The Remarkable SaaS Podcast

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to get all of us closer to professionals we value. My guest is Ashley Friedlein, CEO and Founder of GuildAshley is one of the most influential and connected figures in digital and marketing. As one of the 100+ recommendations for him on LinkedIn reads, “If Ashley doesn’t know it – it ain’t worth knowing.”He’s the author of two best-selling books on digital. A columnist, commentator and blogger, he speaks worldwide on digital and marketing trends and best practices.Ashley is involved in a number of digital businesses and ventures as investor, adviser, mentor and operationally. He believes the world deserves a new kind of digital communications platform and hence founded Guild, a messaging platform for professional groups, networks and communities. The purpose behind the company is to bring people together for professional good. It’s a technology business, but it cares most about human behaviours and the power of connecting people to collaborate and do good things together.And that inspired me, and hence I invited Ashley to my podcast. We explore how technology can help in creating more meaningful connections around professional use cases, and how there’s room for new players, even in a market that densely populated. Asley shares his wisdom around where he puts his focus in building a remarkable software business, what it takes to grow by word-of-mouth and create virality. We also dig into the potential pitfalls to avoid in growing your start-up, especially when venture capital steps in.Here are some of his quotes:Obviously, we want and we'll need growth. We want quality and value more than quantity. We don't need massive volumes of usage to drive an ad-funded revenue model, because ours isn't an ad-funded revenue model. But we, if we're going up against the WhatsApp and LinkedIn and things, ultimately we do need to get engagement, even habits. There is a network effect thing that the more people are on Guild, in many ways, the more valuable it becomes. And if your contacts or professional contacts and your most valued professional contacts are all on Guild, that builds massive defensibility against other competitors or future competitors.We experienced that the other way around, like when you're going up against WhatsApp and stuff, it can be hard cause some people say ‘Yes, I'm just used to using that and yes, yours is better, but I still can't be bothered to switch.’So you know, we do need the growth but I need to try and not sacrifice quality at the same time. So, what we're trying to achieve I call various things but intimacy at scale.During this interview, you will learn four things:How you can create remarkable products by not only solving a specific problem – but also cater to a human need or desireDifferent insights how to think about creating a viral effect with your productWhy big impact is often created by being relentlessly focused on adding incremental improvements all the timeHow to go about spending (VC) money in a phase where you haven’t reached product-market fit yetFor more information about the guest from this week:Ashley FriedleinWebsite Guild

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the potential to prevent well over half a billion females on this planet suffering from mental health problems. My guest is Michel Valstar, CEO of BlueSkeye AI.Michel Valstar is a visionary scientist and new-found entrepreneur. He’s the founder and Co-CEO of BlueSkeye AI, and remains a part-time professor at the University of Nottingham, where he is also the deputy-director of the Biomedical Research Centre’s Mental Health and Technology programme.Having worked for 15 years on computer vision and machine learning for facial expression analysis, Valstar now wants to see his ground-breaking research turned into real products to improve the lives of people. He is particularly interested in solving the problem of self-management of mental health using technology that runs privately on people’s own hardware.This inspired me, and hence I invited Michel to my podcast. We explore what’s broken in the world of treating Mental Health. We discuss why this domain is still in the dark ages and what can be done with technology to take it into the 21st century and make a meaningful impact. We explore what it takes to build solutions people in different demographics actually love to use day to day – and build a trustworthy relationship with. We also discuss how to take on this massive global problem, with a very small team, while being resourceful and profitable very early on in the journey. Here are some of his quotes:With blue sky, we really wanted to grab a big problem and try to solve it, not just conceptually, but all the way through to implementing it, validating it, making it self-sustaining. Making it actually value generating in the end. And in perinatal mental health, roughly half of the people on this planet will give birth to a child at some point. And 10 to 20% of those women will suffer, unfortunately, from poor mental health.These are extremely large numbers. We hope to help a very large percentage of these people. But even if we could only help 10% of the people that suffer from this is still a massive contribution to humanity.During this interview, you will learn four things:Why creating something for everyone will end up pleasing no one How you can speed up time to market by working with partners that break your stuffHow leveraging one product category can become the funding source for realizing your big visionWhy the two core selection criteria for picking your projects should be: Alignment with vision and employee motivationFor more information about the guest from this week:Michel Valstar, Website BlueSkeye AI

