The Remarkable SaaS Podcast

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to grow our happiness and connectivity at work - especially when we're part of a distributed team. My guest is Scott Markovits, CEO of Spontaneousli.Over the past 8 years, Scott has worked with over 1000 early-stage founders and startups, helping them build the foundations of successful products, companies, and teams. He's passionate about building awesome new products and creating amazing employee experiences. Another aspect he's fascinated about is: Remote workSo much that he's hosting a podcast, Leading from afar, that's all about remote leadership ad sharing experiences, wisdom, and tools to make remote successful at companies all around the world. And this inspired him to start his own Startup, Spontaneousli - A company that's on a mission to make remote work more awesome.And this inspired me, and hence I invited Scott to my podcast. We explore how switching to a remote-first world has created a range of new challenges - some very valuable to solve. Just think about the Great Resignation. We discuss the innovation opportunity ahead - and how big impact can be created with seemingly very simple solutions. Scott shares how complacency and comfort in sticking to traditional thinking can put the best companies in harmful situations. Last but not least, he shares his views on creating a remarkable software business and why bootstrapping should be considered by more SaaS companies.Here are some of his quotes:If you read articles around remote work or the future of work, many of the companies have been very positive, saying: Productivity has been through the roof. We can get work done. Everything's fantastic on the work side, but we want to get people back into the office because we're missing out on the engagement and the happiness and those bursts of inspiration. I see it is really a lacking of tools.During this interview, you will learn four things:That we often make the mistake of creating solutions that literally mimic what we think needs to be done, without thinking about what it needs to achieve.Why often it's not the quality of the solution that prevents creating traction, but our inability to change human behaviors Why we shouldn't be obsessed with Product-Market fit, but with Problem-Market fit.Why avoid going the funding route and focus on building a SaaS business that's sustainable.For more information about the guest from this week: Scott MarkovitsWebsite Spontaneousli

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to enable desk-less workers to perform at their highest potential, with minimal intervention to their workday. My guest is Rami Darwish, Founder and CEO of Arrow LabsRami is a founder and entrepreneur in digital technology for the enterprise and B2B segment. He has a deep understanding of business growth and scale strategy. He's an expert in workforce management and digitalization of the field operation and beyond that, he has a deep understanding of mobility in the enterprise. In 2011, he founded Arrow Labs, a company that's on a mission to provide companies pioneering and reliable workforce management solutions that impact their people and operations in a meaningful way.It envisions a world where employees can connect, collaborate and perform at their highest potential, with minimal intervention to their workday.And this inspired me, and hence I invited Rami to my podcast. We explore what's broken in the world of the desk-less worker and how this negatively impacts efficiency, accuracy, customer service, and safety. Rami shares the approach they've taken to enable field workers to deliver their best work in the toughest conditions. He also details what they did to not only survive the pandemic but come out stronger altogether. Last but not least, he shares his experiences in creating momentum, especially in a market that doesn't have a change or growth mindset.Here are some of his quotes:I used to work for fortune 500, corporate companies in the tech space. And I was working on large projects that would cover an entire city, for example, a safe city project or an integrated city project. And we have a lot of tools, everything from video wall tools to access to databases and information in real-time. But when you're doing a large city-type project, you're interacting with the real world. You're not sitting in a bubble, you're interacting with people, workers in the street, frontline people that either are providing you valuable information, or you need to provide them valuable information. What I realized while I was doing that was: Oh my God,...as soon as we want to get information out to the front line or get information from the frontline back into the HQ, everything stops being digital became manual.During this interview, you will learn four things:How to avoid wasting lots of energy, time, and money by focusing your efforts on people who believe what you believeWhy you should always strategize about the two or three moves ahead - plan early - do a lot of smaller executive steps ahead of time That there's a fine line between being capital efficient and missing an opportunity - take chances.Why every opportunity should start with the simple question: Do I firmly believe in it? For more information about the guest from this week:Rami DarwishWebsite Arrow Labs

