SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success

Send us a textGuest: Peter Cohan, Author of “Great Demo!”Have you ever walked into a software demo, hoping to learn something new, only to sit through a “Harbor Tour” of irrelevant features? You’re not alone – and neither are your prospects.Peter Cohan, author of Great Demo!, joined us on the SaaS Backwards Podcast to unpack the biggest demo mistakes SaaS teams make:❌ Starting with the how instead of the why❌ Overloading prospects with unnecessary features❌ Failing to tailor demos to decision-makersHis solution? Flip your demos upside down. Start with the results your prospects crave, not the laundry list of features.Peter also shared:✅ How to identify wasted demos (hint: 30% of them are)✅ Why "vision generation demos" are the key to nurturing leads✅ The metrics that show if your demos are working---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.

Randy Likas, Head of North America Go-to-Market at Nektar and host of the Revenue Lounge podcast, shares insights on the shifting landscape of B2B sales. He argues that traditional MQLs are outdated, pushing CROs to adopt new strategies focusing on collective buyer engagement. Randy highlights the importance of breaking down silos between sales and marketing, and how evolving buyer behaviors demand adaptive sales tactics. Collaboration and technology integration are emphasized as vital for driving revenue and enhancing customer success.

Send us a textGuest: Isabelle Papoulias, Fractional GTM & Business Operations ExecutivePipeline isn't just a metric—it's a team sport.But when marketing, sales and customer success work in silos, it creates a fractured buyer journey and practically guarantees you’ll miss opportunities.So, who should be responsible for driving this cross-functional alignment?In this episode, fractional GTM leader and business operations executive Isabelle Papoulias  breaks down how SaaS companies can realign their go-to-market teams under unified leadership for faster growth and smarter execution.Key insights you'll gain:How common goals and shared metrics across teams drive alignmentThe benefits of a CCO or CRO with a broad understanding of GTM strategiesAdvice for ditching “lead generation” as a success metric in the enterprise saleOther resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes 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.

Warren Zenna, founder of The CRO Collective and a savvy expert on SaaS revenue strategies, unpacks the transformative role of the Chief Revenue Officer. He discusses the common pitfalls in aligning Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success, and shares insights on what it means for a company to be 'CRO-ready.' Warren also critiques the outdated sales development models and emphasizes the power of personal connections in sales. Tune in for practical tips on preventing costly mistakes and enhancing team collaboration to drive growth.

