Podcasts about plg

Ho, ho, ho – świąteczny odcinek LPKpodcast już na Was czeka. Nie podsumowujemy, nie planujemy ale rozmawiamy o tym co przykuło naszą uwagę. W odcinku: Apple uruchomiło usługę Fitness+ czyli nowoczesny trening z kaset VHS

The most future-ready marketing leaders aren't the ones chasing trends… they're the ones who can reinvent themselves every time the industry changes.Michelle Huff, Chief Marketing Officer at Alteryx, joins Marketing Trends to break down the mindset that kept her relevant through every major tech revolution, from Web1 to cloud, SaaS, PLG, and now AI. She explains how to balance curiosity with focus, why AI is really about automating judgment (not just tasks), and how she's redesigning her marketing org around agents, automation, and new workflows.Michelle also shares early results from Alteryx's AI experiments, how she's rebuilding a 700,000-person community, and why great leaders still start with the end user even as their buyer audiences expand. Key Moments:  00:00 – How to Stay Relevant Through Every Tech Shift03:42 – A Career Spanning Web1, Cloud, SaaS, and AI06:58 – Curiosity Is the Ultimate Career Advantage10:12 – When Leaders Should Tinker and When to Delegate13:28 – Building a Marketing Culture That Experiments16:41 – Why AI Is About Judgment, Not Just Automation20:07 – Inside an AI-Powered SDR Outbound Workflow23:34 – Do AI Agents Replace People or Elevate Them26:58 – Upskilling Teams in an AI-Driven Organization30:17 – Why Most AI Content Fails to Break Through33:36 – How to Stand Out in a Noisy B2B Market36:52 – Why Enterprise Brands Lose Touch With End Users39:48 – How Alteryx Built a 700,000-Person Community43:06 – Turning Community Into Competition and Learning46:32 – Early AI Wins That Drive Real Pipeline Impact  This episode is brought to you by Lightricks. LTX is the all-in-one creative suite for AI-driven video production; built by Lightricks to take you from idea to final 4K render in one streamlined workspace.Powered by LTX-2, our next-generation creative engine, LTX lets you move faster, collaborate seamlessly, and deliver studio-quality results without compromise. Try it today at ltx.studio Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of the Grow Your B2B SaaS podcast, host Joran welcomes back Jacco van der Kooij, founder of Winning by Design, to unpack how AI-native SaaS companies are changing the rules of growth, pricing, and go-to-market in 2026. The conversation covers why real-time user-level data is becoming the defining competitive advantage, the pitfalls and promise of usage-based pricing for AI products, the existential challenge of inference costs for freemium models, and the enduring importance of subscriptions with smart hybrid elements. It also dives into how AI will replace the majority of sales tasks, the 30 percent of human expertise that remains essential, and why advocacy and community-driven growth loops will shape pipeline generation. From early-stage foundations to scaling to $10 million ARR, Jacco breaks down what founders need to get right now to thrive in the years ahead.Key Timecodes(0:00) - B2B SaaS podcast intro, AI native SaaS, pricing, GTM strategy 2026(1:01) - Jacco van der Kooij intro, Winning by Design(1:14) - 2026 success factors: real-time data, PLG, cohort analytics(2:31) - AI native buyer journey, user-led growth, usage patterns(3:48) - SaaS pricing: usage-based vs subscription, outcome-based pricing(4:23) - AI inference costs, freemium risk, monetization challenges(5:05) - Freemium in AI tools, limits, value gating(5:23) - Consumption-based pricing vs subscription, hybrid pricing(6:12) - Hybrid pricing example, membership + per-resolution fees(7:03) - Efficient growth, GTM efficiency, LTV:CAC, retention, outcomes(8:36) - AI for customer insights, demand gen, lookalike users(9:36) - Ad: B2B SaaS affiliate referral platform, AI-powered recruitment(9:47) - AI and jobs: replace vs enable, workforce impact(11:19) - GTM with AI: 70% sales tasks automated, CRM, scheduling, summaries(12:56) - Trust, human expertise, advocacy, risk mitigation(13:59) - Rebuilding GTM 2026: automation, expert touchpoints, events(15:00) - Growth loop: usage patterns, word of mouth, advocacy pipeline(16:26) - Community-led growth: user conferences, LinkedIn sharing, Clay example(17:02) - SDR strategy: activate users, customer success advocacy(17:11) - Early-stage advice: real-time data system, analytics(17:25) - Data stack recommendation: Snowflake, realtime data lake(17:32) - Scaling to $10M ARR: team alignment, closed-loop GTM(18:04) - Shared system understanding: recurring revenue, training(19:01) - Growth Institute by Winning by Design: courses, community, case studies(19:39) - Where to find: winningbydesign.com, Growth Institute(19:45) - Closing thoughts, optimism, AI era(19:54) - Outro: like, subscribe, sponsor, guest/topic requests(20:17) - Reditus mention, B2B SaaS affiliate program

This week on the EUVC Podcast, Andreas Munk Holm sits down with Matthew Wilson, co-founder of Jack & Jill, and Peter Specht, General Partner at Creandum. Fresh off a $20M seed to take their AI recruiting agents global, they dig into how conviction is built in Europe, from founding insight to investor belief, and what it now takes to scale an agent-native company with speed, precision, and craft.Jack helps candidates find and optimize their careers. Jill helps companies hire brilliantly. Together, the two agents form a high-signal, two-sided network that aims to become the world's most networked AI-powered recruitment agency — without the classical incentive conflicts of human middlemen.Here's what's covered:02:35 | Why Creandum leaned in, conviction on voice-based interfaces and why recruiting is a massive, broken vertical for agent AI03:38 | The founding moment: leaving Omnipresent, 18 months in the wilderness, and the February insight that agents make talent marketplaces finally viable07:07 | Recruiting is broken (and AI made it worse): why first-principles thinking is needed to avoid “more noise, not more signal.”09:15 | Investor conviction: founder/market fit, why this moment is different, and the defensibility of a two-sided agentic marketplace12:22 | The user experience: the “coffee chat” with an AI recruiter: deep voice conversation → matching, prep, coaching, introductions16:30 | Solving the incentives trap: why Jack works 100% for candidates and Jill works 100% for companies (fixing agency conflicts)19:10 | Coaching as core: how AI unlocks career guidance, interview prep, and hands-on support that humans rarely get today22:47 | Building fast in the AI era: talent density, global expansion, and why a 20M seed makes sense for a dual-product marketplace26:35 | Two companies in one: scaling Jack (consumer) + Jill (B2B) simultaneously, across markets, with AI leverage34:02 | The GTM playbook: engineering-led marketing, AI-driven creative testing, instant value, and rethinking B2B buying entirely37:47 | The new AI go-to-market: speed, PLG dominance, virality-by-design, and why distribution now matters more than ever43:52 | Two GTM worlds: viral AI products vs. slow, enterprise-heavy AI deployments (and why both will coexist)47:15 | The “productization” of marketing — why engineering now powers growth, not headcount-heavy marketing orgs50:29 | Final advice (VC POV) — start with a unique insight, not a trend; think in 5–10 year arcs, not quick ARR bumps

In this episode of The Effortless Podcast, Amit Prakash and Dheeraj Pandey dive deep into one of the most important shifts happening in AI today: the convergence of structured and unstructured data, interfaces, and systems.Together, they unpack how conversations—not CRM fields—hold the real ground truth; why schemas still matter in an AI-driven world; and how agents can evolve into true managers, coaches, and chiefs of staff for revenue teams. They explore the cognitive science behind visual vs conversational UI, the future of dynamically generated interfaces, and the product depth required to build enduring AI-native software.Amit and Dheeraj break down the tension between deterministic and probabilistic systems, the limits of prompt-driven workflows, and why the future of enterprise AI is “both-and” rather than “either-or.” It's a masterclass in modern product, data design, and the psychology of building intelligent tools.Key Topics & Timestamps 00:00 – Introduction02:00 – Why conversations—not CRM fields—hold real ground truth05:00 – Reps as labelers and the parallels with AI training pipelines08:00 – Business logic vs world models: defining meaning inside enterprises11:00 – Prompts flatten nuance; schemas restore structure14:00 – SQL schemas as the true model of a business17:00 – CRM overload and the friction of rigid data entry20:00 – AI agents that debrief and infer fields dynamically23:00 – Capturing qualitative signals: champions, pain, intent26:00 – Multi-source context: transcripts, email threads, Slack29:00 – Why structure is required for math, aggregation, forecasting32:00 – Aggregating unstructured data to reveal organizational issues35:00 – Labels, classification, and the limits of LLM-only workflows38:00 – Deterministic (SQL/Python) vs probabilistic (LLMs) systems41:00 – Transitional workflows: humans + AI field entry44:00 – Trust issues and the confusion of the early AI market47:00 – Avoiding “Clippy moments” in agent design50:00 – Latency, voice UX, and expectations for responsiveness53:00 – Human-machine interface for SDRs vs senior reps56:00 – Structured vs unstructured UI: cognitive science insights59:00 – Charts vs paragraphs: parallel vs sequential processing1:02:00 – The “Indian thali” dashboard problem and dynamic UI1:05:00 – Exploration modes, drill-downs, and empty prompts1:08:00 – Dynamic leaves, static trunk: designing hierarchy1:11:00 – Both-and thinking: voice + visual, structured + unstructured1:14:00 – Why “good enough” AI fails without deep product1:17:00 – PLG, SLG, data access, and trust barriers1:20:00 – Closing reflections and the future of AI-native softwareHosts: Amit Prakash – CEO and Founder at AmpUp, former engineer at Google AdSense and Microsoft Bing, with extensive expertise in distributed systems and machine learningDheeraj Pandey – Co-founder and CEO at DevRev, former Co-founder & CEO of Nutanix. A tech visionary with a deep interest in AI, systems, and the future of work.Follow the Hosts:Amit PrakashLinkedIn – Amit Prakash I LinkedInTwitter/X – https://x.com/amitp42Dheeraj PandeyLinkedIn –Dheeraj Pandey | LinkedIn Twitter/X – https://x.com/dheerajShare your thoughts : Have questions, comments, or ideas for future episodes?Email us at EffortlessPodcastHQ@gmail.comDon't forget to Like, Comment, and Subscribe for more conversations at the intersection of AI, technology, and innovation.