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to relieve salespeople from having to use CRM, so they can focus on what they're best at: In-the-moment selling. My guest is Adam Honig, CEO of Spiro AIAdam has worked my entire career in the technology industry. His specialty is building companies and organizations that sell and deliver enterprise software and solutions in the B2B space.All of the companies that he helped found were focused on dramatically improving their operations. Two of these companies went public, and two of them were successfully sold at favorable valuations.Although much has changed in the technology business since he started his career, he believes a few things always remain the same: it's all about the business outcomes and not the technology itself. And you can never go wrong telling the truth. It's never worth it to work with a jerk. And being the category king should always be your goal.After watching the movie 'Her', which shares a vision of artificial intelligence, played by the voice of Scarlett Johansson, guiding sales reps to larger commission checks, he knew it was time to transform CRM and deliver the outcomes the world had been waiting for.Today, he's the CEO of Spiro, a proactive relationship management platform. Spiro is on a mission to end an era where companies waste millions of dollars on CRM. How? By creating a platform that works for Salespeople, instead of the other way around.And this inspired me, and hence I invited Adam to my podcast. We explore what's broken in CRM and how the things CRM demands its users to do is fundamentally flawed. Adam shares why the problem won't be solved by making existing solutions look nicer, but that the solution is in doing things completely differently.We dig into the journey Spiro has been through to get traction and how it overcame the tough battle to get people to adopt new technologies. He also shares the big lessons learned in deeply understanding the real outcomes customers want to solve and what it requires to build a software business that stands out in a dense market.Here are some of his quotes:Really good salespeople are really good 'in the moment'. Having the conversation really listening well, understanding what's happening. They're not the same people who are good at then typing all of that up. It's just it's a different skill. And so the things that CRM asks them to do are the things that they're bad at. It's structurally flawed. And so, the salespeople who are really good at updating the CRM are the really bad salespeople. I had one sales VP telling me when he takes over a new job as a VP of sales, he looks to see who does the best job at CRM, and he fires those salespeople. Crazy.During this interview, you will learn four things:Why we have to stop creating solutions that demand users to do things they're not good at and principally despise. Focus on what they need to be successful instead.That often the only way to deliver remarkable impact is doing the hard things first.Why we should do away with the preconceived notion we know our domain like no one else - it can seriously get you stuck in salesWhy it's key to set your ego aside as a CEO and invest time listening to your customers. Not leadership, but actual users. Not once, but weekly.For more information about the guest from this week:Adam HonigWebsite Spiro AI

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to end the era of being inundated with media every single day. And my guest is Gregory Lim, Co-founder and CEO of Persosa.Greg was the former CMO of Lifelock, and the founder of Qual & Quant, a full-service strategy, finance, and marketing agency. He combines his background in finance and marketing and believes that great marketing is the perfect combination of math and magic. He likes to challenge the status quo - and for one the market believes that a 3% conversion rate is normal in digital marketing. This is why he co-founded Persosa in 2016, a startup that's on a mission to solve the challenge of creating media experiences consumers love without them feeling interrupted by the information they’re not interested in, and doing this all while continuing to bring in needed revenue and keeping advertisers happy.And that inspired me, and hence I invited Gregory to my podcast. We explore what's broken in digital marketing and how the disconnect with what's normal in the real world is leading to many inconvenient and often creepy experiences. He shares the big idea behind his company and how this will help brands to have more organic, natural conversations with their clients - leading to higher and faster conversion. He also shares the big lessons learned in building his company, what's been instrumental to where Persosa is right now, and what he'd do differently next time.Here are some of his quotes:"Just recently, we started focusing on building partnerships with these large media companies, specifically in TV and web publishing. So an example today is: you're watching television, you see an ad for a Ford F150 truck. Like most Americans, 97% of people watch TV with a second device in their hand. You see this great ad for a truck. You say: I want to learn more about it. You go to ford.com, and they show you a minivan. That's a real lost opportunity. Not only for the company, but it's a disconnected conversation with the consumer."During this interview, you will learn four things:That building a product that drives transformative change is not enough. The other thing is how to remove all critical barriers to adopting it.How critical it is to understand what your customers want, but then layer in your vision and give them something beyond what they're asking for. Be aggressive in those areas where you can learn what resonates with your customers instead of burning your marketing budgets (how conservative they might be) How getting to Break Even first opens a lot of doors and opportunities to control your growth rate and gives leverage when you talk to investors.For more information about the guest from this week:Gregory LimWebsite Persosa

