The Remarkable SaaS Podcast

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that enables us to rediscover the places and the people that make the area we live in or visit unique. My guest is Tom Charman, Co-founder and CEO of NavaFor the last decade, he has founded, been involved in, and scaled high-growth consumer-facing products that aim to solve questions relating to understanding and predicting human behavior through data. He’s a fan of lean startup methodology and spends most of his day building products. Tom gave a TEDx on A.I. and quantum computing, advised corporates on data privacy/security, and UK and EU parliaments on data and innovation.He co-founded NAVA in 2017 around the vision to connect people together through food. Their mission to realize this through creating immersive city experiences across Europe by helping locals better understand what’s going on around them. UNWTO recognised NAVA as one of the world’s most disruptive tourism startups.This resonated with me, and hence I invited Tom to my podcast. We explore what’s broken in the process of restaurants and venue reviews and how this is not only impacting us as consumers, but also many business owners – simply because their ‘larger peers’ have an unfair competitive advantage.We discuss how to solve both the B2C and the B2B challenge with smart technology, and how to do this in a way that fuels itself by designing for virality. Here are some of his quotes:When you look for, say, a restaurant or a place to visit on Google, the kind of the general feeling is: ‘if it's above four stars, it's worth going to.’ But actually today, most restaurants are about four stars. So how do you pick out a restaurant that's 4.3 versus a restaurant that's 4.4? And at the end of the day, that’s ignoring the kind of things that come with it like boosted posts and information to try and manipulate reviews.The general feeling here is that this is a system that's flawed and fundamentally broken. The whole independent market of local restaurants, local bars, independently owned places, it's such a disjointed and fragmented market, which makes it hellishly difficult to actually work.But if you get something like this working, what you're doing here is creating a global platform for independent venues to actually compete against the Starbucks, the McDonald's the all of the other big chains that are out there - giving them a level playing field.During this interview, you will learn four things:That too many business software companies say they are talking to customers, but miserably fail to do so.Why we should make it the standard rule to consume less data instead of more (without compromising quality)Why too many features can become your biggest problem and what to do about itHow rapid +50% growth isn’t always an indicator you got product market fitFor more information about the guest from this week:Tom CharmanWebsite

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to avoid people that get paralyzed from having to start their lives over. My guest is Mark Daniel, Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition.Mark Daniel was born and raised in Pensacola. He injured his spine almost 13 years ago and has been using a wheelchair since. In 2010, Mark was asked to assist IHMC with evaluating their first powered exoskeleton, and he has maintained this involvement since.He has now joined IHMC as a full-time research intern to work on the design, fabrication, and testing of the exoskeleton for the Cybathlon. Mark anticipates the Cybathlon to make a huge stride in technology and awareness to improve the quality of life for those with loss of mobility due to injury or illness across the world. "Every day I am confronted with the reality that I am paralyzed. Every day I face this reality to find comfort in my abilities and not anger in my disability – we all have disabilities and I encourage everyone to live unrestrained.” This inspired me, and hence I invited Mark to my podcast. We explore the world of Exoskeleton, the major advances over the last 10 years, and how the blend of hardware, software, and active user involvement has been fundamental to this.We discuss what the innovation should be really all about, how to accelerate it, and what mental obstacles one has to overcome to come out as a winner. Here are some of his quotes:I look at everything that we're doing here at IHMC and all the other exoskeletons, and the other technology that is giving mobility back to people with disabilities. I look at all of this as hopefully, that 18-year-old kid that I was. An accident will happen to him, and he will get paralyzed. And some of the technology that I'm working on or helping to push or develop will be what he's given whenever he has the same problem that I did. And he'll go back to the same job that he had and he won't have to start his life over.We notice who makes strides in the market, and who wins in that market. And it's the people that pay attention to the feedback of their end-user. And the way to do that is to get somebody that's gonna want your technology and then give them a reason to want it.During this interview, you will learn four things:Why it is key to create solutions that smartly balance working with you, as much as for youThat users have alternatives – sometimes radically different from what you offer. And to make them want to change you have to deliver a shift in value.Why it is key to not argue with a user whether what they want is a good idea or not. That art and technology are not that different – and that’s where the opportunity hidesFor more information about the guest from this week:Mark DanielWebsite IHMC