Send us a textPricing and packaging can either bog down your go-to-market engine or fuel it to peak performance.This week’s SaaS Backwards podcast features Dan Balcauski, Founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, a consultancy that helps high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. In this episode, Dan discusses the critical role pricing plays in a SaaS business model and why leadership teams must view it as a dynamic lever, not a "set-it-and-forget-it" element. He dispels the common myth that success hinges solely on what you charge, emphasizing instead that who and how you charge are the real determinants of success.Breaking this down, Dan walks through the four key elements of SaaS packaging: price metric, price model, offer configurations, and price fences.Our conversation also explores how to conduct a pricing study, realigning pricing strategies, AI's role in pricing decisions, and the ever-debated topic: should pricing be displayed on the website?This episode offers actionable insights for SaaS leaders looking to harness pricing as a powerful tool for growth and market alignment.Key takeaways from this episode:The impact of pricing and packaging on revenue, profitability, and valuationWhy pricing is a critical lever for growth in SaaS businesses that shouldn’t be overlookedSigns a new CMO or CRO should look for to determine if pricing needs attention at a prospective employerOther resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes 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 textGifting can be a powerful outbound strategy that captures attention far more effectively than an email. In this week’s SaaS Backwards podcast episode, we spoke with Kris Rudeegraap, Co-CEO and Co-Founder at Sendoso, a gifting and direct mail platform that helps revenue teams 6x second call rates, double win rates, and close deals 29% faster.Kris shared how his background in software sales and experience with gifting inspired him to create Sendoso. He provided insights into the company’s initial go-to-market strategy, its evolution from a "growth at all costs" mindset to a more efficient, profit-driven approach, and how this shift has shaped its success.We also discussed common objections and misconceptions about gifting, such as it being “too expensive” or impractical without someone’s address—and how Sendoso addresses these challenges.Kris backed up Sendoso’s impressive results with client success stories: Gong influenced over $30 million in pipeline by mailing pinatas, Guru improved meeting conversion rates by sending cupcakes, and Verkada saw a remarkable increase in ad conversion rates by offering a Yeti mug as a meeting incentive across social media and LinkedIn campaigns.Read more Sendoso success stories here and view customer examples here. Key takeaways from this episode:The power of gifting as an outbound strategyHow Sendoso helps clients select the right gifts for the right people at the right timeInsights into the fundraising process and the current environment for startupsOther resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes 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 textBuilding meaningful connections with individuals using different channels can be more effective than running an ABM program that only provides a shallow understanding of what’s happening within an account. In this week’s SaaS Backwards podcast episode, we spoke with Dmitri Lisitski, Co-Founder and CEO at Influ2, a person-based advertising platform that allows you to reach specific people within target accounts and see who interacts with your ads.Dmitri takes us behind the scenes and discusses how his frustration with imprecise ABM platforms led to the creation of Influ2, which aims to solve this problem by targeting individual decision-makers within an account rather than only providing this broad view.We discuss the orchestration between sales and marketing and the significance of nurturing relationships over time in enterprise sales. Dmitri explains how the best thing marketing can do for salespeople is target the same account they’re trying to chase and influence their decision, build awareness, and track intent. Our conversation also covers the role of thought leadership in generating conversations and supporting the sales process, the impact of AI on content creation, and attribution challenges in B2B marketing.This episode provides valuable insights for SaaS CEOs, CMOs, and B2B marketing and sales professionals.Key takeaways from this episode:The humanization of sales and marketing in the enterprise motionWhy the use of AI in content development falls flat and what to do insteadMeasuring the impact of advertising on revenueOther resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes 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 textWe often emphasize the importance of understanding what’s being talked about in sales conversations to shape content strategy and tell unique, compelling stories.In this week's SaaS Backwards podcast episode, we talk with Parthi Loganathan, Founder and CEO of Letterdrop, a platform designed to help companies do just that.Parthi explains how Letterdrop’s AI assists companies in creating content that resonates with more buyers by leveraging the language their customers actually use, cutting down the time and improving the quality of their thought leadership content. He also shares how Letterdrop supports SDRs in delivering value and helps companies uncover and understand their customers' unmet needs.We also discuss the ongoing shift in SEO, the growing focus on LinkedIn, and the decline of traditional outbound sales tactics such as cold calling and cold emailing.Our conversation with Parthi offers valuable insights for SaaS CEOs, CMOs, and marketing and sales professionals in the B2B space.Key takeaways from this episode:The importance of getting context and relevance right before scaling itWhy cold calling and cold emailing no longer worksInsights on future opportunities for content on LinkedInOther resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes 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 textThe ability to leverage data and prioritize sales and marketing efforts is essential to the success of enterprises with broad addressable markets.Recognizing the struggles enterprises face in managing vast amounts of data, this week’s SaaS Backwards podcast guest Elio Narciso, saw an opportunity to improve how sales reps identify targets and prioritize their efforts.Elio is the Co-founder and CEO of Scalestack, an all-in-one data enrichment, prioritization, and activation platform that allows go-to-market teams to easily map GTM data from many different sources to their ideal customer profile and their sales engine. In this episode, Elio gives us a look into Scalestack’s origins. He recounts his background in advising startups at AWS and how it led him to uncover pockets of inefficiency in their go-to-market motions, such as a productivity gap for sales reps and a general dissatisfaction that companies have with their data.Throughout this episode, Elio reflects on lessons from his past ventures, addresses common sales and marketing challenges, and highlights Scalestack’s mission and capabilities.Key takeaways from this episode:How hiring well is essential for scaling startups and managing that scaleWhy focusing on enterprise clients can be advantageous for a startupStrategy for building partnerships to reach more potential customersOther resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes 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 textConsolidating sales and marketing into the office of the CRO might be a controversial topic, but it can be healthy for demand and sales functions to become enmeshed.In this episode of the SaaS Backwards podcast, our guest Cliff Simon, CRO of Carabiner Group, explains how aligning demand and sales functions can create a more cohesive and effective go-to-market strategy.Cliff shares his belief that companies need to have a unified leader at the very top of everything go-to-market. He breaks down how sales and marketing are two sides of the same coin, and why looking at everything through a revenue lens is critical for success.We also discuss Cliff’s collaboration with Nick Toman, author of The Challenger Customer and Carabiner Group’s Chief Product and Strategy Officer. Cliff highlights Nick’s expertise in market research, referencing his latest report, "Commercial Success in 2025 Hinges on GTM Strategy."Topics covered in this episode include the evolution of enterprise sales as SaaS companies scale, achieving capital efficiency in go-to-market strategies, and measuring progress in enterprise sales.Looking for ways Carabiner Group can boost your Revenue Operations? Check out the GTM Tech Stack Audit and Analysis Workbook—a valuable resource for mapping the relationship between your GTM strategies and technology stack.Key takeaways from this episode:Advantages of combining sales and marketing under the office of the CROThe state of go-to-market and insights on how to achieve capital efficiencyHow to measure progress in the enterprise saleOther resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes 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.