The Remarkable SaaS Podcast

A story about building a cult following in the unglamorous world of aviation maintenanceThis episode is for SaaS founders exhausted from building "nice-to-have" solutions.Most SaaS companies don't fail because of bad tech. They fail because they prefer to solve sexy problems instead of expensive ones.Dinakara Nagalla, CEO of EmpowerMX (acquired by IFS), took a different path. He spent 14 years in aviation watching mechanics waste 50% of their day on paperwork. Instead of building another dashboard for executives, he built tools for the technicians themselves—and turned a cost center into a profit driver with 78% gross margins.And this inspired me to invite Dinakara to my podcast. We explore how solving unglamorous problems creates fanatical customers. Dinakara shares hard truths about why productivity software beats regulatory software, how guaranteeing 10% efficiency shrinks sales cycles by 67%, and why hiring from the industry you serve changes everything. You'll discover why his customers became his sales force—without being asked.We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies:They create fans, not customersThey sell the idea, not the productDinakara's 14-year journey proves that the most loyal customers come from solving their daily frustrations, not their strategic initiatives.Here's one of Dinakara's quotes that captures his contrarian philosophy:"Being remarkable shouldn't just be a slogan. You should make it as a responsibility. It's what you do when no one is watching. It's a system you build after the pitch is done, and it should be built with the highest level of accountability, with the most trust you can possibly put in. To me, the most remarkable companies don't scale high; they scale trust."By listening to this episode, you'll learn:How his customers became his sales forceWhat happens when you guarantee 10% productivity gainsWhen hiring only from aviation changed everythingWhy reducing organizational stress beats adding featuresFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Dinakara Nagalla, CEO & Founder of EmpowerMX (now part of IFS) Website: https://dinakaranagalla.com/

A story about finding freedom by solving problems others ignored—on purpose.For SaaS founders tired of feature bloat—and wondering if serving fewer people better might be the smarter path to freedom.Most SaaS companies fail because they try to please everyone.They fail because they spread themselves across every platform, every feature request, every shiny opportunity.Samy Dindane, CEO of Hypefury, took a different path.He spotted a gap nobody else cared about—Twitter thread scheduling—and built a prototype in three days. Instead of raising money or hiring fast, he chose freedom through focus.And this inspired me to invite Samy to my podcast. We explore how deliberate constraints create stronger businesses. Samy shares hard-won insights about platform dependence, community-driven development, and knowing when to say no. You'll discover why his users became product owners and how charging more actually made customers happier.We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: – They acknowledge they can't please everyone – They master the art of curiositySamy's story is proof that sustainable freedom comes from saying no to good opportunities—not just bad ones.Here's one of Samy's quotes that captures his philosophy:"Whatever time you spend on something, you don't spend on something else. So whatever time you're going to try to build something crazy for another platform, it's the time you're not spending improving."By listening to this episode, you'll learn: Why power users matter more than market sizeWhat happens when the platform you depend on demands $500K yearly When adding features becomes a liability Why your best product managers pay you monthlyFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Samy Dindane, CEO HypefuryWebsite: hypefury.comWant to dig deeper into the 10 traits of remarkable SaaS companies? Get my book The Remarkable Effect at valueinspiration.com/book Or sign up for Espresso with Ton at valueinspiration.com/daily - a 2-minute daily email to sharpen your thinking and strategy.

