: What investments in AI and ML are right for the businessWhat are responsible and ethical uses of AI and ML and developing governance modelsGenerating supervised inputs and outputs to generate evidence-based reports for compliance.Other resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publish a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch. 🔗 Get a Free Messaging & Conversion Review We’ll analyze your website and content through the eyes of your buyers to uncover what’s stopping them from booking a demo. Then, we’ll give you a personalized report with practical recommendations to help you turn more visitors into sales conversations. And the best part? 💡 It’s completely free. No commitments, no pressure—just actionable advice to help you book more demos. Your next demo is just a click away—claim your free review now.

Send us a textIf we’re being honest, there's a big difference between the imagined buyer's journey that marketers invent and what’s happening in reality.But then, we’ve always made those assumptions because it’s nearly impossible to track. Or is it?That’s what Molly St. Louis, Head of Marketing at DealTale talks about in this episode - applying AI to track the previously un-trackable journey. DealTale is a SaaS that leverages causal machine learning methods to track buyers while they’re still anonymous (by IP address) and then backfill their information later when they fill out a form—even when it’s months (or years) later so they can see what is transpiring and then replicate it in future campaigns.With their innovative ChatGPT-like interface, campaign analytics become accessible to all marketers, not just those in large companies with data analysts.Key Takeaways from this episode:The importance of understanding causality for mapping customer journeys. How AI can go deep on attribution, customer journey mapping and causality. Remember that marketing is fun, and not to worry about always “getting it right.”Other resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publish a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch. 🔗 Get a Free Messaging & Conversion Review We’ll analyze your website and content through the eyes of your buyers to uncover what’s stopping them from booking a demo. Then, we’ll give you a personalized report with practical recommendations to help you turn more visitors into sales conversations. And the best part? 💡 It’s completely free. No commitments, no pressure—just actionable advice to help you book more demos. Your next demo is just a click away—claim your free review now.

Send us a textIn this episode, Matt Trifiro, CEO of Vapor.io, joins host Ken Lempit to discuss the insidious tyranny of artificial Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and how to fight back against their oppressive hold on SaaS marketing.Long gone are the days when early adopters of advertising platforms could easily dominate their market niche, as the law of diminishing returns has caught up with all forms of marketing, leaving SaaS marketers struggling to find innovative ways to attract and retain customers.But with CFOs and CEOs demanding increased results on yesterday’s KPIs, how can SaaS marketers break free from the shackles of convention and embrace experimentation and agility?Find out in this enlightening conversation, where Trifiro and Lempit explore topics such as:Establishing a culture that’s tolerant of experimentation and agility by constantly testing and iterating.How investing in customer retention is the real determination of lifetime value.Why you should always be asking, “what could I be doing with that money?” Is there a better way to spend it than on 10 BDRs or $100K tools?Other resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publish a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch. 🔗 Get a Free Messaging & Conversion Review We’ll analyze your website and content through the eyes of your buyers to uncover what’s stopping them from booking a demo. Then, we’ll give you a personalized report with practical recommendations to help you turn more visitors into sales conversations. And the best part? 💡 It’s completely free. No commitments, no pressure—just actionable advice to help you book more demos. Your next demo is just a click away—claim your free review now.

Send us a textDespite building a great product and amassing close to 1000 customers, LiquidPlanner struggled to continue on the same growth trajectory. Customers expected broader capabilities. Competitors had more money. And as access to capital tightened, the board decided to look for a partner.They found Tempo, a complimentary business that will help deliver better portfolio management capabilities as well as its connectivity to Atlassian’s Jira–something their customers are looking forward to. Even though the acquisition happened a few weeks ago, the focus is squarely on delivering better portfolio management capabilities and confidence to project teams than anyone else in the market.In this episode, LiquidPlanner CEO Ted Hawksford talks about the salesmanship involved with internal stakeholders–and while it’s not the 10X valuation that most startups hope for, it’s the best outcome for everyone involved.Key takeaways:The challenges and concerns that arise when the two development teams are asked to work together before the deal is consummated. Communications with customers about an impending acquisition and providing assurances about the future of product development.The importance of having clean books before entering an acquisition and preparing for every detail to be scrutinized.Other resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publish a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch. 🔗 Get a Free Messaging & Conversion Review We’ll analyze your website and content through the eyes of your buyers to uncover what’s stopping them from booking a demo. Then, we’ll give you a personalized report with practical recommendations to help you turn more visitors into sales conversations. And the best part? 💡 It’s completely free. No commitments, no pressure—just actionable advice to help you book more demos. Your next demo is just a click away—claim your free review now.

