Podcasts about Saas

Dmitry Dragilev is a SaaS founder and content marketer who built and sold four businesses to Google, Semrush, SEOJet, and Mangools. He founded TopicRanker, SmallBizTools, JustReachOut, and helped scale Polar Polls to 40M+ monthly pageviews before its acquisition by Google. Dmitry has also helped brands like DowJones and Pipedrive rank #1 on Google. Today, he is going to share the strategies and lessons behind building and scaling successful businesses. CONNECT WITH HIM https://topicranker.com/ Subscribe to this channel now!  https://www.youtube.com/user/lunidelouis/?sub_confirmation=1    ---------------------------------------------------- Join our exclusive Facebook group @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/339709559955223  --------------------------------------------------- Looking for accountability to do your morning routine -- join us tomorrow morning, it's FREE:   https://bestmorningroutineever.com/  ----------------------------------------­­­­­­­-------------

In this episode, the hosts dissect a $12M listing for a self-storage SaaS and marketing company—only to suspect it's a digital agency in disguise.Business Listing – https://synergybb.com/listings/self-storage-saas-and-marketing-with-3-7m-mrr/Welcome to Acquisitions Anonymous – the #1 podcast for small business M&A. Every week, we break down businesses for sale and talk about buying, operating, and growing them.

From Tesla to Tekion: How Jay Vijayan Is Transforming the Automotive Experience In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Jay Vijayan, Founder & CEO of Tekion and former CIO of Tesla, about revolutionizing the dealer-to-consumer automotive experience through a cloud-first, AI-powered SaaS platform. Jay shares how his time at Oracle, VMware, and Tesla inspired the vision for Tekion, now valued at over $4 billion and serving major OEMs and dealer groups across the U.S. Jay explains Tekion's three-cloud architecture—Retail Cloud, Enterprise Cloud, and Partner Cloud—and how it's streamlining operations, enabling e-commerce, and connecting a vast automotive ecosystem. He also unpacks Tekion's innovative use of AI agents to enhance after-sales service, deliver transparency, and empower both dealers and consumers. Key topics include: How Tekion modernizes the fragmented automotive retail experience The impact of AI co-pilots on vehicle service and customer trust Lessons from Tesla and Elon Musk that shape Tekion's product philosophy Jay's advice for CIOs aspiring to become CEOs

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training With clients increasingly expecting their agencies to leverage AI, are you waiting for client direction, or leading the way on how to use it? Today's featured guest has a unique vantage point on this shift. He runs a platform that connects clients with credible agencies while helping agencies showcase their expertise, giving him a front-row seat to what clients truly want and what agencies fear about AI. With hundreds of thousands of agencies on his platform, he's seen firsthand that the agencies standing out are the ones leading the AI conversation, not waiting for permission to start it. He'll share why educating your clients on the possibilities of AI is now a competitive advantage and how his company's new verification layer aims to bring trust and clarity to an increasingly crowded agency marketplace. Tim Condon is the Chief Revenue Officer at Clutch, the largest B2B service provider marketplace online, boasting over 300,000 agencies. Tim helps agencies showcase services, collect reviews, and attract qualified buyers. With a front-row seat to the challenges and wins of agencies across industries, Tim sees exactly how the best adapt—and how others risk falling behind. Tim has been on the show before with advice on how agency owners can separate from the pack and position their agencies for success. In this episode, we'll discuss: Is AI coming for your agency? Document your AI processes before it gets expensive. How you should be starting the AI conversation. The power of documented proof. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. Is AI Coming for Your Agency? It Depends The elephant in every agency Slack channel: Will AI replace us? Tim sees a spectrum. Some agencies think they're immune (“We only serve local dentists, so we're safe.”), while others are already using AI to transform delivery, productizing what used to be manual labor into scalable SaaS products for other agencies. Most agencies are stuck in the middle - unsure where to begin and afraid to fall behind. Basically, if your clients are tech-savvy DIYers, yes, you're at risk. But 99% of clients aren't like that. They want the results AI brings, but they don't want to build or manage it themselves. Hence, those who adopt AI to streamline delivery and elevate their positioning—not those who ignore it or just dabble, will win. AI Isn't a Threat. It's Your Edge AI is already making agencies faster, leaner, and more profitable if they leverage it correctly: Custom GPTs for marketing, sales training, and operations Automated research and lead qualification Speeding up delivery while maintaining quality Tim shared an example of a San Francisco agency using LLMs to automate internal processes. It wasn't complicated: structured folders, an AI model to search and output organized results. Simple, but powerful. If your agency isn't at least experimenting with AI to remove repetitive manual work, you're falling behind—not because AI will replace you, but because other agencies will outpace you by using AI to do what you do, faster and cheaper. Document Your AI Processes Now (Before It Gets Expensive) AI pricing today is like Uber in the early days: cheap to get you hooked, but it won't last. AI's current affordability is saving agencies the equivalent of multiple salaries annually. Eventually, these tools will increase in price to reflect their true value. What can you do about this? Jason recommends documenting your workflows and data used to train custom GPTs or AI agents now. If pricing spikes or a model goes down, you can pivot to another provider without losing your institutional knowledge. Why Agencies Must Shift from Order-Takers to Advisors Most agencies fail not because they lack skills, but because they act like order-takers. As a clients, it's frustrating for Jason when agencies ask, “What do you want us to do?” instead of showing him what's possible. Remember that as agencies, your purpose is to solve problems for your clients. Clients (dentists, local businesses, even large brands) don't know what's possible with AI. They think it's just a fancy chatbot. If you step up to educate and advise clients on what's possible with AI, you become indispensable. Look to build systems that: Research prospects automatically before calls Automate competitor and market analysis Help clients leverage AI in their workflows Agencies that step into this advisor role, showing clients what's possible and taking accountability for delivering results, become irreplaceable. You're not just executing tasks; you're creating outcomes they can't create alone, and that's where real value lies. Don't Be Another “Nomad Agency.” Be the Real Deal Too many people who failed at running agencies pivot into teaching how to run an agency while living the “digital nomad” lifestyle, without having actually built sustainable businesses. This creates noise and mistrust in the marketplace, making it harder for real agencies to stand out. Most of the time, agency owners are accidental entrepreneurs—people who mastered a skill and were asked to help, not those who started for the lifestyle. If you're listening to this, you're likely the latter. To stand out, you need to showcase not just what you can do but what you've actually done. Your wins, client results, and case studies speak louder than lifestyle photos on Instagram. The Power of Specific, Documented Proof If you want to stand out from the fly-by-night agencies, talk specifics. Others mostly speak in generalities. Instead, credible agencies share specifics. If you can clearly articulate, “Here's the exact problem we solved for a client just like you,” then you instantly separate yourself from the pack. Tools like Clutch help because they use AI to pull themes from your reviews to match buyer intent, but your agency still needs to collect, showcase, and share detailed case studies and client stories. Documentation matters. If you're working with SMBs or mid-market clients, they want to see clear, verified results before investing. When you can present proof, it's hard for low-quality competitors to compete, no matter how flashy their pitch decks look. Start gathering your “receipts” now to future-proof your positioning. Verification Adds Trust in a Crowded Marketplace Tim's company Clutch now offers Clutch Verified as an additional trust layer. They don't just take your word for it; they check your business registration, credit history, and operating longevity to separate real agencies from “gaming-the-system” players. It's a powerful way to signal to potential clients, “We're credible, stable, and vetted.” For clients, it's a good indicator of who you'll be working with and for agencies it becomes a sales asset. When potential clients research you on Clutch, verified agencies are prioritized, giving you an edge over competitors. It's a practical, low-cost step to build trust and signal legitimacy, especially if you're competing for premium clients. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

