The Remarkable SaaS Podcast

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to make change to the effectiveness and fairness of our justice system. My guest is Jacqueline Schafer, Founder and CEO of ClearBrief.Jacqueline began her career as a litigation associate at the New York law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, & Garrison, and spent the majority of her career as an Assistant Attorney General in the Washington and Alaska Attorney General’s Offices, where she specialized in appellate practice and complex litigation.Before joining the startup world, Jacqueline also served as in-house counsel for the national nonprofit Casey Family Programs, where she negotiated agreements with state courts across the country and managed impact litigation. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania and cum laude from Boston University School of Law.Today, she's the Founder and CEO of Clearbrief, a legal tech startup that's on a mission to transform the legal writing process and create a fairer justice system.And that inspired me - and hence I invited Jacqueline to my podcast. We explore what's broken in the legal tech market. That the focus is too much on the process, and not on the outcome - a more just legal system. Jacqueline shares her vision for the Justice system and how she's carefully architecting a product that's both sticky for its users, has strong network effects, and an ability to create a fairer justice system for all of us. She talks about the biggest hurdles she had to overcome - and what's been critical in her eyes to create a remarkable software business that has staying power.Here are some of her quotes:"I was doing a pro bono asylum case, representing a woman and her toddler, and in those cases, it really comes down to a final hearing, and it's life or death for these individuals. And so, there was a moment at that hearing where I saw the judge was not inclined to find in favor of my clients. But I pointed him to a sentence in my brief, which was a 50-page intense legal document. That was what convinced the judge. He looked at the evidence, he looked at that report, in the context of my argument, and we won the case." During this interview, you will learn four things:Why you should develop a strong evidence skill and avoid taking shortcuts in finding product-market-fit.How to build a product that has staying power with its core users and put a smile on their face - every single day.Why it's key to connect the dots to the larger impacts we're aspiring to understand the true problem we're solving.How to introduce meaningful change to an industry that's not changed in decades.For more information about the guest from this week:Jacqueline SchaferWebsite Clearbrief

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to build the best content, connect people across the world and create happy customers - but also about what it takes to grow a global SaaS business in periods of severe change. My guest is Volker Smid, CEO of Acrolinx Volker has more than 25 years of management experience in the software, internet, technology, and media industry around the globe. Throughout his career, he served as CEO of Searchmetrics and EVP Digital & Technologies at the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. He was CEO of Hewlett-Packard Germany, Vice Chairman of BITKOM, President EMEA and Asia/PAC at Novell Inc., SVP Sales Midmarket at Parametric Technology Boston, and SVP at POET Inc. in San Mateo, California. Today, he's the CEO of Acrolinx, a company that's built around the vision to create a world connected by amazing content. Its mission is to supercharge the billions of enterprise content touchpoints that power the global customer experience.And that inspired me, and hence I invited Volker to my podcast. We explore what's broken when it comes to managing content in the enterprise world. We drill into the negative effects and the cost of content that frustrates people, and this multiplies as the scale, consumption, and complexity grow.Volker then talks about how he's steering his organization to be a fully aligned organization - and how having a strong and clear vision and mission that are focused on transformational change are critical to achieving this.Last but not least, he shares his lessons learned in leading his company through the crisis, and what was required to become a stronger company altogether. Here are some of his quotes:My first statement, when I came to realize that this world was being turned upside down, was: This is a global crisis. And there will be winners and losers in the global crisis. And I believe we have a fair chance to come out of this crisis being a stronger company - without knowing what that meansBut the first address for the organization was the reminder of. It is a crisis. Every crisis is a mix between challenges and opportunities. Let's be very, very cautious and careful about the challenges. But let's focus on the opportunity. During this interview, you will learn four things:How to embrace uncertainty and fear when adversity hits - and the power of trust in each other to overcome the biggest challenges.Why every company should educate and develop every employee to be able to tell a 30-second story about the company Why capturing the transformational stories from customers are critical to creating an aligned and proud organizationWhy leaders should encourage every employee to go out of their comfort zone and do things they have never done beforeFor more information about the guest from this week:Volker SmidWebsite Acrolinx

