Podcast appearances and mentions of alex theuma

This is a re-run of a 2022 episode with ClickUp CEO and Founder, Zeb Evans. This is a re-run of a 2022 episode with ClickUp CEO and Founder, Zeb Evans. ClickUp is now doing over $200M in revenue but this popular episode is a look back at the early days. Zeb joins host Alex Theuma to discuss how the company reached $10M ARR in just two years, including. - How ClickUp got its first customers. - Why Zeb chose the VC route and how did they raised their first round. - Focus areas for getting to $1M ARR fast. - What needs to change when you go from $1M ARR to $10M ARR. - The best advice he's ever received. Guest links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zebevansclickup/ Website: https://clickup.com/       Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward: 

This episode comes to you live from SaaStock USA. Fresh off the Founderpath Center Stage, Savneet Singh joined Alex Theuma to discuss how he took PAR from having just weeks of cash left to the billion dollar public company it is today. Tune in to hear Savneet's candid take on what it really takes to lead under pressure and scale with purpose, including: - Stepping into the CEO role with only a few weeks of runway. - The urgent actions taken to avoid bankruptcy—including a ~20% workforce cut in 10 days. - Why transparency and accountability set the foundation for PAR's cultural turnaround. - The shift from “feel-good” values to bold principles like Speed, Ownership, and Winning. - How AI is being operationalised at PAR—with a sharp focus on efficiency and product experience. - The real sacrifices of being a SaaS CEO and why you need to be “all in” if you want to be the best.      Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward: 

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show, Alex Theuma sits down with Marcus Ryu - Co-founder of Guidewire and now a Partner at Battery Ventures - for an honest conversation about the highs, lows, and hard lessons of building and backing SaaS companies. Marcus shares how he went from pursuing a career in academia to leading a billion-dollar business, what it felt like to face years of rejection, and why he believes true founders don't chase easy wins — they lean into hard problems. He also talks candidly about the realities of being a CEO, the shift into venture capital, and whether AI is truly as transformative as it's hyped to be.Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward: 

Building a thriving SaaS community isn't just about content — it's about creating real, in-person connections that people keep coming back to. Alex Theuma, Founder of SaaStock, shares how he transformed a simple blog into one of the most influential SaaS conferences in the world. He unpacks the highs and lows of scaling a global event, from bootstrapping early growth to navigating expansion challenges.Specifically, Alex discusses:(05:02) Turning a simple blog into a SaaS community.(10:51)A SaaS community grew through blogs, emails and newsletters before events.(15:20) The biggest challenges and lessons from launching the first SaaStock conference.(22:28) The name SaaStock was inspired by Woodstock and came together instantly.(30:34) The risks and rewards of bootstrapping versus raising strategic capital.(33:56) How expanding too quickly nearly derailed SaaStock's growth.(40:41) A strategic pivot to virtual events positioned the conference as an industry leader.(44:51) The SaaSop Founder Membership unites 70 CEOs through meetups and retreats.(49:45) The power of in-person meetups for fostering engaged communities.(51:48) A decade in, the vision for SaaStock is to 10x its impact and growth.Resources Mentioned:Alex Theumahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/alextheuma/SaaStock | LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/saastock/SaaStock | Websitehttps://www.saastock.com/This episode is brought to you by:Leverage community-led growth to skyrocket your business. “From Grassroots to Greatness” by author Lloyed Lobo will help you master 13 game-changing rules from some of the most iconic brands in the world — like Apple, Atlassian, CrossFit, Harley-Davidson, HubSpot, Red Bull and many more — to attract superfans of your own that will propel you to new heights. Grab your copy today at FromGrassrootsToGreatness.com.Each year the U.S. and Canadian governments provide more than $20 billion in R&D tax credits and innovation incentives to fund businesses. But the application process is cumbersome, prone to costly audits, and receiving the money can take as long as 16 months. Boast automates this process, enabling companies to get more money faster without the paperwork and audit risk. We don't get paid until you do! Find out if you qualify today at https://Boast.AI.Launch Academy is one of the top global tech hubs for international entrepreneurs and a designated organization for Canada's Startup Visa. Since 2012, Launch has worked with more than 6,000 entrepreneurs from over 100 countries, of which 300 have grown their startups to seed and Series A stage and raised over $2 billion in funding. To learn more about Launch's programs or the Canadian Startup Visa, visit https://LaunchAcademy.ca.Content Allies helps B2B companies build revenue-generating podcasts. We recommend them to any B2B company that is looking to launch or streamline its podcast production. Learn more at https://contentallies.com.#SaaS #CommunityBuilding #B2BEvents #Product #Marketing #Innovation #StartUp #GenerativeAI #AI

Rahul Vohra (Founder and CEO at Superhuman) joins SaaStock's Alex Theuma to discuss how Superhuman stayed ahead of the generative AI wave, how they're shaping the future of productivity with autonomous email agents, and why great products that delights users — not flashy marketing — are the key to viral growth. Rahul also opens up about the loneliness of being a CEO, his meditation practices, and the game design principles behind Superhuman's success. Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward: 