What if AI made switching platforms effortless—and what would that mean for SaaS? This week on Topline, Sam Jacobs, Asad Zaman, and AJ Bruno unpack the latest headlines around Databricks, Snowflake, and Ramp to explore whether AI is truly shifting the foundations of enterprise software. They debate the reality behind “vibe coding,” question whether AI is actually boosting productivity (or just slowing us down), and discuss why so much of today's AGI conversation feels overhyped. Plus: the rise of nano agents, the illusion of developer efficiency, and what jobs might look like in 2030.   Thanks for tuning in! New episodes of Topline drop every Sunday and Thursday.   Don't miss GTM2025 — the only B2B tech conference exclusively for GTM executives. Elevate your 2026 strategy and join us from September 23 to 25 in Washington, D.C. Use code TOPLINE for 10% off your GA ticket.   Stay ahead with the latest industry developments and emerging go-to-market trends with Topline Newsletter by Asad Zaman. Subscribe today.   Tune in to The Revenue Leadership Podcast every Wednesday, where host Kyle Norton talks with real revenue operators and dives deep into what it takes to succeed as a modern revenue leader.   You're invited! Join the free Topline Slack channel to connect with 600+ revenue leaders, share insights, and keep the conversation going beyond the podcast!   This episode is sponsored by UserEvidence. Want to know what actually moves the needle on trust? Download The Evidence Gap, a data-backed report on the customer proof that drives real results. Get it now at userevidence.com/evidence.   Key Chapters: (00:00) - Welcome and Introductions  (02:00) - The Retreat Recap and Business Decisions  (04:30) - The Vanishing Switching Costs in SaaS and Cloud  (07:00) - Skepticism Around Kubernetes and Cloud Portability  (09:00) - Middle Market and SMB: Where AI-Enabled Switching Gains Traction  (12:00) - The Paradox of Switching Costs and Enterprise Inertia  (15:00) - The Ramp Phenomenon: Outpacing Incumbents with AI-Driven Finance  (18:00) - Future of Finance Teams: Human + AI Agents Collaboration  (22:00) - The Challenge of AI Hallucinations and Model Reliability  (26:00) - The Reality Check: AI Tools Slowing Developers Down  (29:30) - The Evolving Role of QA: More Fun or More Tedious?  (34:30) - Vibe Coding: Promise, Reality, and Use Case Limitations  (38:30) - Centralized AI Agents vs. Specialized Nano Agents  (42:30) - Envisioning 2030 Businesses: AI's True Impact Unfolds  (45:30) - Defining General and Super Intelligence: Myth vs. Reality  (50:30) - The AI Singularity and Moral Frameworks: Can Machines Learn Ethics?  (54:30) - The Grains of Sand, Rubik's Cube Permutations, and AI Complexity  (57:30) - Lighthearted Hot Takes: WNBA Enjoyment & Infinity Skepticism  (59:00) - Shoutouts to Masterminds, Meals, and Podcasts  (01:02:30) - Parting Thoughts on AI Adoption and CTAs for Listeners

This week, we are joined by Eric Woodruff, Chief Identity Architect at Semperis, discussing "nOAuth Abuse Alert: Full Account Takeover of Entra Cross-Tenant SaaS Applications". Semperis researchers identified a critical authentication flaw known as nOAuth in 9 out of 104 tested SaaS applications integrated with Microsoft Entra ID. This low-complexity but severe vulnerability allows attackers with just a user's email address and access to an Entra tenant to impersonate users, exfiltrate data, and move laterally within affected apps—with no viable defense or detection available to customers. The findings spotlight ongoing risks tied to improper use of email claims in authentication and emphasize the urgent need for SaaS vendors to adopt secure OpenID Connect practices and remediate vulnerable applications. Complete our annual ⁠audience survey⁠ before August 31. The research can be found here: nOAuth Abuse Alert: Full Account Takeover of Entra Cross-Tenant SaaS Applications Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Grow a Small Business, host Troy Trewin interviews Stephen Candelmo, founder and CEO of Paralex, a groundbreaking legal tech platform transforming how small businesses access legal support. Stephen shares how Paralex leverages AI to deliver fixed-fee legal services that are up to 80% cheaper than traditional law firms—making legal help more accessible for startups and small companies. He opens up about his entrepreneurial journey, pivoting from marketing tech to legal innovation, and building a scalable SaaS model with a human-in-the-loop approach. We also discuss the risks of relying solely on tools like ChatGPT for legal advice and the importance of blending tech with real legal expertise. Stephen's insights are a must-listen for anyone interested in the future of law, AI integration, and startup growth. Why would you wait any longer to start living the lifestyle you signed up for? Balance your health, wealth, relationships and business growth. And focus your time and energy and make the most of this year. Let's get into it by clicking here. Troy delves into our guest's startup journey, their perception of success, industry reconsideration, and the pivotal stress point during business expansion. They discuss the joys of small business growth, vital entrepreneurial habits, and strategies for team building, encompassing wins, blunders, and invaluable advice. And a snapshot of the final five Grow A Small Business Questions: What do you think is the hardest thing in growing a small business? According to Stephen Candelmo, the hardest thing in growing a small business is having patience and faith when things are hard—which, he emphasizes, is often. He highlights how the journey is rarely linear and requires resilience through constant ups and downs. What's your favorite business book that has helped you the most? According to Stephen Candelmo, his favorite business book that has helped him the most is "Good to Great" by Jim Collins. He admires how the book outlines the art and science of elevating an organization from being merely good to truly great. Are there any great podcasts or online learning resources you'd recommend to help grow a small business? According to Stephen Candelmo, a great podcast he recommends for entrepreneurs is "How I Built This", which offers inspiring stories from founders about building their businesses. He also highlights the use of ChatGPT (GPT-4) as a powerful online tool—calling it his “consultant” and “thought partner”—for strategic thinking and exploring business ideas. What tool or resource would you recommend to grow a small business? Stephen Candelmo recommends Trippify as a valuable tool to grow a small business. It's especially useful for automated LinkedIn outreach, helping small business owners connect with prospects through personalized messaging campaigns to generate leads and meetings. What advice would you give yourself on day one of starting out in business? According to Stephen Candelmo, the advice he would give himself on day one of starting out in business is: "It's going to take time — keep on believing. One day at a time." Book a 20-minute Growth Chat with Troy Trewin to see if you qualify for our upcoming course. Don't miss out on this opportunity to take your small business to new heights! Enjoyed the podcast? Please leave a review on iTunes or your preferred platform. Your feedback helps more small business owners discover our podcast and embark on their business growth journey.     Quotable quotes from our special Grow A Small Business podcast guest: When you combine need, experience, and passion, you find purpose — Stephen Candelmo If you take everything personally, you're focusing on the wrong thing — Stephen Candelmo Success is when your customers start referring you without being asked — Stephen Candelmo  

Ron Gabrisko is the Chief Revenue Officer at Databricks, where he joined in 2016. Under his leadership, Databricks has scaled from $0 to over $4BN in annual revenue. He has grown the sales team from 0 to over 1,000 globally, leading expansion into enterprise, government, and international markets. Ron previously held senior sales roles at Cloudera and IBM, bringing deep experience in data and AI infrastructure. His tenure at Databricks has been defined by hypergrowth, multi-product adoption, and world-class GTM execution. Agenda for Today: 00:04 – The Databricks Origin Story: Ali, Ben Horowitz & 7 PhDs 00:08 – Ali vs JPMorgan: Turning Down $10M to Stay Cloud-First 00:13 – Prospecting Day: How Ron Scaled the GTM Culture 00:16 – Why Databricks' Pricing Model Was Its Secret Weapon 00:19 – Enterprise vs SMB: The Risky Bet That Paid Off 00:23 – From $2M to $13M ARR: How Ron Built the First Sales Engine 00:29 – Can AI Replace Salespeople? Ron's Brutally Honest Take 00:36 – How to Get Your First Million-Dollar Rep (and Keep Them) 00:42 – The Culture Secret Behind Scaling to 5,000 Sales Reps 00:45 – Why Databricks Waited Until $500M ARR to Go International 00:52 – What Makes a Great Sales Meeting? Ron's Gold Standard 00:58 – The Snowflake Wars: Why Ron Says Databricks Is 5 Years Ahead  

