SaaShimi

Dave discusses Squire's product, the history of the company, how Squire successfully navigated through the early days of COVID, and the role institutional and celebrity angel investors play in the Company. BIODave Salvant is a Co-Founder and President of Squire Technologies, a provider of an all-in-one barbershop management platform. Prior to Suire, Dave was a sales associate at AXA and private banking at JP Morgan. He received his Bachelor's degree from the University at Albany (SUNY) and MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. TIMESTAMPS00:50 Dave and Squire03:40 Go-To-Market07:32 Marketing in Squire08:16 Company size / Global Remote-first company08:57 Quick product release help barbers navigate COVID (incredible response to COVID)11:00 Creating new products12:15 First Investors14:45 Celebrity Investors16:11 Involvement of investors16:44 Vision for Squire TechnologiesSeason B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Barb discussed Sapia's unique product, the role of artificial intelligence in unbiased hiring, the Sapia data set based on a billion words and 2 million candidate profiles, the initial dataset that Sapia utilized, its first client, go-to-market strategy, and many other things. BIOBarb Hyman is the Founder and CEO of Australia-based Sapia. Prior to Sapia, Barb was a Head of HR and Marketing at Boston Consulting Group. She received her Bachelor's degree from Monash University and MBA from Melbourne Business School. TIMESTAMPS01:00 Barb and Sapia04:20 Five questions to select a candidate07:50 Artificial Intelligence vs. Machine Learning10:25 Getting the initial data set13:25 When your first client is Enterprise…17:30 Pricing model24:00 Sapia's Go-To-Market strategy29:30 Hiring on values33:30 KPIs35:00 Raising capital37:50 On biases Season B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Sean discussed the financial diligence process of SaaS companies, common mistakes in ARR, Gross Profit, and EBITDA calculations, the effects capitalized software and capitalized commissions have on cash EBITDA, and many other things. BIOSean St. Germain is a Managing Director at Alvarez & Marsal. He focuses on transactions in the software and technology industry. He has advised clients on domestic and cross-border transactions, including traditional buy-side transactions, portfolio company add-on transactions, public-to-private acquisitions, asset purchases, and sell-side divestiture processes, including carve-outs. Sean is an expert in software revenue recognition, including the new revenue recognition standard (ASC 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers).TIMESTAMPS01:00 Sean and Alvarez & Marsal05:30 Unique aspects of SaaS businesses09:00 Recurring vs Re-occurring revenue streams12:20 Mistakes companies make in ARR calculation15:35 Cost of Sales17:35 EBITDA Adjustments 22:00 Confirmation of synergies 23:15 Capitalized commissions25:30 Capitalized software29:05 What is Cash EBITDA?33:30 Preparing your company for financial diligence 37:00 Findings that can derail transactionsSeason B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Francois shared his experience of bringing the Norway-based Cognite to the US market, discussed the most significant challenges he has faced along the way,  and compared corporate cultures in the US and Europe. BIODr. Francois Laborie is the President of Cognite North America, overseeing Cognite's expansion and operations in the US, Canada, and Latin America. He has had an extensive career in the technology industry, serving in both research and executive roles. Francois has been at the heart of the transformation of the media industry through technology. He spent 11 years as COO and CCO of Vizrt, where he focused on disrupting journalism by empowering media content creators with visual storytelling tools. Before that, Francois managed research projects on collective decision-making and human-computer interfaces at the Airbus Group Corporate Research Center. TIMESTAMPS01:00 Francois and Cognite06:15 Competition with internally built systems08:40 Go-To-Market Strategy11:40 Reception of Cognite by US and EU clients15:35 Selecting sales personnel19:30 Comparing corporate cultures in the US and Europe20:20 Involvements of investors23:30 Long-term vision for CogniteSeason B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Diamond discussed SaaS valuation and how multiples have changed over the past several years, the main drivers of multiples, and M&A market trends.BIODiamond Innabi is a Vice President at Software Equity Group, a boutique investment bank focused on B2B software companies. Over her nearly a decade career at SEG, she was instrumental in numerous M&A transactions involving public and private companies as well as private equity funds.TIMESTAMPS1:45 Why are SaaS companies valued at a multiple of revenue or ARR?4:00 Drivers of SaaS Valuation and how they have changed in the current environment6:30 Mission-critical software7:50 Multiples over 5 years9:05 