Matt Mullenweg on scaling Automattic to $500M ARR. In this episode of The SaaS Revolution Show, host Alex Theuma sits down with Matt Mullenweg, Co-founder of WordPress and Founder and CEO of Automattic — the company behind WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Tumblr, Beeper, and more. Matt shares the mindset, strategies, and lessons that helped him build one of the most impactful open-source businesses in the world — now generating over $500M in ARR, including: - The mindset and mission behind Automattic. - How AI is reshaping the WordPress ecosystem. - Key lessons from scaling to $500M ARR. - What his ‘ideal' work week looks like. - How he stays motivated as CEO. Guest links: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattm/ Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward: 

This week, we're running it back to one of our most popular episodes. Recorded live at SaaStock USA 2023, host Alex Theuma is joined by Jason Cohen, Founder of WP Engine. In the episode, Jason reflects on his multi-decade journey as a serial entrepreneur, and shares his lessons from building and scaling WP Engine into a SaaS giant, including: - His journey as a serial entrepreneur. - The science behind why your startup really is like your baby. - Founding WP Engine, the world's largest managed Wordpress platform - From bootstrapped to venture backed, the decision to raise money. - Why most founders shouldn't raise money—and how to know if you're one of them. - How to build a practical strategy that involves the whole team. - How to know your own strengths and why he replaced himself as CEO. Guest links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncohen/ WP Engine: https://wpengine.com/Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward: 