This podcast interview focuses on the mindset and approach to shaping a software business that successfully plays the infinite game. My guest is Todd Mozer, Chairman and CEO of SensoryTodd has broad business and general management experience. He's got a Stanford MBA with technical roots and is a founder, co-founder, or early management team of 3 successful venture-backed high-tech Silicon Valley startups. Each startup has been involved in audio, music, and speech & AI technologies for consumer electronics markets, including toys, musical instruments, Bluetooth headsets, mobile phones, voice assistants, smart devices, or IoT. He founded Sensory with the mission to enable people to communicate with consumer electronics as we communicate with each other. And this inspired me, and hence I invited Todd to my podcast. We explore their journey as a pioneer in neural networks and how they transformed from inventing everything in-house to leveraging the open-source ecosystem in a way that strengthened their advantage. We also discuss their drive towards embracing deep fusion – blending different technologies to create exponentially more value. Last but not least, Todd shares his wisdom around building a software business that thrives long-term.Here are some of his quotes:When you have really smart PhDs from the top schools that have strong egos, sometimes, the not invented here syndrome exists with a lot of our customers and within Sensory itself. And to get people that are really smart and really capable, and tell them: 'let's not do it ourselves, let's use what somebody else has done,' that can be challenging.When we move to the cloud, we started using open-source acoustic models, but with our own in-house language modelsThere are some advantages to being small. We can move faster, and it's easier for us to integrate different technologies because we don't have these giant groups that are in separate silos. So, for example, we talked about deep fusion of face and voice. Well, it's not like Google and Facebook, and Apple aren't doing voice and face, but they have them in different silos. So, kind of combining them isn't as easy as for a company like Sensory.During this interview, you will learn four things:Why focus on solving the hard thing first can give you instant profitabilityHow blending technology enables you to grow a position of advantage while creating impact previously believed unattainable for your customersTheir secrets in obtaining highly valuable feedback from their customersHow to shape a software business that your best people don't ever want to leaveFor more information about the guest from this week:Todd MozerWebsite Sensory

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to give everyone of us the opportunity to deliver our best work by controlling our work environment. My guest is Benjamin Carew, Co-founder and CEO of OthershipBen started his career as an engineer, working on electric and special vehicles for Ford, Ricardo and Nissan. He then led a team driving digital transformation at Ford, before moving to BP as a Digital Program lead. Ben is passionate that the best commute is no commute. His ambition is to break down borders by making it possible for anyone to work from anywhere.That’s how he started Othership. It’s is a membership for people who want to work the other way. It’s built around the belief in a new world of work that revolves around you. That adapts to your needs, and allows you to pursue the work you want to do, wherever you are. Where working for yourself doesn’t have to mean working by yourself. And where fulfilling work is a fundamental right, not a rare luxury.Othership was founded to spark a global flo-working™ revolution. Inspiring people to adopt a new way of working controlled by them.This inspired me, and hence I invited Ben to my podcast. We explore how the world has changed with regards to the way we work. We dig into the role of the workspace – and what important values it drives that we too often ignore. We discuss how critical it is (for creating traction) truly understand what users care about – and what drives their use case. And last but not least, we discuss Benjamin’s secrets to building a software business that people keep talking about.Here are some of his quotes:The way that we try to deliver value is to constantly seek for feedback and use our own service as well. So we live the life that we do. So we work from our spaces, if I'm not working from my spaces, then would I want to be paying that membership. If the answer is no, why am I not working from that space? Why am I not doing that phone calls from a space? Why am I not having a meeting from that space?It’s just accepting that that's our place in this point is to take the pain away from building that relationship, building that connection, finding that right space.It's just our responsibility day in day out to do that. And that's why we will do better than everyone else. Because our first point in is to just make sure that it does add value to you. And then I will worry about making moneyDuring this interview, you will learn four things:Why often what customers buy from you is not at all what you instinctively think it isThat technically your product fits many people – but to thrive is to get really specific on their exact use case – and exceed expectations thereThat to grow a position of advantage is to challenge your business by aiming to become your own best customerThat if your customers aren’t talking about you – ask them why. They’ll tell you.For more information about the guest from this week:Benjamin CarewOthership Website