Qasar Younis is the co-founder and CEO of Applied Intuition, a leading vehicle intelligence platform that helps companies develop and deploy autonomous systems at scale. In June 2025, the company raised $600M at a $15B valuation. Before Applied Intuition, Qasar was the COO and a group partner at Y Combinator, and earlier founded TalkBin, which was acquired by Google. He's also held engineering roles at General Motors and Bosch. In today's episode, we discuss: • The two founder traits Silicon Valley undervalues • How to get 1–3 extra months of work done every year • Lessons from YC on pattern matching and founder feedback • The battle-tested startup formula Qasar used at Applied • Why co-founder fit is make-or-break • Applied's playbook: vertical SaaS, product-led GTM, and leveraging VC networks • Why Applied went multi-product in the early days • Contrarian takes on startup culture, compensation, and cost control • Why domain expertise is making a comeback • And much more… Referenced: • Applied Intuition: https://www.appliedintuition.com • Ansys: https://www.ansys.com • Bilal Zuberi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bzuberi • Bosch: https://www.bosch.com • Elad Gil: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eladgil • General Motors: https://www.gm.com • “Google's Acquisition of TalkBin”: https://techcrunch.com/2011/04/25/google-acquires-talkbin-a-feedback-platform-for-businesses-thats-only-five-months-old/ • “High Output Management”: https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp/0679762884 • Kyle Vogt: https://x.com/kvogt • Marc Andreessen: https://x.com/pmarca • “Only the Paranoid Survive”: https://www.amazon.com/Only-Paranoid-Survive-Strategic-Inflection/dp/0385483821 • Paul Graham: https://x.com/paulg • Peter Ludwig: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterwludwig • Sam Altman: https://x.com/sama • TalkBin: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/talkbin • “The History of the Standard Oil Company”: https://www.amazon.com/History-Standard-Oil-Company-Volumes/dp/1519455860 • Waymo: https://waymo.com • Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com • Zoox: https://zoox.com Where to find Qasar: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/qasar/ Where to find Brett: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/ • Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson Where to find First Round Capital: • Website: https://firstround.com/ • First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/ • Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital • This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast Timestamps: (01:26) Two founder traits Silicon Valley undervalues (04:23) Gain 1-3 extra months of productivity yearly (05:52) Why founders should read outside the startup canon (07:27) Lessons from YC (13:44) Why it's harder to start than to quit (15:52) The moment you become a real founder (20:24) How great founders master luck (21:46) Qasar's battle-tested startup formula (25:37) The founding insight for Applied (31:42) How Applied expanded beyond automotive (38:05) Why Applied went multi-product early (45:45) What no one says about startup secondaries (49:02) Why being cheap is a startup superpower (51:04) The myth of "competition doesn't matter" (53:50) Early scrappiness: The Sunnyvale house setup (54:50) Why domain knowledge is making a comeback (58:32) The mentors who shaped Qasar

In this episode of the Fintech One-on-One podcast, we talk with Paulette Rowe, CEO of Stax, a payments technology company that's making waves in the embedded payments space by taking a fundamentally different approach than many competitors. Rather than simply reselling services from payment processing giants, Stax has built and acquired the technology to own their entire stack, from gateway to clearing and settlement. This strategic decision allows them to move faster, provide better data, and offer more flexibility to their clients, particularly in the vertical SaaS and ISV market where they are seeing rapid growth.Paulette, who brings a unique perspective from her extensive payments experience across both the UK and US markets, discusses how Stax differentiates itself in the competitive embedded payments landscape, their innovative Stax Connect Plus offering that helps ISVs dramatically improve payment attachment rates, and how AI is already transforming their customer support operations. The conversation also explores the future of payments innovation, including the potential for agentic AI in e-commerce and Stax's international expansion plans.In this podcast you will learn:Paulette's career arc and the journey to the CEO job at Stax.How the US payments landscape differs from the UK and Europe.The comprehensive payments solutions provided by Stax.How they work with ISVs (independent software providers).The two acquisitions they have made in the past two years.Why they developed Stax Connect Plus.How Stax differentiates itself in the ISV embedded payments market.How they compete with the Stripes and Squares of the world.What markets Stax operates in today.Paulette's thoughts on the new payments rails being developed.How they have been using AI internally and then, Benji for customer support.How they are preparing for Agentic AI for e-commerce.The biggest opportunities in the future for Stax.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Bret Taylor's legendary career includes being CTO of Meta, co-CEO of Salesforce, chairman of the board at OpenAI (yes, during that drama), co-creating both Google Maps and the Like button, and founding three companies. Today he's the founder and CEO of Sierra, an AI agent company transforming customer service. He's one of the few people I've met who's been wildly successful at every level—from engineer to C-suite executive to founder—and across almost every discipline, including PM, engineer, CTO, COO, CPO, CEO, and board member.In this conversation, you'll learn:1. The brutal product review that nearly ended his Google career—and how that failure led to creating Google Maps2. The question Sheryl Sandberg taught him to ask every morning (“What's the most impactful thing I can do today?”) that transformed how he approached every role3. The three AI market segments that matter4. Why AI agents will replace SaaS products5. His framework for knowing whose advice to actually listen to—and how that came in handy during the OpenAI board drama6. The counterintuitive go-to-market strategy most AI startups get wrong7. Sierra's outcome-based pricing model that's transforming how enterprise software is sold (and why every SaaS company should adopt it)8. What he's teaching his kids about AI that every parent should know—Brought to you by:CodeRabbit—Cut code review time and bugs in half. Instantly: https://coderabbit.link/lennyBasecamp—The famously straightforward project management system from 37signals: https://www.basecamp.com/lennyVanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security: https://vanta.com/lenny—Where to find Bret Taylor:• X: https://x.com/btaylor• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettaylor/—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 Bret Taylor(04:10) Bret's early career and first major mistake(08:24) The birth of Google Maps(11:57) Lessons from FriendFeed and the importance of honest feedback(31:30) The future of coding and AI's role(45:26) Preparing the next generation for an AI-driven world(48:46) AI in education(52:05) Business strategies in the AI market(01:04:38) Outcome-based pricing in AI(01:09:15) Productivity gains and AI(01:17:35) Go-to-market strategies for AI products(01:21:49) Lightning round and final thoughts—Referenced:• Marissa Mayer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marissamayer/• “Lazy Sunday”—SNL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRhTeaa_B98• Quip: https://quip.com/• Sierra: https://sierra.ai/• FriendFeed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FriendFeed• Sheryl Sandberg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheryl-sandberg-5126652/• Jim Norris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/halfspin/• Paul Buchheit on X: https://x.com/paultoo• Sanjeev Singh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjeev-singh-20a1b72/• Barack Obama: https://www.obamalibrary.gov/obamas/president-barack-obama• Oprah Winfrey: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah_Winfrey• Ashton Kutcher: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashton_Kutcher• PayPal Mafia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PayPal_Mafia• Sam Altman on X: https://x.com/sama• Warren Buffett on X: https://x.com/warrenbuffett• Unix: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix• Fortran: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortran• C: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_(programming_language)• Python: https://www.python.org/• Perl: https://www.perl.org/• Rust: https://www.rust-lang.org/• Eleven Labs: https://elevenlabs.io/• The exact AI playbook (using MCPs, custom GPTs, Granola) that saved ElevenLabs $100k+ and helps them ship daily | Luke Harries (Head of Growth): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ai-marketing-stack• Confluent: https://www.confluent.io/• Databricks: https://www.databricks.com/• Snowflake: https://www.snowflake.com• Harvey: https://www.harvey.ai/• Behind the founder: Marc Benioff: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-founder-marc-benioff• Larry Summers's website: https://larrysummers.com/• AutoCAD: https://www.autodesk.com/products/autocad/overview• Revit: https://www.autodesk.com/products/revit/• The art and science of pricing | Madhavan Ramanujam (Monetizing Innovation, Simon-Kucher): https://www.amazon.com/Monetizing-Innovation-Companies-Design-Product/dp/1119240867• Pricing your AI product: Lessons from 400+ companies and 50 unicorns | Madhavan Ramanujam: https://lenny.substack.com/p/pricing-and-scaling-your-ai-product-madhavan-ramanujam• Cursor: https://cursor.com/• CodeX: https://openai.com/codex/• Claude Code: https://www.anthropic.com/claude-code• The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can't stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell• DirecTV: https://www.directv.com/• SiriusXM: https://www.siriusxm.com/• Wayfair: https://www.wayfair.com/• Akai: https://www.akaipro.com/• Chubbies Shorts: https://www.chubbiesshorts.com/• Weight Watchers: https://www.weightwatchers.com/• CLEAR: https://www.clearme.com/• Stripe: https://stripe.com/• Building product at Stripe: craft, metrics, and customer obsession | Jeff Weinstein (Product lead): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-product-at-stripe-jeff-weinstein• Twilio: https://www.twilio.com/• ServiceNow: https://www.servicenow.com/• Adobe: https://www.adobe.com/• Jobs to be done: https://jobs-to-be-done.com/jobs-to-be-done-a-framework-for-customer-needs-c883cbf61c90• The ultimate guide to JTBD | Bob Moesta (co-creator of the framework): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-jtbd-bob-moesta• Inception: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375666/• Alan Kay's quote: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/alan_kay_100831• Jobs at Sierra: https://sierra.ai/careers—Recommended books:• Monetizing Innovation: How Smart Companies Design the Product Around the Price: https://www.amazon.com/Monetizing-Innovation-Companies-Design-Product/dp/1119240867• Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice: https://www.amazon.com/Competing-Against-Luck-Innovation-Customer/dp/0062435612• Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage: https://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shackletons-Incredible-Alfred-Lansing/dp/0465062881—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