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation in the sales & marketing space that has the power to increase sales productivity by over 80%, and my guest is Ilan Kasan, Co-founder and CEO of Exceed.ai.Ilan is an accomplished product leader with proven successes in driving product, user experience, strategy and execution and building products users and enterprises love, such as Webex.He has deep expertise in mobile, web, & application software & SaaS products, and built an 18-year career in general management and product management for leading global technology companies, including Cisco, WebEx, Comeet and others.Ilan has been an earlier guest on my podcast. Our first interview was back in February 2019. Lots has happened since, and what triggered me to get him back on the podcast is to hear his story about how the market has changed, how he orchestrated his organization for growth, what he’s changed to survive the pandemic, and what lessons he learned in this process.Here are some of his quotes:We learned a lot. And the biggest change: we know very well who is not our customer. We have Product Market Fit. We know that we solve a real problem. We know who we should sell to you. But we hadn’t figured out the Go-to-Market Fit.The Go-to-Market fit is one of the balance between product, sales and marketing to help us sell the product. Another way of looking at it is that a good Go to Market fit is: If you understand how your customers buy. Your Go-to-Market has to fit the way they buy and not the way you sell.By listening to this interview, you will learn four things:How to move from product market fit to Go-To-Market fitWhy it’s liberating to say no to prospectsThat products don’t only need to do functionally what it says it does – more importantly - It needs to do it in a way that delights customersWhy it’s not enough to just have a good story and a good messageFor more information about the guest from this week:Ilan KasanWebsite

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power transform education by taking out bias. My guest is Claudia Rademaker, Co-founder of Dugga.Claudia has worked internationally with start-ups, scale-ups and international business development in various industries.She’s worked as Assistant Professor at Stockholm School of Economics and Stockholm Business School, Stockholm University. She did her doctoral thesis on consumer media behavior and communication effectiveness. After her dissertation, she was awarded the prestigious Wallander stipend from the Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius foundation, Handelsbanken.Her work in education inspired the foundation of Dugga in March 2015. Their mission: In every school, each child deserves equal opportunities and needs to be given the right to quality education.”This inspired me, and hence I invited Claudia to my podcast. We explore what’s broken in today’s education system – where every single day, individual students still get graded on things other than their actual performance.We assess where the problems originate from and how, by breaking the norms, transformational value can be created – and what’s required to do that in a way that people keep talking about.Here are some of her quotes:The passion is that you want to make a difference. My personal mission is that I want to make a difference in education. Help young individuals or pupils to obtain equal opportunities to learn and grow.We want to create solutions for teachers to obtain a better, but also a more honest and unbiased understanding of the skills, knowledge, and abilities of their students.No one should be graded based on his or her last name, skin color, or in class behavior.More importantly, no one with a special need should have less opportunities to learn and grow. One in five has some form of special need.If you think about that, if we stand still by that fact, then it is just unbelievable that we have come this far.I mean, can you then imagine the need in just one classroom? And this can be made possible with modern technology and pedagogyDuring this interview, you will learn four things:What value we can unlock when we take bias out of the process.Why actively seeking to break the norms makes it so much easier to create something remarkableHow, by ‘Thinking out Loud’, you can win the heart of your most difficult and stubborn users and unlock your tipping pointWhy every team member should feel like a VIP for end-resultsFor more information about the guest from this week:Claudia RademakerWebsite