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to the personal development and aging challenge for all of us. My guest is Emil Jimenez, Founder and CEO of Mind Bank AIEmil Jimenez is a marketing expert with over 18 years working on global campaigns. He started working in the communications industry as a web designer in NYC. In 2009, he opened Passion Communications in Prague with the vision of building a brand empire for himself and his clients. Since 2020, Emil has set out to produce the most transformational idea of his life. This was the birth of Mind Bank AI - a company that's on a mission to allow humanity to go beyond their limits and live forever through data. What started as daddy’s quest for immortality has expanded into something bigger for humanity because the next personal computer is you.And this inspired me, and hence I invited Emil to my podcast. We explore how observing his little daughter sparked an idea that turned into a vision that could potentially solve some of the world's biggest problems. Preventing Mental health issues by increasing mental strength, providing education and access to expert knowledge for those that need it most, new ways of knowledge monetization, and even immortality. Emil shares the insights from the journey he's been on to bring this from idea to reality. Last but not least, he explains his secrets to creating a software business that we'd miss if it were gone.Here are some of his quotes:So Mind Bank is a platform for you to create a digital twin of yourself. We want to make a platform for people to bridge AI, and move humanity to what we call AI-enhanced humanity. It's not about the metaverse because the MetaVerse is all about living in another place. Now we're more concerned about ThisVerse. How do I take the AI and data and all the sides that we have to make me or make you a better person and help you in your personal development?And ultimately, store your wisdom. How much wisdom and knowledge is lost when people pass away, especially in family wisdom? So we have the technology to not only learn about ourselves and optimize ourselves, but also that wisdom could last forever - and add value to your family forever. And that's really building this database of humanity.During this interview, you will learn four things:Why having an eye for what matters - and for the things we'd miss if they were gone - is a fantastic source to spark meaningful innovation That even if everyone is blown away with your big idea it's not guaranteed funding will flow in. Never underestimate this.Why thinking big and long-term will make it a lot easier to keep focused and overcome critical challenges short-term.Why thinking about money should come last in all the strategic decisions you makeFor more information about the guest from this week:Emil JimenezWebsite Mind Bank AI

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to ​​help companies build trust towards their customers and close deals faster by putting their privacy compliance on autopilot. My guest is Stine Mangor Tornmark, Co-founder and CEO of Openli.Stine has 10+ years of experience as a lawyer from Plesner law firm and Trustpilot. At Trustpilot, she built up Trustpilot’s Legal and Compliance teams and processes from when the company had one office with 70 employees to 850 employees across the globe. She believes that privacy is a fundamental right every individual has and should have. She realized the struggle she had at Trustpilot to comply around privacy - and that's a large company with deep pockets and a large legal team. Imagine then how small and medium-sized businesses struggle. It's almost an impossible task.And that's why she co-founded Openli in 2018, a Legal Tech startup that's on a mission to help companies become better data citizens.And this inspired me, and hence I invited Stine to my podcast. We explore what's broken in the world of proving compliance around privacy data as a business. We dig into why this is the case, and why it's so hard to solve. Stine then shares the approach they've taken to solve the problem - and the hurdles she had to overcome in doing so. We discuss what it took to create momentum and end up with a customers base that's close to 100% referenceable and how that required them to think differently about what their product needed to be all about.Here are some of her quotes:In 2018, I was sitting at a lunch table complaining and really just emphasizing the difficulties of ensuring compliance across all these different nationalities and countries. And my co founder said: 'there has to be service out there, Stine. There has to be.' And he started looking for one and we couldn't find any. And you know, when the butterflies start to flap and you get the tingling in your body. That's how I felt at that point. And that's why we founded Openli.During this interview, you will learn four things:Where to strategically focus your investments when you're starting a SaaS businessHow you turn something that's perceived as a cost of doing business into a competitive advantage for your customersHow to go about creating momentum when nobody is looking for your SaaS solutionHow to keep your SaaS business on track when adversity hits - and how to come out stronger? For more information about the guest from this week:Stine Mangor TornmarkWebsite Openli