Tiffany Johnson is originally from Texas, but grew up in California. At a young age, she was a bit of an adrenaline junkie, partaking in skydiving, snowboarding, wakeboarding and gymnastics. In school, she fell in love with Econ, Mgmt, and Statistics - and eventually, fell into the payment industry by accident. Outside of tech, she has been married for 20 years with 3 kids. Her kids are all snow skiers, though she doesn't hold that against them as a snowboarder.A few years ago, Tiffany was contacted about a new opportunity at a decades old company in the payments space. This company wanted to bring to market a solution around embedded finance, specifically for SaaS solutions - and Tiffany was the perfect product leader for the role.This is Tiffany's creation story at NMI.SponsorsPaddle.comSema SoftwarePropelAuthPostmanMeilisearchMailtrap.TECH Domains (https://get.tech/codestory)Linkshttps://www.nmi.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffany-johnson-b339242/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/code-story/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Is your nonprofit still buried in paper forms and outdated systems? In this episode, I sit down with Patrick Waldo—AI and SaaS innovator and CEO of Unicorn Forms—to talk about the real risks and opportunities around e-signatures, data security, and going digital. From board agreements to grant paperwork and beyond, we explore how even small nonprofits can make a big leap into smarter, safer, and more accessible systems. If you're tired of chasing signatures and retyping forms, you need this conversation. Episode Highlights 05:20 - E-sign solutions and nonprofit needs 01:16 - Nonprofit Paperwork Challenges with Patrick Waldo 06:27 - E-signatures: Legal Basics & Security 13:14 - Digital Transformation & Real-World Examples 22:48 - Data, Analytics & The Future of Nonprofit Tech Meet the Guest My guest for this episode is Patrick Waldo. Patrick Waldo, CEO, is a seasoned technology leader with over 15 years of experience developing AI/ML and data analytics SaaS solutions adopted by the Fortune 500. As CEO of UnicornForms, Inc., he's on a mission to make paperwork frictionless through innovative form and document management. Previously, he served as VP of Product at Decernis, where he drove product development, led technical due diligence through two PE acquisitions, and secured two patents in AI/ML and NLP. At FoodChain ID, he led post-merger integration strategies, and at Redica Systems, he oversaw FDA analytics and monitoring for the pharmaceutical industry. Waldo holds master's degrees from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Bologna, with expertise in IT, management, policy, and economics. He holds a Bachelor's degree from Grinnell College. Connect with Patrick: Web: https://www.unicornforms.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/unicornforms Instagram: http://instagram.com/unicornforms Facebook: http://facebook.com/unicornforms Sponsored Resource Join the Inspired Nonprofit Leadership Newsletter for weekly tips and inspiration for leading your nonprofit! Access it here >> Be sure to subscribe to Inspired Nonprofit Leadership so that you don't miss a single episode, and while you're at it, won't you take a moment to write a short review and rate our show? It would be greatly appreciated! Let us know the topics or questions you would like to hear about in a future episode. You can do that and follow us on LinkedIn.

What if you could take your entire life's work – your knowledge, content, expertise – and turn it into a scalable business, a book, a brand, even a SaaS platform… in 72 hours?That's not a pipe dream.In this new episode of Capability Amplifier, Dan Sullivan and I go deep into how I'm using AI to compress months of work into days, create new business models on the fly, and build better future selves for entrepreneurs – using nothing but their past, their voice, and some mind-blowing tools.You'll hear how I built a book, a brand, a product strategy, a complete app, and a scalable recurring income model for a doctor – in less than one hour – live during a Strategic Coach Free Zone event.We also explore:How AI is changing how I coach, sell, and prototype with clientsWhat Dan's “Free Day Guardian” looks like and how AI helps preserve creative energyWhy entrepreneurs are finally out of control – in the best way possibleIf you've ever said “I just need someone to make sense of all my ideas,” this episode shows you how to do exactly that… with AI.KEY INSIGHTS & TAKEAWAYSBuild Your Business in 3 Days Discover how I compress 3–12 months of strategy, branding, and execution into 72 hours—using AI as a strategic partner, not just a tool.Make Your Past Work for Your Future Learn how AI can synthesize your body of work—books, podcasts, talks—and repackage it into offers, products, or books you didn't know you already wrote.The $1,000 Cup of Coffee Hear how I launched a simple offer that now closes $100K+ clients – thanks to pre-trained AI that analyzes prospects before we even talk.Dan's Free Day Operating System Dan walks us through how he protects his creative time, uses novels to reset, and schedules rejuvenation like a billion-dollar asset.AI for Entrepreneurs, Not Employees Entrepreneurs have 100x more agency—and that advantage grows exponentially when paired with AI that turns friction into freedom.Agentic AI in Action From Manus to Claude to Lovable—hear the real-time, real-world tools I'm using to automate, create, and collaborate with AI co-pilots.The Bill of Rights Economy Dan shares how the U.S. Constitution actually protects entrepreneurs—and how AI helped him write his new book in 80% less time.TIME STAMPS[00:00:00] Compressing 12 Months into 3 Days Mike breaks down how he's using AI to prototype entire businesses in a single weekend.[00:02:56] Real Client Case Study: Dr. Poulter How AI used one doctor's past content to build products, write books, and spin up recurring income in minutes.[00:07:14] Prototyping an App in 30 Minutes Mike shows how Lovable created a working fertility app with pricing, copy, and chatbot… instantly.[00:10:06] Dan's Future-Self Book and Capabilities How Mike trained AI on Dan's voice, work, and frameworks to write a Strategic Coach-style book and more.[00:12:43] The Augusta Rule SaaS Another example of packaging IP and services into a high-converting, AI-powered business model.[00:16:08] The $1,000 Cup of Coffee How a Free Zone conversation led to a low-risk, high-value offer that's filling Mike's calendar with premium clients.[00:18:19] Where It's All Going Dan and Mike discuss how AI and entrepreneurial freedom are colliding to rewire how America—and entrepreneurs—operate.[00:25:53] Dan's 10 Greatest Capabilities (via AI) Mike reveals a GPT-generated breakdown of Dan's superpowers—and 10 ways he can use AI he hasn't even considered yet.[00:36:44] Dan's Free Day Guardian Why 155 free days per year is Dan's non-negotiable—and how it makes him more productive than ever.[00:50:41] Claude + Calendar + Email = Magic Mike explains how new AI integrations are saving him hours per week and revealing golden follow-up opportunities.[01:00:46] Who Strategic Coach is Really For Dan and Mike decode the traits of their ideal clients—and how AI can help identify (and attract) thousands more.[01:05:02] Final Takeaways Dan reflects on the quality of today's AI, and Mike shares how AI is now his #1 collaboration partner.If you're a founder, expert, or advisor sitting on a goldmine of experience – and you're done wasting time, energy, or money trying to figure out how to scale it…This episode will show you how to turn what you already know into cash flow, clarity, and freedom in days, not months.PS – Whenever you're ready, here's how I can help: Get a copy of my New Digital Report, PROJECT SUPERPOWER, here: www.MikeKoenigs.com/SuperCA Join me for a Cup of Coffee at my Digital Cafe and discover your next big opportunity. This is where we can meet:www.MikeKoenigs.com/1kCoffeeCAIf you haven't already, get a Free Copy of my Ai Accelerator Book Here: www.MikeKoenigs.com/AiBookFreeCA