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to enable wholesale and manufacturing organizations to a build the same kind of relationships online as they’ve always done offline. My guest is Michiel Schipperus, CEO of Sana Commerce.Michiel has been working in e-commerce since 1999, when he joined ISM eGroup. In the years following, he consulted with many distributors and manufacturers on how to successfully set up an online sales channel. These lessons learned from more than 100 B2B e-commerce cases were used to develop the Sana Commerce concept.In 2011, Sana was founded. Since then, Michiel is pursuing two missions simultaneously:1. Helping companies worldwide achieve e-commerce success2. Building a company culture that people love and that enables them to be their best selves.This inspired me, and hence I invited Michiel to my podcast. We explore what’s broken in the market for e-commerce and why so many companies don’t achieve the e-commerce success they hope for. We dig deeper into the question what needs to be done differently from a product strategy standpoint to solve this global challenge. Lastly, we discuss Michiel’s standpoint on what’s required to build a software business that turns customers into advocates in a way that’s highly scalable.Here are some of his quotes:We learned 10 years ago that B2B was very different from B2C.The problem for these companies, if they have this very special unique relationship with their customers and they put in place a B2C ecommerce platform, is that this platform is not supporting the nature of their relationships.They run into all kinds of issues with their customers. They don't see the adoption that they would like, because these customers, they go online, they try to order but they do not see the information that they're looking for, or the information is inaccurate. So, they will not use the ecommerce platform anymore. They'll just pick up the phone and revert back to their old way of working.If they're not able to make this transition with them, and service these customers online the same way to have been doing offline, well, that will definitely damage their business.During this interview, you will learn three things:Why what customers say they need, is often not what they want. And getting this wrong could severely undermine your competitiveness.That value differentiation starts with your foundation – and done well helps you can escape the competition on featureWhy you have to be more strategic earlier in your journey – to avoid things just ‘happen to you’ - especially around your value proposition.For more information about the guest from this week:Michiel SchipperusSana Commerce

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to give every one of us the luxury of financial freedom. My guest is Sam Abrika, Co-founder and CEO of Cash Coach.He’s an engineer, contrarian, ex-banker, and now gamifying personal finance.After he achieved his Master of Science at the Paris Sud University and MBA, he started his career as a Risk & Analytics consultant at IBM.Sam then moved to PWC, followed by UBS, where he became Head of EMEA Liquidity and Funding Risk. Finally, he moved to Mitsubishi UFG Securities, where he designed new liquidity analytics which allowed to save $1Bn in liquidity.He then co-founded Cash Coach, a company that’s on a mission to gamify personal finance and make the world better at managing money and more fun for the millennial generation.This inspired me, and hence I invited Sam to my podcast. We explore what’s broken in the consumer world when it comes to financial health – and how most consumer technology companies are designing to make this worse, not better.We dig into why there are no incentives to fix this, and what innovation opportunity that really brings. We also address why having a solution is not enough – and that changing user behavior is possibly the biggest challenge to crack. Lastly, we explore what’s required to build a software business that’s worth making a remark about.Here are some of his quotes:The big idea nowadays in our economy is, you either be in debt or wealth. And unfortunately, no education or university, no one is telling that to people. It doesn't tell them how to manage their money, how to live their life financially free.And actually, it's even quite the opposite. The whole financial industry and the consumerism machine is trying to push people to consumerism for so that they buy stuff they don't need, with money they don't have, to impress people they don't like.We want to reverse that trend. We want people to feel actually rewarded when they have good behaviours; when they're saving; when they're building their wealth; when they're achieving financial freedom.So the big idea is to make it a game. And we want people to compete against themselves, against the friend, to being better at saving.During this interview, you will learn three things:That a lot of innovation can be found by doing the opposite of what the industry aims to achieveThat making black and white choices is key, even if that means you’re going to side-track millions and millions of usersWhy going for some ‘extremely happy’ users is so much more valuable than to have everybody lukewarmHow to uncover opportunities people don’t even know they have a problem aroundFor more information about the guest from this week:Sam AbrikaCashcoach.io