In this short segment of the Revenue Builders Podcast, we revisit the discussion with Jose Fernandez — former Head of Global Sales Development at Google and now CEO of Easy Comp — breaks down how compensation must evolve when companies shift from traditional SaaS licensing to consumption-based models. Drawing from his experience at Google Ads, one of the most successful consumption engines in business history, Jose lays out the structural advantages of consumption models and how GTM, onboarding, forecasting, and comp plans must align to unlock growth.John McMahon and John Kaplan then expand on how consumption changes seller behavior, deal sizing, renewal dynamics, forecast accuracy, and quota mechanics. This is a must-listen for revenue leaders, sellers, and anyone navigating the industry-wide shift toward usage-based pricing.KEY TAKEAWAYS[00:00:46] Companies transitioning to consumption models often copy SaaS licensing structures instead of designing comp that amplifies consumption-driven advantages.[00:01:34] Three core advantages of consumption models: lower barrier to entry, value-aligned spend increases, and product-led expansion.[00:03:07] Aligning GTM roles — new business, onboarding, and account management — enables scale and fairness in comp.[00:03:57] Forecasting in consumption models becomes an analytical discipline, requiring predictive models rather than rep intuition.[00:05:00] High-quality customer fit at acquisition can result in massive upside — one rep earned huge commission from a $15M three-month advertiser.[00:07:02] In consumption, churn can happen in a week — sellers must ensure rapid value realization, not just contract signing.[00:08:00] Sellers often intentionally downsize initial deals to ensure burn-down and protect compensation.[00:08:59] PLG and sales-assisted models blend; comp must account for small initial usage that grows rapidly.[00:09:48] Companies balance advance payments to reps with clawbacks to protect against churn.[00:10:10] Smart sellers can land small, prove value, and convert usage to multi-year, high-value commitments.QUOTES[00:01:10] “Companies take too much inspiration from the old model instead of designing comp that amplifies the advantages of consumption.”[00:01:56] “Customer spend is directly proportional to the value they get — and their understanding of that value.”[00:02:19] “If you have an amazing product, some of that growth is going to be product-led, regardless of the sales team.”[00:03:57] “Forecasting in a consumption model is an analytical exercise — not something you ask an account executive to guess.”[00:07:54] “In consumption, a customer can use it for a week, turn it off like a light switch, and move on.”[00:08:38] “PLG might start with $500 on a credit card and scale into a major enterprise deal.”[00:09:28] “Sometimes comp gives future credit for usage trajectory — but companies will claw it back if churn happens.”[00:10:33] “There's a lot of gold in this full episode — make sure you check it out.”Listen to the full conversation through the link below.https://revenue-builders.simplecast.com/episodes/driving-sales-behavior-with-effective-compensation-plans-with-jose-fernandezEnjoying the podcast? Sign up to receive new episodes straight to your inbox:https://hubs.li/Q02R10xN0Check out John McMahon's book here:Amazon Link: https://a.co/d/1K7DDC4Check out Force Management's Ascender platform here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of the Thread Podcast, Justin talks with Tyler Will, VP of GTM Strategy & Ops at Intercom, about how modern revenue organizations are evolving in an era defined by AI, PLG-to-enterprise transitions, and go-to-market speed.Tyler shares his journey from economic consulting and Bain, to GTM leadership at LinkedIn, to now scaling RevOps at Intercom. He breaks down the key differences between operating at a 20,000-person giant and a high-velocity SaaS company, why balancing PLG and enterprise sales motions requires intentional system and process design, and how Intercom rebuilt its routing, sales assist, and pricing guardrails to accelerate ACVs and bring clarity back to the customer journey.The conversation digs into how AI is reshaping selling—not by replacing reps, but by giving them time back. From auto-generating QBR decks to enriching data behind the scenes, Tyler explains why AI actually makes sales more human, not less. He also shares why the next generation of RevOps talent will shift from narrow specialists to curious generalists who leverage AI, understand the full GTM workflow, and act as true co-owners of the business.This is a high-signal episode for anyone thinking about PLG evolution, GTM design, AI-powered sales, and how RevOps must evolve to meet the moment.Chapters00:00 — Intro + Tyler's Background Justin sets up the episode; Tyler shares his path from consulting and Bain to LinkedIn to Intercom.02:00 — Early Career Lessons: From Consulting to GTM How economic consulting and strategy work shaped Tyler's analytical and leadership approach.03:30 — Operating at Scale: LinkedIn vs. Intercom Why large enterprise GTM is committee-driven, and how smaller SaaS companies require speed, adaptability, and influence without authority.06:00 — PLG, Sales-Led, and the Middle Ground How Intercom balances self-serve PLG customers with enterprise sales—and why a “Sales Assist” motion has become critical.08:30 — Redesigning Routing, Guardrails & ACV Growth How simplifying and separating motions helped Intercom lift sales-led logos and drive higher ACVs.10:45 — AI as an Amplifier, Not a Replacement Why AI frees reps from low-value tasks (QBR decks, data cleanup) and makes room for more human selling.13:20 — The Real Risk: Overvaluing Human Busywork Why reps aren't losing points for doing things manually—and why AI should elevate the conversation, not eliminate the human.15:00 — The Future of RevOps Careers Why RevOps is shifting from specialists to generalists who use AI, understand systems, and act like business owners.18:00 — What RevOps Leaders Should Learn Next Tyler's advice to aspiring operators—how to become more valuable by being curious across the entire GTM ecosystem.19:30 — Closing Thoughts + Intercom Hiring Tyler encourages RevOps pros to embrace the field and shape the future; Justin wraps the conversation.

David had a consumer app with 50,000 users and viral traction—and he shut it down. The retention metrics weren't as good as what he'd seen at Snapchat.That difficult decision cleared the path for Juicebox, AI for recruiting that grew to $10M ARR in 2 years. In this episode, David reveals how he pivoted to AI recruiting, generated millions of views with a simple LinkedIn demo, and ground through months of brutal churn to unlock 10x growth. If you want to know how to execute a flawless PLG strategy, run a hyper-lean team, and secure a $30M Series A from Sequoia, this is the blueprint.Why You Should ListenWhy you should kill some products even if they're going viral.How to launch a B2B product with zero budget.The "manual" playbook for fixing high churn.Why you should keep your team under 25 people even after raising millions.How to land an inbound term sheet from Sequoia.Keywordsstartup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, finding pmf, PLG strategy, viral marketing, pivoting, AI recruiting, Series A fundraising, Sequoia Capital00:00:00 Intro00:03:15 Learning Growth at Snap00:13:01 Killing a Viral App with 50k Users00:20:34 The 90 Second LinkedIn Video That Launched Juicebox00:26:21 Fixing High Churn with Manual Work00:33:04 Why B2B Products Only Need to be Marginally Better00:42:27 Scaling to $10M ARR with Founder Led Sales00:47:40 Raising a $30M Series A from Sequoia00:50:12 The Moment of True Product Market FitSend me a message to let me know what you think!

Adam sits down with Guy to discuss AI code reviews, startup life, and why PLG seems to be dead.

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Jennifer went from VC to founder and immediately broke every rule in the book. When she pivoted Scribe from an automation tool to a documentation platform, her investors told her she had just killed the company. She ignored them. Instead of polishing her product, she launched a "janky" offline MVP on Product Hunt to test for real market pull. Scribe is now used by 95% of the Fortune 500. In this episode, Jennifer reveals the brutal truth about ignoring "smart" money, why you should run PLG and Enterprise sales simultaneously from Day 1, and how to tell the difference between pushing a boulder up a hill and chasing one down it.Why You Should ListenWhy you sometimes need to ignore your investors to save your startup.The "Boulder Test": The definitive gut check for knowing if you have true Product-Market Fit.How to validate a massive opportunity with zero marketing budget.Why the conventional wisdom about choosing between PLG and Enterprise Sales is wrong.How to turn executive hiring interviews into free mentorship sessions.Keywordsstartup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, PLG strategies, MVP testing, enterprise sales, go to market strategy, early stage growth, finding pmf, founder stories00:00:00 Intro 00:02:21 1,200 Customer Interviews as a VC 00:22:07 How to Hire for Excellence 00:30:18 The Pivot from Automation to Documentation 00:39:17 Launching a "Janky" MVP on Product Hunt 00:49:09 The Boulder Test for Product-Market Fit 00:52:50 Doing PLG and Enterprise Sales Simultaneously 01:03:12 Ignoring Investors to Save the CompanySend me a message to let me know what you think!

How do Product-Led Growth (PLG) and Sales-Led Growth (SLG) actually work together…instead of competing against each other? In this Marketingland 2025 session, ClickUp's COO Gaurav Agarwal and Global VP of Marketing Kyle Coleman break down why the “PLG vs. SLG” debate is a false dichotomy, and how the most successful companies blend both to drive real revenue impact. From navigating budget decisions to building demand, delivering intuitive product experiences, and integrating AI in ways that actually help (instead of over-promising), they dig into the mechanics of modern growth engines. And, should incremental ROI really be your real north star? If you're building, optimizing, or scaling a modern GTM engine, this conversation is for YOU.  Optimizely helps thousands of brands create, personalize, and optimize exceptional digital experiences. See how Optimizely Opal, our AI agent orchestration platform, automates real marketing work and helps teams scale their impact at https://www.optimizely.com/ai/?utm_campaign=PS-GL-11-2025-MARKETING-MILLENNIALS-PODCAST&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=marketingmillennials&utm_content=opal-agent-orchestration Follow Gaurav: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gauravragarwal/ Follow Kyle: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyletcoleman/ Sign up for The Marketing Millennials newsletter: https://themarketingmillennials.com/ Daniel is a Workweek friend, working to produce amazing podcasts. To find out more, visit: https://workweek.com/

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In this special live episode from SaaS Summit Benelux in Amsterdam, Joran sits down with Roelof Otten, founder of SaaSmeister, to explore How PLG Will Change in 2026: AI Agents, Onboarding & Hybrid GTM. Together, they break down the biggest shifts coming to B2B SaaS go-to-market—from the rise of hybrid motions and the evolution of sales roles to the transformative impact of AI-powered demos, agents, and conversational interfaces.Roelof shares actionable, stage-specific insights for founders at every level. You'll hear why PLG is becoming a company-wide strategy instead of a product feature, how onboarding is expanding beyond the UI, why freemium is harder for AI-native products, and what it really takes to build data tracking that supports growth instead of slowing it down.Whether you're moving from sales-led to product-led, building a hybrid GTM, or preparing your SaaS product for an AI-first future, this episode offers a clear roadmap for navigating the changes ahead and meeting buyers where they want to be in 2026.Tune in to learn how to implement PLG effectively, empower your sales team in a consultative model, integrate AI responsibly, and build growth loops that compound over time.Key Timecodes(0:00) – B2B SaaS, PLG, AI onboarding, AI demos, product-qualified pipeline, GTM 2026, SaaS Summit(0:52) – B2B SaaS podcast(0:58) – Roelof Otten, SaaSmeister, PLG(1:07) – GTM 2026, PLG trends(1:42) – Hybrid GTM, PLG, sales-led(2:36) – AI GTM, AI agents, AI demos(3:12) – Interactive demos, AI sales assistant(3:50) – Buyer enablement, AI demo(4:20) – In-product AI, trial support(4:36) – PLG transformation, sales alignment(5:21) – Consultative sales, upsell, PQLs(5:43) – PLG funnel, activation, expansion(6:00) – Conversational UI, AI UX(6:52) – UX transition(7:25) – AI platform, data layer, models(7:37) – MCP, AI integrations, ChatGPT, Claude(8:10) – AI privacy, security, compliance(8:46) – Build vs buy AI, LLMs(9:22) – PLG first, SaaS trial(9:38) – Reditus, SaaS affiliate(10:22) – AI costs, freemium(10:35) – Freemium strategy, CAC, churn(11:39) – Referrals, partnerships, affiliate growth(12:33) – In-app referrals, incentives(13:06) – Onboarding, nurture, reactivation(13:57) – Signup friction, JTBD, ICP(14:57) – Personalized onboarding(15:14) – Founder-led sales, JTBD, messaging(15:45) – ICP focus, activation metrics(16:39) – Product analytics, event tracking(17:01) – Roelof Otten, SaaSmeister(17:15) – Podcast outro, sponsor, Reditus