SaaS valuation during COVID10:00 Comps contribution to assigning multiples11:25 On-prem vs cloud valuation14:20 Buyers and Sellers16:20 Most durable SaaS categories17:15 Recommendation to sellers19:30 Calculation of Gross MarginsClick the following links to "double-click" on Diamond's comments about M&A Update, The Rule of 40, Gross Margin impact, and COGSSeason B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Marion shared her experience of being a serial entrepreneur, the challenges of raising funds, as well as founding and growing Govenda. We discussed the company's product, customer base, go-to-market strategy, and everything in between.BIOMarion Lewis is a serial entrepreneur and the Founder and CEO of Govenda, a board management platform that enables effective corporate governance. Prior to Govenda, she was a co-founder and CEO of Tachyon Solutions, a custom application development and interactive marketing firm.TIMESTAMPS01:05 Marion – serial entrepreneur04:00 Govenda and its target markets11:10 Locking in the first client12:55 Raising capital16:25 Govenda during and after COVID17:45 Go-To-Market strategy19:40 Org structure and hiring first employees21:50 Role of investorsSeason B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Miguel discusses the story of Capchase, typical profile of SaaS clients, terms of financing they provide, and how investors and lenders view such financing. BIOMiguel Fernandez is a Co-Founder & CEO of Capchase, an alternative finance provider that enables SaaS companies to access their future contract payments upfront. Prior to launching Capchase, Miguel worked in management consulting and then moved into SaaS. He headed sales and customer success at Geoblink, a Location Intelligence SaaS and scaled it from 0 to $2m in ARR.TIMESTAMPS01:10 Mguel and the story of Capchase04:35 Use cases for Capchase07:05 Comparing Venture Capital, Venture Debt, and Alternative financing09:35 Who can use Alternative finance11:30 Terms of financing - price, covenants, etc.14:25 Revenue-based financing players17:15 VCs' and lenders' take on Alternative financing20:15 Vision for CapchaseSeason B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Scott discusses the rise of Customer Success, Gainsight Essentials, its GTM strategy, and the most common mistakes by SMBs when it comes to CS.BIOScott Salkin is SVP & GM, Gainsight Essentials at Gainsight. He is a seasoned entrepreneur, CEO, and senior B2B sales and marketing executive. Prior to joining Gainsight, Scott was the founder and CEO of Allbound, a B2B SaaS platform dedicated to helping businesses accelerate revenue through channel partners and ecosystems.TIMESTAMPS01:20 Scott's path to Gainsight04:15 Rise of Customer Success06:50 Changes in Customer Success09:00 Gainsight Essentials12:45 Essentials' GTM strategy vs the Gainsight's GTM14:40 Customer Success KPIs for SMBs17:10 Most common mistakes by SMBs18:20 Vision for Gainsight EssentialsSeason B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Mark discusses Alpine Investors and Alpine Software Group, a unique holding company they have built by acquiring SaaS companies within several verticals. He also shared Alpine's take on talent, the profile of companies the firm invests in, and SaaS 2.0.BIOMark Strauch is a founding partner at Alpine Investors and Chairman of Alpine SG, the firm's vertical SaaS aggregation platform. Prior to Alpine, Mark served as CEO of EDC, a financial technology company that was acquired in 2011. Previously, he served as CEO of Business Engine, a venture-backed software company that was acquired in 2007.TIMESTAMPS00:35 Intro03:15 Alpine and CEO-in-Training program05:35 The reason why Alpine is the most sought-after firm for top MBA programs06:50 Investing in SaaS and building Alpine SG13:20 Valuations of private SaaS companies15:40 Competing for the deals with other PE funds21:20 Acquisition process and deal structuring26:25 Investor vs Operator mindsets28:30 Areas of improvements in bootstrapped companies32:40 A vision for Alpine SGSeason B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Geoffrey Moore, the author of numerous marketing books (including the all-time classic – Crossing the Chasm), discusses how COVID affected the Chasm and how SaaS companies should apply the blueprint to SMB and Enterprise target markets. He also speaks about Geoffrey's newest book, Zone to Win, written for later-stage technology companies. BIOGeoffery Moore is a best-selling author, speaker, and advisor who splits his consulting time between start-up companies in the Wildcat Venture Partners portfolios and established high-tech enterprises, most recently including Salesforce, Microsoft, Autodesk, Gainsight, Google, and Splunk.TIMESTAMPS03:08 Crossing the Chasm in a few words08:10 COVID's effect on Chasm 11:02 Chasm's blueprint for SaaS companies 13:55 SMB vs Enterprise approach to Chasm15:27 Case Study19:58 Geoffrey's most important booksSeason B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.