#374 - How Chad Rubin helps Amazon brands escape the pricing race to the bottomA story about moving from being a cost center to becoming the profit engine—by challenging assumptions no one else dared to question.This Episode is for SaaS founders who are tired of customers seeing their solution as just another expense—and those questioning whether there's a smarter way to build something customers actually want to pay more for.Most SaaS companies position themselves as efficiency tools. They help you do things faster, cheaper, better.Chad Rubin, CEO of Profasee, took a different path. After selling his previous inventory management company in 2021, he had a realization: he was always building solutions that lived on the expense side of his customers' businesses. He wanted to be on the revenue side.So he started questioning assumptions in his own struggling Amazon business. Why doesn't anyone change price dynamically? Why do sellers copy pricing from competitors who might be broke?This led him to build Profasee—dynamic pricing software that uses AI to help Amazon brands optimize pricing and ad spend together, creating a flywheel that drives profit growth.And this inspired me to invite Chad to my podcast. We explore how questioning fundamental assumptions creates breakthrough opportunities. Chad shares insights about turning your founder story into sales leverage, the shift from efficiency to effectiveness in SaaS, and why data-driven pricing decisions compound over time. You'll discover how he's building a lean organization while investing heavily in AI and quant teams to create competitive moats.We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: – They acknowledge they can't please everyone – They sell the idea, not the productChad's story proves that the biggest levers are hiding in plain sight.Here's one of Chad's quotes that captures his contrarian philosophy:"You have to always be a dot, a dot collector. Constantly collecting dots. Most brands are not looking at their whole system. They're not zooming out to understand the process, understand with clear thinking, how you can have some self-awareness and look at, okay, price and PPC, how do these things interconnect?"By listening to this episode, you'll learn:Why questioning belief systems creates challenger advantages What happens when you connect isolated business leversWhat happens when you refuse to compete on other people's terms • Why founder stories become leverage in sales conversationsFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Chad Rubin, CEO of ProfaseeWebsite: profasee.com

A story about turning personal frustration into breakthrough technology—and why great products come from pain you actually feel.This Episode is for SaaS founders struggling to identify their real target audience—and wondering how to separate urgent problems from nice-to-have features.Most SaaS companies don't fail because of bad tech. They fail because they try to solve problems they don't actually feel.Davit Baghdasaryan, CEO of Krisp AI, took a different path. Former head of product security at Twilio, he spent evenings in Armenia taking morning calls from San Francisco—dealing with background noise that existing solutions couldn't touch. One personal frustration became the foundation for technology that now processes over a billion minutes monthly and powers 80% of human-to-AI voice interactions.And this inspired me to invite Davit to my podcast. We explore how building from real pain creates unbeatable product-market fit. Davit shares insights about choosing problems with no alternatives, why great demos feel like magic, and how focusing on essence over speed built technology that companies like Discord and Twilio now license. You'll discover why their "marketing experiment" desktop app became Product of the Year—and how they accidentally created infrastructure that now processes over a billion minutes monthly.We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: – They focus on the essence – They offer something valuable and desirableDavit's story proves that breakthrough technology starts with problems that personally bother you.Here's one of Davit's quotes that captures his philosophy on problem selection:"In order to understand the pain, you need to understand the alternative. If you are in an office, the alternative is to go find a quiet room—probably not that painful. But if you're in an airport or call center with people speaking next to you, there is no alternative."By listening to this episode, you'll learn:Why understanding alternatives reveals true market urgency What separating horizontal from vertical markets actually meansWhen building hard technology first pays off long-termWhy great demos feel magical instead of technicalFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Davit Baghdasaryan, CEO of Krisp AI Website: krisp.ai Weekly Voice AI newsletter

A story about preparation beating speed—when you know what's coming.For SaaS founders tired of rushing features to market—and wondering if there's a smarter way to build lasting competitive advantage.Most SaaS companies don't fail because they move too slow. They fail because they chase shortcuts instead of building what customers actually value.Hikari Senju, CEO of Omneky, took a different path. The son of an artist with computer science training from Harvard, he focused on building real customer value while competitors rushed AI tools to market. He spent years perfecting return on ad spend and aesthetic quality that customers actually cared about. When AI quality finally improved in 2024, he was the only one delivering superior outcomes, and his signups grew 4x in one month.And this inspired me to invite Hikari to my podcast. We explore how understanding what customers actually value beats building impressive features. Hikari shares insights about why focusing on outcomes customers pay for eliminates vanity metrics, how "grow slow, grow real" keeps you from blowing it later, and why most founders optimize for what impresses other founders instead of what drives customer results. You'll discover the difference between building systems that work versus building features that sound clever.We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies:They focus on the essenceThey acknowledge they can't please everyoneHikari's story is proof that traction often starts by doing what most others avoid.Here's one of Hikari's quotes that captures his build-real philosophy:"You can hustle and you can fake it till you make it only so far, but it's going to catch up to you. If you want to build a generation-defining company, then you have to focus on the basics. It's usually not just one hack or one thing. It's usually a million small things that you've assembled together in a way that works perfectly as a system and that is hard to replicate by a competitor, because it's built off all these teeny differentiations you've done because you've just thought way more deeply about this problem for a longer period of time."By listening to this episode, you'll learn:Why understanding what customers actually value beats building impressive features What "grow slow, grow real" means for founders chasing quick wins When building complete systems creates unbeatable advantages over feature buildersGuest Info Guest: Hikari Senju, CEO at OmnekyWebsite: https://www.omneky.com/