I had such a wonderful conversation with Channel Sales Leader and Mentor Jen Waltz.  As Chief Information Security Officer of Imagenative, Jen is:  FOUNDER and CISO. Empowering Your Business to Scale, Secure and Succeed. She helps with: Cybersecurity and Emerging Technologies: Help partners build, deliver, and manage cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions. Enterprise IT & Digital Transformation: Adopt next-gen technology solutions by enabling the right partners, distributors, and vendors. Cloud & SaaS Enablement: Accelerate cloud, cybersecurity, and SaaS adoption across industries. Technology Distribution & Supply Chain: Evolve from traditional logistics providers to digital orchestration. Channel & Partner Ecosystem: Enable VARs, MSPs, and SIs to build profitable, service-led businesses.   More about Jen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenwaltz/ More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.  We are looking for our 2026 sponsors! Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.  subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues https://womensalespros.com/podcast/ 

Boost revenue. Build loyalty. Increase what your business is worth.  That's exactly what Kevin Thornton of JB Warranties unpacks in this can't-miss episode of The Successful Contractor.  Host Bob Houchin sits down with Kevin—VP of Dealer Business Services—for a high-impact conversation full of strategic insights for contractors who want to scale smarter. Kevin explains why warranties aren't just an upsell—they're a business tool that drives profitability, deepens customer relationships, and increases valuation when it's time to sell.  

In this conversation, Erik Taurence discusses the mission and offerings of Data Shopper, a marketing technology platform designed to help small businesses effectively market themselves. He emphasizes the importance of audience targeting, affordability, and the transition to a SaaS model. Erik also addresses concerns about data privacy and the significance of building strong client relationships. The discussion highlights the platform's capabilities in audience identification and marketing campaign management, as well as the company's future goals and commitment to community building. Professional Real Estate Investors - How we can help you: Investor Fuel Mastermind:  Learn more about the Investor Fuel Mastermind, including 100% deal financing, massive discounts from vendors and sponsors you're already using, our world class community of over 150 members, and SO much more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/apply   Investor Machine Marketing Partnership:  Are you looking for consistent, high quality lead generation? Investor Machine is America's #1 lead generation service professional investors. Investor Machine provides true ‘white glove' support to help you build the perfect marketing plan, then we'll execute it for you…talking and working together on an ongoing basis to help you hit YOUR goals! Learn more here: http://www.investormachine.com   Coaching with Mike Hambright:  Interested in 1 on 1 coaching with Mike Hambright? Mike coaches entrepreneurs looking to level up, build coaching or service based businesses (Mike runs multiple 7 and 8 figure a year businesses), building a coaching program and more. Learn more here: https://investorfuel.com/coachingwithmike   Attend a Vacation/Mastermind Retreat with Mike Hambright: Interested in joining a “mini-mastermind” with Mike and his private clients on an upcoming “Retreat”, either at locations like Cabo San Lucas, Napa, Park City ski trip, Yellowstone, or even at Mike's East Texas “Big H Ranch”? Learn more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/retreat   Property Insurance: Join the largest and most investor friendly property insurance provider in 2 minutes. Free to join, and insure all your flips and rentals within minutes! There is NO easier insurance provider on the planet (turn insurance on or off in 1 minute without talking to anyone!), and there's no 15-30% agent mark up through this platform!  Register here: https://myinvestorinsurance.com/   New Real Estate Investors - How we can work together: Investor Fuel Club (Coaching and Deal Partner Community): Looking to kickstart your real estate investing career? Join our one of a kind Coaching Community, Investor Fuel Club, where you'll get trained by some of the best real estate investors in America, and partner with them on deals! You don't need $ for deals…we'll partner with you and hold your hand along the way! Learn More here: http://www.investorfuel.com/club   —--------------------

Patrick McKenzie (patio11) is joined by James Riney, partner at Coral Capital, to explore Japan's transformation from a $700 million startup ecosystem to today's $5-10 billion market. They discuss the cultural and structural factors that initially limited venture activity in Japan. The conversation covers unique aspects of building startups in Japan, from the quirks of being a foreign professional to why Japanese engineers love Twitter but ignore LinkedIn, plus insights into Japan's "time machine advantage" and why American-developed dev tools are going viral in Tokyo.–Read full transcript here: www.complexsystemspodcast.com/startup-investing-in-tokyo/–[Patrick notes: Complex Systems now produces occasional video episodes! You can access them directly on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@patio11podcast. My kids inform me that I'm supposed to tell you to like and subscribe.]–Sponsor:  SafebaseLeading companies use SafeBase to eliminate up to 98% of inbound security questionnaires, automate workflows, and accelerate pipeline. Go to safebase.io/podcast–Links: Coral Capital: https://coralcap.co/–Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(01:57) The early days of Japanese startups(04:08) The rise of Coin Check(05:54) Challenges and opportunities in the Japanese startup ecosystem(16:09) Cultural and structural differences in hiring(19:47) Sponsor: Safebase(21:22) The role of content and communication in Japanese startups(31:29) LinkedIn vs. Facebook in Japanese work culture(32:38) LinkedIn's social capital issues in Japan(33:58) Cultural differences in asking for permission(34:31) Navigating Japanese regulatory clarity(36:49) The evolution of VC investment in Japan(39:54) The rise of SaaS in Japan(45:26) System integrators and software development in Japan(50:39) Challenges in Japanese tech companies(54:36) Opportunities for foreign companies in Japan(55:03) The importance of commitment in the Japanese market(57:08) Dev tools and viral adoption in Japan(59:31) Japan's influence on global tech(01:03:23) Wrap

In this episode, we dive into where things stand with Less Annoying CRM's potential new product.Here's the blog post about First Team Principles Rick mentioned.

In this WP Builds episode, Nathan Wrigley talks with Matt Schwartz, founder of CheckView, a SaaS platform designed to automate testing of WordPress forms and WooCommerce checkouts. Matt explains how CheckView helps agencies and site owners ensure forms work properly by simulating real user interactions, catching issues before customers do. They discuss features, supported plugins, integration challenges with security tools like Cloudflare, and how automated monitoring can prevent lost sales or leads due to unnoticed form failures. The episode also touches on pricing, agency use cases, and CheckView's expanding roadmap. If you've ever experienced the embarrassment, or financial consequences, of a broken form or silent checkout failure, or if you're simply looking for ways to make your processes more bulletproof and client-friendly, you'll definitely want to tune in.