Bruno discusses the evolution of the Data Analytics space, its current trends, and shares his view on what lies ahead. BIOBruno Aziza is a recognized authority on Business Intelligence and Information Management. He is a Data & Analytics industry veteran with more than two decades of experience in leading technology companies of various sizes - from startups (Alpine Data) to behemoths (Oracle, Microsoft, and now Google). If you are in the Data & Analytics space be sure to check out:Bruno's book: Drive Business Performance: Enabling a Culture of Intelligent ExecutionBruno's educational series: Data JourneysTIMESTAMPS00:35 Bruno's background02:25 What is Data Analytics 05:40 Evolution of the Data Analytics space07:50 Data Lakes and Data Warehouses 10:10 Crowded Data Analytics space explained12:45 Tailwinds for Data Analytics 14:40 Data Analytics tools in a modern organization16:15 Bruno's Tech Stack17:35 How mature is the Data Analytics space 19:15 Parting thoughts This is the Final Episode of Season A. Make sure to subscribe to be alerted about Season B.

Jan shares the story of Celigo, discusses iPaaS, speaks on the Company's Org structure and functions, and how he manages the fast-growing company with an exceptional retention profile. BIOJan is a veteran of the software industry with more than 25 years of experience in sales, marketing, product development, and customer success. He founded Celigo with the goal of simplifying how companies integrate business applications together for a connected enterprise. Prior to Celigo, he worked at NetSuite and Cambridge Technology Partners.TIMESTAMPS00:40 Jan and Celigo06:00 Target Customers (Market)07:25 Basis for Pricing09:25 Competition in iPaaS16:55 Retention18:20 Go-to-Market20:00 Rebuilding the platform from scratch21:00 Size and Growth23:55 Team and Structure30:30 Relationship with investors31:30 Long Term Vision

Vlad discusses lower-middle market SaaS space, competition in the field, Nexa's deal sourcing, due diligence process, deal structures, and exit strategies. He shares a case study about Nexa's acquisition of AutoReturn, whose software connects law enforcement and towing companies.BIOVlad Besprozvany is a Founder and Managing Partner of Nexa Equity, a private equity firm that invests in lower-middle market software and fintech companies. Prior to founding Nexa, Vlad was a Managing Director at Greater Sum Ventures, where he focused on investments in software companies. Previously, he was a software and fintech investor at Insight Partners and Thoma Bravo.TIMESTAMPS00:40 Vlad and Nexa05:45 Competition in Lower-Middle Market07:35 Nexa's Investment Criteria / Valuations in the space13:50 Sourcing deals19:38 Winning competitive deals 21:30 Typical deal structures29:20 Case Study: Investing in AutoReturn35:30 Exit Strategies

Erinn Tarpey is a CMO at Visual Lease, a software provider that helps companies stay compliant with lease accounting standards. In this episode, Erinn discussed her role as a marketer, the structure of her team, how she measures the effectiveness of different marketing functions, her take on NPS, and many other things. She also shared a case study – Visual Lease's call-to-action with a 65% conversion rate.BIOErinn has expertise scaling up organizations in SaaS companies during periods of high growth and has driven marketing efforts around proprietary research development, mergers and acquisitions, and channel sales.Before joining Visual Lease, Erinn served as a member of the senior leadership team at iCIMS. Prior to joining iCIMS, Erinn directed marketing efforts at Aquiire and PurchasingNet, Inc., both of which provide SaaS solutions designed to streamline procure-to-pay processes at global Fortune 1000 organizations.TIMESTAMPS00:35 Erinn and Visual Lease03:50 Clients05:20 Pricing06:05 Solving the lease problem09:20 Tailwinds from the regulatory environment12:10 Top objectives of Marketer 14:35 Marketing team structure16:05 Measuring effectiveness of Marketing functions22:25 Internal use of NPS 26:45 Tech Stack 29:25 Case study 