This podcast interview focuses on the approach to product innovation to grow remarkable momentum in enterprise software by creating a swell that keeps building because of bottom-up user demand. My guest is Rick Hall, CEO of AginityRick Hall is a software entrepreneur focused on the analytics market. He has led the development of over a dozen software products and taken several companies from the early stage to an eventual sale.He founded Kairn Corporation in 2018 to help organizations plan and implement intelligent products and systems. Together with his co-founders, he has defined a "Pathway to Intelligent Systems" to guide companies on their journey.In support of this journey, they began to invest in companies that would simplify the process of building and implementing analytical programs. That has led to the purchase of Aginity in March of 2020, where Rick has taken over the CEO role as a result. Aginity was an early innovator in Analytics Management. They are on a mission to reinvent the Analytics Engine Room and, with that, address the challenges of complex architectures which are dependent on highly skilled engineers, frequently cost millions of dollars, and are not flexible to move at the pace of business.This inspired me, and hence I invited Rick to my podcast. We explore what’s broken in the world of Enterprise Analytics and why the millions and millions of investments underdeliver. We dig into the effects of switching to a product-led growth approach, and how creating a community of fans helps drive multiple X growth with a minimal marketing budget. Last but not least, we talk about the secrets to staying resourceful – and resilient for anything that’s next to come. Here are some of his quotes:I think the three key areas of a SaaS company are Sales, Marketing, and Product and Engineering. Product and Engineering is a natural tension. So, I always say that if the two heads of those two groups don't kind of love each other and hate each other, then there's something wrong. Because product is about the idea of anything that I could do - big ideas. And engineering is about the world of the possible. And there's a tension built in there.And then sales is the third piece of that, because sales and marketing is about the demands of the customer. And so, putting the three things together in a world of what I like to think of as constructive conflict is really, really key. I think that is probably one of the most important elements of success for a company.During this interview, you will learn four things:That real value unlocks when you realize it’s not about solving a users’ task in isolation, but about how they effectively collaborate with the business How introducing a freemium model is not about giving away your software, but about creating software that users loveHow to convince even the most stubborn C-level decision makers about the value of your product even if they’d never use itWhy to succeed in SaaS is about constantly evolving the interplay between a big vision and what people can actually achieve on a stretched goal.For more information about the guest from this week:Rick HallAginity Website

Mike Seidle is an technology entrepreneur based in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is a man of many talents with an entrepreneurial mindset. In his past, he founded White River Technology Group, Indy Associates, Professional Blog Services, and Virtual Payment Systems. Today, he’s the CTO at PivotCX – a company that’s on a mission to help companies respond to every job candidate in seconds. The result: Recruitment teams will be able to handle 4-6x current candidate volume, improve hire quality, and most importantly, deliver an award-winning candidate experienceThis inspired me, and hence I invited Mike to my podcast. We explore the journey they’ve been through and how COVID became their wake-up moment. We discuss the big lessons learned in bringing their solution to market and what it means and requires creating solutions that customers not only need – but also want – a solution that grows in value as things get tough.Here are some of his quotes:The hardest thing in all of this was that we held on to what we were doing originally for too long. We did our first little foray into doing chat, in 2018. And had we been paying attention to that, we could have made the pivot that we ended up making because we got an extreme slap in the face from the market with COVID.If we had been listening, I almost hate to say this, and I hope none of my investors are listening. But if we had heard that from the market two, three years ago, it's almost frightening to think about how successful this would already be.What I did learn from all this is that probably the best way to be prepared is to really focus on making sure what you're doing is business critical. If you're doing something that's valuable, it will become more valuable. If you're doing something that's extra, it will be extra when things are lean and probably get cut.During this interview, you will learn four things:The importance to start paying attention to the early signals from customers that you are on the wrong track instead of listening to your own storiesHow shifting focus from selling “cost savings” to “giving your customers a position of advantage in the eyes of their customers” can be the difference between having no traction to winning 8 out of 10 deals Why we often think we are smarter than everybody else – and why that doesn’t help at allHow small ideas can mean the difference between having 10 users and 10000 – and how to find them.For more information about the guest from this week:Mike SeidleWebsite PivotCX

