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  • #343 - Aytekin Tank, CEO Jotform - on continuous innovation and momentum

    #343 - Aytekin Tank, CEO Jotform - on continuous innovation and momentum
    2024/12/18
    This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey to build a global SaaS company with 25 million users without venture funding. My guest is Aytekin Tank, Founder and CEO of Jotform. Aytekin founded Jotform in 2006, creating a pioneering WYSIWYG online form builder that has grown to serve over 25 million users worldwide today. What's remarkable is that he bootstrapped the company from the ground up. This allowed Jotform to remain 100% independent and define its own rules and company culture as it grew. Under his leadership, Jotform has experienced impressive international growth, with offices in seven different cities around the world. Their growth and style were recognized as Jotform was named one of the "Best Privately-Owned Companies in America" by Entrepreneur Magazine. Aytekin is not just a successful entrepreneur but also an automation enthusiast. He recently published a book titled "Automate Your Busywork. His book shares his insights on the automation philosophy he applied to grow Jotform. This inspired me, so I invited Aytekin to my podcast. We explore his biggest lessons learned from bootstrapping a form-building tool to leading a global company with 25 million users. He elaborates on his approach around continuous innovation and maintaining momentum (rather than worrying about competitors) and shares his insights on prioritizing product development and growth. Last but not least, he talks about how he recently gave new meaning to his 'Founder’ role and why every SaaS entrepreneur should do that. Here's one of his quotes Being a founder is not just about leading a team, coaching a team, managing a team. But it's also about improving myself, growing myself. Because being a founder is about growth. It's about growth mindset. It's about growing yourself with the company. It's about growing your company. And it requires some dedication to do that - growing knowledge and learning. During this interview, you will learn four things: How he's working with customers to ensure JotForm's success His first principles for managing growth and avoiding getting bogged down in busy work. How he's organized his development teams and their rituals to ensure momentum on the one hand and optimal alignment on the other hand. How he approached competition from Google Forms to come out stronger themselves. For more information about the guest from this week: Aytekin Tank Website: Jotform Subscribe to the Daily SaaS Reflection Get my free, 1 min daily reflection on shaping a B2B SaaS business no one can ignore. Subscribe here Yes, it’s actually daily. And yes, people actually stay subscribed (Just see what peer B2B SaaS CEOs say) My promise: It’s short. To the point. Inspiring. And valuable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    58 分
  • #342 - Ozan Unlu, CEO of Edge Delta - on solving critical business problems.

    #342 - Ozan Unlu, CEO of Edge Delta - on solving critical business problems.
    2024/12/11
    This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey to eliminate the risk that cost businesses thousands of $ per second of downtime. My guest is Ozan Unlu, Founder and CEO of Edge Delta. Ozan has had an unconventional career path that spans multiple disciplines. He started as a nanoscientist and researcher before transitioning into the tech world. His professional journey includes roles at major tech companies. He worked as a Software Development Lead and Program Manager at Microsoft, and as a Senior Solutions Architect at Sumo Logic. In September 2018, he founded Edge Delta after recognizing the need for a new approach to handling the exponential growth of data in modern organizations. Their mission: Change the way enterprises manage their data - particularly in mission-critical systems. And this inspired me, and hence I invited Ozan to my podcast. We explore what it takes to navigate the complexities of building a successful B2B SaaS company in a competitive landscape. He elaborates on his approach to solving mission-critical problems and building credibility in deep-tech enterprise markets around a new category. Ozan also shares how he's maintaining a long-term vision while addressing urgent needs - and what he's doing differently to assemble and align a world-class team. Lastly, he discusses the challenges of market education, gaining early adopters, and scaling efficiently. Here's one of his quotes If you're at an early-stage startup, look at how you're solving problems. Don't put more problems on other people's plates. Say, “Hey, this is how I'm solving a problem. This is what I think is the best approach.” And if people disagree with you, just make sure you're walking away with a mutual commitment. We do this all the time, whether it's myself or someone else at the company where you say, You know what, I disagree, but I'm committed. Let's go do it that way. That's super important because when you're dealing with companies that make hundreds of millions of dollars in profits a day, that is very hard to fight against if you aren't all in lockstep and marching forward. During this interview, you will learn four things: What he learned from their rapid growth period (6x employees in one year) and what he'd do differently next time. Why he's saying no to companies like Apple (even though they might be able to help them). Why he continues to focus on solving big technical problems rather than taking an easier route. What he's done to build credibility and trust in the market. For more information about the guest from this week: Ozan Unlu Website: Edge Delta Subscribe to the Daily SaaS Reflection Get my free, 1 min daily reflection on shaping a B2B SaaS business no one can ignore. Subscribe here Yes, it’s actually daily. And yes, people actually stay subscribed (Just see what peer B2B SaaS CEOs say) My promise: It’s short. To the point. Inspiring. And valuable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    51 分
  • #341 - Daniel Saks, CEO of Landbase - on reclaiming your day with AI