Send us a textFor marketers, breaking through the trust gap is getting harder. Prospective buyers won’t believe it without some third-party validation.So, how can you break through that trust gap in a new and innovative way?That’s the problem Jeff Ernst set out to solve as the founder of SlapFive, a customer marketing solution that makes it simple to engage and mobilize customers to drive growth.In over 2000 interviews with CMOs during his tenure at Forrester, Ernst notes that overwhelmingly, the number one thing that buyers trust and seek out is what their friends and colleagues think and what your other customers’ experiences are. “They want a crystal ball into the life of a customer. They know it’s not perfect and don’t expect it to be--and they can only get that from your current customers.”In this episode, Ernst talks about his journey as an entrepreneur and shares his advice on:How to leverage customers in ways beyond case studies, testimonials, and referrals.How to find an unmet need in the marketplace and ensure product/market fit.And most importantly, what marketers should be doing today to build trust with both current and prospective clients. Other resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publish a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch. 🔗 Get a Free Messaging & Conversion Review We’ll analyze your website and content through the eyes of your buyers to uncover what’s stopping them from booking a demo. Then, we’ll give you a personalized report with practical recommendations to help you turn more visitors into sales conversations. And the best part? 💡 It’s completely free. No commitments, no pressure—just actionable advice to help you book more demos. Your next demo is just a click away—claim your free review now.

Send us a textHaving spent a decade growing a retail mortgage origination business, Jason Doshi noticed that the movement of funds surrounding the real estate transaction was still very antiquated.A few years later, he built Payments.io, a SaaS digital platform that allows title companies and real estate brokerages to send and receive digital money transfers, saving everyone money and time while reducing the risk of fraud.Doshi recently raised $3 Million and he talks in this episode about their challenges and opportunities such as:White labeling as a strategic initiativeProviding a competitive advantage to customers in a challenged marketSoliciting the customer’s input in establishing your business modelOther resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publish a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch. 🔗 Get a Free Messaging & Conversion Review We’ll analyze your website and content through the eyes of your buyers to uncover what’s stopping them from booking a demo. Then, we’ll give you a personalized report with practical recommendations to help you turn more visitors into sales conversations. And the best part? 💡 It’s completely free. No commitments, no pressure—just actionable advice to help you book more demos. Your next demo is just a click away—claim your free review now.

Send us a textStarting his career as a research scientist, Harsha Rajasimha became interested in addressing the issue of clinical trial recruitment after realizing that many promising drugs were not making it to market due to recruitment delays.To better understand the problem, he conducted interviews with 3,000 stakeholders of clinical trials, including patients, physicians, and pharmaceutical companies and found that 85% of those delays were because of recruitment issues.Rajasimha created Jeeva Informatics, a platform that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify potential candidates for clinical trials based on their medical records and other data. The platform also helps to match patients with clinical trials that are appropriate for them.The company has had success in improving clinical trial recruitment rates, with some trials seeing a 50% increase in enrollment. Jeeva Informatics is also working to expand its platform to include a wider range of data sources and to improve the user experience for patients and physicians.Key takeaways:Conducting research and gathering insights from stakeholders before building a product is critical in finding product/market fitTechnology, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, can play a role in addressing complex problems and improving processes. Creating a product that is easy to use and meets the needs of users is important for adoption and success. Other resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publish a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch. 🔗 Get a Free Messaging & Conversion Review We’ll analyze your website and content through the eyes of your buyers to uncover what’s stopping them from booking a demo. Then, we’ll give you a personalized report with practical recommendations to help you turn more visitors into sales conversations. And the best part? 💡 It’s completely free. No commitments, no pressure—just actionable advice to help you book more demos. Your next demo is just a click away—claim your free review now.

Send us a textThere’s a tendency for entrepreneurs to believe that the motivations for starting a company is the fame and fortune. But as Aseem Chandra, co-founder and CEO of Immersa explains, “That's the absolute wrong reason. You get into a startup because you love the problem, and you can't wait to see what that solution's going to turn out to be, and you're willing to give 10 years of your life to it.”Knowing that the two biggest reasons for startup failure (they run out of money and irreconcilable differences amongst the founders) Chandra first made sure that they had the disagreement piece solved before starting. He chose a co-founder that he trusted and could establish a process for working through disagreements positively. The money piece is a bit trickier, especially coming from big company background where many work habits don’t apply in startup world.In his transition from big companies into startup world, Chandra operated as an entrepreneur in residence with Global VC Fund Mayfield to take the time needed to “unlearn and re-learn” how to run a startup. Today, Immersa has raised over $10M in series A funding, and with a relatively small staff, they’re positioned well for growth.Key takeaways from this episode:Choosing the right partners and executive team and how to operate on trustHow an “entrepreneur-in-residence” might be a good pathThe customer research involved in ensuring product-market fitOther resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publish a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch. 🔗 Get a Free Messaging & Conversion Review We’ll analyze your website and content through the eyes of your buyers to uncover what’s stopping them from booking a demo. Then, we’ll give you a personalized report with practical recommendations to help you turn more visitors into sales conversations. And the best part? 💡 It’s completely free. No commitments, no pressure—just actionable advice to help you book more demos. Your next demo is just a click away—claim your free review now.