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to give every brand a wealth of opportunities to grow trust with their customers. My guest is Boaz Grinvald, CEO of RevuzeBoaz is a serial entrepreneur, and this is the 5th company he’s managing. He loves building businesses and solving real-world problems. His background is in computer science, started his career in building out technology products, but was always drawn to the business side.Today, he’s the CEO of Revuze. They realized that many analytical solutions on the market focus on what/when/how much consumers buy. However, 97% of consumers will walk away from a purchase to buy something else, and brands don’t know why. So this is Revuze’s mission to solve. This inspired me, and hence I invited Boaz to my podcast. We explore what’s broken in the world of understanding customer and consumer buying behaviour. We also talk about how to grow momentum by taking a counterintuitive approach to your Go-to-Market. And beyond that, we discuss Boaz's secrets to building a remarkable software business – and the lessons that he learned doing so.Here are some of his quotes:I once had a boss that said: ‘One man with conviction can make a difference’Until you get to hundreds of people, one man with conviction is the core of everything.I love the fact that you can create a business out of no business. And suddenly there's dozens of families that make a living off the business. To me, I think that's a big part of the magic.And obviously, the other part is changing the lives of the customers. When you hear customers that tell you that they get the job done within days that used to take them maybe six months, that's like music.During this interview, you will learn four things:Why your SaaS solution shouldn’t give insights to users on ‘What’ happened, but that it’s in the ‘Why it happened’ where real value unlocksThat your value should not be about making business more efficient – but to provide them with a position of advantageWhy so many SaaS businesses undermine their potential by hanging on to business principles that are serve them more than their customers. Why we’re often too late in making the right personnel decisions – leaving the wrong people in the wrong place for too long and how no one wins doing soFor more information about the guest from this week:Boaz GrinvaldWebsite Revuze

This podcast interview focuses on the story behind Pollfish – and their approach to reinvent market research for a new era by shortening cycle times to get faster, high-quality feedback from customers. My guest is John Papadakis, Founder and CEO at PollfishJohn started his career as an Android developer. He’s passionate about platforms and businesses that scale and has always had a particular focus on the mobile domain. In 2011 he co-founded Pajap, a service which allowed to create native Android applications that didn’t need update or installation, thereby combining the best of native app world and web app world In 2013, he founded Pollfish, a platform that provides brands a revolutionary way to learn, communicate and interact with existing and prospective customers.That inspired me, and hence I invited John to my podcast. We explore their journey to create a new category and the challenges to grow customer trust by establishing a large enough audience of close to a billion consumers. We also discuss his secrets of growing the Pollfish business – and how simplification and trust in people have been a great asset in that.Here are some of his quotes:Essentially, Pollfish started because we had apps, and we want to monetize them. But advertising didn't work for our apps. And we were thinking: ‘There must be a better way to monetize those apps, and that way to be less intrusive since we don't want to spam our users.’So, we created the Pollfish library first, and we saw that people responded to surveys within the app. In a few days, we had hundreds of thousands of people. So, the company started from a need to monetize, and from the opportunity that the mobile app ecosystem (in 2013) was a new distribution channel for market research.It's a two-sided marketplace: you need supply and demand. And you've got to have both. So, we started with the supply, focus there for a couple of years, and then we launched Pollfish as it is today to solve the father decision making problem.During this interview, you will learn four things:Why – if you want to boost momentum - it’s key to focus your go-to-market on your core strengths and true values – and avoid anything that’s outside of that scope How smart packaging can enable you to change perception and with that open complete new market opportunitiesWhy your customers don't want to worry about ‘figuring your messaging out’. They want it simple – so simple they can share it with their boss.Why throwing way an impressive KPI sheet and focus on just 2 numbers gave focus and boosted creativity amongst all staffFor more information about the guest from this week:John PapadakisWebsite Pollfish