    #341 - Daniel Saks, CEO of Landbase - on reclaiming your day with AI
    2024/12/06
    This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey to redefine software's role from engagement-driven to impact-driven solutions. My guest is Daniel Saks, CEO of Landbase. Daniel's entrepreneurial journey has deep roots in a 100-year-old family business. He grew up in Niagara Falls, Canada, where his family owned a furniture store founded by his great-great-grandparents in 1908. However, the 2009 recession forced the century-old family business to close, which became a pivotal moment in Daniel's life. Instead of lamenting the loss, he was inspired to explore how technology could have saved small businesses like his family's store. This experience led him to co-found AppDirect, a B2B subscription commerce platform that grew to generate over $3 billion in annual transaction revenue. In May 2023, he co-founded Landbase, which he leads as the CEO. He sees Landbase as his "second business" with a continued mission of "helping B2B businesses or entrepreneurs thrive." This time, the focus is on applying agentic AI to go-to-market strategies. And this inspired me, and hence I invited Daniel to my podcast. We explore what's broken in the way companies still automate today. Daniel shares a compelling vision for the future of B2B SaaS powered by agentic AI - thereby creating a 5x lager market than today's software industry. He discusses how companies can achieve significantly better results while allowing executives to "reclaim their day." He also explains how this new technology can help build digital credibility, which is essential for companies to stand out. Here's one of his quotes I think that era of software, including business software, was all driven by what is the amount of hours that someone spends in your tool. And I think those are all the wrong metrics. My kind of goals with Landbase and agentic AI is the opposite. It's actually: how few, how little amount of time does a human have to spend in the software, but how much impact does the software make for the human so they can have more time to do what they love. During this interview, you will learn four things: What he's doing differently to create defensible differentiation. His approach to helping his customers avoid waste of resources and money as they speed up their Go-to-Market activities. Why he advises against imposing previous playbooks/values on new ventures. What he learned from speaking to customers about their biggest painpoints that helped him to build far better products. For more information about the guest from this week: Daniel Saks Website: Landbase Subscribe to the Daily SaaS Reflection Get my free, 1 min daily reflection on shaping a B2B SaaS business no one can ignore. Subscribe here Yes, it’s actually daily. And yes, people actually stay subscribed (Just see what peer B2B SaaS CEOs say) My promise: It’s short. To the point. Inspiring. And valuable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    56 分
  • #340 - Mark Kosoglow, CEO of Operator - on critical thinking in sales

    #340 - Mark Kosoglow, CEO of Operator - on critical thinking in sales
    2024/11/27
    This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey to transform toxic sales automation. My guest is Mark Kosoglow, CEO of Operator. Mark is a tech entrepreneur on a mission. A big mission. He's a sales expert who played a crucial role in helping scale Outreach from zero to over $230 million in revenue in just 8-years. Being part of the rising growth of sales automation, Mark realizes how too much automation and the mantra of Growth at all Costs has wrecked outbound. It's created a massive problem, which he refers to as ‘The Great Ignore.’ This inspired the idea of founding an operator in April 2024. Their mission is to make outreach more human, insightful, and valuable for both sellers and buyers. And this inspired me, and hence I invited Mark to my podcast. We explore how The Great Ignore has not only created a sales execution problem for all of us - but has also fueled a much larger Societal problem. He shares a masterclass on the art of what effective sales is really all about. He elaborates on what he's done differently to build rapid traction - with buyers that stay and become fans from the start. Last but not least, he talks about his lessons learned in harmonizing work-life priorities. Here's one of his quotes "Most platforms, good advice is the antithesis of how they create revenue. So if I'm like a ZoomInfo or someone like that, I make money by people buying more accounts and more contacts. Therefore, for me to suggest something that would require less contacts and less companies would be the antithesis of what I'm supposed to be doing, which is growing my business." During this interview, you will learn four things: What sales skills to home in on to succeed in the evolving sales landscape How he's staying sane, flexible and performing better in the crazy world of building a startup in a market that's overwhelmingly crowded. How his Waitlist grew to 1,500 people within 24 hours of announcement. How building a personal brand is of value to any sales to stand out - not only top management. For more information about the guest from this week: Mark Kosoglow Website: Operator Subscribe to the Daily SaaS Reflection Get my free, 1 min daily reflection on shaping a B2B SaaS business no one can ignore. Subscribe here Yes, it’s actually daily. And yes, people actually stay subscribed (Just see what peer B2B SaaS CEOs say) My promise: It’s short. To the point. Inspiring. And valuable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    42 分
  • #339 - Griffin Parry, CEO of m3ter - on taking the pain out of billing operations.