A story about staying connected to customers while everyone else scales away from them.For SaaS founders who feel increasingly disconnected from their customers as they scale—and anyone questioning whether growth has to mean losing touch with what made you successful in the first place.Most SaaS companies don't fail because of bad product decisions. They fail because founders lose their superpower as they scale.Eli Portnoy, CEO and co-founder of Backengine, experienced this visceral pain twice before. In his garage days, he was everything—salesperson, customer success manager, product manager. He had an incredible view into customer pain and could align his entire company around solving it. But as he grew and hired specialists, layers formed between him and customers. He started making decisions based on anecdotes instead of insight.In 2023, he decided to found Backengine and solve the problem that had haunted him: How do you preserve that founder superpower at any scale?And this inspired me to invite Eli to my podcast. We explore how customer obsession creates sustainable competitive advantage when it's embedded everywhere, not siloed in one team. Eli shares insights about building 20-year customer relationships, category creation through unique points of view, and why focusing solely on customer value makes everything else—funding, team happiness, growth—fall into place. You'll discover why the voice of the customer needs to be a living organism that works inside every tool your teams already use.We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: – They acknowledge they can't please everyone – They create fans, not just customersEli's story is proof that traction often starts by doing what most others avoid.Here's one of Eli's quotes that captures his contrarian approach to customers:"Every customer interaction is important. Every customer interaction is thoughtful. Every customer opinion is thoughtful and insightful, but it's not always right, and so you have to make sure you're hearing it from multiple people in multiple places, and then you have to put your own internal, sort of like translation layer on top of it, because the customer isn't always right."By listening to this episode, you'll learn: Why customer obsession beats investor optics every time What building 20-year relationships means for daily decisionsWhen you know you've created a category Why solving myopic problems can lead to bigger opportunitiesFor more information about the guest from this week:Guest: Eli Portnoy, CEO and co-founder of Backengine Website: backengine.ai

Richard White, CEO of Fathom and the genius behind UserVoice, shares his journey of building infrastructure to create a competitive advantage. He discusses how his strategy of avoiding costly technical shortcuts allows him to undercut competitors. Richard emphasizes the importance of user feedback and creating passionate fans instead of mere customers. He also reveals his drive for ‘external validation’ and how authentic engagement can lead to remarkable software. Tune in to learn how long-term planning trumps short-term gains in the SaaS world!