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to bridge the best of both worlds to create remarkable results in an increasingly remote workplace. My guest is Matt Compton, Co-founder and CEO of Filo.Matt is a two-time founder and former IBM, ExactTarget, and Salesforce. He spent his entire career solving complex problems within product development, sales, marketing, and business strategy. Through a unique skill set combining engineering and business, he specializes in building and leading cross-functional teams to solve organizations' largest problems.Today, he's the CEO of Filo, a company that's on a mission to build a future where online meeting fatigue is replaced with meaningful engagement and increased productivity.And this inspired me, and hence I invited Matt to my podcast. We explore how his company emerged from an attempt to prevent a hackathon event from being canceled. It's a story about what's humanly possible to achieve in a matter of weeks when the problem is highly valuable to solve and timing is critical. Matt shares the challenges he had to overcome in finding a repeatable business model and making the business sustainable. Last but not least, he shares his experiences on what it takes to shape a remarkable software business. Here are some of his quotes:We're helping people come together in order to get real work done, but without having to be in the same place to do it.While it's always great to be in person, and I'm excited to get back in person when we can start doing more of that. Having to do it isn't good for anybody. It's not good for us as people, it's not good for our families. It's not good for the environment. It is not good for business, because it just slows everything down. It's incredibly expensive. We like to move fast. So this is a problem we have been talking about for many years. And we had an opportunity at the beginning of the pandemic in order to put our money where our mouth was. And going back to curiosity, being ambitious, and working with great people - It was an opportunity. We had four weeks and we said "hey, what if?"During this interview, you will learn four things:The importance of laser-sharp segmentation - in particular, understanding who you're not forHow to continue momentum when the virality effect of 'the start' fades outHow to tune messaging when you're bringing something to market and people are not in the mindset and may not even think there's a solution out there they needWhat to change to be able to better deal with failure - and become stronger from it. For more information about the guest from this week:Matt ComptonWebsite Filo

This podcast interview focuses on the art of product innovation - and how people, not technology, often play a fundamental role in creating success. My guest is Derek Mendonça, Co-Founder of Singular AircraftDerek is a highly accomplished business leader with a passion for people & results; specifically, for empowering people to get the best results, aligned around an ambitious vision. He believes people perform at their best when they are challenged. When they are allowed to explore, encouraged to push their boundaries, and inspired to compete against their own prior achievements. Derek excels at creating the engagement, excitement, and professional challenge that leads to positive organizational change and encourages innovation.And exactly this skill caused him to co-found Singular Aircraft. It's a company that produces the largest and most versatile unmanned civilian aircraft. The company is on a mission to solve some meaningful and growing problems, such as fighting the massive wildfires around the globe, poaching, and delivering goods to operations in dangerous or remote areas.And this inspired me, and hence I invited Derek to my podcast. We explore how making big progress is so often not about introducing new technology, but changing the mindset of people. Derek shares many anecdotes about his fascinating journey (and opportunity) with Singular Aircraft. How small thinking literally stopped countries that need it most from making a big impact. He talks about the big lessons learned to overcome seemingly impossible hurdles - and what helped him to stay sane in that process.Here are some of his quotes:We wanted to make something different. We wanted to make something that everyone could afford. Most planes, as you know, are very expensive.We wanted to make something affordable, at a price point that nobody could compete with us. So our competitor is a 4x4 Land Rover. In terms of cost, not a plane, any 4x4 is my competitor. Because that's the real cost of operations. Obviously, we can take much carry much more and travel further, than where a 4x4 can go. But that is my competitor. So we made it at a price point. And it was a huge risk because we thought at the time: Time will tell whether we're genius, or crazy.During this interview, you will learn four things:It's easy to think about the downsides. It's hard to be positive - choosing not to spend time or energy on what can go wrong, but what can go rightWhy we need to start with the end in mind - and envision how your product can make the biggest possible differenceThe power to catalytic invention - create something that excels at the three A's: Applicability, Accessibility, and affordabilityHow to create something that drives word of mouth from the startFor more information about the guest from this week:Derek MendonçaWebsite Singular Aircraft