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Nathan Latka, CEO and Chief Investment Officer at Founderpath (and the powerhouse behind SaaSOpen!), as he shares the truth about AI in SaaS ...and why it counters Microsoft's CEOs prediction. "I would get emails from real sales reps all the time that were terribly written and they'd go right to spam. I'd also get emails from CEOs that were really well written and I would click them or I'd reply and I engage. Nothing changes. All that changes now is that people with less resources can maybe get an outbound campaign going faster. But if you don't structure it in a way that captures the recipient's attention and gets them to reply like it's just useless, you're just spraying and praying. You're just paying for ChatGPT and credits that you know got you no value. So this is why the biggest in demand job towers here is going to be prompt marketing." Nathan shares: • His counter to Satya Nadella: how AI is transforming SaaS pricing to usage-based models ...not killing the industry! • While many SaaS companies are rushing to add AI labels to their marketing, the real opportunity lies in using AI to reduce friction points and help users reach value faster • Why ChatGPT and AI tools have replaced review sites as the go-to for software recommendations • The key to appearing in AI tool recommendations (and why it isn't about gaming the system) • The rise of "prompt marketing" - how to stand out in a world of AI-generated content • How domain ratings and SEO fundamentals will remain a crucial part for AI tool visibility and rankings and more! Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Aviv Canaani, CRO at Datarails, who shares how he helped move the company from 90% outbound to 90% inbound. "One of our best performing ads is something actually I saw, usually it comes from the team, but I saw this TikTok ad for I think it was a B2C company. Something like, someone asked a lady a question and whatever they ask she says 'yup'. 'Oh, does it do this?' 'Yup'. 'Does it do this?' 'Yup'. So I sent it to the team. I'm like, let's try to do something like that for Datarails. It's been our one of our best performing ads on TikTok. So I think it's really understanding, you know, the channel you're focused on and you have to create the fun, engaging videos that align with what works in the channel, but with our own spin of marketing, our own software." Aviv shares: • Diversification and reducing dependency on any single ad channel • TikTok success in B2B; from user-generated content to understanding the algorithm • Reducing attribution confusion: the simple switch the DataRails team made to categorise and analyse data • How they've scaled their marketing budget in direct proportion to AE hiring: their data-driven system that predicts meeting generation based on marketing spend • His transition from VP Marketing to CRO and his biggest learning managing sales teams • Combat rising ad costs: why creating platform-specific content rather than using a one-size-fits-all strategy is key and more! Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Steve Oriola, CEO at Unbounce, who shares the leadership lessons he's learnt from navigating a SaaS M&A and the transformation AI has had on business. "We also survey base of employees and those values are landing pretty well. That's an important part of it, is that people understand how everyone works and how everyone should be working and how we should be making decisions. And we correct ourselves all the time on that." Steve shares: • How he's steering the marketing tech ship through choppy waters - from perfecting landing pages to building an AI-powered platform that actually tells you which customers are worth chasing • The behind-the-scenes of marrying two companies' cultures; complete with leadership team matchmaking and values that actually stuck • Why he's betting big on AI being more than just a buzzword • The secret sauce to staying sane as a CEO, including cold plunges, fitness regimes, and the art of not bringing work drama home (even when your spouse is in the industry) • How he's tackling his biggest CEO headache with everything from Berlin Q&As to leadership pow-wows and more! Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Kevin Hu, Co-Founder & CEO at Metaplane, who shares how they navigated Metaplane's journey from pivot to Series A and beyond. "Most of us come from tens of thousands of years of subsistence farmers and we're one of the first generations that has the opportunity to build something that can have a large impact with software and capitals leveraged. And when it comes to the CEO job, one can hope that the problems never stop. When the problems stop, I think that's when growth stops. The best case scenario is when the problems are new problems all the time and it doesn't feel like Groundhog Day." Kevin shares: • The reasons that drove Metaplane to pivot (twice!) • The importance of attracting strong leaders and building a repeatable sales process as a company grows • His approach to decision-making and prioritisation; from the way he collects information to committing to decisions • Why being upfront about expectations and offering upside potential is crucial to recruiting top talent • Metaplane's unique onboarding process where new hires "ship something" on day one • Overcoming market headwinds through a product-led approach and land-and-expand strategy and more! Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Abakar Saidov, CEO at Beamery, who shares his success story from Wall Street-er to tech unicorn. "A lot of entrepreneurs actually start businesses out of necessity. And necessity comes from two parts, either you have to do it because you have no other option, or you feel like you have to do it because you want the idea to exist so much. And usually I feel like if those are not your two reasons, one is like you can't imagine a world without this idea or you just have no choice. You're probably not going to make it through the the grind." Abakar shares: • On a mission to create equal access to work opportunities: The founding story of Beamery • Why customer experience is a key differentiator (and one of the reasons they've achieved such high NPS scores for implementations in an industry where low scores are common) • The top two qualities investors look for in founders • How evolving founder perspectives and motivations have shaped the company's growth • What he does to maintain energy after 10+ years as CEO • Why his ongoing process of growth and development is centred around Andy Grove's concept of the Competence Frontier and more! Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Taylor Hersom, Founder & CEO at Eden Data, who shares insights into their global scaling journey during the pandemic. "Your reputation is everything as you're growing fast and trying to make it to your next round. And when you have multiple competitors in a space, you don't want your customer or prospect googling your name and seeing something like a data breach." Taylor shares: • His approach to growing the business; from focusing on partnerships and referrals to differentiating through branding and content marketing • Key security concerns for founders, including reputational damage and the need for certifications like SOC 2 to close deals • How he capitalised on the increased focus on cybersecurity during the pandemic as more businesses moved operations online • How they identified an underserved niche and tailored their offerings and messaging to serve them effectively • The one thing their team does to drive inbound leads and more!Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Preston "PK" Keller, Founder at Emergent3, who shares how he overcame an industry Goliath trying to kill his SaaS business. "When you've hit rock bottom and you're, like, going through hell, you cannot control all the environmental factors around you, but you can control how you react to it. And I read this book, The Gap in the Game, and it basically says, like, focus on the good things right now. That book got me through the darkest times. We also, you know, my wife was also pregnant with our third child and that third child had some serious health defects. She spent months in the NICU and this was during the lawsuit, during the rewrite, it was like there was so much going on in my life and I was like, I'm still so lucky. It forced you to just focus on like, hey, you can't control this environment and things that happen to you, but you can control how you react. And I focused on just, like, I just wanted to make someone else smile that day. " PK shares: • Overworked and under-appreciated: the decision PK took that started it all.. • The first six months of E3: incredible sales, disbelief in the success they were experiencing, and then.. • The moment the sheriff knocked on his door serving him a summons - his previous employer, the 'Big Bad Wolf', was suing PK personally and his new company, E3, all for starting a business that was competing in the same market • Hitting a grand slam: The moment the judge called an instant ruling in their patent infringement case • Reflecting on the toll it took when he got to the point where everything he had, he could've lost in an instant • How this situation taught him that the relationships in his life are the most important thing and more. Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Tony Jamous, Founder & CEO at Oyster HR, who shares how building Oyster HR as a mission driven company helped them scale to SaaS unicorn-dome. "It enabled me to also be detached from the outcome. So no matter what happens, we miss a quarter or somebody quits, then you're not reactive to that. Instead, you remain always centred on your goals, on your values, on your principles and more in an acceptance mode. This journey of building businesses, it's, it's highs and lows. So how can you remain yourself in a mode of clarity, stability, no matter the highs and the lows?" Tony shares: • Hyper growth in the early days during Covid: From achieving product market fit without having a full platform to going from zero to a billion in market cap in two years • Maintaining a mission driven culture: Why instilling meaning and importance to the work employees do you is the backbone of a successful mission driven organisation • Reducing headcount costs doesn't necessarily mean laying people off - it should be a strategic shift rather than a financial exercise • How he reprogrammed his nervous system to become a better leader and be less reactive • Behaviour is an equation that has two variables: who the people are and the environment they're in ( ...and the influence leaders have on them) and more! Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Raluca Ragab, Head of UK & DACH at Eurazeo, who shares how to succeed as a growth company. "If you think of all the companies that had to raise a seed or series A in 2022, when it was hard, in 2023, when it was super hard, and even in 2024, anybody who's been successful to do that and is now graduating, right? So Maybe they were 1 million company in 2022 and they're 5 million in 2023 and they're now kind of becoming a growth stage company. Those companies, they were so scrutinised, they found it so hard to get funded that actually they have much stronger unit economics, they have great stories and they know how to deliver growth without having a bloated cost structure. So I do think that there's a second wave now of these companies that had to go through this kind of much harder time funding in their earlier stage and they never got to being efficient, that they just kind of got the basics and the fundamentals right and they're going to scale off a much more reasonable set of unit economics and cost structure." Raluca shares: • Being a visionary founder versus a 'good process' person • What it takes to build a successful growth stage company and get the right investment • Track records and unit economics: The metrics Raluca and her team prioritise • Europe's lack of global winners and business champions compared to in the US • How AI is lowering barriers to entry for software development to quasi zero and more! Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Marton Medveczky, Associate Partner at Flashpoint Venture Capital, who shares what exactly makes a founder investable in 2025. "There is always a huge difference between talking to the founder and then doing your own desktop research versus talking to a customer. So if you can do that, that's basically the best way to understand what people value about the product. And it also will help you to draw further conclusions about where to look or, like, what is actually the real paper that it solves. And oftentimes it's actually not what the founders think it is, right? Which is very funny, I think. And that's why customer calls are sort of like a super vital component for us to invest." Marton shares: • The key characteristics he looks for in a founder before investing • Nailing value propositions and pain points: the one thing founders *need* to be doing • What the next 12 months look like and if fewer companies are moving into venture • How his initial VC journey started versus what it looks like now • Winning the market and becoming a category leader: what can SaaS companies do to succeed? • Why net revenue retention is the most important metric and more! Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Palash Soni, Co-Founder & CEO at Goldcast, who shares his journey scaling the business to north of $10M in revenue. "We realised that the market is probably in bigger companies because that's where we are getting the pull from, and so our first actual like big customer was this company called Drift in Boston, which very popular Martech company. And that gave us the aha moment that okay, this is where the fit is. And so the moment Drift signed which was in end of Jan. 2021, at that time we were probably like $30, $40k in ARR. And when Drift signed then that started the chain sort of like the messaging and everything came together. Then we got to $1 million in three months." Palash shares: • Having an entrepreneurial itch from a young age; from buying sweets in bulk and selling them at a markup in his school days to renting out a video game console for a cent per hour • Why he believes marketing mediums evolve every 10 years, and how that was an asset to Goldcast • The risk they faced becoming a multi-product company and how he managed internal pushback • Entering the zeitgeist of B2B Marketers • The three key levers getting to $10M in revenue; including investing heavily in post-sales customer success • Why classic outbound doesn't work and more! Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Philippe Botteri, partner at Accel, who shares the 2024 Accel Europe: AI Eating Software. "Just look at the past couple of years, there's been $56 billion invested in AI companies and two thirds of that has gone into the top six companies of each region of the US and Europe, and also two thirds of that money has gone into foundation models. So what we're seeing is AI is really driving the growth and very concentrated in a very small number of companies both in the US and Europe." Philippe shares: • Capitalising on AI to drive growth • Increasing investment outside of foundational models • Why 2025 is going to be the year of the agentic revolution • Growth vs profitability: what's driving the momentum for software companies • The Game of AI Thrones - will it be a winner takes all market? and more! Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined live from the SaaStock Studio at SaaStock Europe 2024 by Amos Haggiag, Co-Founder & CEO at Optibus, who shares his biggest learnings from building Optibus to a global unicorn. "We sell a mission critical product. When a customer chooses Optibus, if Optibus doesn't work, the public transportation stops working - busses don't arrive on time or don't arrive at all, passengers get the wrong information, like, it's a disaster. So the risk is so high that in order to anyone to choose Optibus, it's not enough to just bring like a really good product, you need to also convince [them] that you're not introducing risk, that you know how to work in complexity, you know how to work in different regions, it's very local. And because of that, at some point, we decided to change the organisation into more focus on the local region kind of management." Amos shares: • Optibus' funding journey to a $100M Series D funding round and a $1.3B valuation • The moment they realised they had surpassed $1M ARR (and why he didn't think they had product market fit at the time!) • Scaling their sales team to accommodate for their global customer base • From localised to centralised- the painful process of restructuring • Challenges with delegating tough decisions as CEO • The importance of having a long term focus and more!Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode, Alex Theuma, CEO and founder of SaaStock, shares his journey from uncertain founder to leading one of the most influential SaaS conferences worldwide. Alex reflects on the struggles faced by new entrepreneurs, from costly hiring mistakes to scaling too fast internationally. He discusses how SaaStock's community-driven focus fills a critical gap for SaaS founders, offering them a collaborative space to grow, learn, and build lasting networks. Tune in as Alex delves into what makes SaaStock unique, the balance between VC and angel investors, and the entrepreneurial insights he's gained from years at the helm of a thriving international event.