In episode #333, Ben answers a foundational SaaS metrics question: Should expansion revenue be included in your Lifetime Value (LTV) calculation? Ben walks through the correct LTV formula and highlights how misalignment between LTV and CAC can distort your LTV:CAC ratio. He also covers when expansion should be included. The episode provides a practical framework for SaaS founders, CFOs, and operators to ensure they calculate LTV accurately, compare it properly to CAC, and model unit economics using consistent, reliable inputs. Key Topics Covered The correct LTV formula using average new-customer MRR × subscription gross margin Why the churn input should align with dollar-based metrics using 1 – Gross Revenue Retention (GRR) Why expansion revenue is deliberately excluded from LTV in most SaaS models How including expansion artificially inflates the LTV:CAC ratio The cost mismatch between acquiring new customers (CAC) and generating expansion revenue When PLG motions justify including limited, time-bound expansion revenue in LTV How organic upgrades differ from sales-assisted expansion How SaaS+ businesses must adjust their LTV formula to account for usage revenue The role of gross margin in determining true unit economics The importance of aligning metric definitions when evaluating customer profitability Why This Matters This episode is essential for: SaaS founders calculating LTV for budgeting, pricing, and forecasting CFOs, controllers, and FP&A leaders managing unit economics and CAC payback Finance teams modelling customer profitability and revenue expansion Operators working in PLG environments assessing organic expansion patterns Investors reviewing LTV:CAC ratios in diligence and portfolio monitoring Anyone building SaaS Plus (subscription + usage) revenue models Resources Mentioned Ben's deep dive on SaaS+ LTV: https://www.thesaascfo.com/how-to-calculate-ltv-with-variable-revenue/ SaaS Metrics course: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/the-saas-metrics-foundation

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Greg Henry, CFO of 1Password and one of the most commercially minded finance leaders in tech, to break down why he left the public-company grind at Couchbase for a PLG-driven security business and what he's relearning in the private sphere. Greg explains how forecasting changes when the product does the selling, how to think about comp and pricing in a usage-led world, and the early tells that a model is quietly over- or under-performing. He shares why CFOs should meet far more customers than they do, how finance can drive revenue without stepping on sales, and what it actually takes for a company to plan with clarity instead of reacting. Greg also recounts the near-derailing of the Couchbase IPO, reflects on the “back nine” of his career, and offers grounded advice for aspiring first-time CFOs.—SPONSORS:RightRev automates the revenue recognition process from end to end, gives you real-time insights, and ensures ASC 606 / IFRS 15 compliance—all while closing books faster. For RevRec that auditors actually trust, visit https://www.rightrev.com and schedule a demo.Tipalti automates the entire payables process—from onboarding suppliers to executing global payouts—helping finance teams save time, eliminate costly errors, and scale confidently across 200+ countries and 120 currencies. More than 5,000 businesses already trust Tipalti to manage payments with built-in security and tax compliance. Visit https://www.tipalti.com/runthenumbers to learn more.Aleph automates 90% of manual, error-prone busywork, so you can focus on the strategic work you were hired to do. Minimize busywork and maximize impact with the power of a web app, the flexibility of spreadsheets, and the magic of AI. Get a personalised demo at https://www.getaleph.com/runFidelity Private Shares is the all-in-one equity management platform that keeps your cap table clean, your data room organized, and your equity story clear—so you never risk losing a fundraising round over messy records. Schedule a demo at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com and mention Mostly Metrics to get 20% off.Metronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That's why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.comMercury is business banking built for builders, giving founders and finance pros a financial stack that actually works together. From sending wires to tracking balances and approving payments, Mercury makes it simple to scale without friction. Join the 200,000+ entrepreneurs who trust Mercury and apply online in minutes at https://www.mercury.com—LINKS:Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greghenry23/1Password: https://1password.com/CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—RELATED EPISODES:Behind the Earnings Calls: Couchbase CFO Greg Henry on Consumption Models & Analyst Relationshttps://youtu.be/o_pDfz5a-Hw—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Preview and Intro00:02:57 Sponsors – RightRev | Tipalti | Aleph00:07:03 Back in the Private Sphere: Why Greg Joined 1Password00:07:49 Greg's Four-Part Framework for a Great Role00:10:12 Thinking About the “Back Nine” & Legacy00:13:16 Transitioning to PLG & SLG at 1Password00:15:12 Blending PLG Efficiency with Enterprise Sales00:17:12 Sponsors – Fidelity Private Shares | Metronome | Mercury00:20:03 B2C vs. B2B ARPU Contrast00:22:41 Forecasting in PLG vs. Sales-Led Models00:24:18 Building Toward Chunky Enterprise Upside00:25:39 Comp Plans: Complexity, Pitfalls & the Alexander Group00:27:35 Keep Comp Plans Simple & Focused on ARR00:29:10 Why Mid-Year Comp Plan Changes Are Dangerous00:31:04 Governance & Guardrails for SPIFFs00:33:19 Using the CFO Network to Drive Revenue00:34:52 Why CFOs Must Meet Customers Directly00:36:19 Wallet Share & Being a Buyer AND a Seller00:38:08 Why He Avoids 3-Year+ Commitments00:40:20 How Much Discount Is a “Year” Worth?00:42:31 Greg's Structured Annual Planning Framework00:43:50 3–5% Upside/Downside Menu00:44:57 Comp Plans Must Go Out Early00:47:23 January Compensation & System Cutover Challenges00:48:31 Why Roadmap Alignment Must Kick Off Planning00:50:21 Sustain / Differentiate / Durable Growth / World-Class Teams Framework00:52:29 Couchbase IPO Almost Going Sideways00:54:59 How to Actually Become a CFO01:00:11 Legacy Greg Wants to Leave at 1Password#RunTheNumbersPodcast #CFOInsights #SaaSLeadership #PLGvsSLG #FinanceStrategy This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com

Jeanne DeWitt Grosser built world-class GTM teams at Stripe, Google, and, most recently, Vercel, where she serves as COO and oversees marketing, sales, customer success, revenue operations, and field engineering. She transformed Stripe's early sales organization from the ground up and advises founders on GTM strategy.We discuss:1. Why GTM is becoming more strategically important in the AI era2. The rise of the GTM engineer3. A primer on segmentation4. How to build a sales org that engineers and product teams respect5. The changing calculus of build vs. buy for go-to-market tools in the AI era6. Why most customers buy to avoid pain rather than to gain upside—Brought to you by:Datadog—Now home to Eppo, the leading experimentation and feature flagging platform: https://www.datadoghq.com/lennyLovable—Build apps by simply chatting with AI: https://lovable.dev/Stripe—Helping companies of all sizes grow revenue: https://stripe.com/—Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/what-the-best-gtm-teams-do-differently—My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/179503137/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation—Where to find Jeanne DeWitt Grosser:• X: https://x.com/jdewitt29• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeannedewitt—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction to Jeanne DeWitt Grosser(05:26) Defining go-to-market(08:43) The evolution of go-to-market roles(11:23) The rise of the go-to-market engineer(14:21) Implementing AI in sales processes(15:28) Optimizing sales with AI agents(23:47) Defining sales roles: SDRs and AEs(26:04) When to hire a GTM engineer(29:04) Hiring and scaling sales teams(30:50) The ideal go-to-market engineer(34:24) The go-to-market tool stack(40:39) Advice on building a great sales bot(44:34) Vercel's unfair advantage(46:37) Go-to-market as a product(47:04) Innovative sales tactics at Stripe(52:38) Effective go-to-market tactics(01:00:37) Segmentation strategies(01:09:31) Building a sales org that engineers love(01:14:00) Thoughts on PLG and pricing(01:16:44) Sales compensation and hiring(01:19:24) Lightning round and final thoughts—Referenced:• Vercel: https://vercel.com• Stripe: https://stripe.com• Rosalind Franklin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Franklin• Ben Salzman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bensalzman• SDK: https://ai-sdk.dev/docs/introduction• Gong: https://www.gong.io• Lyft: https://www.lyft.com• Instacart: https://www.instacart.com• DoorDash: https://www.instacart.com• “Sell the alpha, not the feature”: The enterprise sales playbook for $1M to $10M ARR | Jen Abel: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-enterprise-sales-playbook-1m-to-10m-arr• A step-by-step guide to crafting a sales pitch that wins | April Dunford (author of Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/a-step-by-step-guide-to-crafting• Kate Jensen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kateearle• Lessons from scaling Stripe | Claire Hughes Johnson (former COO of Stripe): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-scaling-stripe-tactics• Atlassian: atlassian.com—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

John McMahon is widely regarded as one of the greatest enterprise-software sales leaders of all time. He's the only person to have served as Chief Revenue Officer at five public software companies: PTC, GeoTel, Ariba, BladeLogic and BMC Software. He helped scale BladeLogic from a startup into a public company — ultimately leading to its ~$880M sale to BMC — and drove GeoTel into a multi-billion dollar acquisition. Today he sits on the boards of top names such as Snowflake and MongoDB, while also mentoring and influencing a who's-who of modern SaaS sales leaders. AGENDA: 03:33 The Art and Science of Sales: Insights from a Veteran 04:29 Adapting Sales Strategies in the Age of AI and PLG 07:47 The Ultimate Framework to do Deal Qualification 14:13 How to Drive Urgency and Maintain Sales Process 20:06 How to Hire the Best Sales Reps 25:11 Step-by-Step Guide to Training Sales Reps 45:22 The Mindset of the Best Sales Reps 54:55 Single Most Important Skill to Win in Sales  