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to make artificial intelligence accessible to any business.My guest is Dr. Tom Heseltine, CEO of Aurora AITom has been with Aurora for over 15 years, becoming CEO in 2016 and guiding Aurora’s transition from a face-rec centric company to a successful AI specialist. He has a deeply technical background, he mentors and tutors Aurora’s Core Technology team of PhDs in solving the most difficult challengesHe has a Ph.D. in Biometric Face Recognition from the University of York, UK, following his first-class honors degree in Computer Science.Tom introduced Deep Learning and AI to Aurora’s technology portfolio, establishing Aurora’s AI Framework and instigating a step-change in face recognition accuracy. This evolution is now creating a revolution in how some of the most complex and specific challenges are solved in record time.And this inspired me, and hence I invited Tom to my podcast. We explore why the accessibility to AI is still so limited and why the results are often far from what’s expected. We discuss the options to address this – and how this both a technological as well as a business problem. Finally, we discuss Tom’s point of view and experience to create a remarkable software business.Here are some of his quotes:Solving problems. It's coming up with an idea, testing a hypothesis, creating a system that puts that into practice, and then particularly seeing it being used and doing good. That's what really drives me,I want to see good ideas, being used to solve really challenging problems.It's to make artificial intelligence accessible to any businessAI needs no introduction these days. It really is fantastically powerful. But it's difficult to get right. It's expensive, and it requires real expertise.A lot of people are trying it and failing. And what we're trying to do is provide application-specific APIs designed for a business built to specific precise requirements by a team of experts, and seeing that right through to deployment. And we're trying to do that for companies that are otherwise missing out.During this interview, you will learn four things:How you can accelerate the adoption of your software products by going beyond the feature / function challengeHow by bringing different disciplines together you can crack the formula to produce something exceptionalThat being remarkable starts with having courage, the courage to adapt and change, step into the unknown and get out of your comfort zoneThat solving narrow and highly specific problems will be the key to create broadscale momentumFor more information about the guest from this week:Dr. Tom HeseltineAurora AI

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to protect each of us from wasting our life by being trapped in the wrong job within the wrong company. My guest is Nina Alag Suri, founder and CEO of X0pa.Nina is a geek at heart and an entrepreneur by choice. She grew up in India, close to Mumbai, the financial capital. She worked for large companies such as ICL and Steria, but was always determined to be an entrepreneur.In 1997, she started her first company in India - in HR Consulting, which she expanded across three regions - Europe, Asia Pac, and North America.She was voted Singapore Female Business Personality of the year, The European Consultancy of the year, European World Finance- Entrepreneur of the Year, and the list goes on.Three years ago, she thought it was time to disrupt and pivot her own business before somebody else would disrupt it. That's how X0PA was formed. X0PA is on a mission to change the art of hiring and make sure that everybody is in the right space, in the right company, the right role in the right team.This inspired me, and hence I invited Nina to my podcast. We explore how, even in today's highly automated world, people still get hired for the wrong reasons - and what's the cause of this. We address the complexity of the problem and that it goes far beyond just fixing inefficiencies.We also explore the big lessons Nina learned on her entrepreneurial journey and what's required to create software products customers don't want to live without.Here are some of her quotes:I studied engineering started my career as a in a tech role. And I said, 'Oh, my God, this is totally not for me', people is what excited me, you know, dealing with different people, diversity of people, the you know, the different colours of people. And I wanted to be in a people businessThe biggest thing that really kind of spoke to me was about the subjectivity in the in the nature of hiring, you know, we've had Industrial Revolution 1, 2, 3, 4 come and go. But hiring has still been a very, very subjective process.It leads to human bias human errors. These biases tend to kind of screen people out, rather than screen people in.And I thought it would be great to use technology to make something which is very objective, very fair. And most importantly, it finds the best match between employer and an employee.You spent a fair bit of your time, in fact, the majority of your time at work. And if you are not in the right place, and the right job, you know, you're wasting your life.By listening to this podcast, you will learn three things:That real value is delivered if we move from solving 'what is' to solving 'what might be'.How solving the recruitment problem in finding the perfect fit in relevance, future loyalty, and future performance provides an approach many software solutions could benefit from.Why software companies are better off when tech-entrepreneurs apply an 'all voices are heard' approach.For more information about the guest from this week:Nina Alag SuriWebsite

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to help us live the lives we want, without killing our planet. My guest is Terry Swack, CEO of Sustainable Minds.Terry is an Internet and environmental entrepreneur, a pioneer in customer experience strategy, and a thought leader in the product sustainability software industry.Her career has focused on making complex ideas and technologies useful, usable and desirable. She started her first company, TSDesign, in 1994: an Internet strategy and product design firm that led the industry in user experience design. It was acquired by Razorfish in 1999.In 2002, she became VP Customer Experience & founding member of StillSecure, a network security software startup where she brought 3 best-in-class products to market in 18 monthsIn 2005, she founded the Beam, a venture-backed Web 2.0 marketplace to power the emerging demand for cleaner & greener products and servicesFinally, in 2007, she founded Sustainable Minds, a company whose mission is to operationalize environmental performance into mainstream product development and manufacturing in an accessible, empowering and credible way.Sustainable Minds’ Eco-concept + LCA Software was the 1st cloud tool for product manufacturers to design greener products has been used in industry and higher education in 90+ countries.This resonated with me, and hence I invited Terry to my podcast. We explore the massive challenge we have at hand to make the world more sustainable. We discuss how technology can help accelerate solving this problem and what’s needed to leverage the impact of technology to its max. How we can create growth by consuming less, and what mindset we should obtain to create solutions people will embrace and talk about.Here are some of her quotes:There is the opportunity for economies and businesses to grow, and there's a different way to do it. Because if growth is still driven by consumption, the way most economies function, and especially first world economies, it's all about consumption and more.But innovation through improving environmental performance and also now material health is going to mean less consumption due to developing product service systems, using fewer raw materials, circular economy, all the things that people haven't yet waded into in a mainstream way, will become the way.People all over the planet want to live the way people live in a first world economy. For that to happen we’d need 5 planets to support the carrying capacity of today's population and the rate at which it's growing.During this interview, you will learn three things:To create meaningful change you have to help people to think differently before they can act differentlyHow to start and accelerate company growth when the main thing you solve isn’t even ‘cool’ yetWhy companies that measure (and not think differently) will only deliver incremental impactRemarkable software is created when you focus on creating something very specific people can use instead of something that everybody can use.For more information about the guest of this week:Terry SwackSustainable Minds

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to turn "dead air" into actionable intelligence, helping Retailers, Healthcare, and Hospitality facilities improve on-site experiences and the health of their businesses. My guest is Van West, Founder and CEO of Vocalytics.Van is an accomplished strategic business development and marketing executive with 15 years’ experience leading teams in startup to Fortune 500 environments.He has a product-minded entrepreneurial approach with focus on strategy, growth, and product, and is passionate about digital engagement to creatively exploit revenue opportunities.He co-founded GiftyOne in 2013, was Director of Channel Marketing for Lookout Mobile Security, SVP of Marketing at Oomba, first hire & VP of Global Business Development at VMAXX as well as Chief Strategy Officer at Reality Smash. Besides that, he’s a guest lecturer at the University of California, Irvine.In November 2019, he founded Vocalytics, an enterprise-grade voice and sound analytics platform built for the physical world. It’s on a mission to improve enterprise performance, associate engagement, and customer experience - all through the power of voice and sound.That inspired me, and hence I invited Van to my podcast. We explore why so many enterprises today are unaware of the context and triggers impacting human behavior of their people and customers – and how that is leading to compromise in experience, loyalty and the performance of their business.We address what can be done about that, but also dig into the big lessons learned in bringing such products to market in a time where everything we have become so used to has changed. Van shares his insights behind the choices he made to deliberately not enter the obvious, high-growth categories in the market.Here are some of his quotes:Understanding the best practices of your top performers and deploying that knowledge at scale is really what's ultimately been our play. We've also recognized that in the COVID world that we're living in, there's less in-person exchanges occurring and those that do occur are less face-to-face.With all the traction and all the momentum that we've built understanding at this point in time, we now have to start building towards what that new normal is and recognizing that.So my little sister has a highly compromised immune system, severely compromised immune system. And we built a technology to listen in the physical worlds. Coughing is the number one way COVID spreads. So rather than filtering out the background noise, let's lean into it to differentiate our product beyond COVID towards this new normal, while also we can help and serve the general population, whether it's returned to work, returned to campus, or returned to the physical world for in-person interactions.We want to keep everyone safe.During this interview, you will learn four things:How to get things off the ground faster, and with more impact by listening to your customers with intent.The essentials to carve out a space that you cannot only be successful in, but actually dominateWhy time is the most important resource for start-ups – and how to utilize that optimallyHow to create velocity by ensuring every member of the team is committed to the journey ahead and enabling them to shine.For more information about the guest of this week:Van WestVocalytics