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined live from the SaaStock Studio at SaaStock Europe 2024 by Muhammad Younas, Founder & CEO at vFairs and Winner of the SaaStock Awards "Founder & CEO of the Year: People's Choice", as he shares his key lessons bootstrapping the business to profitability and $30M ARR. "More than half of our business comes from word of mouth from our existing set of customer base. We are a strong believer that the best sales team is your existing customer base. So we go above and beyond. Even though we are in technology business, we typically say internally that we feel that we are in hospitality business. We want to be so close to the customer, give them that seven star experience that they go and spread that around." Muhammad shares: • Achieving profitability from day one • His number one piece of feedback for founders • Their go-to-market model and how they attract customers • Investing in talent above all else • The true definition of business: building long-term value for customers, employees, vendors, and the owner themselves and more!Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by SaaStock Europe 2024 speaker Angeley Mullins, Chief Commercial Officer at Resourcify, who shares Founder versus Company Brand. "A lot of founders don't actually understand what marketing is. You have performance marketers and content marketers and brand marketers. You have channel marketers, partner marketers, etc. So really identifying what your go to market strategy is, identifying who your ICP is, and these are just the fundamentals, and then what resonates to your ICP, and you have to identify that first and then back into the type of marketing that you want or need that will resonate." Angeley shares: • Can a company be founder-led and also do product-led branding • Where pre-Series B companies often struggle most when it comes to storytelling • Why step one for founders is taking an index on the things that A) you're passionate about and B) that you're good at • Where authenticity meets communication and what's most important at what stage of the growth cycle • Short term clickbait content versus long term strategic initiatives and long term customer loyalty • What early stage companies can do to build a strong brand • The secret sauce for founders wanting to 'make it' in Times Square and more.Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Tomasz Tunguz, General Partner at Theory Ventures and SaaStock Europe 2024 speaker, who shares how AI is changing the future of SaaS. "AI will be a key part of the product. I would characterise the last two years as adding AI features on top of existing platforms, and I think we're starting to see humans adjust, and when humans adjust, the workflows will change, and when the workflows change, there'll be an opportunity to un-see the big systems of record." Tomasz shares: • What makes a founder investable, from Einstein's compounding interest to selling a market • Where we'll see greater and greater efficiency gains businesses at scale • Why upcoming workflows changes lend to unseating the biggest systems of record • The future of AI and how it'll change SaaS architecture and positioning • The significant pressure that horizontal SaaS is facing, and what companies like Salesforce, Glean and Klarna are doing as a result • How to ensure that the AI brought into your SaaS gives you an edge and is not just commoditisation and more.Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Job van der Voort, Co-Founder & CEO at Remote, who shares their hypergrowth journey and how they scaled Remote to hundreds of millions in ARR. "I would always say this is a great problem to have. If you grow really, really fast and it's a luxury problem, and if you just embrace it like that, then everything becomes much easier. Just embrace it in the most honest possible way, which is that, wow, we get so much interest that we have to solve these really difficult problems right now. It's for sake of, you know, our success, or at least the direction of success. To me, that was never difficult. What is difficult is how it affects the rest of your life." Job shares: • From $0 to $1M ARR in six months, and $1M ARR to hundreds of millions in three years: the operational and human problems Remote faced during rapid growth • His attitude towards increased responsibility and fighting fires - 'it's a great luxury to have problems to solve' • Why too many people get distracted by 'building for the sake of building' and deprioritise talking to customers and actively marketing the product • How to stay clear-headed during a period of hypergrowth • 'The sun will shine tomorrow', how he stays motivated when times get tough and more!Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Casber Wang, Partner at Sapphire Ventures, who shares the issues with AI startups and cash burn. "Let's just say we intentionally freeze the progress of technology. There's no ChatGPT five, there's no GPT six. It's only what we have today; GPT four and some of the other, call it 3.5. I believe the next five years we can just build applications on those existing technologies without underlying technological progress. So that's how much progress we made from the starting point. So to me it's less so 'why haven't we seen much progress yet', it's just all the systems take a little bit more time, right? People get used to a new thing and that just takes more time than folks had expected, just given how much attention there is around this topic." Casber shares: - What he's looking for in companies that Sapphire invests in - Why he favours founders who constantly think about talent valuation; from tracking talent to their talent bench - Why building a great software standalone is rarely enough - you need to be backwardly compatible with all the other tools on the stack and nail distribution - The watershed moment in AI and why its garnered so much attention from founders and media - Why specific fields like engineering are seeing a more accentuated economic impact from AI - The five or six prime investment areas where investors spend a lot of time making real bets on and more.Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by SaaStock Europe 2024 speaker Eoin Hinchy, Co-Founder & CEO at Tines, who shares how he went from AI skeptic to advocate and how it informed Tines' roadmap. "I can't tell you how many times over the years I've made a better decision as it relates to a certain part of the business because I've had to do it firsthand myself. At some stage I knew what the problem was and I knew how hard it was or I was able to appreciate the challenges that these kind of new hires were experiencing because I had done it firsthand. So I think founders should almost do like every job for like a little bit just to get that experience." Eoin shares: - How they got tier one investors for Tines' Series A and Series B rounds, totalling ~$115 million - Why, at one point or another, all founders *should* wear every hat - AI meets snake oil: why the early days put him off - The two biggest things stopping AI from being transformative - How as CEO he maintains the energy to constantly want to grow and learn and more.Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by SaaStock Founder Member Dee Coakley, Co-Founder & CEO at Boundless, who shares her journey achieving growth through challenging times. "There's a founder called Ian Nolan, CEO of a company called Bright Flag. And I remember going for a coffee with him and I remember it so clearly. We were at about 400k or I was focused on getting to a million. And then he said, slow down, slow down. Where are you at today? What's happening today? He was asking me how frequently we were closing a new logo and he said, look, you're closing. Maybe it was one customer a week at the time. He said, your problem isn't getting to 2 million ARR. The problem you have to solve now is how do you close two customers a week? Just focus on that. And I love the simplicity of that and I apply it to so many things right now. Don't run before you can walk. Just figure out that next little step." Dee shares: - Building fanbases: from artist management in the music industry to founding a SaaS company - Why investing in content was (and is) the cornerstone of their go to market strategy - Why you should never ask more than three people for advice about one problem - Eat, sleep and breathe spreadsheet numbers - on repeat - Focus, luck, and long term betting: learning to walk before you run and more.Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Mikita Mikado, Co-Founder & CEO at Unicorn SaaS PandaDoc, who shares his lessons in scaling past $100M ARR. "It takes a lot of patience to run a business at scale. I'm not sure I have it, I feel like I need to build a lot of it. And this tendency of, like, getting something done instead of having conversations around the topic so that people get an insight or bring their perspective on, like, how something needs to be done. It's a really tough transition and I still struggle with it." Mikita shares: - Getting to $1M ARR and the tedious work that went into building a functioning customer flywheel - From hiring generalists to specialising teammates - How PandaDoc's tenure-defying CROs helped make the company what it is today - The important transition to optionality (and why he struggles with it) - A sneak peek into his SaaStock Europe 2024 speaking session and more.Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Dan Uyemura, gym turned SaaS enthusiast and Founder & CEO at PushPress, who shares his story building PushPress to $13M ARR. "Everybody has tried being the CEO, I think it just stuck with me. And probably I'm the most natural fit to be the CEO that we need at PushPress, because even though I consider myself mostly an introvert and somebody who wants to just sit in my room by myself and do what I have to do, being a CEO - the CEO that PushPress needed was an outfacing, stand on a soapbox and talk to the world CEO - and of the three founders, I'm actually the probably the most equipped to do that." Dan shares: - His lifelong entrepreneurial journey from paper routes and lemonade stands to founder & CEO - The one thing that landed them their first investor - Loans, free money, and speakeasy fitness during Covid - Building a high trust quotient with clients - Creating leverage in a company and more.Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by serial founder Patrick Barnes, co-founder & CEO at AMP, who shares his lessons from the first time to make the second time easier. "One of the things we did when we first started the company was actually acquire a small SaaS company, or really more of a product, just with our own money. The reason we acquired it is it had 2,000 customers and having angry customers is a beautiful thing. Anybody listening to this who has customers that wouldn't get angry if the product went down, like should just shut the company down and work on something else. Like you want people calling you up, telling you it needs to do more things, saying, "hey, this bad thing happened, this is terrible". It was a great way for us to get this injection of the customer voice, of the urgency into the company and sort of skip those first, say, six or nine months." Patrick shares: - How (and why) to adapt leadership style when managing a larger team - Getting to eight figures in ARR within 24 months - Why starting with the customer and working backwards is key - Why there needs to be just *one* CEO - How to get faster at recognising mistakes as a leader and more.Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