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that gives each of us the power to fulfill our potential without sacrificing all the other good things in life. My guest is Manuel Bruschi, Founder, and CEO of Timeular.Manuel is a former web developer who has been recognized as a Forbes 30 under 30, a TED speaker, and a former Austrian National Champion in Rugby 7’s! He's passionate about the most important resource for a life worth living: Time.That's why he co-founded Timeular in 2015. Timeular is a B2B SaaS business that empowers people to track their job routines to then analyze and design better ones. It's on a mission to help 10M+ people to live a healthier and more rewarding work-lifeAnd this inspired me, and hence I invited Manuel to my podcast. We explore what's broken in the current market for timesheet applications. Why no matter how simple we make these apps, people still won't use them. He then shares how he's found the simplest possible solution to the problem: A handshake with your time. We then drill into the journey to take this from an idea into reality and what hurdles he had to overcome to create momentum (and keep the momentum). Last but not least, he shares how he's shaped his organization to be customer-obsessed in everything they do in order to build products their customers cannot live without.Here are some of his quotes:We are making something that many people find very annoying way more simple and way more fun. That's the obvious benefit they get. But then when people actually start to track their time, immediately and more in detail, they see where their time is really going. Because the funny thing about time is: our perception of time is distorted by our emotions. One hour of fun feels like five minutes, and one hour of something boring feels like five hours. That's why we always think those nice things don't take as much time as we think. And the boring things take way more time than we think.During this interview, you will learn four things:Why not only focusing on business value - but as well on user value will help to create momentumThat a product is only worth developing if people are prepared to pay a premium for it.That it's not only about creating launch momentum but about securing long-term retentionThe value in obtaining a frugal mindset to build a product that people want to use the entire dayFor more information about the guest from this week:Manuel BruschiWebsite Timeular

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to help ambitious people become more focused and productive. My guest is Jonas Vossler, Founder and CEO of Flow Lab.Jonas is fascinated by everything that happens at the intersection of new technologies, business, and society. He's convinced that in today’s world, innovation is the primary driver for economic growth and for change in our society. It is due to the progress induced by a variety of innovations and inventions, especially in health and technology, that the population of Western industrialized countries enjoys a high standard of living. Still, we all experience a variety of mental distractions and emotional distress in our workdays that prevent us from finding the motivation, focus, and energy to perform at our best and use our time productively.And that's exactly the problem Jonas wants to solve - and hence he founded Flow Lab, a company that's on a mission to help people find more flow in their lives. And that inspired me - and hence I invited Jonas to my podcast. We explore why, with all the technology around, it's still so hard to be productive and deliver peak performance in our work. We also discuss the journey Jonas has been on to solve this massive problem. He shares examples about the strategic decisions he had to take, the challenges he's faced in gaining traction in the market, funding his business, and what was required to be ready for that in the first place. Lastly, we discuss his big lessons learned to create a software business that's resilient and what it takes to build something that people just keep talking about.Here are some of his quotes:The tools we provide they're going to help people be their own mental coach, so to speak, to develop self-leadership capabilities that take me through the day in a way that I feel for myself as positive and productive. And what that can mean is: the ability to focus when I need to ability not to focus when I don't want to. The ability to recover. The ability to be emotionally balanced. The ability to motivate myself. There are so many micro-decisions that can be decisive throughout a given day, for me to make this a productive day.During this interview, you will learn four things:What being crystal clear about segmentation actually means and why focusing just on demographics is not enoughWhy having a compelling vision and realistic optimism are key ingredients to build resilience in your SaaS businessThat, in order to become a remarkable software business you have to invest in soft skills in communication - especially when emotion get involved.That the pressure to get the funding is nothing compared to the pressure that's is building once you get the fundingFor more information about the guest from this week:Jonas VosslerWebsite Flow Lab