Eli Rubel is a serial entrepreneur, best known as the "Agency Profitability Guy." Since 2020, his portfolio of agencies has produced over $9.8M in profits—all while maintaining part-time hours and full-time freedom. In this episode, Eli breaks down exactly how anyone can build (or scale) a service business—plus what it takes to turn it into a lifestyle asset that runs without you. On this episode we talk about: Eli's entrepreneurial roots: setting up a photo studio in his parents' garage, learning the lessons of low-wage jobs (room service at an hourly motel), and how early initiative shaped his career vision Starting and scaling agencies: from his first agency, Matter Made (a B2B performance marketing shop), to No Boring Design (brand/design for SaaS companies), and Profit Labs (helping agency owners boost profit margins) Why agency services are the ideal scalable side hustle: you can start solo as a freelancer, ramp up to replace (or surpass) your day-job income, and ultimately build a seven-figure company with qualified operators The proven roadmap for new agency founders: identify in-demand services (paid media, design, marketing automation, sales support, cold email, etc.), connect with industry experts, and model the playbook on what works—no need to reinvent the wheel Eli's personal story: pivoting from CEO of VC-backed startups and e-commerce turnarounds to building cash-generating, low-stress agencies that let him spend more time with family ("the tricycle life") The playbook: how Eli went from $0 to $40,000/month in personal net income within three months by leveraging his network, hiring great operators, and focusing on what he does best—relationships, vision, and assembling world-class teams The agency profit formula: stop doing the technical work yourself, hire/partner with people you trust, and empower them to do what you can't (or won't) Why AI is about to disrupt agencies—why you should “make hay while there's hay to be made,” but prepare for a new wave where niche expertise and AI/automation consulting become the next big opportunities How AI agencies (helping local businesses implement and automate with tools like HighLevel) could be the new “social media agency” gold rush for ambitious, young, or tech-savvy entrepreneurs Eli's advice: focus first on what's proven to bring in revenue, then use your earnings and freedom to pursue higher-purpose projects or passion businesses down the road Top 3 Takeaways Agencies Offer Scalable, Flexible Income: Proven models like paid media, design, and marketing are easy to start and scale—no reinvention needed, just execution and networking. Play to Your Unique Strengths: Don't force yourself to do what you hate—partner with those who are better at the technical work, and focus on your unique edge (relationships, vision, operations, deal-making). AI is the Next Massive Opportunity: Traditional agencies will be squeezed by AI, but that creates demand for those who can help small businesses adopt, automate, and run leaner-than-ever operations. Notable Quotes “Within three months we'd already surpassed my goal—$40,000 a month net income—and by three years, we'd produced $7M in profit.” “I have never deployed a single client dollar or been inside of a client's ad account since 2020. My superpower is assembling great people and letting them win.” “Soon, AI will put 80% of agency businesses out of business. But if you get great at implementing it for specific niches today, there are millions to be made.” Connect with Eli Rubel: Website: https://www.elirubel.com/

In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I welcomed back Sumit Johar, CIO at BlackLine, for a timely conversation about how AI is transforming finance operations from the inside out. When we last spoke earlier this year, AI was still in the early stages of enterprise experimentation. Just a few months later, everything has shifted. Sumit shared how AI has moved well beyond pilot programs and into a space where business leaders themselves are actively requesting implementations. What stood out in our conversation was how this change has reshaped the relationship between CIOs and CFOs. The skepticism is fading, and a stronger sense of collaboration is emerging as both sides work together to drive transformation, align strategies, and reimagine outcomes. We explored the growing need for CIOs to be “multilingual”—not in the linguistic sense, but in their ability to navigate both technology and business. It's no longer enough to speak in code or technical jargon. CIOs must understand finance workflows, end-to-end processes, and the operational pressures CFOs face every day. This alignment is critical when evaluating how and where to deploy AI. Sumit also unpacked some of the core challenges around AI integration, including data quality, long-term sustainability, security, and ethical use. Unlike previous SaaS waves, AI adoption carries more complex risk vectors. Demos might impress, but real-world deployments demand rigorous controls, responsible governance, and the right culture. The conversation covered the ongoing build versus buy dilemma, why it's context-specific, and how BlackLine approaches those decisions with long-term scalability in mind. Sumit also shared how internal councils and cross-functional collaboration have helped guide AI strategy across the organization. If you're leading digital transformation or building the next phase of AI integration in your finance or IT teams, this episode offers clear, experience-driven insights. What's your organization doing to prepare for AI not as a concept, but as a day-to-day operational reality?

The viral women-only dating safety app Tea, built to flag red flags, gets flagged itself - after leaking over 70,000 private images and chat logs. We are talking full-on selfies, ID docs, private DMs, and a dash of 4chan creepiness. Yikes.Plus, Carole takes us down memory lane as she hangs up her co-host mic after 428 glorious episodes. Expect tea, tears, and Tom Lehrer.All this and much much more is discussed in the latest edition of the "Smashing Security" podcast by cybersecurity veterans Graham Cluley and Carole Theriault, joined this week by...Warning: This podcast may contain nuts, adult themes, and rude language.Episode links:Update regarding cybersecurity incident - Tea.Hackers steal images from women's dating safety app that vets men - BBC News.A Second Tea Breach Reveals Users' DMs About Abortions and Cheating - 404 Media.American musical satirist Tom Lehrer dies at 97 - BBC News.Tom Lehrer website.Tom Lehrer sings The Elements, live in Copenhagen, 1967 - YouTube.Tom Lehrer sings “New Math” (animated) - YouTube.Carole's Substack.Libby - Library app.Shokz UK.Two Birds Yoga - YouTube.Thermapen.BBC Sounds.Smashing Security merchandise (t-shirts, mugs, stickers and stuff)Sponsored by:Vanta – Expand the scope of your security program with market-leading compliance automation… while saving time and money. Smashing Security listeners get $1000 off!Trelica by 1Password - Access Governance for every SaaS app. Discover, manage, and optimize access for any of your SaaS apps - whether managed or unmanaged.SUPPORT THE SHOW:Tell your friends and colleagues about “Smashing Security”, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser.Become a supporter via Patreon or Apple Podcasts for ad-free episodes and our early-release feed!...

In this session, CRO of ServiceTitan, Ross Biestman, and Chemistry's Managing Partner and Co-Founder, Kristina Shen, discuss ServiceTitan's founding principles and growth from a small company to a $11 billion vertical SaaS leader. Together they cover ServiceTitan's mission-driven approach, and its successful adoption of AI for operational efficiency. Ross shares personal anecdotes about customer interactions and pivotal moments leading to ServiceTitan's massive success. The episode underscores the importance of on-site customer interactions and the role of AI and disciplined expansion in their growth strategy. ------------------ This episode of the SaaStr podcast is sponsored by: get.tech The best .coms are taken or overpriced. So you settle on a workaround domain for your website. Don't compromise. Get a clean, sharp .tech domain that instantly says: this is a tech startup. Grab yours at get.tech/saastr or via domain registrars like GoDaddy. ------------------ Hey everybody, SaaStr AI's next stop takes us to London on December 2nd and 3rd! It's Christmas with SaaStr and 2,000 of the best SaaS and AI leaders. The biggest names will be there. The best networking.  Early adopter tickets are selling faster than we expected. So don't wait. With only 5 months until the event, we expect this year's SaaStr London event to sell out to capacity.  Use my code jason20pod for exclusive savings. Get your tickets now at podcast.saastrlondon.com or use code jason20pod at checkout. SaaStr AI London – where SaaS Meets AI in London. See you there. ------------------ Hey everybody, SaaStr Annual will be back in May of 2026.  The world's largest SaaS + AI gathering for executives. Just this May we hosted: 10,000 attendees with 68% VP-level and above, 36% CEOs and founders and a growing 25% were AI-first professionals. This is the very best of the best S-tier attendees and decision makers that come to SaaStr each year.  But here's the reality, folks: the longer you wait, the higher ticket prices can get. Early bird tickets are available now, but once they're gone, you'll pay hundreds more so don't wait. Lock in your spot today. Use my code JASON100 for exclusive savings. Get your tickets at podcast.saastrannual.com or use code JASON100 at checkout. 

On today's show, we have Tito Obaisi, the Senior Manager of Pipeline and Insights for Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs. Tito leads efforts to identify strategically relevant, enterprise ready AI startups that are at the cutting edge of new technology that not only deliver new capabilities but also shape insights from working with the world's largest media and technology companies. Tito brings a unique perspective on how large organizations can drive innovation through collaboration – the value of an always learning mindset, grounding insights in tangible business needs, delivering insights at the speed of AI. We talk about the disruption of SaaS, Agentic Orchestration, Intelligence Allocation and how Enterprise-Ready startups are spinning up faster, with less people, and more impact for enterprise organizations.