Backfuture VC, launched by Alex Theuma, founder of SaaStock, is a venture capital fund focused on investing in early-stage SaaS startups. The fund aims to provide strategic value beyond just capital, leveraging Theuma's extensive network built through SaaStock. Backfuture will primarily invest in Europe but also look at opportunities in the US and other regions. Alex Theuma established Backfuture VC as a solo general partner fund with an initial close of $3 million, targeting a total of $10 million. Connect with Ken

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Justas Malinauskas, Co-Founder & CEO Whatagraph, who shares his three key growth lessons in getting Whatagraph past $5M ARR. "I get it. There's a lot of trend about bootstrapping in VC, and my point of view is if you can bootstrap and still maintain high growth and your business is feasible for that, that's great, do that. And I think if you can deploy more money and grow the business in a year instead of three years, so you should do that. So that's why these funds are there, just to speed up the growth. If the money doesn't speed up your growth, then for sure, why get it?" Justas shares: - His generational advantage towards tech - Whatagraph's founding story, including their north-star focus on the end user - Why retesting marketing channels is crucial to company growth - How to combine strengths and weaknesses of your product to make the customer successful - The benefits of joining founder peer groups; from unbiased advice to genuine connection building - The compounding interest of consistency and discipline and more.Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Eoin Bara, CEO of Tipple, who shares how Tipple won five billion dollar customers in its first year of operation. "There's a lot of SaaS companies that do one thing, and I think there is a trend in the market towards consolidation. So if you look at, like, employer records and HRIS systems benefits tools, right, I think there's going to be consolidation of those into one tool. You know, we look at Revolut now doing expenses, you know, you look at offering other products, that's going to be the thing. It's 1. finding the thing that's going to be the killer feature that brings the customers in the cutting through the noise of marketing and like getting to your target customer, then it's going to market getting scale." Eoin shares: - His journey from being a UX designer working with the likes of Goldman Sachs, Vodafone, like Aer Lingus, to 'starting a side hustle' now known as Tipple - How fond memories of his childhood in Tullamore influenced an expression in booze - How building infrastructure for the alcohol industry led to winning the RFP and getting their first billion-dollar customer - The aftermath of winning the SaaStock 2023 Pitch Competition; "inbound from VC's just went nuts" - Their strategy for winning customers; including market education and balancing inbound & outbound and more.Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by David Politis, Founder and Executive Chairman at BetterCloud. "If you think about the journey of a company in the various stages of a business, we were getting to a scale where it made sense to find a partner who has a track record of taking companies to that next level, organically and inorganically, just to be really transparent. They have multiple ways of getting businesses to that next level, and we wanted to find a partner who could do that with us." In the episode, David shares: - How entrepreneurial spirit runs in the family - His journey to founding BetterCloud - BetterCloud's journey to $100M ARR - The decision to acquire G2's G2 Track product - How the role of a CEO changes as you scale - The top three things from the Startup Founder Survival Guide - And more! Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Tim Schumacher, co-founder of saas.group, as he shares his insights on exiting your SaaS business. "The one thing that's moved the needle every time is being open about certain problems which appear in one business and solving them myself, in a way, and that usually made a good business. And those were always been than the ones where I was just looking at some general trend I didn't really understand, those were my failures." Tim shares: - Growing his first business: from three friends in a garage to 300 people (before then selling to United Internet!) - His beginnings in angel investing and what constitutes a fundable founder - A saas.group snapshot: 20 companies acquired ranging between $1-$10M ARR - The key steps involved with acquisitions (and why soul searching is #1) - His advice to founders considering an acquisition... and why it's important to remember valuation is just one factor! and more.Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined live at SaaStock USA 2024 by Ashley Grech, CRO at Xero, as she shares the five key moments to drive revenue growth & customer retention. While we're all familiar with sales cycles and customer life cycles, when you take a deeply customer-centric view, there are a few moments that really matter in revenue and retention, and it behooves you as a leader to think through how you handle each of them in order to turn them into force multipliers for your funnel and customer relationship. These moments include: First impressions, Conversion, Establishment, Growth (cross-sell and upsell), and When something goes wrong. Tune in to hear GTM expert Ashley Grech, CRO at Xero, discuss.Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