Shelley Perry is an investor, board director, and advisor that specializes in the uniqueness of the SaaS ScaleUp Stage. In this interview we discussed ScaleUps, compared the mindset of investors and operators, and touched on the European SaaS space.BIOShelley Perry is a Managing Director at Scalelogix Ventures. Over her career in SaaS she was an Operating Partner at Insight Partners, CEO of Bynder, Chief Product Officer at NTT, CTO Industry Solutions at Hewlett-Packard, among other things. Shelly sits on boards of Chargebee, Bynder, Foresite MSP, Airbrake.io, and Trove.TIME STAMPS01:30 ScaleUp stage07:30 Quantifying Low, Mid, and Late ScaleUp stage11:10 What goes wrong on ScaleUp stage?14:35 What do operators learn when they start investing?16:45 Role of an Operating Partner at an investment firm19:20 Due Diligence for different stages of ScaleUp companies22:35 Do investors and operators look at the same SaaS metrics?26:00 European SaaS space28:50 US investors in European SaaS31:40 SaaS companies that are worth imitating 

Michael Lyon, is a Founder and Managing Director of Vista Point Advisors, an investment bank exclusively focused on Software and internet. In this episode, he discussed main drivers of SaaS valuation and how revenue models may influence it, Private Equity funds that are active in the space, what founders need to fix prior to selling SaaS companies, how they should handle inbound calls from potential investors, and many other things.BioMichael Lyon is the Founder and Managing Director of Vista Point Advisors. Michael has spent 24 years as a technology investment banker and chemical engineer. Prior to founding Vista Point Advisors, Michael worked at Citigroup where he was a senior member of the technology M&A team. Prior to Citigroup Michael was an engineer for ExxonMobil and BP where he managed chemical plant operations.Time Stamps01:00 Vista Point Advisors and Mike's background02:00 Vista Points deal sourcing03:05 SaaS market activity05:00 Main drivers of SaaS valuation12:50 Revenue models and how they influence valuations16:00 Selling On-Premise software companies18:35 Earn-outs or not Earn-outs 19:55 Bringing house in order before selling the business 23:00 Choosing a buyer and length of the sales process 27:15 Private Equity funds active in the SaaS space28:45 Handling inbound calls from Private Equity funds29:45 When to call an Investment Banker