Visit Window Coffee in Midtown Phoenix and get 10% off your order when you mention "Career Blindspot PODCAST!"    “Talk to people in your neighborhood. You'll get a different perspective than the algorithm gives you.” - Ed Hermes   www.EdHermes.com   CBQ - What's harder for you: delegating or volunteering?   [*See the video interview on YOUTUBE.] In this engaging conversation, Ed Hermes, attorney, school board member, and Phoenix City Council candidate, shares how deep community involvement has shaped his leadership. From neighborhood bike rides to public service, Ed explores the ROI of volunteering, the struggle to delegate, and the power of simply showing up. Hosted by Juan Kingsbury, this episode is a rally cry for those who want stronger communities and a reminder that leadership starts locally.   EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [00:02:40] “What are you going to say no to?” – Ed's wife, reality check [00:05:02] “We're the only industrialized country where pedestrian fatalities are going up.” [00:08:14] “You miss a lot when you're speeding down the road.” [00:17:27] “The most important way to keep a neighborhood safe is knowing your neighbors.” [00:30:52] “Talk to people in your neighborhood. You'll get a different perspective than the algorithm gives you.”   Follow Juan on LinkedIn Check out CareerBlindspot.com/store Follow on LinkedIn and Instagram → Your listening perspective matters - 5 min survey.

What happens when UX design collides with generative AI? In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir sits down with Mickey Alon, CEO and co-founder of Eucera, to explore how AI-first design is redefining SaaS product experiences. Mickey shares his vision for conversational UX, why menus are becoming obsolete, and how intelligent agents will soon become the most valuable “team member” in your product. If you build, lead, or design in tech—this one will get you thinking differently.Key Takeaways• Traditional UI can't keep up with modern feature sets—AI-first UX unlocks faster access to value• Conversational interfaces offer personalization and productivity that static workflows can't match• User expectations are evolving rapidly thanks to tools like ChatGPT—SaaS must catch up• AI-first design challenges product teams to rethink roadmaps, roles, and even user trust• Future UX will be hybrid: visual, prompt-driven, and increasingly agenticTimestamped Highlights03:12 — Why traditional menus break as SaaS features grow04:45 — The gap between AI-powered hype and true AI-first product experiences08:25 — How AI can personalize UX based on user skill level and intent17:50 — The need for audit trails and observability in AI-driven workflows21:30 — Will UX roles shrink or expand in the age of AI-first design?25:20 — What happens when every product is just an agent? Where do you differentiate?Quote of the Episode“The companies that will deliver AI-first experiences will outperform—because you're deploying the best person in the company, which is the agent, to assist any number of users in real time.”Call to ActionIf this episode made you rethink the future of product design, share it with a teammate or PM who needs to hear it. Subscribe to The Tech Trek for more smart conversations at the edge of tech, product, and leadership. And connect with Mickey Alon on LinkedIn if you want to dive deeper into AI-first UX.

We revisit our conversation with Frances Ibe, Chief Experience Officer at Tide. Frances shares invaluable insights on her journey from developer to product leadership and how to avoid common pitfalls during the discovery process.Chapters01:07 – Meet Frances Ibe02:05 – Common Discovery Pitfalls03:34 – Embedding Continuous Discovery04:51 – The Myth of Talking to 20 Customers06:38 – What is a Data Prototype?08:03 – Building Confidence in Product Bets10:42 – Sharing Insights Across the Business13:52 – Keeping Sprint Reviews Engaging15:49 – Discovery Through Observation17:21 – Responding to Data-Driven Disruption18:30 – The Power of Storytelling20:49 – Training Teams in Storytelling22:36 – Maintaining Message Consistency23:48 – Collaborating Across Disciplines25:01 – Francis' Game-Changing AdviceFeatured Links: Follow Frances on LinkedIn | Tide | 'Six things we learned at the Pendomonium and #mtpcon roadshow - London 2024' feature by Louron PrattOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath. Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

Everyone's talking about AI these days, especially in cybersecurity. Sure, artificial intelligence can boost your defenses, but cybercriminals have noticed too. Now they're crafting phishing emails so believable it's scary and finding clever paths around spam filters while zeroing in on vulnerabilities you didn't even realize were there.    Today, Aviad Hasnis joins the show. He's the CTO of Cynet Security and spent years running cybersecurity missions for the Israeli Defense Forces. Aviad's here to help us figure out what the changing threat landscape really means, whether you're leading a corporate giant or just trying to keep your small business safe. From passwords getting scooped up to VPN setups from a decade ago that no one updated, Aviad's seen just about everything go wrong. He also explains why copy-pasting AI-generated code might open you up to attacks you never saw coming. He's big on education, common sense, and making sure you're using multiple security layers. These days even one slip-up can give attackers exactly what they're looking for. Aviad also walks us through supply chain vulnerabilities and why they should keep you up at night. Whether you're the CISO of a Fortune 500 company or you're running a small team with Bob, the go-to tech person juggling 18 other tasks, this episode is packed with practical insights to help you avoid the next big cybersecurity headache. While AI might be reshaping the cybersecurity landscape, staying secure still comes down to thoughtful planning, human judgment, and making sure someone you trust has your back. Show Notes: [01:08] Aviad has been Cynet's Chief Technology Officer for the past five years. Prior to that, he worked in cyber security for the Israeli Army. [02:18] He was always fascinated with computers and technology. When Iran had a technology problem, he realized that cybersecurity was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. [03:19] Aviad shares a story about his friend's mother being exposed to a scam. She received a phone call from someone pretending to be a police officer. She even installed different executables on her laptop. She didn't realize she was being victimized until she transferred over five grand. [06:07] Social engineering is one of the most dominant ways to gain access. [08:39] The security implications of using AI. [09:30] It's important to have guardrails with how you use AI. [10:28] If you're just copying and pasting code you may copy something that could be vulnerable to exploits. [11:16] People need to be aware of the types of risk and educate themselves. [12:49] Conversations at the C-suite level for implementing AI. [13:43] The challenge is to harness AI the right way without replacing people. [15:18] It's important to use critical thinking when creating with AI. [16:04]  AI is helping security by allowing people to consult and get information. You can also introduce vulnerabilities into your application if you just copy and paste from chat GPT without knowing the context. [17:05] The bad guys can also use AI. [17:56] AI has improved the quality of phishing scams. [21:36] Where organizations are missing out when it comes to sniffing out threats. This includes VPNs and SaaS or cloud.  [22:52] Employees could be using their home computers to connect to the company VPN and then their kids might download some malware or trojan. Companies need to use two-factor authentication when it comes to VPNs. [24:11] Email phishing can be another way to steal credentials. [27:54] The most effective approach is security layers. [30:40]  Another security measure is creating profiles where we know where you're logging in from. [33:35] Is this doom and gloom for small businesses? [34:48] The best solution for small businesses would be to find a company with an all-in-one solution. [37:11] The importance of being proactive, so you can act quickly if you see something suspicious. [38:24] How the move to the cloud affects security. [39:08] Shifting to the cloud is safer. [44:20] New threats on the horizon include threat actors utilizing AI. They love to get control of remote applications. Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.  Links and Resources: Podcast Web Page Facebook Page whatismyipaddress.com Easy Prey on Instagram Easy Prey on Twitter Easy Prey on LinkedIn Easy Prey on YouTube Easy Prey on Pinterest Cynet Security Aviad Hasnis - LinkedIn Aviad Hasnis - Cynet Security

Check out my newsletter at ⁠TKOPOD.com⁠ and join my new community at ⁠TKOwners.com⁠.I sat down with Sam Thompson again and we talked about why it's never been easier to clone massive SaaS companies and sell the same functionality for 90% less. We broke down how AI is turning platforms like Salesforce, AppFolio, and RentManager into overpriced dinosaurs, and how you can use tools like BuiltWith, G2, and Manus to reverse-engineer their features and customers. Sam even shared how he ran paid traffic to a $1 trial landing page before building the product—and people bought it. We also talked about his new strategy for selling backlinks like products in a Shopify-style marketplace, why form factor changes (like caffeinated gum or chewable toothpaste) are underrated business models, and how his hummingbird nectar side hustle is still going strong. You can find Sam on Twitter (⁠https://x.com/ImSamThompson⁠) and check out what he's up to at ⁠https://www.unlimitedcontent.com/⁠Timestamps below. Enjoy!---Watch this on YouTube instead here: ⁠tkopod.co/p-yt⁠Ask me a question on or off the show here: ⁠http://tkopod.co/p-ask⁠Learn more about me: ⁠http://tkopod.co/p-cjk⁠Learn about my company: ⁠http://tkopod.co/p-cof⁠Follow me on Twitter here: ⁠http://tkopod.co/p-x⁠Free weekly business ideas newsletter: ⁠http://tkopod.co/p-nl⁠Share this podcast: ⁠http://tkopod.co/p-all⁠Scrape small business data: ⁠http://tkopod.co/p-os⁠---00:00 Disruption in Software Pricing02:58 The Commoditization of Services05:52 AI and the Future of Business09:08 Innovative Business Ideas and Form Factors12:04 The Rise of Transparency in Business14:57 Exploring New Market Opportunities17:53 Backlink Strategies and SEO Insights20:45 Testing New Business Models24:04 The Value of High-Quality Backlinks