In this episode of the Grow Your B2B SaaS podcast, recorded live at the SaaS Summit Benelux in Amsterdam, host Joran sat down with Richard Schenzel from AtScale. Richard and his team act as operating partners for B2B SaaS companies, helping them build, structure, and scale sales operations with a strong focus on improving performance.The conversation centered on how go-to-market (GTM) strategy is changing in 2026. From the rise of blended motions and the evolving role of ACV across PLG and sales-led setups, to how AI will reshape the entire funnel—Richard shared a pragmatic view into what will separate the SaaS companies that scale successfully from those that fall behind. He also explained why now is the time for deep introspection, how to audit your GTM machine, and why roles like SDR/BDR must be rethought in an AI-driven world.Key Timestamps(0:00) – The 2026 B2B SaaS GTM Shakeup: AI, PLG vs Sales-Led & ACV Truths(0:00) – Meet Richard Schenzel: The B2B SaaS Sales Ops Performance Architect(0:01) – GTM in 2026: AI-Driven Plays, Blended Motions & ACV Strategy(0:02) – Why 2026 Demands a Full GTM Audit: Blended Motions + ACV Reality(0:02) – PLG vs Sales-Led: How ACV Decides Your Entire GTM Motion(0:03) – The New Era of Efficient SaaS Growth: AI, Margin & Sales Efficiency(0:04) – Bow-Tie Model Power: Where AI Creates Massive GTM ROI(0:04) – Automate Your Sales Engine: AI Intent, Scoring, SDR Workflows & CS(0:05) – The 2026 SDR: Human Connection Beats Sequencing Automation(0:06) – 2026 Headcount Reset: New SDR/BDR, AE & RevOps Roles(0:07) – Train the Machines: Why People Still Win in AI-Driven GTM(0:07) – Ad Break: Reditus – The AI Affiliate Engine for B2B SaaS(0:08) – What Will Make SaaS Winners in 2026: Adapt Fast or Fall Behind(0:09) – The 2026 Mindset Shift: Stop Fixing Yesterday, Pivot Faster(0:09) – The GTM Implementation Blueprint: Mission → Strategy → Tech → People(0:11) – The “If It Ain't Broke” GTM Trap: How to Spot Hidden Failures(0:11) – The Ultimate SaaS GTM Audit: 1–5 Scoring Across Every Function(0:13) – Bow-Tie Data Mastery: Fix GTM Bottlenecks Faster With AI(0:14) – From 0 → 10K MRR: ICP, Feedback Loops & Avoiding Enterprise Traps(0:16) – Scaling to $10M ARR: ICP Alignment, Feature Pruning & $100M Roadmap(0:17) – Evolving Your ICP: Stay True to Your Customer & Your Mission(0:17) – Connect With Richard Schenzel on LinkedIn

In this episode, Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia interviews Elena Verna, Head of Growth at Lovable—the fastest-growing AI startup to ever surpass $100M in ARR, hitting the milestone in just eight months. With a proven track record leading growth at Miro, Amplitude, Superhuman, and Dropbox, Elena brings unparalleled expertise in driving sustainable, product-led growth across both hyper-growth and turnaround environments.Elena shares how building in the fast-moving “vibe coding” category requires a radical shift in how we define product-market fit, structure growth teams, and measure success. From product-led monetization loops to redefining brand as a product responsibility, Elena outlines a bold vision for what growth looks like in the age of AI-native products.What you'll learn:How Lovable ships at record speed, with daily product updates and a 3-tier launch model.How AI-native products redefine activation, retention, and monetization.Why product teams must now own brand experience—not just featuresHow Elena designs feedback, education, and referral loops that turn users into growth engines.The evolving role of activation, retention, and monetization in AI-native PLG.Key Takeaways

In this episode, Prashant Sridharan, Head of Product Marketing at Supabase, joins Louise Liu to share insights on building trust and winning with developer marketing—from feature‑first messaging and PLG strategies to aligning product, DevRel, and marketing for go‑to‑market success. Prashant also discusses why transparency beats hype and how AI is reshaping the way product marketers work.For more information on AI and product marketing workflows, read Prashant Sridharan's article “How I Use Claude To Build Launch Plans From Chaos“.All rights reserved. © Product Marketing Hive.

We weigh the promise and peril of the AI agent economy, pressing into how overprovisioned non-human identities, shadow AI, and SaaS integrations expand risk while go-to-market teams push for speed. A CMO and a CFO align on governance-first pilots, PLG trials, buyer groups, and the adoption metrics that sustain value beyond the sale.• AI adoption surge matched by adversary AI• Overprovisioned agents and shadow AI in SaaS• Governance thresholds before budget scale• PLG trials, sandbox, and POV sequencing• Visualization to reach the aha moment• Buying groups, ICP, and economic buyer alignment• Post‑sales usage, QBRs, NRR and churn signals• Zero trust limits and non-human identities• Breach disclosures as industry standards• Co-sourcing MSSP with in-house oversightSecurity isn't slowing AI down; it's the unlock that makes enterprise AI valuable. We dive into the AI agent economy with a CMO and a CFO who meet in the messy middle. The result is a practical blueprint for moving from hype to governed production without killing momentum.We start by mapping where controls fail: once users pass SSO and MFA, agents often operate beyond traditional identity and network guardrails. That's how prompts pull sensitive deal data across Salesforce and Gmail, and how third‑party API links expand the attack surface. From there, we lay out an adoption sequence that balances trust and speed. Think frictionless free trials and sandboxes that reach an immediate “aha” visualization of shadow AI and permissions, then progress to a scoped POV inside the customer's environment with clear policies and measurable outcomes. Along the way, we detail the buying group: economic buyers who sign and practitioners who live in the UI, plus the finance lens that sets pilot capital, milestones, and time-to-value expectations.We also challenge sacred cows. Zero trust is essential, but attackers increasingly log in with valid credentials and pivot through integrations, so verification must include non-human identities and agent-to-agent controls. Breach disclosures, far from being a greater threat than breaches, are foundational to ecosystem trust and faster remediation. And while MSSPs add critical scale, co-sourcing—retaining strategic oversight and compliance ownership—keeps accountability inside. If you care about ICP, PLG motions, PQLs, NRR, or simply reducing AI risk while driving growth, this conversation turns buzzwords into a playbook you can run.Vamshi Sriperumbudur: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vamsriVamshi Sriperumbudur was recently the CMO for Prisma SASE at Palo Alto Networks, where he led a complete marketing transformation, driving an impact of $1.3 billion in ARR in 2025 (up 35%) and establishing it as the platform leader.  Chithra Rajagopalan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chithra-rajagopalan-mba/Chithra Rajagopalan is the Head of Finance at Obsidian Security and former Head of Finance at Glue, and she is recognized as a leader in scaling businesses. Chithra is also an Investor and Advisory Board member for Campfire, serving as the President and Treasurer of Blossom Projects.Website: https://www.position2.com/podcast/Rajiv Parikh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajivparikh/Sandeep Parikh: https://www.instagram.com/sandeepparikh/Email us with any feedback for the show: sparkofages.podcast@position2.com

"We were adding customers, losing customers, adding customers, losing customers. We were stalling."Gaurav Bhattacharya had $2.5M ARR and 50 customers. On paper, things looked fine. But momentum wasn't there. Instead of pushing harder, he split his company in two – and nine months later, Jeeva AI had 10,000 users and 300 enterprise customers.In today's episode, I'm joined by Gaurav Bhattacharya, Founder and CEO of Jeeva AI. After successfully exiting his first healthcare AI startup, Gaurav spent five years building a data intelligence platform to $2.5M ARR before recognising it would never become the great business he wanted. His solution? Split the team in two – one to keep the lights on, one to prove product-market fit for a completely new idea. The result was Jeeva AI, a sales intelligence tool that exploded to 10,000 users in nine months.Together we unpack:How to decide when a "good" business will never become greatThe two-team strategy: keeping lights on whilst proving new product-market fitWhy pattern recognition is the most underrated founder skillHow to pivot without killing team morale or burning investor relationshipsThe shift from enterprise sales to PLG (and why it required completely different muscles)

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Meet Karthik Balachander, Lead Generation Director at Agendrix, an HR software built for deskless teams in restaurants, hospitality, retail, clinics, and more. He shares how Agendrix simplifies shift scheduling, time tracking, payroll prep, and two-way team communication—complete with offline clock-ins and peer recognition "high fives." Karthik breaks down their growth engine: strong word of mouth in Quebec, SEO-driven content like templates and calculators, and a transparent, self-serve website with a 21-day free trial. We dig into website-to-product continuity, premium design that builds trust, and the thorny challenge of multi-channel attribution amid evolving privacy norms. Actionable takeaways for marketers leading PLG funnels and content programs across multilingual markets.   