Faisal Masud, is a CEO of Fabric, a cloud-native e-commerce platform for middle market and enterprise clients. Faisal discusses the history of Fabric, what's behind the company's incredible growth, and what they plan to do with $150M capital they raised in less than a year. You would also be interested to hear his take on ebay, Amazon, UPS, and today's Silicon Valley.Faisal's BioFaisal Masud is a CEO of Fabric, which he joined in 2020. Prior to Fabric, Faisal was COO at Wing (Alphabet), advisor to Google [X], and CTO at Staple. He also held roles at Groupon, eBay, and Amazon, and sits on several boards.Time Stamps01:00 What's Fabric  05:50 Customer profile, Pricing, and Shopify discussion09:00 Go-to-Market Strategy12:45 Fabric's size and growth drivers 16:30 Company's Org. Structure22:00 KPI for Marketing and Customer Success22:40 Client focus - Balancing interests of customers and investors25:00 Ebay and Amazon NPS26:30 Survey Data vs Real Data. Silicon Valley is Wrong27:55 Spending $100M in a frugal way29:10 Investors involvement31:40 Building a $100 Billion companySIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Patrick Campbell, Founder and CEO of ProfitWell, discussed pricing strategies for SaaS companies. We covered wide variety of topics, from selecting a right price for your software to breaking news to your clients about increasing their price 2x.Patrick's BioPatrick is a Founder & CEO of ProfitWell, the software for helping subscription companies with their monetization and retention strategies, as well as providing free turnkey subscription financial metrics for over 20,000 companies. Prior to ProfitWell Patrick led Strategic Initiatives for Boston-based Gemvara and was an Economist at Google and the US Intelligence community.Time Stamps01:15 Patrick and ProfitWell03:50 Setting up right pricing11:10 A/B testing or no?14:50 Transitioning existing clients to new prices19:50 On-Prem transitioning to Cloud22:00 Example of companies that nailed their pricing strategy25:00 Pricing pagesSIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Tom Meister, Co-Founder, COO, and General Counsel at NepFin, discusses Revenue-Based Financing for SaaS (and eCommerce companies), typical terms of such financing, profiles of the companies that should consider it as an option, and many other things.Tom Meister's BioAs COO and General Counsel, Tom manages NepFin's legal affairs and oversees its business operations. Prior to co-founding NepFin, Tom served as Senior Counsel, Capital Markets & Finance at Funding Circle, where he was responsible for the structuring, execution and distribution of Funding Circle's offerings to institutional and accredited investors. Earlier in his career, Tom practiced law as a debt finance attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC and Goodwin Procter LLP.Time Stamps01:15 Tom and NepFin03:10 Revenue-based financing and its growth13:15 Profile of companies that can take revenue-based loan15:20 Terms of RBF loans23:00 Pricing27:30 Lender's security interest, personal guaranty, and covenants32:00 Is RBF good for equity raise?35:00 Main RBF playersSIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Mark Znutas, Vice President of Go-to-Market Strategy and Operations at HubSpot, discusses HubSpot's RevOps and how it aligns Sales, Marketing and Customer Success. We also covered HubSpot's go-to-Market strategy, which has changed drastically over the years.Mark Znutas' BioMark is a VP of GTM Strategy and Operationsl at HubSpot, where he leads Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy across Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success. Mark has held several key roles in RevOps at HubSpot, when the company started expanding beyond its core Marketing software. Prior to HubSpot, Mark was a Manager of Global Field Solutions at Affinnova (acquired by Nielsen).Time Stamps00:20 HubSpot and Mark's background01:20 Revenue Operations and how it works at HubSpot07:50 Go-to-Market strategy08:40 HubSpot's unconventional move to Product Led Growth10:35 Three components of a growth strategy17:40 HubSpot's expansion from Marketing Software to CRMSIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Scott Beechuk, Partner at Norwest Venture Partners discusses his experience as a startup founder and his move to VC, the latest market trends, Scott's investment process, as well as qualitative and quantitative characteristics of companies he likes to invest in.Scott Beechuk's BioScott brings more than 20 years of product, engineering, and SaaS expertise to his role as a partner on Norwest's enterprise team. He focuses on early- to late-stage investment opportunities in enterprise SaaS with a focus on companies building business applications taking advantage of human-assisted AI, advanced behavioral analytics, client-agnostic platforms and industry-specific solutions. He currently serves on the boards of Bluecore, Leanplum, MindTickle, Qualified, Singular, and Socrates AI.Scott most recently served as Senior Vice President of Product Management for Salesforce Service Cloud, the industry's #1 enterprise customer service platform. While at Salesforce, he also served as Head of Engineering, Product, UX, and Documentation for Desk.com.Before joining Salesforce, Scott cut his entrepreneurial teeth building multiple consumer and enterprise software companies including a multi-brand e-commerce service with an integrated multi-channel customer service platform, an enterprise privacy middleware platform and consumer metasearch engine.Time Stamps00:10 Scott's background and why he joined Norwest Venture Partners05:18 COVID's effect on startup