Welcome to episode 200 of the Tech-entrepreneur on a mission podcast. Because this is a big milestone on the journey, I didn’t want to devote this podcast to one guest – instead, I got 22 B2B SaaS CEOs on the mic.A big element of every single episode of the podcast is sharing the advice and expertise from tech-entrepreneurs to other tech-entrepreneurs about the biggest challenges they had to overcome and the most valuable lessons they've learned in building a remarkable b2b SaaS business.So I’ve made a hand-picked selection of quotes from the 200 podcast episodes that have featured between the 1st of January 2018 and today. And in doing so, I’ve uncovered 7 different themes:1 - Just Start & Think big (1:50 - 4:16)Amy Williams - CEO GoodloopHugo Spowers - CEO Riversimple2 - Declaring war to the problem (4:16 - 10:50)Sebastiaan van der Lans - CEO WordproofNadine Hachach Haram - CEO ProximieRyan Falkenberg - CEO ClevvaHelen McGuire - CEO Diversely3 - Challenge the status quo and create change (10:50 - 14:44)Frederic Laluyaux, CEO Aera TechnologiesOfer Tziperman - CEO AnagogRupal Patel - CEO VocalID4 - The right mindset - because there are no shortcuts (14:44 - 22:57)Avishai Sharon, CEO TrendemonJonah Lopin - CEO CrayonMartin Cloake - CEO Raven AI5 - The power of creating leverage (22:57 - 25:33)Auren Hoffmann - CEO Safegraph6 - Clarity about value (25:33 - 33:30 ) ...

This podcast interview shares the big lessons learned from the failed attempts and required pivots running a startup that was on a mission to take down Facebook. My guest is Arnaud Henneville-Wedholm, author of "How Hard Can It Be".Arnaud Henneville-Wedholm is a consultant, lecturer, and head of sales and business development at GLOBHE. He is also the founder of multiple startups, including internalDesk, a SaaS platform for enterprise collaboration, where he served as COO. He's passionate about entrepreneurship, neuroscience, resilience and making the world a better place. He works on projects he believes in and with people who 'go for it'; He finishes everything he starts; He trains as if there was no tomorrow;He enjoys the 'now' and looks forward to the journey. He goes by the mantra of "Get comfortable being uncomfortable." And that's no understatement. In his book 'How hard can it be' he explains his personal journey in building a startup that got founded around the big idea to 'take down Facebook'.The book is a jet-setting parable of the European startup scene that takes on the most elusive business topic of them all: failure. And that inspired me, and hence I invited Arnaud to my podcast. We explore the journey Arnaud and his team went through with their startup, the pivots that were required, and the commercial, financial and emotional challenges this brought along. We pinpoint the critical ingredients to getting right from a solution perspective to create virality - stickiness - and growth that's sustainable. Last but not least, he addresses what to be prepared for as a founder and how (and why) to embrace failure as a hidden gem.Here are some of his quotes:People have a lot of ideas, constantly. I guess that's what we do as humans. We have plenty of ideas, but ideas are cheap. What matters is his execution. And unless you execute, and how long can you execute once you've decided that you are someone who indeed executes? You know, how long can you go? How far can you go?People start companies, but they all drop along the way. People drop, people drop, people drop, and they stand on that shelf as a souvenir of startups that tried anything and did not go all the way through?During this interview, you will learn four things:That having a product that's functionally rich and technically scalable is only half the battle. Business model scalability is the other one.That the best thing you can do for your company is to demonstrate persistence in sticking to the one thing you're after. Don't pivot too earlyThat a ground principle of creating something remarkable is to focus on doing something utterly different (not better)Why you need to be persistent in finding problems that are mission-critical, not just nice to haveFor more information about the guest from this week:Arnaud Henneville-WedholmWebsite "How Hard Can It Be"