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to help us maximize the impact behind all our creative decisions, and my guest is Anastasia Leng, Founder, and CEO of CreativeX.Early in her career, Anastasia gained experience in brand strategy at Interbrand, spent 5+ years at Google, where she worked on every ad tech and analytics product, led entrepreneurship efforts in EMEA, and was responsible for early-stage partnerships for Google Voice, Chrome, and Wallet.In 2012, she co-founded Hatch, one of Time Magazine’s Top 10 Startups to Watch in New York and one of four most innovative retail companies.Today, she's the Founder & CEO of CreativeX, an automated creative excellence platform used by the world’s most loved brands. The company is on a mission to advance creative expression through the clarity of data. And that inspired me, and hence I invited Anastasia to my podcast. We explore what's holding companies back in their growth because they're guessing what works/what doesn't work in relation to their creative efforts. Anastasia shares how she solved this problem internally first, and how investors then made them aware of the size of this problem globally. She explains how this triggered a major pivot and the effort and determination it took to get to Product-Market-Fit. Finally, she shares some of the secrets she learned in turning her company into a remarkable growth story.Here are some of her quotes:We make a lot of promises and have a lot of efforts to try and do things like be responsible citizens as brands to promote different people of all different colors and orientations. And yet, when we look at the content we put out, we don't always tell that story. And I think part of it is because it has become very, very difficult to analyze content at that scale and in an objective way. We can help to even get an initial pulse check as to how you're doing on things that don't even relate to marketing performance. What is the message you're really sending, I think is the broader question. And how do we help you figure out whether or not the messages that you are really sending actually are in line with the brand values and the things that you would like to be sending?During this interview, you will learn four things:Why having an honest perspective about how your company is really running is key. Staying in that bubble and thinking you've got everything together will just make the mess bigger. Why we're often the biggest obstacles in our own way Make the big bets. Think 'what's the worst that can happen and push forward'. Your reflection will tell you, 'Why didn't I do this sooner?’Why success often starts by cutting things down to the coreFor more information about the guest from this week:Anastasia LengWebsite CreativeX

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to enable people on the manufacturing floor to boost continuous improvements and focus on what matters. My guest is Martin Cloake, CEO of Raven AI.Martin is an experienced executive and award-winning technology entrepreneur with a background in Manufacturing, Data Science, IP, and Operations Management. He holds multiple patents and is a Mechanical Engineering graduate from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec.He's a problem-solver, relentless resourceful, and always assumes something can be done. When he saw the massive investments in Industry 4.0 increase, but most companies failing to get the benefits they'd aspired for he decided to found Raven AI.Raven is on a mission to help manufacturers accelerate Continuous Improvement, improve the service to their customers and increase profits. How? By spotting opportunities and providing real-time guidance that empowers and engages manufacturing teams.And this inspired me, and hence I invited Martin to my podcast. We explore why many manufacturers have a false sense of what they think has happened, vs what actually happened. The result of this: they can't solve their most pressing problems because they can't pinpoint with accuracy what these actually are. Martin shares how he's solving this problem and what choices he's made on his journey to do so in a remarkable way. Here are some of his quotes:The gold standard that I always thought of for technology was GPS for your car. So one of the things that GPS does is that it doesn't drive your car, it doesn't dominate your attention. Every once in a while, it gives you a little insight. And then based on that insight, you're way more effective. So there's this idea where as humans, we are awesome at solving problems, we're awesome at collaborating with one another. Where technology and data can help is to sift through data to make sure that if we're standing in front of a problem, we're standing in front of the right problem and the most important problem.So I always saw that there's this opportunity to combine what we are best at with what technology is best at.During this interview, you will learn four things:That to succeed in creating momentum and successful adoption we have to go at the speed of humansWhat it takes to sell your SaaS solution to people on the shopfloor (vs the boardroom)How creating remarkable software starts with people that care about what they are building - and people that are empowered to make decisionsThat people often think going small and incremental is easier than doing things that are big. Fact is - Doing something big is far easier to get people on board and excited about the journey. For more information about the guest from this week:Martin CloakeWebsite Raven AI