creation09:50 Post COVID SaaS valuations11:10 Investment Process – from sourcing to investing18:30 Qualitative and quantitative characteristics Scott is looking for in startups26:57 Common mistakes startups make32:35 Fundraising advice to founders34:32 Bonus QuestionSIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Anadelia Fadeev, Director of Demand Generation and Growth at Teleport, discusses lead gen and brand awareness, how she measures effectiveness of campaigns, and "must have" online tools.Anadelia Fadeev's BioAnadelia is a Director of Demand Generation and Growth at Teleport, a Kleiner Perkins-backed software company that allows engineers and security professionals to unify access to Servers, web applications, and databases.Prior to Teleport, Anadelia was Demand generation at several tech startups, including LightStep, InfluxData, ToutApp (acq. by Marketo), and Inkling. She started her career at Visage Mobile where she oversaw all aspects of marketing.Time Stamps00:10 Anadelia and Teleport 3:13 Brand Awareness6:50 Lead Generation8:00 Measuring effectiveness of campaigns10:02 Anadelia's Tech Stack11:20 Case Study14:00 Bowtie Funnel16:00 Looking for leadsSIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Sam Richard, Senior Director of Growth at Openview Partners, discusses Product Led Growth, types of companies that can leverage the strategy, and how traditional SaaS metrics can be misleading when applied to PLG.Sam Richard's BioSam Richard is Senior Director of Growth at OpenView, helping its portfolio accelerate top-line growth through establishing best practices and processes to support product led growth. At OpenView, Sam works closely with portfolio leadership teams to discover and implement the most impactful strategies for growth, including onboarding and retention optimization, expansion strategy, funnel optimization and channel/partner strategy.Prior to joining OpenView in 2019, Sam worked as Director of Growth and Engagement at Dispatch, where she was on the founding team. She spent four years leading growth strategy and customer success teams with a focus on small to medium-sized businesses. During her tenure, Dispatch was acquired by Vista Equity Partners. She also previously worked at Catalant and Abt Associates.Time Stamps00:10 Intro03:42 Three Eras of Software purchase06:20 Characteristics of Product Led Growth companies10:50 Retention at PLG12:45 Traditional Metrics are misleading / Natural Rate of Growth15:30 Who can leverage PLGSIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Andy Bane, CEO of Element Analytics talks about the company's unique founding story and an important mission of changing how industrial firms unify OT and IT data.Andy Bane's BioAndy oversees the vision, strategy, and growth of Element Analytics, and is a veteran of the Industrial sector. He's held executive roles at leading enterprise software companies, including EVP & Chief Strategy Officer for ABB Enterprise Software, EVP of Product Management. and CMO at Ventyx, a Vista Equity Partners company, acquired by ABB for over $1 billion and SVP of Product Mgmt. and Mktg. at P2 Energy Solutions.Time Stamps00:10 Intro02:00 Element Analytics value proposition06:45 Element's pricing08:10 Net Retention10:30 How Series B funds is being spent12:10 Joining Element15:00 Pricing and first client18:32 First Sales person20:00 First Marketing hire21:23 First Customer Success hire25:00 PE vs VC backed companies26:15 Long term vision for ElementSIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Alok Ajmera, CEO of Prophix takes us to journey of converting the company's software offering from on-prem to a cloud. The transition is particularly impressive because Prophix completed it while being bootstrapped, and only after the conversion did they take outside investments from HG Capital (leading European PE firm).Alok Ajmera's BioAlok joined Prophix in 2004 as a consultant, and after wearing nearly every hat in the company was first promoted to President and COO, and most recently to CEO.Time Stamps01:00 Alok and Prophix04:50 Pricing model05:45 Moving from on-prem to a cloud12:00 Incentivizing clients to move to a cloud16:00 Change in a compensation model18:00 Customer Success and cross-sell20:00 NPS and customers' satisfaction 23:50 Choosing investors31:00 Advice to companies that plan to convert their software from on-prem to a cloudSIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Deb Muller, Founder and CEO of HR Acuity, takes us back to the company's early days when it was primarily her providing independent advice to large companies regarding workplace investigations. Despite not having a tech background, she decided to build a software solution for her clients to use internally on a day-to-day basis. Deb walks us through the challenges she experienced with a bootstrapped business, the growth of the firm, today's profile of HR Acuity (size, retention, org. structure), tailwinds of the industry, and COVID's impact. Lastly, she walks us through the decision of taking on investments (which she didn't think she needed) and her criteria of choosing investors.Deb Muller's BioDeb is a Founder and CEO of HR Acuity, a Software company that provides solutions for employee relations and investigation services.After serving in executive HR roles at numerous Fortune 500 companies like Honeywell, Citibank, and Marsh & McLennan, Deb launched HR Acuity to create technology with built-in expertise and equip organizations to manage employee relations more strategically.SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events. ___Special thanks to Jesse Barovick for his help on sound!