Continuum is solving the multi-party return problem in B2B supply chain—a transaction involving distributors, manufacturers, and end users that previously took 30-45 days and now completes in 30-45 seconds. In this episode of Category Visionaries, we sat down with Alex Witcpalek, CEO and Founder of Continuum, to unpack how he's building what he calls "reverse EDI" in a market of 1.5 million distribution and manufacturing companies across North America. After 13 years selling technology into this space, Alex is now growing 8x year-over-year by turning customers into the primary acquisition channel through network effects. Topics Discussed: Why multi-party returns require replicating order management, warehouse management, and procurement systems simultaneously The tactical sequencing of building network businesses: solving for independent value, achieving critical mass, then activating network effects How Continuum navigates deep ERP integrations (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, Epicor) plus bespoke business logic across multiple supply chain tiers Facebook retargeting, BDR outbound, events, and customer referrals as the four channels driving growth in a non-PLG market Why business model differentiation is the only remaining moat when technical barriers collapse Building domain expertise distribution systems using AI-powered LMS fed by sales call recordings GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: Choose problems where you can capture 100% of addressable market, not fractional share: Alex deliberately avoided competing in CRM, sales order automation, or accounts payable—categories where even dominant players cap at 25-30% market penetration. Instead, he targeted multi-party reverse logistics, a greenfield problem no one else was solving. This strategic choice eliminates competitive displacement risk and allows every prospect conversation to focus on change management rather than competitive differentiation. Founders should map their TAM against competitive saturation: markets where you can own the entire category create fundamentally different growth trajectories than fighting for fragments. Sequence network businesses: independent value → critical mass → network activation: Alex was told by investors 18 months in that network effects "weren't going to work." His insight: "When you don't have a network, you don't sell the network. It's just in your plans and how you're building." Continuum sold P&L impact, manual labor reduction, and customer experience improvements to early adopters while building network infrastructure invisibly. Only after achieving density in specific verticals (HVAC, electrical, plumbing) did they surface the network value proposition. This sequencing prevents the cold-start problem—founders building marketplace or network businesses must design standalone value that makes the first 100 customers successful independent of network density. Exploit high pain thresholds in legacy industries as competitive barriers: Supply chain companies accept 30-45 day return cycles, manual warranty claims on paper, and playing "guess who" by phone to find inventory across distributor branches. Alex notes they have "extremely high pain threshold" from living with broken systems for decades. While this creates longer education cycles, it also means competitors won't enter (too hard) and once you prove ROI, switching costs become prohibitive. Founders should reframe customer inertia: industries tolerating obvious inefficiencies offer category creation opportunities with built-in moats, not just sales friction. Business model architecture is the only defensible moat—technical differentiation is dead: Alex is building his own e-signature platform (Continue Sign) and AI LMS using vibe coding to prove technical moats no longer exist. Continuum's defensibility comes entirely from network lock-in: displacing them requires disconnecting manufacturers like Carrier, Daikin, and Bosch plus their entire distributor ecosystems simultaneously. He references EDI (1960s technology still dominant today) as proof that network effects create permanent advantages. Founders must architect switching costs, network density, or proprietary data advantages into their business model—technology alone provides zero protection in the AI era. Match channel strategy to actual ICP behavior, not SaaS conventions: Continuum's top lead source is customer-driven network growth—distributors recruiting manufacturers and vice versa. Facebook retargeting works because their 50+ year-old supply chain buyers "are trying to comment on their grandkids' pictures," not scrolling LinkedIn. BDR outbound still delivers high win rates in an industry where business happens on handshakes, making events critical. This channel mix would fail for PLG products but works perfectly for enterprise cycles with $40K ACVs and 90-day sales processes. Founders should ethnographically research where their specific buyers actually spend attention rather than defaulting to LinkedIn, content marketing, or PLG based on what works in adjacent categories. Use 90-day enterprise cycles and multi-stakeholder complexity as qualification, not friction: Continuum runs enterprise sales motions for $40K deals because multi-party returns touch 16 constituents across sales, customer service, fleet, supply chain, warehouse, purchasing, and finance. Rather than trying to simplify buying, Alex uses this complexity as a filter—companies willing to coordinate VP of Supply Chain, COO, and CFO alignment are serious buyers. He layers three value propositions (P&L impact, labor reduction, customer experience) knowing different stakeholders weight them differently. Founders selling into complex environments should embrace multi-threading as a qualification mechanism that improves win rates and reduces churn, not overhead to eliminate. //  Sponsors:  Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire  Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM  

Wisdom AI sells to enterprise data teams, empowering them to deploy AI data analysts that automate analytics functions traditionally handled by human analysts. As a former Rubrik co-founder and Google search ranking engineer, Soham identified the analytics problem firsthand while scaling Rubrik from intuition-driven to data-driven operations. In this episode of Category Visionaries, Soham shares how four Rubrik alumni are building a category-defining solution in the data analytics space, the tactical insights from targeting mid-market accounts to optimize deal velocity and onboarding experience, and how AI buying committees shifted from experimental budgets in 2024 to gatekeepers requiring departmental champions in 2025. Topics Discussed: Leveraging mid-market focus to compress sales cycles while refining onboarding as core product differentiation The transition from gut-based decisions to data-driven operations and why analytics remains unsolved Taming LLMs for precision and explainability requirements in enterprise analytics contexts Strategic navigation of the data ecosystem following the FiveTran-DBT merger and positioning against Snowflake, Databricks, and cloud providers Overlaying product-led trial motions on enterprise sales to maintain momentum during extended procurement cycles AI committee evolution from 2024's experimental phase to 2025's security-focused consolidation mandate Pursuing 10x productivity gains versus incremental improvement in established analytics markets GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: Use mid-market to build onboarding velocity as moat: Rubrik deliberately targeted mid-market accounts despite being an enterprise product that closed eight-figure deals. This served two strategic purposes: compressed sales cycles enabled faster learning loops, and the necessity of quick onboarding forced the team to build exceptional admin experiences that became their primary differentiation. For B2B founders, mid-market isn't just easier logos—it's a forcing function for product refinement that creates competitive advantages when moving upmarket. Find problems through operational scar tissue, not market research: Wisdom AI originated when Soham tried moonlighting as engineering's data analyst during Rubrik's scaling phase and discovered he couldn't do it effectively. This wasn't a customer interview insight—it was firsthand recognition that even sophisticated technical leaders with dedicated focus couldn't wrangle data for operational decisions. The problem proved ubiquitous across every business leader optimizing top line, bottom line, and operations. B2B founders building for enterprises should prioritize pain points they've personally hit in operational contexts where existing solutions demonstrably failed them. Engineer time-to-value in minutes for PLG overlay on enterprise sales: Wisdom AI's experiential quality—users get excited when they try it, not when they see slides—creates PLG opportunity despite enterprise positioning. The critical difference: sales-led motions tolerate weeks to first value and build confidence through process, but self-serve requires hook-to-value in minutes with zero support. Soham's insight is using PLG not for credit card swipes but to maintain champion enthusiasm during lengthy procurement processes. B2B founders should architect trial experiences that deliver standalone value pre-data connection, creating internal advocates who sustain momentum through AI committee reviews. Treat ecosystem navigation as first-class GTM workstream: Wisdom AI's success depends on partnership execution with Snowflake, Databricks, and cloud providers—all potential competitors with their own AI initiatives. The FiveTran-DBT merger created immediate dynamic shifts requiring repositioning. Rather than viewing partnerships as business development, Soham frames ecosystem navigation as core GTM infrastructure requiring dedicated strategy and repeatable playbooks. B2B founders in platform-adjacent spaces should staff for partnership complexity early, recognizing that integration points and co-selling motions often determine market access more than direct sales capacity. Architect for AI committee gatekeepers with departmental executive sponsorship: The market fundamentally shifted from mid-2024's "experimental AI budgets, try everything" to 2025's centralized AI committees focused on security, tool consolidation, and preventing organizational wild west scenarios. Soham's tactical response: secure champions owning specific important departments who can navigate approval hierarchies while trial experiences maintain grassroots excitement. The implication for B2B AI founders—assumption of longer cycles, security scrutiny as table stakes, and explicit strategies for climbing from individual enthusiast to organizational deployment become non-negotiable enterprise sales requirements. // Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM

Head of Global ABM & Campaigns at Datadog, Kevin Driscoll leads a global team driving pipeline through integrated, data-led programs. With experience at IBM and Anaplan, he blends demand generation, growth marketing, and competitive strategy to unite sales and marketing around impact. His focus on scalable personalization, creative testing, and bridging PLG and SLG motions has made him a leading voice in account-based growth.Watch this episode and learn:How Datadog evolved from PLG to a focused, account-based growth model.Why a “two-hat” ABM structure strengthens GTM alignment.What B2C-style creativity can teach B2B marketers about engagement.How AI enhances research and personalization while keeping ABM human-led.

不用如果，真的發生了－這集節目錄音完後幾個小時，新北國王官宣Thank You總教練John Patrick。我們還不確定國王的下一步會怎麼樣，但節目瞬間因此剪掉15分鐘國王段落，小人物贊助會員們可以在群組聽到這段幫國王想東想西、但沒想到會出這招的討論。 回到沒有被剪掉的上週球賽回顧，夢想家跨周三連勝、雲豹開季五連勝，兩支球隊分別做對了哪些事情？情況有些不妙的特攻又有哪些問題？先輸獵鷹超過30分、再贏洋基超過30分的勇士，是什麼造成這麼大的上下限落差？而隊史首戰打了兩節好球的洋基工程，除了投到飽、但投不進的葉惟捷外，小枚的現場回報還看到什麼值得一提的球賽內容？ 話題轉到上集未完待續的【台籃2020年以來的What If?】，這集有不少賣情懷的題目，且聽Roy與Kong帶領小人物聽眾們回想過去的那些時刻：如果裕隆恐龍在PLG元年就加入競爭會怎麼樣？如果揚科維奇(Stefan Jankovic)沒有受傷會怎麼樣？如果攻城獅贏得PLG第二季總冠軍會怎麼樣？如果林書豪跟Dwight Howard一起加入雲豹會怎麼樣？ 還沒完，如果職籃沒有外籍生、洋將只限2名且沒有薪資上限，會怎麼樣？最後，如果李多慧加盟新北國王，會怎麼樣？！謝謝小人物聽眾們提案的What If，如果覺得這樣的討論有意思，歡迎留言或發訊息許願你想聽的討論題目。 此外，世界盃資格賽的中華隊大名單、職籃/籃協/球員之間的難解習題又再次搬上檯面，三位主持人的看法如何？下一次的窗口賽時又要再演一次嗎？跨聯盟、跨時空的討論內容，都在這周的霹靂鍵盤！ 成為

Recorded live at the SaaS Summit in Amsterdam, this episode of the Grow Your B2B SaaS Podcast dives into a focused conversation with Mark Appel, Chief Marketing Officer at Sendcloud. As one of Europe's fastest-growing B2B SaaS platforms, Sendcloud operates across eight European markets, generating close to 60 million in annual recurring revenue with a team of about 450. In this discussion, Mark reveals how Sendcloud approaches international scaling, builds cross-functional go-to-market alignment, identifies and prioritizes compounding growth loops, and integrates AI agents across marketing and GTM operations. He also reflects on what he would do differently if he could rebuild a SaaS go-to-market motion from scratch, what early-stage founders should focus on to reach their first 10K MRR, and how to evolve from feature-led messaging to a brand-led narrative on the path to 10 million ARR.Key Timecodes(00:00) – Intro: Scaling B2B SaaS, Growth Loops & AI GTM 2026(01:10) – Guest Intro: Mark Appel, CMO of Sendcloud(01:39) – Company Snapshot: €60M ARR, 450 Employees, 8 Markets(02:20) – 2026 Focus: International SaaS Scaling Strategy(02:36) – Cross-Functional GTM: Marketing, Sales & CS Alignment(03:26) – GTM Motion: Hybrid PLG + SLG in B2B SaaS(03:39) – Finding Growth Loops Across 8 Countries(04:34) – Working Growth Loops: Demand to Revenue Flywheel(05:15) – Platform Network Effects: Merchants, Carriers & Partners(06:13) – Built-in Virality: Tracking Emails as Growth Channel(06:51) – Ad Break: Reditus Affiliate & Referral Growth(07:35) – AI for GTM 2026: AI SDRs & Marketing Agents(08:50) – AI Implementation: Challenges & Early Adoption(09:55) – Biggest GTM Shift: Retention, Expansion & Automation(10:22) – PLG in Product: Driving Adoption via In-App Prompts(11:40) – Rebuilding GTM: Cross-Functional Pods by Segment(12:41) – Segmentation: Startup to Enterprise Strategy(13:21) – Future Growth Loops: Consumer Visibility for SaaS(14:41) – 0 to 10K MRR: In-Market Demand & Search Campaigns(15:34) – 10K MRR to €10M ARR: Brand-Led SaaS Growth(16:03) – Connect with Mark Appel: LinkedIn & Email(16:18) – Outro & CTA: Subscribe, Sponsor & Learn via Reditus