    #339 - Griffin Parry, CEO of m3ter - on taking the pain out of billing operations.
    2024/11/20
    This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey to build mission-critical billing infrastructure for complex B2B SaaS pricing models. My guest is Griffin Parry, Founder and CEO of m3ter. Griffin Parry is a serial Entrepreneur. In 2013, he founded GameSparks, a backend-as-a-service platform for video games, which he sold to Amazon in 2017. Combining his firsthand experience with the challenges of usage-based pricing at GameSparks with the problems he encountered at a much larger scale at AWS became the founding idea behind m3ter. He founded m3ter in October 2020 - it's a platform that helps B2B Software companies manage complex pricing and automate complex billing calculations. Their mission: To enable B2B Software companies to deploy and manage usage-based pricing intelligently. This inspired me, and hence, I invited Griffin to my podcast. We explore what it takes to build a successful pricing and billing infrastructure company. Griffin shares his experience identifying and solving real market problems. He talks about the importance of a strong founding thesis and continuous iteration and why he opted to build for operational complexity and enterprise integration from the start. Last but not least, he shares some of his big lessons on how he defined his ideal customers and what not to do when approaching those customers if you want to gain traction. Here's one of his quotes Early on, we overdid it. We would go, 'We are revolutionizing your pricing. And they go, 'Okay, why?' And we go, 'It's going to allow you to ship product faster because you're gonna have more pricing agility. We just weren't talking the same language as them. We just pulled it back, pulled it back, simplified the story, and now we meet them where they are. We go, 'Billing operations is a real pain point for you, isn't it? And they go, 'YES.' During this interview, you will learn four things: Griffins' 3 success factors in growing his business. How he's building trust with his ideal customers from the start. What he's doing differently to give development a headstart when it comes to building new products. Why he hired a data scientist from day one - and why you should possibly too. For more information about the guest from this week: Griffin Parry Website: m3ter Subscribe to the Daily SaaS Reflection Get my free, 1 min daily reflection on shaping a B2B SaaS business no one can ignore. Subscribe here Yes, it’s actually daily. And yes, people actually stay subscribed (Just see what peer B2B SaaS CEOs say) My promise: It’s short. To the point. Inspiring. And valuable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    50 分
  • #338 - Hadassah Backman, CEO of Guardoc Health - solving critical industry problems

    #338 - Hadassah Backman, CEO of Guardoc Health - solving critical industry problems
    2024/11/13
    This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey to change the way healthcare nurses can work to improve patient safety. My guest is Hadassah Backman, CEO of Guardoc Health. Hadassah has nursing roots: She started her career as a registered nurse and has built hands-on experience in emergency room and hospice care. This clinical background gives her unique insights into the challenges faced by frontline healthcare workers. Besides that, she holds a master's degree in public health policy and management from Columbia University. At this intersection, the big idea for Guardoc was born - which she founded in July 2021 - in the middle of COVID-19. Guardoc is a clinical data integrity solution that uses artificial intelligence to address nursing challenges. Their mission: to prevent medical errors, reduce wasted nursing hours, and improve care for chronically ill older adults. And this inspired me, so I invited Hadassah to my podcast. We explore what's broken when it comes to supporting nurses in preventing medical errors. Hadassah shares her vision of how to solve it and how she bootstrapped her way to delivering a solution that nurses just kept talking about. She elaborates on some of her big lessons learned (and the resilience needed) in getting traction and attracting funding. Last but not least, she advises on building momentum through laser-sharp focus and smart product development decisions. Here's one of her quotes We have apps streaming to our phones. You can watch your kids on your phone remotely. You can open doors and close doors and lock people out. There are all these things - but we still haven't figured out how to help what, to me, is the most important workforce. Because they really deliver holistic care to patients so that they can provide the care that they were trained to do and that they want to do. And so that really compelled me to ask: why isn't there a solution that captures mistakes? During this interview, you will learn four things: Why taking a 'user-centric' approach is not enough to succeed in building a successful software business. How she started to deliver remarkable value without having built any product yet - and how that helped accelerate the journey. What she did differently to put a flywheel for growth in motion for her business - in a world that requires a high-touch GTM approach. How she's built a resilient mindset to navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship successfully. For more information about the guest from this week: Hadassah Backman Website: Guardoc Health Subscribe to the Daily SaaS Reflection Get my free, 1 min daily reflection on shaping a B2B SaaS business no one can ignore. Subscribe here Yes, it’s actually daily. And yes, people actually stay subscribed (Just see what peer B2B SaaS CEOs say) My promise: It’s short. To the point. Inspiring. And valuable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    47 分
  • #337 - Dan Uyemura, CEO of Pushpress - on Vertical SaaS differentiation