A story about choosing overlooked markets—and winning by design.For SaaS founders who feel stuck chasing trendy markets—and anyone wondering if there's more money in solving unglamorous problems than building the next shiny thing.Most SaaS companies chase crowded markets because they seem exciting.They fail because they're fighting for scraps in oversaturated categories.Marne Martin, CEO of Emburse, took a different path.After 30 years in software, she chose the "unsexy" expense management space when everyone else was chasing AI startups and flashy consumer apps.At Emburse, she’s helping finance teams to elevate their work by applying the focus and discipline of elite athletes to modernize spend in their organizations.And this inspired me to invite Marne to my podcast. We explore how treating your company like an elite athlete creates sustainable competitive advantage. Marne shares insights about choosing markets others avoid, building profitable unit economics in private equity environments, and applying AI where it actually drives revenue. You'll discover her simple filter that eliminated wasted innovation.We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: – They master the art of curiosity – They offer something valuable and desirableMarne's story is proof that traction often starts by doing what most others avoid.Here's one of Marne's quotes that captures her investment philosophy:"There are a lot of cool things that I wouldn't be willing to pay for, right? So you have to make sure you're not just doing things because you're cool or you're curious, but because there's a market for that."By listening to this episode, you'll learn:Why choosing "boring" markets eliminates competitionWhat elite athlete principles mean for SaaS companiesWhen AI investments actually drive profitable growthWhy unit economics matter more than cool featuresFor more information about the guest from this week:Guest: Marne Martin, CEO of EmburseWebsite: https://www.emburse.com/

A story about choosing the harder path—and why contrarian infrastructure decisions create unshakeable customer loyalty.This episode is for SaaS founders tired of vendor dependency—and those questioning whether the "obvious" infrastructure choices are actually the smartest business decisions.Most SaaS companies fail because they optimize for short-term convenience over long-term differentiation.Alexander Sommer, CEO of DSwiss, took a different path. He's the first non-founder CEO to lead this 17-year-old Swiss company specializing in secure digital services. Rather than following industry defaults, DSwiss runs vertically integrated infrastructure—controlling their entire technology stack from hardware up.This inspired me to invite Alexander to my podcast. We explore how contrarian infrastructure choices create unbreakable customer trust. Alexander shares insights about building fans through consistent execution, why compliance becomes a competitive moat, and how platform thinking solves the "custom request" dilemma. You'll discover why some customers now specifically seek vendors with zero ties to major cloud providers.We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: They offer something valuable and desirable They aim to be different, not betterAlexander's story is proof that traction often starts by doing what most others avoid.Here's one of Alexander's quotes that captures his contrarian philosophy:"We have taken a slightly contrarian view and are running a vertically oriented business. From a hardware perspective, up the software stack, we actually control the entire infrastructure. That makes us definitely not going to be impacted by some of the ties to larger technology vendors."By listening to this episode, you'll learn:What contrarian choice he made to create highly defensible differentiationWhat makes compliance a desirable outcome, not just a checkboxWhen saying "no" to custom requests leads to platform innovationWhy trust-based businesses require different growth strategiesFor more information about the guest from this week:Guest: Alexander Sommer, CEOWebsite: dswiss.com

A story about creating something remarkable by choosing to start over - on purpose.This podcast is for SaaS founders who feel stuck chasing feature parity—and anyone wondering if there's a smarter way to build something customers can't live without.Most SaaS founders won't kill a profitable company. They'll optimize it to death instead.Chris Brisson, CEO of SalesMsg, took a different path. He killed his first company while it was still making money. Then spent two years building what messaging should actually do—create conversations, not broadcasts.This inspired me to invite Chris to my podcast. We explore why choosing destruction over optimization creates breakthrough opportunities. Chris reveals his thinking about engineering backwards from outcomes, disrupting yourself before others do, and building what customers consider indispensable. You'll discover why he chose the harder path of starting over—and what happens when you stop chasing features and start solving friction.We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies:They acknowledge they can't please everyoneThey master the art of curiosityHere's one of Chris's quotes that captures his contrarian philosophy:"We always take that approach, like, how are we going to disrupt ourselves before someone else does? All right, what are we going to do? How do we disrupt ourselves. Just leaning into, ‘Hey, you know what? We got to kill that product.’ The reality is that it actually doesn't solve the problem. What really solves the problem is this.”By listening to this episode, you'll learn:Why killing profitable products unlocks bigger opportunitiesWhat happens when you engineer backwards from outcomesWhy saying yes to custom features can actually scale your platformWhy friction removal beats feature addition every timeChris's story proves traction starts by doing what most others avoid—choosing to disrupt yourself before someone else does.Guest InfoChris Brisson, CEO and Co-Founder at SalesMsgWebsite: salesmessage.com