In this episode, we sit down with Fabian Veit, CEO of Make.com, to talk about what it really takes to scale not just one but two hyperscale SaaS companies - first in a classic enterprise sales-led motion, and now in a PLG + AI/automation world. Fabian shares how Make has 15x'd revenue and grown from ~50 to nearly 400 people, while racing past 100k+ paying customers and aiming for €100M+ ARR, and why that requires a fundamentally different mindset than selling multi-million euro deals into the Fortune 2000. He contrasts the “one deal can make your quarter” reality of enterprise sales with the high-volume, product-first, self-serve motion of Make, where thousands of users sign up every month and the product has to carry the weight. We also dig into what it means to build in the middle of the AI & agentic wave when your platform is literally how people wire AI into their business processes. Fabian explains why most AI projects are actually 80–90% integrations & automation, where AI is the smart layer inside the flow, not the whole show, and how Make is evolving from classic “if-this-then-that” workflows into visual AI agents that power real operations. You'll hear Fabian talk about: PLG vs Sales-Led: What changed when he went from 9–12 month, high-touch enterprise cycles at Celonis to Make's “sign up free, upgrade yourself” engine. Rebuilding While Scaling: Why everything is always breaking in hypergrowth, and how he decides what to fix for 5× future scale, not just today. Brand & Positioning Pivots: The risky shift from Integromat to Make.com, losing SEO in the short term to win a much bigger global brand in the long term. Culture at Hyperspeed: How they keep their values intact with hundreds of new hires through explicit values & operating principles, and a brutal honesty policy inspired by Radical Candor. The AMA Channel: An internal Ask Me Anything Slack channel where anyone can ask leadership anything (even anonymously), and why Fabian believes answering every question publicly is non-negotiable for trust. We wrap up with Fabian's view on where we are in the AI hype cycle, why he compares this moment more to the industrial revolution than just another tech fad, and what kinds of human skills will matter even more in an AI-driven world.

In this segment, Dan Fougere breaks down how Product-Led Growth (PLG) fundamentally changes the traditional sales playbook. Drawing from his experience at Datadog and advising startups, he explains that PLG companies must rethink how they engage prospects—especially when users begin interacting with the product before any formal sales conversation.Dan emphasizes the importance of usage signals—such as downloading the product or reading documentation—as triggers for sales outreach. He also discusses the risk of force-fitting old playbooks into new environments and advocates for a first principles approach: understanding how users buy, how they use the product, and what commercial conversations are relevant at each stage.On this Veterans Day Week, check out one of the charities that's important to Dan.https://www.nplboutdoors.org/The No Person Left Behind Outdoors charity works with combat veterans to provide outdoor experiences to foster camaraderie, promote wellness, and celebrate resilience. They do everything from hiking trips to Kilimanjaro to turkey hunts. Support their important work.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Chad Peets is one of the greatest sales leaders and recruiters of the last 25 years. From 2018 to 2023, Chad was a Managing Director at Sutter Hill Ventures. Chad has worked with the world's best CEOs and CROs to build world-class go-to-market organizations. Chad is currently a member of the Board of Directors for Lacework and Luminary Cloud and on the boards of Clumio and Sigma Computing. He previously served as a board member for Astronomer, Transposit, and others. He was an early-stage investor at Snowflake, Sigma, Observe, Lacework, and Clumio. In Today's Discussion with Chad Peet's We Discuss: 1. You Need a CRO Pre-Product: Why does Chad believe that SaaS companies need a CRO pre-product? Should the founder not be the right person to create the sales playbook? What should the founder look for in their first CRO hire? Does any great CRO really want to go back to an early startup and do it again? 2. What Everyone Gets Wrong in Building Sales Teams: Why are most sales reps not performing? How long does it take for sales teams to ramp? How does this change with PLG and enterprise? What are the benchmarks of good vs great for average sales reps? How do founders and VCs most often hurt their sales teams and performance? 3. How to Build a Hiring Machine: What are the single biggest mistakes people make when hiring sales reps and teams? Are sales people money motivated? How to create comp plans that incentivise and align? Why does Chad believe that any sales rep that does not want to be in the office, is not putting their career and development first? Why is it harder than ever to recruit great sales leaders today? 4. Lessons from Scaling Sales at Snowflake: What are the single biggest lessons of what worked from scaling Snowflake's sales team? What did not work? What would he do differently with the team again? What did Snowflake teach Chad about success and culture and how they interplay together?  

Nie jest tak drastycznie jak wybrzmiewa tytuł odcinka, ale musi być clickabitowo – rozmawialiśmy na początku o papierze toaletowym i jakoś tak wyszło, że zeszliśmy na medyczny temat. To on jest winny tytułu odcinka.Ale – oprócz tego razem z Jankiem w 10 sezonie, pierwszego odcinka #LPKpodcast rozmawialiśmy:A o czym jest ten film. – polecamy, aby podsłuchać Janka w radio – w każdy pierwszy piątek miesiąca.Dokończone gry na PS5 i Switchu – może ktoś z Was będzie chciał spróbować swoich sił – służymy pomocą.Zaczynam ogrywać StarWars Outlast – wiem, że stare ale muzyka i klimat bardzo mi odpowiadają.Nie kupujcie ekspresu do kawy firmy Krups – jest problem z serwisem w Trójmieście. Ale rozmowa o kawie w luźnym podaście przy kawie zaprowadził nas do rozmowy o kapsułkach w ekspresach Nespresso – nie jest źle! – link do ekspresu.Chwilę pogadaliśmy również o dwóch fajnych filmach – może będziecie chcieli obejrzeć.A zakończyliśmy przedziwnym ale istotnym trendem Gen Z – 15 minut w sypialni.To tyle w tym tygodniu. Liczmy, że usłyszmy się za tydzień bądź dwa! Pamiętajcie o kawie na stornie kawawbiurze.pl – partnera naszego podcastu z kodem LPK2025 macie -20%, aż żal nie skorzystać.PozdrawiamyAdam i JanInstagram: @LuznoPrzyKawieTwitter: @LuźnoPrzyKawieFacebook: @LPKpodcastProjekt okładki: Adam BorodoIdentyfikacja wizualna: High5Studio.plGłosy: Adam Borodo, Jan Urbanowicz

《Stan Up！青開麥》Podcast開播！由新竹縣政府教育局推出，六集節目集結青年提案，從選系迷茫、科技人生到地方創生，還有網紅跨界對談，探索竹縣青年的成長路線圖。

AI and PLG are two of the most transformative forces in SaaS today and when combined, they can multiply growth faster than any traditional go-to-market model. In this episode, Wes Bush sits down with Aakash Gupta, one of the leading voices in product and growth (and the creator of the largest newsletter in the space with 200,000+ subscribers), to explore how AI is revolutionizing every layer of product-led growth - from activation and onboarding to pricing and expansion. They break down exactly how top SaaS companies are using AI to reduce time-to-value by 10x, build smarter pricing models, and even automate their internal processes using agents like Claude, NotebookLM, and Relay. Whether you're a founder, product manager, or growth operator, this episode is packed with real use cases, tools, and frameworks that will help you stay ahead of the curve in the AI + PLG era. Key Highlights 02:15 – Top LLMs for product and growth teams 05:07 – Why every PLG practitioner should create a “copilot” inside Claude 07:29 – How AI projects can act as your chief of staff or people ops assistant 11:46 – Building AI executive assistants that replace (or supercharge) your EA 14:26 – Why marketers need to rethink their jobs in the age of AI automation 26:47 – The 10x practitioner mindset: how to become exponentially more effective 27:35 – AI-driven activation: how to reduce time-to-value by 90% 28:56 – Using AI evals and profiling questions to personalize onboarding 31:22 – Rethinking SaaS pricing for AI products 36:01 – How to design sustainable AI free tiers and reverse trials 41:08 – AI-assisted expansion and PQLs Resources

In this episode of the Revenue Builders Podcast, our hosts John Kaplan and John McMahon are joined by Dan Fougere, a venture partner at Index Ventures and former CRO of Datadog. Dan shares insights from his extensive sales career, emphasizing the importance of developing adaptive and context-specific sales playbooks. He discusses the evolution of PLG (Product-Led Growth) strategies, the integration of AI in sales processes, and the critical need for continuous learning and adaptability. The episode also touches on Dan's philanthropic efforts, including his involvement with Homes for Our Troops and other charitable initiatives.ADDITIONAL RESOURCESConnect and learn more from Dan Fougere.Connect with Dan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danfougere/Support Homes For Our Troops: https://www.hfotusa.orgSupport Imagine Reading: https://imaginereading.com/Support No Person Left Behind Outdoors: https://www.nplboutdoors.orgRead the Guide on Six Critical Priorities for Revenue Leadership in 2026: https://hubs.li/Q03JN74V0Enjoying the podcast? Sign up to receive new episodes straight to your inbox: https://hubs.li/Q02R10xN0HERE ARE SOME KEY SECTIONS TO CHECK OUT[00:02:24] Advice for New Sales Leaders[00:02:52] Adapting Sales Playbooks[00:03:27] The Importance of Flexibility in Sales Strategies[00:03:54] Understanding Product-Led Growth (PLG)[00:06:44] Case Study: Datadog's Sales Evolution[00:07:57] Challenges in Scaling Sales Strategies[00:08:51] Building a Sales Organization for the Future[00:12:14] The Role of a CRO in Modern Sales[00:14:48] Adapting to Market Changes[00:26:23] Traits of Effective Sales Leaders[00:34:03] The Tip of the Spear: Leading from the Front[00:34:16] Medallia: Building a Sales Process from Scratch[00:36:58] Profile of a Successful Sales Leader[00:37:47] Recruiting and Building a High-Performance Team[00:39:25] The Importance of High Standards in Hiring[00:52:41] AI's Impact on Sales and Forecasting[01:02:07] Giving Back: Charitable EndeavorsHIGHLIGHT QUOTES[00:03:21] “A big mistake is trying to force fit a playbook from a previous company into a new company.”[00:06:01] “Approach it with a beginner's mind… it's actually an advantage you only get once.”[00:10:55] “Build your outbound before you need it, because at some point you're going to need it.”[00:13:33] “98.5% of companies realize, ‘I wish I had a great sales organization to go with this great PLG motion.'”[00:19:07] “The thing that tops people out is the inability to adapt and collaborate—they become too rigid.”[00:22:25] “If you know in your heart your team is mediocre, you're never going to be great. Raise those standards.”[00:31:36] “Don't just assume you can get rid of BDRs and have AI do it. I don't see anybody telling me that's working yet." Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

