The Remarkable SaaS Podcast

A story about choosing technical battles that create unbeatable unit economics—while competitors bleed money.This episode is for SaaS founders tired of chasing short-term monetization—and wondering if there's a smarter way to build something customers actually fight to keep.Most SaaS companies fail because they take technical shortcuts.They outsource infrastructure to move fast, then discover they can't compete on price.Richard White, CEO of Fathom, took a different path. He's the inventor of the feedback tab and builder of UserVoice before founding Fathom in 2020. White spent two years building infrastructure that competitors shortcut with expensive third-party services—creating an economic moat that lets him "bully competitors" out of the market.And this inspired me to invite Richard to my podcast. We explore how building instead of buying infrastructure creates economic warfare advantages. Richard shares insights about choosing technical battles that matter, why he'd rather have angry customers than apathetic ones, and his "external validation addiction" that drives breakthrough products. You'll discover how owning your full stack lets you set pricing rules that competitors can't match.We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: – They don't create customers—they create fans – They focus on the essenceRichard's story is proof that traction often starts by doing what most others avoid.Here's one of Richard's quotes that captures his contrarian philosophy:"We're the only people that run all of our own infrastructure outside of the LLMs, and that allows us a huge advantage economically, because our costs are so much lower than everyone else, which allows us to basically bully all the other competitors by setting the bar for what you can do on free."By listening to this episode, you'll learn:Why building infrastructure beats buying third-party servicesWhat choosing technical battles strategically actually requiresWhen lower unit economics become competitive weaponsWhy economic moats trump feature moats every timeGuest InfoFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Richard White, CEO of FathomWebsite: https://fathom.video

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

A story about building an open-source search engine that developers actually want to use.This episode is for SaaS founders chasing feature parity with bigger competitors—and those wondering if there's a smarter way to compete with tech giants.Most SaaS companies don't fail because of bad technology. They fail because they try to be everything to everyone.Quentin de Quelen, Co-founder & CEO of MeiliSearch, took a different path. A former carpenter's son turned developer, he saw search as a fundamental problem worth solving properly. Instead of building another complex enterprise solution, he chose to make search so simple that any developer could implement it in five minutes.This inspired me to invite Quentin to my podcast. We explore how focusing on three core principles—simplicity, performance, and relevance—creates both developer love and business wins. Quentin shares insights about choosing open source as strategy, not ideology, and why saying no to features actually accelerates growth. You'll discover how one conversation with their community led to a breakthrough that took two hours to code but changed everything.We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies:They acknowledge they can't please everyoneThey focus on the essenceQuentin's story is proof that traction often starts by doing what most others avoid.Here's one of Quentin's quotes that captures his philosophy on building:"Open source is not, should not be by default. It should be thought as a strategy, also for your company to grow. Because everything we are doing at the end is for business wise."By listening to this episode, you'll learn:Why letting competitors copy you actually creates competitive advantageWhat happens when you optimize for developer joy over enterprise featuresWhy saying no to customers actually accelerates product growthWhy three simple principles beat complex competitive analysisFor more information about the guest from this week:Guest: Quentin de Quelen Co-founder & CEO of MeiliSearchWebsite: meilisearch.comDiscount code: mission (2 months for free on all plans and valid until end of August '25)

A story about creating trust in a skeptical market by choosing quality over speed - on purpose.This episode is for SaaS founders building in regulated industries—and anyone tired of chasing the next quick win.Most SaaS companies fail because they launch too early. Dimitri Masin, Co-Founder & CEO of Gradient Labs, took a different path. He spent 14 months building before serving a single customer—against every startup playbook. His AI customer support platform now guarantees better performance than human teams and hit $1M ARR in five months after launch.And this inspired me to invite Dimitri to my podcast. We explore how setting impossibly high standards creates customer trust that competitors can't match. Dimitri shares tactical insights about building for regulated industries, creating objective guarantees, and why most automation claims are misleading math. You'll discover the quality standards that created 100% POC win rates.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 everyoneDimitri's story is proof that traction often starts by doing what most others avoid.Here's one of Dimitri's quotes that captures his quality-first philosophy:"We kind of set the bar very, very high for us, because from the beginning... the bar needs to be at least as high as humans in those companies can produce, or higher, ideally."By listening to this episode, you'll learn:Why building for 14 months before launch created competitive advantageWhat objective guarantees do for risk-averse financial services buyersWhen focusing on one vertical becomes your biggest growth leverWhy 50% ticket automation only delivers 20% business valueFor more information about the guest from this week:Guest: Dimitri Masin, Co-Founder & CEO Website: gradient-labs.ai LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dimitrimasin/Want to dig deeper into the 10 traits of remarkable SaaS companies?Get my book The Remarkable Effect at valueinspiration.com/bookOr sign up for Espresso with Ton at valueinspiration.com/daily - a 2-minute daily email to sharpen your thinking and strategy.

A story about creating something desirable by choosing to be different—on purpose.Most SaaS companies don’t fail because of bad tech.They fail because they try to win by copying playbooks that were never made for them.Trevor Francis, Founder and CEO of 46 Labs, took a different path. A former telecom engineer, he bootstrapped 46 Labs into an $80M infrastructure business by staying lean, solving the problems others ignored, and resisting the pressure to follow the VC script.In this episode, we explore Trevor’s approach to staying capital-constrained, solving real customer problems, and how rejecting venture capital became their biggest advantage.We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: – Offering something truly valuable and desirable – Aiming to be different—not just betterTrevor’s story is proof that long-term traction often starts by doing what most others avoid.By listening to this episode, you’ll learn: – Why staying lean for 12 years built more leverage than funding ever could – What made billion-dollar carriers trust a small, unknown startup – How to scale through acquisition without losing your culture – The power of constraint when building long-term momentumThis episode is for sales-led SaaS founders who feel pressure to chase funding, follow trends, or expand too fast—and want a smarter way to build something that lasts.You can learn more about this weeks’ guest:Trevor Francis, CEOCompany: 46labs.com

Most SaaS companies don’t fail because of bad tech.They fail because they try to win by copying playbooks that were never made for them. Trevor Francis, Founder and CEO of 46 Labs, took a different path. A former telecom engineer, he bootstrapped 46 Labs into an $80M infrastructure business by staying lean, solving the problems others ignored, and resisting the pressure to follow the VC script. In this episode, we explore Trevor’s approach to staying capital-constrained, solving real customer problems, and how rejecting venture capital became their biggest advantage. We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: – Offering something truly valuable and desirable – Aiming to be different—not just better Trevor’s story is proof that long-term traction often starts by doing what most others avoid. By listening to this episode, you’ll learn: – Why staying lean for 12 years built more leverage than funding ever could – What made billion-dollar carriers trust a small, unknown startup – How to scale through acquisition without losing your culture – The power of constraint when building long-term momentum This episode is for sales-led SaaS founders who feel pressure to chase funding, follow trends, or expand too fast—and want a smarter way to build something that lasts. You can learn more about this weeks’ guest: Trevor Francis, CEO Company: 46labs.com. If you want to dig deeper into the traits behind remarkable software companies, grab a copy of my book The Remarkable Effect at valueinspiration.com/book or sign up for my daily email Espresso with Ton at valueinspiration.com/daily. Just two minutes a day to change the way you look at your business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A story about turning repair shop headaches into gold by solving real problems, not copying competitorsThis podcast interview reveals why the best software breaks all the rules. My guest is Sunil Patel, CEO of Tekmetric. Before building software, Sunil owned and operated multiple auto repair shops, giving him a rare insider's perspective on the industry's real problems. He's a practical entrepreneur who's obsessed with simplicity and hates wasted effort. When in 2016, eight years after iPhones hit the market, shop owners still couldn't leverage that technology to run their business, Sunil decided to be the one to change that.And this inspired me to invite Sunil to my podcast. We explore how breaking industry norms and staying true to first principles creates remarkable companies. Sunil shares hard truths about why they turned down big clients, cut all marketing spending to zero, and raised the least funding in the industry - yet still became the market leader and only profitable one. You'll discover the counterintuitive decision that shocked his competitors but doubled customer loyalty overnight.Here's one of Sunil's quotes that captures his business philosophy: "We used first principles thinking. Everybody in our space wants to copy features from one another. Their sales team says 'we can't win against Tekmetric because they have these features' and they try to emulate what we've built. I don't approach development that way. I want to figure out what we're trying to solve."By listening to this podcast you'll learn:Why maintaining the right departmental hierarchy prevents overselling and product gapsWhat approach led Sunil to solve in one click what competitors needed 60-80 clicks forWhen saying "no" to customers with big wallets and long wishlists makes you more moneyWhy hiring the right people trumps everything else in scaling a business For more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Sunil Patel Website: https://www.tekmetric.com/

A story about finding entrepreneurial wisdom through a decade of patient persistenceThis podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey to discovering powerful strategic frameworks through trial and error. My guest is Sharat Potharaju, CEO of Uniqode.Sharat is a serial entrepreneur with 15 years of experience. He navigated through a decade of ventures that didn't scale before founding Uniqode in 2019. His company has since grown to serve over 50,000 businesses worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies, by creating innovative technology that connects physical and digital worlds through mobile experiences.What makes Sharat's story remarkable is his methodical approach to business building, where he combines weekly deep strategic thinking with rapid experimentation frameworks, always maintaining that impact—both for employees and customers—is what drives his entrepreneurial energy.And this inspired me, and hence I invited Sharat to my podcast. We explore how an entrepreneur's decade of failures can become the foundation for remarkable success. Sharat challenges conventional wisdom by dedicating specific time each week for deep thinking about long-term strategy while handling day-to-day operations. He reveals why being selective about advice is crucial for maintaining entrepreneurial confidence, and how balancing luck with persistence creates the conditions for breakthrough success. His approach makes products dead-simple for users while sticking to strict testing methods to know what works.Here is a quote that captures one of Sharat's most striking business lessons:"It's important to love your product, but it's even more important to be obsessed about the problem that you're trying to solve. Because if you're not obsessed about the problem, eventually you'll just fall in love with your product and lose your focus on vision."By listening to this podcast you will learn:Why entrepreneurial success typically takes a decade, not overnight, and how to mentally prepare for this realityHow to implement a "Wednesday deep thinking" practice that balances long-term vision with short-term executionThe secret to filtering advice from well-meaning investors, mentors, and colleagues without losing your entrepreneurial confidenceHow to create frameworks for experimentation that prevent chaos while maximizing learningFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: ⁠Sharat Potharaju ⁠Website: ⁠uniqode.com