Steve Wolfe of Growth Street Partners shares the firm's approach to investing in SaaS companies. He talks about criteria they look for, the importance of a founder's experience in the industry, general view on valuations, and other subjects. *Steve Wolfe's Bio* Steve is a Co-founder of Growth Street Partners, a San Francisco based growth equity fund. He currently sits on the boards of ChildCareCRM, Visual Lease, Suralink, HR Acuity, Hotel Effectiveness, and BoardBookit. Prior to Growth Street, Steve was a Partner at Mainsal Partners, and was a board member at PayLease, Netchemia, 3PL Central, Ncontracts, and nCourt.

Dave Kellogg returns to SaaShimi to share his experience working with Venture Capital and Private Equity firms. He compares VC's and PE's investment approaches, due diligence processes, and roles in a boardroom among other things. *Dave Kellogg's Bio* Dave Kellogg is a technology executive, investor, advisor, and blogger (if you don't read www.kellblog.com, you should start after you are done with SaaShimi!). Previously, he held CEO positions at Hostanalytics and MarkLogic, and prior to that SVP/GM of Service Cloud at Salesforce and CMO at Business Objects. Dave has worked in varied capacities with companies including Breeze, GainSight, MongoDB, and Tableau. He currently sit on the boards of Alation, Nuxeo, and Profisee. Dave previously sat on the boards of agtech leader Granular and big data leader Aster Data (both got acquired).

For more than two decades, Phil Wainewright has chronicled the rise of cloud computing and its impact on business. In 1998, he launched ASPnews.com, the SaaS industry's first dedicated news website, and later became ZDNet's lead blogger on SaaS. In 2013, he co-founded the tech media website Diginomica ( https://diginomica.com ) to provide in-depth coverage of how enterprise applications are evolving and changing the way business operates in the digital era.

Dave Kellogg is a technology executive, investor, advisor, and blogger. (if you don't read www.kellblog.com, you should start after you are done with SaaShimi!). Previously, he held CEO positions at Hostanalytics and MarkLogic, and prior to that SVP/GM of Service Cloud at Salesforce and CMO at Business Objects. Dave has worked in varied capacities with companies including Breeze, GainSight, MongoDB, and Tableau. He currently sit on the boards of Alation, Nuxeo, and Profisee and previously sat on the boards of agtech leader Granular and big data leader Aster Data.

Jacco is the founder of Winning By Design and author of Blueprints of a Sales SaaS Organization ( https://amzn.to/2U1TbAf ) and seven other books. He is a Sales Mentor across several VC firms such as Notion Capital, Reach Capital, Astella and Storm Ventures, where he helps accelerate the development of sales teams across their portfolios. Prior to founding Winning By Design, Jacco held roles of VP of Worldwide Sales and VP Strategy at Qumu (acquired by Rimage), Kontiki, and Technicolor. He is proud to have helped marquee customers over the years, including Amazon, AT&T, Dish, and Disney. Jacco holds a BScEE in Electrical Engineering and an Executive MBA from the University of Leicester. Jacco’s insights have been featured in Harvard Business Review, and he is a frequent keynote speaker at conferences around the world including Dreamforce, SaaStock (Dublin), SaaS Growth (London) SalesHacker (virtual), and RD Summit (Brazil).

Tracy Eiler is a revenue-driving CMO with “core DNA” in demand generation and awareness. She is the CMO at InsideView and has more than 25 years of experience with enterprise and SaaS software companies. She co-authored the best-selling Aligned to Achieve: How to Unite Your Sales & Marketing Teams into a Single Force for Growth ( https://amzn.to/2TMXfnH ). Tracy was recently recognized as one of the 15 Most Influential Women in B2B Marketing.

Ed Daly is a Senior Vice President of Customer Success and Growth at Okta. Ed previously led Cisco's Global Customer Success team designed to accelerate software and cloud revenue.

Bruce Cleveland is a Partner at Wildcat where he focuses on early stage software startups that enable digital transformation across business, government, and education markets. Bruce enjoys working with companies that use technology and data to increase revenue and decrease costs. Bruce held senior executive roles in engineering, product management and product marketing with companies, such as Apple, AT&T, Oracle and Siebel Systems. Bruce’s last operational role was as a member of the founding executive team of Siebel Systems, where he served as senior vice president and general manager of Marketing and Products. In this role, Forbes and IDC credited him with creating the most effective B2B alliance program in the software industry. Bruce began his venture capital career at InterWest Partners, where he was the first investor and a former board member of Marketo, which held an IPO in 2013 and was acquired by Adobe in 2018 for $4.75 billion. Bruce is also the author of the best seller, Traversing the Traction Gap ( https://amzn.to/2wAFj7P ) and lectures on the Traction Gap Framework at various universities and industry events.