First Resonance provides factory orchestration and coordination software for scaling hardware companies. Founded by SpaceX veterans in 2019, the company focused on filling the gap between legacy manufacturing systems and the needs of emerging hard tech startups. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, we sat down with Karan Talati, CEO & Co-Founder of First Resonance, to learn about the company's journey building Ion—their manufacturing operations platform—and how they're enabling companies scaling from R&D prototypes to production manufacturing across aerospace, defense, nuclear energy, and advanced manufacturing. Topics Discussed: Karan's time at SpaceX during hypergrowth (employee 2,000 to 6,000+) and the transition from single rocket design to production operations Why First Resonance walked away from pursuing legacy aerospace and defense giants The failed PLG experiment and pivot to enterprise sales with product analytics for expansion How the "new space" pattern is repeating in nuclear energy and other hard tech verticals Market expansion from aerospace into nuclear energy over the past three to four years Advanced manufacturing technology convergence enabling electric aviation (battery density, composite manufacturing, 3D printing) AI's role in breaking down knowledge silos between mechanical, electrical, and software engineering Defense contractor security requirements: CMMC, FedRamp, and NIST 800-171 Brand strategy targeting the new manufacturing workforce versus the retiring old guard GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: Kill upmarket plans when your core segment outpaces them: First Resonance planned to move from scale-ups to traditional defense and aviation giants. They didn't execute. Karan found that staying with scaling startups delivered faster growth and higher ROI than "long sales cycles" with customers "averse to modern technology." The lesson isn't about patience with enterprise—it's about recognizing when your initial segment is expanding faster than you can capture it. If your TAM is growing 40%+ annually from customer expansion alone, moving upmarket is a distraction. Test PLG fast, kill it faster in multi-stakeholder environments: First Resonance ran a PLG experiment and "quickly learned it does not" work in manufacturing. The buying process involves "centralized, coordinated, orchestrated, many decision makers, many influencers." But they kept the instrumentation. They use "product utilization and usage and engagement" data to "package subsequent value" for renewals and expansion. The tactical move: instrument your product like PLG, sell like enterprise, and use analytics to drive net dollar retention during annual renewals. Treat cloud service provider status as a wedge, not overhead: As a cloud service provider to defense contractors, First Resonance maintains compliance with CMMC, FedRamp, and NIST 800-171. Rather than viewing this as cost center, Karan noted "regulations are getting easier, not harder" and that this is "a benefit to innovators." For B2B founders selling to regulated industries: invest in compliance infrastructure early, monitor regulatory roadmaps (like FedRamp 20x), and position compliance as competitive moat when competitors can't move as quickly. Pattern match your wedge vertical to adjacent disruption: First Resonance saw their aerospace playbook repeat in nuclear energy "literally in the last three, four years." The pattern: legacy incumbents "too big to fail" but "so large and inertial, so hard to move, that startups are going to have to come in and close that gap." When one vertical shows this pattern, adjacent industries with similar incumbent dynamics are expansion candidates. The key signal: former SpaceX/Tesla talent founding companies in that vertical. Design brand for the incoming generation, not the incumbent buyer: With the old guard "rapidly retiring" and manufacturing becoming "cool," First Resonance built a brand with "bold colors and straight lines" that "combines cybernetic systems with inspiration from the Matrix." Karan explicitly rejected softer design trends: "throw all that out." For technical products in industries with demographic shifts, design for the 30-year-old engineer who will champion your tool, not the 55-year-old executive who signs the contract. Deepen rather than proliferate when customers expand physically: First Resonance doesn't worry about logo count because their customers are "scaling in terms of factory square footage and the number of teams." Their expansion motion: "observe product analytics and customer signals and package subsequent value" for upselling during renewals. The tactic works because aerospace and energy have "a tailwind of decades." For infrastructure software with usage tied to physical operations: if customers are adding factories or production lines, you don't need new logos—you need seat expansion and module attach. // Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM    

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In a world where anyone can generate a “perfect” email with AI, does perfection even matter? According to Christopher Gannon, founder of Captivate Talent, what truly matters are the fundamentals: relationships, brand, and aesthetics. In this episode of the Grow Your B2B SaaS podcast, hosted by Joran from Reditus, Chris breaks down how startups should think about hiring go-to-market (GTM) talent, structuring teams, leveraging AI, and expanding into the US. This article summarizes their conversation into clear, actionable insights every founder should know.Key Timestamps(00:00) The Perfect Email Myth: Why Human Connection Still Wins(00:55) Meet the Masters of B2B SaaS Growth(01:31) Why Headcount Won't Scale Your SaaS Revenue(01:51) From Filling Seats to Building a GTM Powerhouse(02:10) The Birth of Captivate Talent: A Founder's Bold Pivot(03:33) The $1M ARR Question: When to Hire Your First GTM Pro(03:50) The Founder's Dilemma: Sell It Yourself or Hire Early?(04:58) The Brutal Truth About Early-Stage Onboarding(05:39) Who Comes First—Sales or Marketing? The Real Answer(05:54) Never Outsource Your Superpower(07:20) Overhiring vs. Underhiring: The Startup Goldilocks Problem(08:16) The Rolodex Trap: Why Big Titles Burn Startups(09:22) Forget Titles—Hire for 12-Month Outcomes Instead(10:15) Inside the Ideal GTM Team Structure for SaaS Growth(11:08) The Secret Weapon: Your Customer Call Library(11:39) AI Is Taking Over GTM (But Here's the Catch)(12:11) Beyond ChatGPT: How to Spot True AI Fluency(13:48) Reditus Break: The Affiliate Engine Powering B2B SaaS(14:11) How to Measure Real AI Impact in Your Workflows(15:06) “At the Table or on the Menu?” AI Skills That Protect Your Career(15:44) The Truth About GTM Hiring in a Post-Layoff World(16:24) Why Relationships Beat Perfect AI Emails Every Time(17:44) The Costly Mistake: Hiring an SDR for US Expansion(18:10) The Founder-Led Playbook for Cracking the US Market(19:09) The Full-Stack Expansion Model Every SaaS Needs(20:22) Stop “Testing” the US with One Hire—Here's Why(22:08) PLG vs. Enterprise: When Remote Expansion Stops Working(23:33) Why Big Logos Abroad Don't Impress US Buyers(24:24) US to Europe: How to Win with Local Talent and Presence(25:29) The Hidden Legal Maze of US Hiring(26:26) The Real Cost of US Expansion (and Cultural Fit)(28:34) The Culture Clash: Vacations, Burnout, and Commitment(29:21) Burn the Boats: The Only Way to Win in the US(30:12) The Future of GTM: How AI Is Rewriting Hiring Rules(31:16) From 0 to $10K MRR: Discipline Over Everything(32:47) From $10K to $10M ARR: Hire Ahead and Pay for Talent(36:49) Connect with Christopher Gannon and Captivate Talent

Guy spent 2 years and $4M building Snyk to $100K ARR. Thousands of developers loved the product. They just wouldn't pay.Then he figured out the problem: he had product-user fit, but not product-buyer fit. Developers loved Snyk. Security teams (the actual buyers) didn't care about it. The distance between user and buyer was killing him.So Guy spent a year building governance features, reporting, and enterprise capabilities—all the stuff developers didn't care about but security teams needed to write checks. Four months later, Snyk hit $650K ARR. A year after that, $4.5M. Then $19M. Today it's over $300M ARR.This episode breaks down the brutal reality of PLG when your user isn't your buyer, why Guy thinks the worst outcome for a founder is getting stuck (not failing), and how he's now raising $125M for his next company Tessl.If you're building PLG, selling to enterprise, or wondering why your users love you but won't pay—this is required listening.Why You Should Listen:Learn why thousands of users loving your product means nothing if they won't payDiscover the difference between product-user fit and product-buyer fitUnderstand why the worst outcome isn't failure—it's getting stuck in the grey zoneMaster the art of anchoring in the future instead of just filling today's gapsKeywords:startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, PLG strategy, product-user fit vs product-buyer fit, developer tools, security startup, enterprise sales, bottoms-up GTM, Snyk founderChapters:(00:00:00) Intro(00:01:37) The first start up :Blaze.io"(00:06:16) The Beginning & Concept of Skyk(00:15:27) Why use Snyk(00:23:41) The Product Led Growth for Snyk(00:33:08) Raising for Snyk(00:38:58) The Beginning & Concept of TESL(00:46:39) Raising for TESL(00:48:52) Finding PMF(00:49:26) One Piece of AdviceSend me a message to let me know what you think!

#297 Leadership | I sat down with Kelly Cheng, CMO at Goldcast, to talk about her path from growth marketer to marketing leader, how she's built and scaled Goldcast's marketing org, the shift from PLG to sales-led, and why she believes great CMOs play the long game.Timestamps(00:00) - – Intro (03:08) - – Kelly's path from Hong Kong to Boston (06:08) - – Joining Goldcast and the PLG pivot (09:08) - – Moving from growth marketer to CMO (12:08) - – The role of mentors in her career (20:08) - – Questions to ask before taking a CMO role (27:43) - – Inside Goldcast's marketing org structure (33:43) - – How Kelly measures brand and mindshare (40:43) - – Why the BDR team reports to marketing (46:43) - – The link between brand, content, and pipeline (51:43) - – Leading with vulnerability and the “long game” Join 50,0000 people who get our Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletterLearn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ ***Today's episode is brought to you by Knak.Email (in my humble opinion) is the still the greatest marketing channel of all-time.It's the only way you can truly “own” your audience.But when it comes to building the emails - if you've ever tried building an email in an enterprise marketing automation platform, you know how painful it can be. Templates are too rigid, editing code can break things and the whole process just takes forever. That's why we love Knak here at Exit Five. Knak a no-code email platform that makes it easy to create on-brand, high-performing emails - without the bottlenecks.Frustrated by clunky email builders? You need Knak.Tired of ‘hoping' the email you sent looks good across all devices? Just test in Knak first.Big team making it hard to collaborate and get approvals? Definitely Knak.And the best part? Everything takes a fraction of the time.See Knak in action at knak.com/exit-five. Or just let them know you heard about Knak on Exit Five.***Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more

In this episode of the B2B Go-To-Market Leaders Podcast, Vijay Damojipurapu sits down with Alon Ahronberg, VP of Customer Success at Atera, to explore how customer success drives sustainable revenue and long-term retention in modern B2B companies.From his early career in engineering and BI consulting to leading customer success at global SaaS startups, Alon shares lessons from scaling teams, building onboarding frameworks, and transforming a PLG motion into a hybrid sales-led growth (SLG) strategy.Together, they unpack:How to define go-to-market holistically across product, sales, marketing, and customer success.The critical role of onboarding and re-onboarding in improving renewal rates and product adoption.Why internal collaboration between CSMs, marketing, and sales determines customer lifetime value.The cultural shift needed to elevate customer success from “call center” to strategic growth partner.How AI will reshape customer success, bridging high-touch strategy with scalable automation.Whether you're a founder, go-to-market leader, or customer success professional, this episode offers a masterclass on aligning post-sale execution with growth.Connect with Alon Ahronberg on LinkedInConnect with Vijay Damojipurapu on LinkedInBrought to you by: stratyve.com

At what stage should SaaS companies start segmenting their metrics? In episode #320, Ben Murray breaks down when and how to segment your SaaS metrics — from revenue segmentation to go-to-market efficiency metrics — so your data actually reflects how your business operates. Ben explains how segmentation becomes essential as you scale past $10M ARR or diversify product lines (for example, enterprise vs. SMB or PLG vs. sales-led models). He also shares how finance and ops teams can collaborate to align their chart of accounts, cost centers, and customer metadata to get meaningful insights that improve valuation and decision-making. What You'll Learn When to start segmenting SaaS metrics (typically around $10M ARR, but earlier for multi-product businesses). The difference between revenue segmentation and financial metric segmentation. How to align your chart of accounts and cost centers for accurate CAC, CAC payback, and LTV:CAC by segment. Why aggregate CAC or payback metrics are misleading without segmentation. The importance of metadata consistency between systems (HubSpot, CRM, accounting, billing). How clean segmentation improves your company valuation and investor confidence during fundraising or exit. Why It Matters For CFOs & Finance Teams: Segmentation reveals where efficiency and retention differ by product line or customer cohort. For Founders & Operators: Understanding metrics by segment helps you scale profitably and target the right growth motion. For Investors: Segmented financial reporting and SaaS metrics reduce uncertainty and strengthen valuation models. For Accounting Leaders: Accurate cost allocation enables better financial modeling and Board reporting. Resources Mentioned The SaaS Metrics Foundation Course: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/#section-1744932157830 Quote from Ben “You can't say your CAC payback is 12 months when it combines enterprise and SMB customers — that data is worthless.”

In this episode, Pendo's senior vice president of product and u/x Nichole Mace talks with host Shannon Peavey about the growth mindset that infiltrates her company's culture. She illuminates the differences between core product work and product growth work and shares her tips on ways companies can cultivate a collaborative environment, where the spirit of experimentation becomes contagious. Chapters:4:05 Why growth needs to be prioritized6:19  Organizing your mind for pursuing multiple goals7:50 Cultivating team spirit9:30 Knowing when the time is right for a growth push10:50 Why experimentation can be contagious13:40 Nichole's path into growth15:45 Skills for great growth leaders18:50 How pivots happen: the ZipCar example21:00 Growth loops are golden23:00 Nichole's 6 Core Product Growth Principles 31:00 What's AI's impact?32:15 Life in balanceWhere to find Nichole:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nichole-mace-44bb65/Nichole Mace's PLG websitehttps://www.nicholemace.com/Resources:Pendo https://www.pendo.io/Constant Contact https://www.constantcontact.com/LastPass https://www.lastpass.com/BevSpot https://bevspot.com/ZipCar https://www.zipcar.com/

Most businesses guard their intellectual property like it's Fort Knox. They lock their frameworks behind paywalls, gate their methodologies, and keep their best insights for paying clients only. We're doing the exact opposite - and it's actually better for business. In this episode, Wes reveals why ProductLed invested $150,000 to create The Product-Led Playbook and then decided to give it away completely free. He breaks down the counterintuitive business strategy behind democratizing product-led growth knowledge and why sharing your best IP actually attracts better clients. Key Highlights: 01:04: Why all ProductLed books are free (and always have been)02:09: Turning down publishers 02:50: The $150,000 investment and 16 iterations it took03:10: Why guarding knowledge is actually stupid for business03:53: Democratizing PLG - it's a skill anyone can learn04:39: How free content attracts doers who've already made hundreds of thousands05:28: Using free books to align entire teams on PLG strategy06:37: Why sharing makes onboarding company-wide adoption effortless06:56: The long-term mission - making ProductLed the de facto SaaS scaling system07:40: Why product-led companies can out-give anyone in their market08:29: What's inside - the same frameworks clients pay $30K+/month for08:51: The three core outcomes you'll unlock with the system09:19: Testimonials from Nathan Barry, Esben (Userflow), and G (Empire)

The Topline crew breaks down the fastest growing startups of 2025.   Chapters: 02:20 Welcome to Top Line  02:57 Discussion on AI Company Investments  08:47 Fastest to $10 Million in Revenue  09:53 Debate on AI Market Sustainability  15:58 AI's Impact on Business Strategies 29:58 Fastest to $50 Million in Revenue  33:16 PLG vs. Sales-Led Growth  34:08 Choosing the Right Business Model 37:03 Fastest to $100 Million in Revenue  38:07 Revenue Milestones and AI Companies  42:00 Challenges with AI Accuracy  45:35 Fastest to $500 Million  50:29 Fastest to $1 Billion, $5 Billion, $10 Billion  56:37 Final Thoughts and Investment Picks   Thanks for tuning in! Catch new episodes every Wednesday.  Subscribe to Topline Newsletter. Tune into Topline Podcast, the #1 podcast for founders, operators, and investors in B2B tech. Join the free Topline Slack channel to connect with 600+ revenue leaders to keep the conversation going beyond the podcast!

In this special republished episode of the ProductLed Podcast, Wes Bush and Laura Kluz discuss The Product-Led Playbook—and announce that we're giving away the entire book for FREE on October 7, 2025. This playbook is the no-BS guide to actually implementing PLG, based on analysis of 324+ companies, and explores why some product-led companies see millions in ARR while others crash and burn. The book is structured around nine components, which guide companies from building a solid foundation to scaling for exponential growth. The first stage includes crafting a winning strategy, identifying the ideal user, and creating an intentional product model. The second stage involves establishing a frictionless onboarding process and developing powerful pricing strategies. The final stage focuses on actionable data, growth processes, and team development. The playbook offers a step-by-step approach to operationalizing PLG and is full of templates and canvases designed for team collaboration. Intended primarily for B2B software founders and early-stage go-to-market teams, this playbook provides a structured method for effectively implementing PLG—and it's yours for free next week. Sign up at productled.com/newsletter to get the free playbook on October 7th. Key Moments: 02:01 – Why the playbook was created: analyzing 324+ companies to find what separates winners from losers. 04:52 – The surprising discovery: founders were more successful with PLG than senior product executives. 06:19 – The 9 components of the ProductLed System and why strategic order matters. 11:37 – How to use the playbook (hint: it's not a one-time read). 13:34 – Who this book is for and who should be involved. 14:54 – The 3 main outcomes: Effortless Revenue, Lean Scale, and Durable Growth. 17:46 – What didn't make it into the book (and why less is more). 20:37 – How to get the free audiobook starting next week.

Ashley Lewin has audited 30+ companies in her career and seen the same pattern: marketing teams stuck chasing MQLs while revenue stalls. In this episode, Carolyn and Trevor dig into Ashley's perspective on why MQLs keep organizations trapped in short-term thinking, and how she's applying those lessons now as Head of Marketing at Aligned.We talk through what it takes to stand up a marketing function from scratch at a hybrid PLG + sales-assisted company, why implementing HubSpot's Lead object was a foundational bet, and how “fail fast” disqualification changed the way BDRs and sales managers manage their pipeline. Ashley also shares her playbook for winning executive buy-in: showing CEOs a predictable growth equation that replaces lead volume with qualified pipeline and product activation.What You'll Learn:Why 30+ audits taught Ashley that MQLs create waste, not growth.How to split the funnel: PLG activations vs. sales-assisted pipeline.The power of clean infrastructure: standing up a true lead object in HubSpot.Why “fail fast” leads to better conversion, stronger feedback loops, and less waste.How to navigate culture change so sales isn't afraid to close lost.Why exec scorecards (not dashboards) determine whether change sticks.If your growth plan still relies on lead math, you're running on outdated assumptions. Ashley shows how to build a system that actually scales revenue, not just reporting.

想吃麥當勞早餐，卻爬不起來？太晚睡了吼……今天起，養成早睡體質吧！麥當勞攜手政大睡眠實驗室，創新再現費玉清《晚安曲》以60-80 BPM的音樂節奏融合具催眠感的視覺讓你聽了真的好想說【晚安 早餐見】＞＞ https://fstry.pse.is/86z7q6 —— 以上為 KKBOX 與 Firstory Podcast 廣告 —— 東超第四季即將在10/8開打，擴編為3組、12隊的新戰局，台籃球隊還能像上季一樣打出精彩表現嗎？東超球隊超不熟，葛蘭特大來救火！Roy邀請亞洲籃球觀察室的Grant來聊聊來自日本、韓國、菲律賓、香港、澳門、蒙古的9支參賽球隊。 台北富邦勇士所在的A組，有BLG頂級強權宇都宮皇者，從主場開幕就會是一場苦戰，永仁教練率隊重返東超，有機會搶進分組前二嗎？桃園璞園領航猿所在的B組，有BLG勁旅琉球黃金國王、堪稱PBA全明星隊的馬尼發電氣、還有神秘的澳門黑熊，想複製上季成功經驗會是高難度任務；新北國王所在的C組，包括來自KBL的昌原LG獵隼、BLG的東京電擊都有一定實力，還有近年在亞洲籃壇崛起的烏蘭巴托野馬，少了林書豪坐鎮的國王，能在新教練執教下打出全新氣象？ 雖然有人覺得東超不就是幾支俱樂部球隊湊著打？但幾季下來也確實越來越成氣候，10/8首次從台北與東京兩地點燃戰火，歡迎小人物們一起為代表台籃的隊伍加油！ 焦點回到台灣籃球，職籃開季前迎來短暫的平靜期，正好可以花點時間聊聊TPBL的賽季啟動記者會，以及「口號」對於職業聯盟的意義。Kong與小枚都提議了霹靂鍵盤版本的口號，三人還討論了聯盟行銷該怎麼跟球隊行銷做出區隔，歡迎小人物聽眾們也能留言或私訊分享想法。 最後，對外經營二二六六的鋼鐵人球團，果然內部問題也很多，期待受災戶能夠循管道為自己討回公道外，也期待續存球團都能引以為鑑。都能大撒幣投資球員了，當個正規經營的球團，相信一定是可以做到的！ 成為