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to help us create the critical connections that can transform their world. My guest is Stephen Choi, Co-founder and CEO of Hi Right NowHe started his career in investment banking, then quickly started his entrepreneurial journey by co-founding Moxy Media Group in 2009 and Lets Branch in 2017.A surprising detail about Stephen is that he’s never lived anywhere for longer than 3 years. This nomadic experience taught him how to quickly make friends wherever I went. At the same time, floating around from place to place meant he struggled with keeping his friendships. This led him to co-found Vuybe in 2019 and Hi Right Now in 2020. Hi Right Now is on a mission to empower humanity to form deep meaningful connections.When COVID swept the world, we entered a new era of work – an era where remote work has become ubiquitous. And with the majority of the workforce working remotely, people are feeling lonely, disconnected, and having a hard time communicating freely. That’s what Hi Right Now is about to change.And this inspired me, and hence I invited Stephen to my podcast. We explore one of the new challenges that have become more apparent during the pandemic: Building meaningful connections. We discuss why this is so important for human beings and why current technology options available aren’t a real help. We dig into how, by introducing a different approach, we can not only take the problem away, but also deliver a range of unexpected benefits for both individuals as the organization they work for.Here are some of his quotes:I just experienced this rapid-fire transitionary period: Graduating from this program, than trying to pursue this entrepreneurial venture and then trying to fundraise and everything. So, I need a lot of connections, I need a lot of help and I'm just trying to navigate all these things. So, how do I meet these people that I want to meet. Surely there are entrepreneurs and start-up founders that have walked the same type of journey that have gone down the similar a similar path.There was a huge problem: People belong into multiple online and offline communities, yet it’s still incredibly difficult for you to meet people in a fun and consistent way. Number two: with the progression of the pandemic, social distancing has made it incredibly difficult for you to meet new people. And then the last thing is that networking is just stressful and awkward and solace sometimes.During this interview, you will learn four things:How value can be unlocked by ignoring current connections and relations, breaking down barriers, and introducing serendipityThat you can create virality around your software by making people the stars inside your productWhy the most remarkable ideas for innovation are often right in front of you – just be willing to see that what’s normal to you isn’t necessarily normal for others.That measuring your success by the level of impact you make on the world isn’t about numbers – but about stories. Stories that spread.For more information about the guest from this week:Stephen ChoiWebsite Hi Right Now

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to let every employee have its fair share in the capital of our society. My guest is Quintus Willemse, Co-founder, and CEO of The Share Council.Quintus is on a mission. Every day, he is solving societal problems with technology and entrepreneurship. This mission started in 2014 as a long journey to change the world with the use of technology. To change how people work together and the working conditions, change how life and work are perceived, improve education and knowledge spread, improve the equal division of capital, and prepare the world for the next generation of technology and innovation.This inspired me, and hence I invited Quintus to my podcast. We explore what's wrong in society when it comes to the capital divide. We talk about the biggest bureaucratic hurdles and how we can leverage technology to overcome them. We talk about the importance of big vision thinking when drawing the right people in – people who share the belief – and help spark the momentum. Lastly, we discuss some of his big entrepreneurial lessons learned.Here are some of his quotes:One of the things I stumbled upon along the way was the enormous divide in the capital in our society. Just the example of Europe, 64% of the capital in Europe is in the hands of 10% of the population.The reason that the divide is there is that the return on capital is higher than economic growth. So my salary will never keep up with the speed at which there's a return on capital. If you can leverage that, if you can get more people the leverage of capital, one of the forms is having savings account fine. Another form is having a share.About five years ago, I ran into that and wanted to make everybody co-owner. And I figured out it's pretty difficult in the Netherlands to make someone co-owner of your business.I had a company of about five employees, and to make them co-owners, the first bill I was looking at was between eight and 10,000 euros.This is more or less a smack in the face for any entrepreneur, any good willing entrepreneur who wants to give employees this opportunity.During this interview, you will learn four things:That some of the most remarkable software businesses start because they were bold enough to solve the problem that was in the way of their own successHow to spark momentum by having a sensitive eye for the most critical (and often illogical) roadblocks to be removedHaving a strong vision and believing in what you do will act as the magnet to get the right people to join you on that journey.That as an entrepreneur, you better be prepared you will make all the big mistakes at the same time – And surround yourself with the right people to protect you.For more information about the guest from this week:Quintus WillemseThe Share Council Website