    #337 - Dan Uyemura, CEO of Pushpress - on Vertical SaaS differentiation
    2024/11/06
    This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey to build deep vertical business solutions that deliver 10x value for every 1x in price charged. My guest is Dan Uyemura, CEO of Pushpress. Dan has had an entrepreneurial spirit from a young age. He was a Dot-com era pioneer: During college, he founded Mixture.com, a platform that was ahead of its time and preceded social media giants like Myspace. After working in tech, including a stint at Myspace, he made a dramatic career pivot by opening his own CrossFit gym. He quickly got frustrated with the poor software options available for gym management. So in January 2012, he leveraged his tech background to create PushPress and rebel against manual paperwork and complicated, overpriced software. Their mission: to make gym management
 the easiest part of starting a fitness business. And this inspired me, and hence I invited Dan to my podcast. We explore his journey from MySpace coder to gym owner to software entrepreneur. Dan shares his insights on what it takes to create a competitive advantage that's hard to beat. He elaborates on empathy-driven support, value-based pricing, and the "layer cake" approach that makes his SaaS products invaluable. He emphasizes the importance of focusing on customer value over traditional SaaS metrics and shares innovative strategies to outmaneuver competitors. Last but not least, he shares his data-driven decision-making framework and lessons on team building. Here's one of his quotes "Money is an output. It's the result of energy spent somewhere else. So the problem is, a lot of people build those businesses around money. How do I make more money? How do I generate more money? How do I increase my top line? Or bottom line? The reality is that's an output, and you can never affect an output. You can only affect the input. And the input is the order of magnitude and the sheer volume of value you provide to customers. That's what you got to focus on." During this interview, you will learn four things: How he's tuning his product strategy to grow a highly defensible position against competitors. His framework for building conviction and speeding up decision-making in feature development How he overcame the balancing act of horizontal feature breadth with vertical depth improvements His approach to innovating pricing models to outmaneuver competitors and accelerate growth. For more information about the guest from this week: Dan Uyemura Website: Pushpress Subscribe to the Daily SaaS Reflection Get my free, 1 min daily reflection on shaping a B2B SaaS business no one can ignore. Subscribe here Yes, it’s actually daily. And yes, people actually stay subscribed (Just see what peer B2B SaaS CEOs say) My promise: It’s short. To the point. Inspiring. And valuable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    47 分
  • #336 - Victor Kristof, CEO of DemoSquare - on resilient customer-driven innovation.

    #336 - Victor Kristof, CEO of DemoSquare - on resilient customer-driven innovation.
    2024/10/30
    This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey to democratize political data and anticipate regulatory changes. My guest is Victor Kristof, Co-founder and CEO of DemoSquare. Victor is a fascinating individual with a unique blend of academic excellence, entrepreneurial spirit, and a passion for leveraging technology to enhance democratic processes. He holds a Ph.D. in Machine Learning from Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, where he developed algorithms and statistical models to study human behavior within social and political systems. That research became the foundational idea behind DemoSquare, a SaaS startup he co-founded in November 2022. Their mission: to "democratize democracy" by making political and regulatory data more transparent and accessible with artificial intelligence. It will change how companies and their public affairs teams navigate the complex world of politics and regulation and, potentially, how citizens engage with democracy. And this inspired me, and hence I invited Victor to my podcast. We explore the journey of transforming academic research into a change-making political data platform. Kristof shares his lessons learned by doing customer interviews and pivoting in the right direction. He highlights the value of sharing ideas openly, adapting to constant change, and maintaining resilience in the face of rejection. Last but not least, he offers practical advice on investor relationships, sales strategies, and personal stress management. Here's one of his quotes I've heard several times people saying, "I have this super cool idea. I don't want to share it with anyone until I do it. I had the complete opposite experience. Even when it wasn't completely ready, we were not selling it, just talking about it to people, not even in a professional or formal context. You go to a party, you go to a family gathering, and you meet with some friends. You just share your ideas and see what's happening. The most important feedback I got came from these informal discussions. I cannot count how many introductions to potential customers I've gotten through these informal discussions. During this interview, you will learn four things: How to gather feedback and validate your idea - and use both positive and negative feedback to refine (or even pivot) your product. How finding the right co-founder can have a multiplicative effect on your business. How to stay resilient in the Face of Rejection from both customers and investors. What to look for to select investors who will make a difference for your business. For more information about the guest from this week: Victor Kristof Website: DemoSquare Subscribe to the Daily SaaS Reflection Get my free, 1 min daily reflection on shaping a B2B SaaS business no one can ignore. Subscribe here Yes, it’s actually daily. And yes, people actually stay subscribed (Just see what peer B2B SaaS CEOs say) My promise: It’s short. To the point. Inspiring. And valuable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    42 分