A company is essentially two things: a group of people and a collection of decisions. How those people make these decisions is the art of running a business (37signals). We make decisions every single day, it's what often dictates the direction of a business. Some decisions work out and some don't. Some are quick to make and some tough to call. You'll never be able to consider every single piece of data, analysis or consequence when making a decision - sometimes a decision has to be made from the gut. Legendary founder, Jason Fried is joined by SaaStock's CEO, Alex Theuma, to share his decision making philosophy and answer some of the biggest questions founders face today.Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Aytekin Tank, CEO of Jotform, as he shares how he bootstrapped a unicorn SaaS with teams of no more than six people. "One interesting number I can give is, like, we always had this 50% revenue growth rate and we still have that. That's very interesting. Actually, if we didn't develop the enterprise version, we would actually lose that - we would probably drop down to like 30%. But then the enterprise came to help, and we still have that 50% growth rate today." Aytekin shares: - The one thing he did pre-Jotform that meant he had a much smoother ride in becoming an entrepreneur - Why he's a big believer of free products, and how that goodwill leads to paying customers - How being a company of small cross functional teams has kept a positive company culture - The makeup of each team and how they cultivate innovation, productivity, and creativity - The building blocks of success, where technical skills meet business skills and more!Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined live at SaaStock USA 2024 by Kyle Hanslovan, co-founder & CEO at Huntress. "That nuance of finding the green field, the niche, is probably the single biggest differentiator that will help you escape and go, you know, you can sell to finds at one million or make five million in revenue, but to escape ten you have to have a process and you have to have a real market that is differentiated and that niche will get you there if you can just really ask yourself 'am I differentiated' and again, I didn't respect that." Kyle shares: - The journey to $1M and then $10M ARR - His process of finding and engaging channel partners - His biggest challenge over the next year, and how he plans to solve it - The reality of 'hire slow, fire fast', incl. open communication and employee churn - When work life balance meets sacrifice - is it one you're truly willing to make? and more!Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Jake Dunlap, CEO of Skaled, who shares the innovations in sales required to hit your goals. "Relevancy cuts through the noise. That is the only way to be successful - that is it, it is singular. If your team and your organisation cannot send relevant messages, whether it's via video, whether it's via LinkedIn, voice-note, whether it's email or call, you will not generate meetings. So that's where the human comes in." Jake shares: - The most important thing that CEOs should be doing *right now* - The core component of hitting outbound targets - Modern sales processes and the vecs concept: vetted, educated, cold and self service - Relevancy vs personalisation, and the *only* way to win - Meeting the modern customer where they stand- 40% of buyers would like the option to self service buy at 2030, where do sales reps fit in? and more!Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Adam Robinson, founder & CEO of Retention.com, who shares his lessons from when a bootstrapper tries to grow like a venture backed company. "The word bootstrap mostly describes 'okay, I got it to 3 million, it's making a million and a half bucks. I don't have a lot of employees, I don't have a lot of problems, this is great'. The problem is like, most of those companies are actually just slowly dying. But what creating companies like that can allow you to do is you get it to that; you get somebody else running it, and then you try to tinker around and like, make another one. By the time you're like, 'oh, this is working, I'm actually going to focus on it', It ends up being bigger than the last one." Adam shares: - His 10 year stint working "The Big Short" - Equating entrepreneurship with being able to be present - Hustle meets reality: why five years went by before he paid himself a dollar - Churn dynamic and financial discipline - The most capital efficient way to spread awareness in your buyers - The art of getting unstuck and the entrepreneurial cycle and more!Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by David Klein, Co-founder and Managing Partner at One Peak, who shares his insights on how the SaaS and investing market is changing. "1% increase in growth, the impact on valuation is the same as a 3% increase in profitability- even today. So growth is just valued at three times profitability, even today. And that number was about 12x in November 2021, so at the height of the bull market. So growth is, in our mind, still really important, and if you want to build a big business, you just have to grow. " David shares: - From resigning on the same day to where One Peak is today; $300M, $500M, and $1B funds - What lies ahead for the European and American markets - The shift from focusing on growth to profitability (and which is more important...) - The the return of the series a and the series b, an uptick in consolidations, and shifting goalposts - Bridge rounds - are they a necessary evil? and more!Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Ev Kontsevoy, CEO of Teleport, as he shares how to decide which baby to kill... "We never make obviously bad decisions. Every single decision seems rational in the moment. But there is like a certain trend - and the one thing that keeps biting me is ignoring complexity for too long. Eventually I self correct, and I just realised 'hey, the business is getting more complicated, the product is getting more complicated, the way we sell is getting more complicated.' And every time I kind of catch myself, like, I should have thought about this six months ago, now it's too complicated. So letting complexity creep in is just awful. Just don't do that." Ev shares: - Mailgun.com and the beginning of the cloud revolution - Creating a bubble for yourself: diving into internal and external motivators - Coding in a cave: building pieces of software that replace an entire part of an organisation - The year of two growing products - Evaluating total addressable market and the cost of building & maintaining: The trigger event that took the company to a one-product band - The positive randomness that helped Ev get to where he is and more!Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Wes Bush, founder & CEO of ProductLed, who shares his thoughts on product led scale. "PLG is going to become the de facto go to market motion that powers SaaS companies of the future, whether you like it or not, it's just everything's going that way. And so with that said, what I want to kind of emphasize is product led growth isn't the be all end all when it comes to actually building a product led business - it's actually just half of the story." Wes shares: - How they've helped their customers generate over a billion dollars of product led revenue - AI's impact on PLG - His most controversial PLG opinion  - How to turn what you do best into generating new businesss - Ying & Yang: Why product led growth and being a product led organisation need to go hand in hand - Why challenging your boss can be key to team alignment - A sneak peek into his #SaaStockUSA session, including the nine core components that every founder needs to implement into their business  and more!Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Martha Bitar, CEO at Flodesk, who shares the top 5 things that helped her bootstrap to $25M ARR. "Someone somewhere told us not to build code for our solution until we had a customer interview that made someone cry because - cry in a good way! - because they were so excited that their problem was finally getting a solution... And we did. At first when I heard it, I was like, of course no one is going to cry because this is not the type of problem that makes people cry. But we eventually did get someone who cried in a demo, and that's when we knew they were ready to build the code." Martha shares:

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by SC Moatti, Managing Partner at Mighty Capital and SaaStock USA 2024 speaker extraordinaire, as she shares how to fix a broken GTM. "When you talk to product folks, what they love is they love good products. I mean, that's their nature. It's that idea that the best product wins is actually becoming a reality. Because when you sell to product people, they want to make sure you have a good product that's going to nicely integrate in their stack and we can talk about what makes a good product, but that's what wins right now." SC shares:

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Denis Mosolov, Managing Partner Venture Debt at Flashpoint, as he discusses what's out there (from a founder's perspective) if you don't want to dilute. "It's a big challenge for us, because you know if your company's really going to take-off and show growth levels that are exciting for the VC community, you do need to invest and you do need to know how to raise capital. That's a skill that the founders need to have and so it is a red flag for me if something is like 100% bootstrapped, because there's a big question mark - 'are you guys actually able to raise capital?'" Denis shares:

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Matthijs Welle, CEO at Mews, who shares his lessons building Mews to unicorn status and $100M ARR. "Recognise when we've got a challenge and address it. And I surround myself with phenomenal people, I'm not afraid of hiring people that are smarter than me around me, because I'm not always the smartest person. I have more context than anyone else, but these people lift me, and I think the best managers do that - they just find phenomenal talent and then trust that they are not going to be fighting, but showing up for the job and lifting you for the manager that you are." Matthijs shares: - Mews' founding story - from frustrations with a big marble block to building the next generation infrastructure system for hotels - The company's growth path (including 40 new hires MoM!) - From eight acquisitions to receiving $110M on top of raising a round - the pivotal moments speed and drive overlapped with opportunity - The ONE role that helped get them to the $10M ARR mark - Why someone giving them sh*t was a 'wake up call' to professionalise the business - When to pull away from entrepreneurial tendencies (including the micromanagement trap...) plus the best hotel he's *ever* stayed in and how much they had to offer a Maine restaurant for the Mews.com domain Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Todd Olson, founder & CEO of Pendo, who shares his lessons in building Pendo well past $100M ARR. "I would say we're more aggressive than the average company. First off, there's rules. We are not a custom software shop, I do not build things for one customer. However, if there's something on our roadmap anyway and it's, I don't know, let's say, 12 months from now, and this prospect needs it now or sooner, I am willing to rearrange things. As I tell my prod teams "don't get married to your roadmap", married means you have emotional attachment to it and that you can't move things around, because what better proxy for prioritisation than speaking with the customer and them saying "I will buy now if you have it now"." Todd shares: - Pendo's founding story - The greatest signal of prioritisation a business can have - His philosophy of 'hiring for pain' - The impact active coaching had on his team - Their two year journey from $1M-$10M ARR: tripling growth rates and a high percentage of inbound demand - The three strategic anchors Pendo uses to make decisions, incl. being 'bold by choice' - How they've dealt with company growth often outpacing human and professional growth and more!Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders