In this week’s episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr chat with Andrew Davies, Chief Marketing Officer at Paddle. Offering a complete payment infrastructure for businesses in a single stack, Paddle is particularly valuable for PLG businesses, and helps more than 3000 customers in 200 markets set up and sell their SaaS offerings.   This year Paddle has acquired Profitwell, the recurring revenue growth platform, and raised $200 million in funding (bringing the company’s total valuation above $1.4 billion). As CMO, Andrew intends to continue driving aggressive growth by adapting a playbook he has developed in a career that includes serving as VP of Corporate Marketing at Optimizely and as co-founder of the “demand orchestration” platform, Idio. Andrew is particularly honest about the challenges that companies face at this stage in their journey. He explains that “scale breaks systems” so it becomes really important to work towards a culture that is not super-prescriptive, but instead looks to “teach people the rules of the game, and then get them to play it themselves.” Our conversation dives into everything from team leadership challenges, to what the CMO role is and how it creates impact in a fast-scaling organization. Ultimately, Andrew feels that Paddle’s success will be a product of its own ability to help customers drive growth in their own businesses. So jump in and hear how he intends to ensure that Paddle is well-positioned to drive that outcome. Thanks for listening to the Breakout Growth Podcast, and don’t forget, to watch us and subscribe on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-K_CY4-IrZ_auEIs0j97zA/featuredWe discussed:* Andrew’s Journey to CMO, including Idio co-founder and Paddle advisor (06:39)* Why more complex approaches must replace original, more simple tactics (11:17)* The Profitwell acquisition and the challenges of taming the chaos (16:08)* Why leadership cannot be top-down when scaling up (26:15)* “Tracking is always messed up” – so now what? (29.10)* The massive shift Andrew sees in B2B marketing (44:05)And much, much, more . . .  Get full access to Sean’s Substack at seanellis.substack.com/subscribe

In this week’s episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast, brought to you by SAP, the world’s leading ERP provider,  Sean Ellis, and Ethan Garr chat with Tim Flaherty, Chief Financial Officer at Enable Injections.  MedTech is an area we hadn’t explored before, but we often find that going outside of what you know can offer new inspiration and insights for all of us working to drive breakout growth success. Enable Injections is developing enFuse®, an innovative device designed to improve the lives of patients who depend on medical infusions. This less disruptive system for delivering life-sustaining medications has the potential to drive step-change quality of life improvements for people living with a variety of conditions. Tim is leading the company as CFO, and believes this technology can have dramatic consequences for people who sometimes have to give up their ambitions just to live life around their infusion schedules.But what does a CFO really do? Are they administrators who simply ensure that money flows in and out of the business efficiently? Or are they the strategic thinkers working to ensure the financial needs of the business support the mission? Tim certainly ascribes to the latter, and in this discussion, we learn how he brings a passion for patients into his work, and how he must constantly think about the future to ensure the long-term health of the business.Medtech has its own unique challenges, and everything from fundraising to regulation comes into the growth equation, but ultimately, many of the themes we discuss are applicable across industries and markets.  Before you jump in, learn more about SAP's cloud solutions for mid-size enterprises at sap.com/sme. If you have ambitious goals, SAP is the technology partner you need to scale and drive innovation. Instead of relying on stitched-together solutions to manage business finances, operations, HR, suppliers, and customer relationships, leverage the flexibility of SAP's cloud-based ERP solution to gain the insights that will help drive your breakout growth success. Achieve breakout growth success now with SAP at bit.ly/3UUPDxJWe discussed:* Real patients: the hardships of living with in-clinic infusions (04:42) * Big Tech/Big Pharma – The impact of big budgets for CFOs (07:39) * Fundraising over $400 million to support a long-term strategy (11:01) * Once approved, we have to take off like a rocketship! 16:28) * When companies should hire a CFO (35:03)And much, much, more . . . The Breakout Growth Podcast is also on YouTube: Get full access to Sean’s Substack at seanellis.substack.com/subscribe

In this week’s episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr chat with Jacob Eiting, Co-Founder and CEO of RevenueCat. Building the backend system to support subscriptions in a mobile app can take months. Jacob had done this work himself multiple times as an engineer and realized there had to be a better way. So today, mobile developers rely on RevenueCat’s APIs and SDKs to quickly add, manage, and grow subscription revenue in their businesses.For startups, time is a precious commodity, so being able to offload work that isn’t directly focused on improving customer experiences can be super-valuable. But it isn’t just time-savings that RevenueCat delivers.  Working within the confines and ever-changing world of Apple and Android’s walled-gardens can be daunting for developers. RevenueCat deeply understands these ecosystems and uses that knowledge to make it easier for every customer to thrive on these platforms. The company wins by helping its developers grow their businesses, and it is clearly working as RevenueCat itself has grown into a go-to solution for mobile developers around the world.But, the work isn’t done. Jacob is pushing his team to look for additional ways to ensure RevenueCat is adding value for customer throughout their entire journey.  He wants the company to, “be the Salesforce of what we do”, helping and empowering people who build apps at every step.  From our conversation, it seems like he and his team are well on their way.Whether you are an app developer or not, this is a great conversation for anyone looking to better understand why directly aligning your company goals with the goals of your customers is a winning formula for sustainable growth. Take a listen, we think you will really enjoy this one!We discussed:* The RevenueCat backstory: from subscription frustration to accessible solutions (04:52) * “Building on the back of a giant;” adding value within Apple & Android’s walls (15:01) * The importance of being part of the wider developer community (17:59) * Figuring out RevenueCat’s long-term value for customers  (27:52) * OKRs and other efforts to drive alignment (46:20) * Jacob’s most valuable growth learnings (55:18)And much, much, more . . . Get full access to Sean’s Substack at seanellis.substack.com/subscribe

How do you find your first growth channel and is that what you should be thinking about today? That’s the topic of this week’s Growth Snack: The Breakout Growth Podcast Short with Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr. We dive into common mistakes startups make in searching for that first scalable channel, and offer some practical advice to help you make good decisions along the way.  We also mention a couple of resources you might want to check out: * “Traction,” a book by DuckDuckGo Founder, Gabriel Weinberg offers a framework for identifying and testing potential channels.* The First1000, (https://thefirst1000.substack.com/) offers inspiration on how to get early customers. * "Do Things That Don't Scale" (http://paulgraham.com/ds.html) Paul Graham's famous article emphasizing the importance of validating Product/Market Fit before looking for a scalable growth channel.  So jump in, and in less than 10 minutes you will have food for thought as you work to achieve breakout growth success in your business.We discussed: * First growth channel mistakes Sean and Ethan see companies make (00:18)* Why for some businesses certain channels need to be thought about early (02:24)* Frameworks and resources for finding your first growth channel (05:01)* You will need to experiment! (06:17) Get full access to Sean’s Substack at seanellis.substack.com/subscribe

In this week’s episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr chat with Rajesh Jain, founder and managing director of Netcore Cloud. Rajesh bootstrapped Netcore into existence in 1998. Today, still without any outside investment, this global marketing technology company earns nearly $100 million in ARR. More than five thousand brands use Netcore to help create digital experiences for their customers with email, personalizations, nudges, and other tools. In India, the company has captured about 75% of the B2C email market, and they are a dominating force in many emerging markets around the world. But for the first ten years of Netcore’s life, growth was slow.  That changed when Rajesh realized that despite his early successes (he sold his first business for $100 million), he did not have the right leadership skills to drive Netcore to its full potential. So, with that self-awareness, he put ego aside and hired a CEO to lead the company’s next chapter.   That decision allowed Rajesh to provide leadership in different ways, and his story offers valuable lessons for anyone evaluating how they can make an impact in their roles. At the same time, Netcore was able to blossom. Today the company shares similarities with businesses like Braze and Twilio, offering services that help customers acquire, engage, and retain users.  So join Sean and Ethan as they learn from Rajesh’s thoughts on everything from the hidden value of conferences to “understanding customers’ vocabulary” and much more.  The Breakout Growth Podcast is also on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-K_CY4-IrZ_auEIs0j97zA/featured We discussed:* Netcore, a B2B SaaS company for B2B companies (05:19)* Rajesh’s Early success and the “Midas Touch” fallacy (25:29)* Moving into Martech (41:44)* What a new CEO brought to the table (44:01)* “Don’t lose someone else’s money!” (33:38)* Growth through acquisition (38:40) And much, much, more . . . Get full access to Sean’s Substack at seanellis.substack.com/subscribe

In this week’s episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr chat with Charlie Cole, Chief Executive Officer at FTD Flowers. In March of 2020, it was day one of a global pandemic, and day one of Charlie’s new job at a 110-year-old, global flower delivery company that had recently gone through a bankruptcy. The odds seemed stacked against him, but in this conversation, we discover that whether you are managing a startup or a turnaround there are fundamental similarities that power a winning approach.  Most startup leaders–under tremendous pressure to hit promised numbers or simply to not run out of money–make a common mistake; they try to do everything all at once. Similarly, in a turnaround situation, Charlie explains that “there is so just so much that is broken,” but the only way to fix everything is really to just focus with intensity on a very few of the most important things.  If you enjoy unfiltered honesty, you are probably going to love this conversation. When we asked Charlie why he delivers flowers himself on Valentine’s Day, he admitted that at first it was just because he didn’t know what else to do. And when we asked him about starting his role in a pandemic he says, ”I was completely unprepared . . . but I think if we're being honest, anyone would be completely unprepared!”  Delivering flowers helped him better understand the florists and customers FTD served and helped him to create a new culture that would put FTD back on solid footing.  And starting in chaos forced him to find new pathways to build trust with employees and customers.  It has not been easy, but Charlie says it is the most fun he has ever had.  If you listened to last week's Growth Snack, you will know just how inspired Sean and Ethan were by this discussion.  So jump in with us and Charlie Cole as he shows us another side of breakout growth success.   The Breakout Growth Podcast is also on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-K_CY4-IrZ_auEIs0j97zA/featuredWe discussed:* FTD’s origins as a wire service: “the first peer-to-peer network” (05:05)* Charlie’s biggest surprise coming into his new CEO role (09:36)* “There's just so much broken”–ruthless pragmatism, because you can’t fix it all at once (20:32)* What does success look like when you are rebuilding? (32:36)*  Differentiation is important, but it's equally important to know how you're not different (39:02)* Walking the walk; why Charlie delivers flowers himself and what it’s taught him about customers and suppliers (37:51)And much, much, more . . . Get full access to Sean’s Substack at seanellis.substack.com/subscribe

Growth isn’t about doing everything, it’s about doing the right things. That’s the topic of this week’s Growth Snack: The Breakout Growth Podcast Short. This concept came into sharp focus for Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr when they spoke with Charlie Cole, the CEO who has led the turnaround of FTD Flowers (full episode next week). A standout learning from that discussion is that startups and turnarounds often make the same crucial mistake: they try to do everything all at once. So where should you point your relentless focus? And what is the order of operations that prevents you from simply throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks? In this episode, we look to answer these questions as we dive into the importance of getting the right people to the right experiences with qualitative and quantitative learnings, and more.  So jump in, and in less than 10 minutes you will have food for thought as you work to achieve breakout growth success in your business.We discussed: * Even the best leaders will try to do too much all at once (00:45)* The order of operations matters; slow down and focus (01:15)* Don’t let the pressure to hit numbers force poor execution (02:00)* Growth isn’t just about channels, focus on core customer challenges (03:13)* Get the right customers to the right experiences (03:45) Get full access to Sean’s Substack at seanellis.substack.com/subscribe

In this week’s episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr chat with Krish Ramineni, Co-founder and CEO of Fireflies.ai.  The Fireflies.ai video conferencing bot is an AI assistant that takes searchable notes to help teams maximize their productivity on Zoom, MSFT, Webex, and other video conferencing platforms. We dive in with Krish to get to the heart of why Product-Led Growth has proven to be the right approach for his team, why it is not right for everyone, and why Fireflies now plans to move beyond their purely self-serve model. And that might be what makes this conversation so interesting. Even though Fireflies has crushed it with PLG they are also learning and adapting every day.  “Let people buy the way they want to buy” is a mantra for Krish and his team, but through data and experimentation, they are continuing to better understand what drives value for their customers. They have learned that some users do need a more conversational approach to succeed, so Krish is hiring a sales team to support that audience. We have seen evolutions like this from purely self-serve to hybrid models in other fast-growing companies like Slack and Hubspot and it shows how the best PLG companies are always working to better understand their growth engines and customers. So dive in with Sean and Ethan as they look to uncover what’s driving breakout growth success at Fireflies.ai The Breakout Growth Podcast is also on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-K_CY4-IrZ_auEIs0j97zA/featuredWe discussed: *  From Project Manager at Microsoft to Fireflies.ai (06:35)*  Let people buy the way they want to buy (12:19)*  Why hiring salespeople is now on the radar (13:54)* Not every product is right for PLG, but it shines for collaboration tools (16:49)*  Building and monitoring predictability in growth (41:12)*  Growth is repeatable (54:16)And much, much, more . . . Get full access to Sean’s Substack at seanellis.substack.com/subscribe

Is differentiation always important? If you are trying to grow, Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr, say it absolutely is, but it is not just about offering unique features. That’s the topic of this week’s Growth Snack: The Breakout Growth Podcast Short. Learn why it iscrucial to understand what the must-have experience looks like through the eyes of your customers, and why that is important in helping you to differentiate your business even in a crowded market. You might be surprised as you learn how Sean approached differentiation when he was interim head of growth at Dropbox. Or, you might find some inspiration as Ethan describes a company he is working with now that is launching a new product that will compete against products that solve the same problem for customers. Perhaps this will get you thinking about new questions to ask your customers to better distinguish your offerings. Either way, we think you will enjoy it! So jump in, and in less than 10 minutes you will have food for thought as you work to achieve breakout growth.We discussed: * The hot market trap; why copycats struggle to grow (01:03)* Differentiation is not just about nifty features or lower pricing (01:51)* What do customers see as unique? A lesson from Dropbox (03:41)* Why you should never assume fit transfers across products (05:24)* Fast-followers and other takeaways (07:21) Get full access to Sean’s Substack at seanellis.substack.com/subscribe

In this week’s episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr chat with Tony Beltramelli, Uizard’s Co-founder and CEO. If you can picture a perfect up-and-to-the-right curve, then you can visualize what growth looks like for this AI-powered product design tool created for non-designers. To learn what is powering the company’s success we asked Tony to dive further into a LinkedIn post he published where he asked the question, “What did we learn and what did we do differently?” It turned into an amazing discussion. Product and growth people can easily see the appeal of a rapid-prototyping tool that can turn even hand-drawn sketches into websites, mobile apps, and software designs, but despite that promise, Uizard (pronounced Wizard) was still struggling to grow in its early days. As a technical founder, Tony was frustrated that he could not just fix the problem by writing more code.  Fortunately, with learnings from “Hacking Growth” and insights from Superhuman’s CEO on building a Product/Market Fit Engine, Tony and his team discovered what was actually driving must-have experiences for users. That proved to be a huge confidence booster, and with those learnings, the company’s trajectory shifted quickly and drastically. What we love about this conversation is Tony’s honesty and enthusiasm. Even though his LinkedIn post took pride in the company’s huge achievements, he wasn’t bragging. It seems that Tony wanted to share what he learned on this “wild ride” to inspire and help others. Turning customer learnings into processes, investing in data, and narrowing the company’s focus have all been key elements of Uizard’s success, but it also appears that creating a great culture to support those efforts has been equally important.  As of our recording, Uizard is looking for Growth Engineers and Marketing Designers to join their team, so if you are looking for an early-stage rocket ship, you may want to get in touch. Jump in and let’s find out what is behind Uizard’s breakout growth success. Tony’s original LinkedIn Post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tony-beltramelli-513b1219_founders-startup-saas-activity-6889230200631111680-xdSW The Breakout Growth Podcast is also on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-K_CY4-IrZ_auEIs0j97zA/featuredWe discussed:* Sharing a hockey stick graphic and learnings from a wild ride and on LinkedIn  (08:30)* Junior founders and early assumptions (11:52)* How the Product/Market Fit Survey helped change the growth trajectory (12:38)* Uizard&rsquo Get full access to Sean’s Substack at seanellis.substack.com/subscribe