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to let us all create a bigger impact, by spending less time in meetings. My guest is Alessandra Knight, Co-Founder and CEO of Katch.Alessandra studied anthropology and has always had a passion for learning about different people and cultures. She values people-first thinking. And this landed her at Dots - a mobile game studio, where she quickly moved up to an operations-lead-slash-strategic-advisor role for the executive team. Her role was geared towards optimizing time for herself and her colleagues. Soon, she started seeing how hard true, uninterrupted focus time was to come by. This sparked a project within Dots to search for a way to give the team more time to do work and less time in meetings. And this became the big idea behind Katch. Katch is on a mission to create a world where people make the time to connect with who they want, on topics that matter, at times that work best for them. It's giving all of us the ability to live our lives versus being controlled by our calendars. And that inspired me, and hence I invited Alessandra to my podcast. We explore what's broken in the way we manage our time or have our time managed for us - and how that erodes the impact we can make. The traditional ways to manage calendars is flawed - since it doesn't take our mindset, energy levels, and priorities into account. Alessandra shares the big idea behind her company and how she'll use technology to give us back uninterrupted focus.She also shares some of her big lessons learned building her SaaS business, and what is important to succeed beyond having a remarkable solution.Here are some of her quotes:Our life is a spontaneous train of events. We never know how the next hour and whatnot will be scheduled. We're creating a product to work hand in hand with spontaneity and believe that being able to have these conversations ad-hoc, when you're in that right headspace to connect with someone, is important.Being able to focus on what's most important in the moment, being more productive, and still having time to do what matters most.During this interview, you will learn three things:That it's very possible to disrupt a market that's been around for decades and is dominated by extremely large tech-giantsWhy passion for the product is not enough, the passion needs to be about how the product helps impact the lives of othersThat we always try and move forward in our paths - but sometimes we have to move laterally to get where we need going - and that's OKWhy openness, passion, and diversity are key ingredients to create a SaaS business that's able to create remarkable momentum.For more information about the guest from this week:Alessandra KnightWebsite Katch

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to shape the conditions where everyone can come to work in an environment that’s right for them. My guest is Nico Blier Silvestri, Co-Founder and CEO of Platypus.Nico has an extremely diverse and robust 15-year career in recruitment, working at industry-leading companies, including Yahoo!, Trust Pilot, and Unity. He's been pioneering his own brand of culture-centric recruitment. Through his time as Chief People Officer, Strategic Business Advisor, and Director of Talent, Nico has now channeled his business and recruitment insights into PlatypusHis experience has taught him that company culture is at the core of every step of an employee journey, from attraction to management, to retention.He believes that culture is democratic. That all employees have an impact on the culture of an organization, bringing their personal values as cultural drivers - and that company culture is not defined by top-down values but by everyday actions.He believes every organization is different, and so are people; there is no right or wrong, it is all about finding the right place.This became the founding principle of Platypus, which Nico leads as their CEO.It's on a mission to help organizations understand their culture better and make sure every employee, whether current or future, has the opportunity to prosper.This inspired me, and hence I invited Nico to my podcast. We explore what's broken in the market when it comes to building thriving cultures. We discuss that's very much a management issue - and what difference can be made if technology and people blend in the right way. Nico shares his stories about the journey he's been through in taking the Platypus from an initial vision to where it is today. He shares the mistakes he made and explains how we overcame some big hurdles to get to Product-Market Fit and create a solution that makes a significant difference in the eyes of his customers.Here are some of his quotes:My big picture genuinely is to kill bullshit branding. I'm exhausted from looking at videos or organizations advertising themselves. It's all the time the same. Put another logo, there's nothing genuine and honest about the reality of this. It's not helping the organization. and it's certainly not helping the candidates or the people outside.Secondly, we really want to achieve is for people to find the right organization for them to work in. That's the whole idea with Platypus. Platypus is this amazing animal that probably shouldn't exist because it's so specific. But in the right environments, in the right setup, it's happy, it's thriving, and it exists and it's evolving. That's why for us we call it Platypus because it's all about finding the right environment for the person.During this interview, you will learn four things:That a critical lever for success is positive conflict. You don't need people that agree with you. You don't need to hear what you've just said in a different voice.Remove the ego from leadership. You're not in a leadership position because you're right all the time. You're in a leadership position because you're the best at getting the best out of people.That as a CEO, you want to go so fast, and you're so sold into your own idea that it's critical to have people that are not you making decisions on the product.How to go about making the decision to kill your product, and start all over again.For more information about the guest from this week:Nico Blier SilvestriWebsite Platypus

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to give all of us new options to communicate more humanely and be trusted faster. My guest is David Jay, Founder and CEO of Warm Welcome.David was recently named a Top 100 Tech Innovator and Influencer. David is a startup junkie, he has started service-based companies and several software companies. He believes that business can be a tool to help us build better relationships and connect us to a purpose far beyond ourselves. Today, he's the CEO of Warm Welcome. A startup that's on a mission to create a world that is more personal, more human, more joyful than ever before.They believe that most people would prefer to engage with another human instead of a robot - and that relationships are what make our lives rich and give us meaning. This inspired me, and hence I invited David to my podcast. We explore what's broken in the way we communicate digitally and what that leads to. We then discuss the approach David has chosen to solve this problem in a remarkable way. He shares his big lessons learned in building the solution in an as lean as possible way. He addresses the challenges he faced in creating momentum in a completely new category - and ends with his fresh take on the concept of 'launching'.Here are some of his quotes:It really helps people stand out. Everybody is been doing things the old way. Everybody has a funnel built. They have email campaigns. You sign up for a product, and you get 20 emails. And they all look the same. They're beautifully designed, they're full of text and graphics. But when you put your face behind something, you build trust way faster than you do with pretty graphics. And for most products and services, people want to trust the person that's making it before they're going to buy it.During this interview, you will learn four things:That we're too often building remarkable software, but forget the power of human touch. Combining the two creates something that stands out. That, in order to succeed more often, we should replace the word 'launch' with 'planting seeds'. Why we should always test the water in the market with something lightweight - something we can still adjust without wasting money.Why it's key to turn early customers into evangelists - and how to go about that. For more information about the guest from this week:David JayWebsite Warm Welcome

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to help young people speak their truths and tap into their superpowers. My guest is Ivy Mahsciao, Founder and CEO of evrmore.Ivy is a champion for human potential who has a 20+ year background in consumer psychology and product science, with a category-defining product management portfolio that includes Genentech, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, and Nike. Today, she's the CEO of evrmore - a startup that's on a mission to help people see their innate potentials and impacts in the world by bringing our social and emotional selves back online. It's an inclusive betterment platform for young people to develop transferable core skills and social mobility. This is especially helpful for those who might be going through the most challenging time in their lives, such as the current pandemic, immigration trauma, grief, separation, and other difficult transitions, aka life.This inspired me - and hence I invited Ivy to my podcast. We explore what's broken in today's world when it comes to helping young people grow their self-knowledge and have a strong self-narrative.We discuss how the non-stop push of information and chasing social proof has created a big problem in society. We then explore the journey Ivy has taken to fix the problem once and forever - and the challenges she's faced along the way. We discuss her strategies to scale and accelerate by leveraging the ecosystem in her tech stack. Lastly, we discuss her take on building a remarkable software business.Here are some of her quotes:The MVP in the traditional sense is just not going to cut it now for something like evrmore. So then what is that thing? This is again, another thing that I want to demystify for the founder’s entrepreneurial experience. When you're building something from nothing - from just the screaming dots you're trying to connect - you also realize that you're always going to feel like you're not going fast enough. There's just not going to be any shortage of Crunchbase news, or acquisition news or funding news, you're always going to be like I needed to launch this thing, six months ago, eight months ago, two years ago, or something like that. Not downplaying that anxiety, I think it's an important one to clearing the air and just being vulnerable. And just say "that is very much my reality." You're always trying to balance those external pressures. So what is that gold standard of knowing what to measure, knowing what to validate before you hit that first Launch button and say, This is now my maximum minimal viable products?During this interview, you will learn four things:How to find highly valuable innovation opportunities by growing your skills to capture any idea and actively connect the right dotsThat the essence about the minimum viable product is often misinterpreted - and how thinking about maximum-minimum viable product can helpHow asking the most piercing questions and describing it from a qualitative standpoint will help define the essence of your businessThat it's your responsibility as a tech-entrepreneur to cherish your hunches and intuitions - and create the pathways for them to become useful.For more information about the guest from this week:Ivy MahsciaoWebsite evrmore