In this episode, Filip Kozera, founder and CEO of Wordware, explains his approach to building agentic workflows where natural language serves as the new programming interface. Filip breaks down the architecture of these "background agents," explaining how they use a reflection loop and tool-calling to execute complex tasks. He discusses the current limitations of agent protocols like MCPs and how developers can extend them to handle the required context and authority. The conversation challenges the idea that more powerful models lead to more autonomous agents, arguing instead for "graceful recovery" systems that proactively bring humans into the loop when the agent "knows what it doesn't know." We also get into the "application layer" fight, exploring how SaaS platforms are creating data silos and what this means for the future of interoperable AI agents. Filip also shares his vision for the "word artisan"—the non-technical user who can now build and manage a fleet of AI agents, fundamentally changing the nature of knowledge work. The complete show notes for this episode can be found at https://twimlai.com/go/741.

Send us a textWhen your team starts to grow, things shift — and not always in the way you expect. Bottlenecks show up where trust should be. Communication breaks down just when clarity matters most. If you're leading a digital agency that's scaling fast, the pressure isn't just in performance — it's in holding the culture together while everything accelerates.This week, I'm joined by Brittany Hansen — a tech entrepreneur, co-founder of a bootstrapped SaaS company built without venture capital. Her platform solves for one of the biggest blind spots in business today: how to deliver the right message in the right way to a global, multilingual, multicultural audience.We unpack the systems she uses to build trust, the decision to scale without outside capital, and how values-driven leadership creates teams that don't just perform — they stay aligned under pressure. If you've ever wondered how to scale your team without losing your voice, your mission, or your momentum… this one's for you.

Yasir Ali, CEO of Polymer, discusses the shortcomings of current security frameworks, emphasizing their outdated nature and lack of real verification. He argues that many organizations still rely on signed statements without providing tangible evidence of compliance with security controls. This disconnect has become increasingly problematic, especially with the rise of AI and the need for more robust data protection measures. Ali highlights that the traditional approach of simply stating compliance is no longer sufficient in a landscape where data privacy and security are paramount.Ali suggests that the solution lies in a more evidence-based approach to security frameworks. He advocates for organizations to provide real-time evidence of their security practices, particularly in relation to how customer data is handled and used. This includes demonstrating that customer data is not being misused for AI training purposes. He believes that the industry needs to move beyond mere documentation and focus on actual compliance and security practices that can be verified.The conversation also touches on the role of customers in demanding better security practices from service providers. While Ali acknowledges that end customers often feel overlooked, he points out that larger organizations, such as banks, have begun to push back against vendors to ensure their data is protected. He emphasizes that smaller businesses must take responsibility for their own data security, as the regulatory environment in the U.S. is not providing sufficient oversight.As AI adoption accelerates through SaaS products, Ali expresses concern about the new vulnerabilities that may arise. He notes that many organizations are integrating AI tools into their existing systems without fully understanding the implications for data security. Polymer aims to address these challenges by providing tools that enhance data security and compliance within SaaS environments, ensuring that organizations can protect their sensitive information while leveraging the benefits of AI. All our Sponsors: https://businessof.tech/sponsors/ Do you want the show on your podcast app or the written versions of the stories? Subscribe to the Business of Tech: https://www.businessof.tech/subscribe/Looking for a link from the stories? The entire script of the show, with links to articles, are posted in each story on https://www.businessof.tech/ Support the show on Patreon: https://patreon.com/mspradio/ Want to be a guest on Business of Tech: Daily 10-Minute IT Services Insights? Send Dave Sobel a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/businessoftech Want our stuff? Cool Merch? Wear “Why Do We Care?” - Visit https://mspradio.myspreadshop.com Follow us on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/28908079/YouTube: https://youtube.com/mspradio/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mspradionews/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mspradio/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@businessoftechBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/businessof.tech

DREAMPOOL PRODUCTIONSNeed your podcast produced or edited? What about creative storytelling to drive organic growth on YouTube or social media? From creative consultation, to ideation and execution, DreamPool delivers on your production needs. Contact Christopher Faris at christopher@godreampool.com to get started! MORE STAFFINGRecruit, onboard, and train incredible virtual professionals in the Philippines with my friends at More Staffing by visiting ⁠https://morestaffing.co/af⁠. INTELLIGEMSIntelligems brings A/B testing to business decisions beyond copy and design. Test your pricing, shipping charges, free shipping thresholds, offers, SaaS tools, and more by clicking here: https://bit.ly/42DcmFl. Get 20% off the first 3 months with code FARIS20.RICHPANELCut your support costs by 30% and reduce tickets by 30%—guaranteed—with Richpanel's AI-first Customer Service Platform that will reduce costs, improve agent productivity & delight customers at http://www.richpanel.com/partners/ajf?utm_source=youtube.//What does it really take to build—and sell—a high-performing eCommerce agency? In this episode, Taylor Holiday (former CEO of Common Thread Collective) joins Andrew Faris to dissect the real mechanics behind scaling a service business, managing people (or not managing them at all), and exiting at the peak.Taylor shares candid insights on:- Why "management" might be killing your margins- The client metric that actually drives profit (hint: it's not logo churn)- How AI is expanding operating margin—and agency salaries- When to stop saving clients and focus on expansion- Why “Head of Growth” is a broken title- How to structure your team for consistency and scale- Lessons from an 8-figure transaction (and what he'd do differently)Talking with Taylor is guaranteed to provide lots of interesting conversation, more than a few laughs, and highly actionable takeaways for ANYONE in E-commerce! //SUBSCRIBE TO MY CHANNEL FOR 2X/WEEKLY UPLOADS!//ADMISSIONGet the best media buying training on the Internet + a free coaching call with Common Thread Collective's media buyers when you sign up for ADmission here: ⁠https://www.youradmission.co/andrew-faris-podcast⁠//FOLLOW UP WITH ANDREW X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/andrewjfaris ⁠Email: podcast@ajfgrowth.comWork with Andrew: ⁠https://ajfgrowth.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

What's on your mind? Let CX Passport know...How do you build customer experience around support… not in spite of it?In this *Greatest Hits* episode of CX Passport, Sarah Hatter shares insights from over a decade of championing support as a strategic pillar of CX. As the founder of ElevateCX and someone who's worked across SaaS and startup landscapes, Sarah brings a grounded, honest take on what actually works when supporting customers.Originally released as Episode 173, this conversation stood out for its real-world perspective, practical advice, and Sarah's clear voice for treating support teams like the heart of the business.CHAPTERS  00:00  Asking permission in support conversations  02:30  Support as a CX foundation  05:10  Why fast responses aren't always better  08:45  The “escalation mindset” trap  12:20  Training great support teams  15:40  Mental health in support roles  18:05  What leaders miss about burnout  20:15  Why support should be a strategic asset  22:45  First Class Lounge  26:20  How ElevateCX was bornEpisode resources:  Connect with Sarah Hatter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahhatter  Learn more about ElevateCX: https://www.elevatecx.coIf you like CX Passport, I have 2 quick requests:✅ Join other “CX travelers” with the weekly CX Passport newsletter https://cxpassport.kit.com/signup  ✅ Bring

Sumner Vanderhoof, CEO & Co‑Founder of Propensity, shares how he transformed an idea into a nimble, niche-focused account-based marketing platform. In just two years, Propensity achieved remarkable growth and retention by combining founder-led sales, month-to-month agreements, and an “opt‑in” SDR outreach model.His approach shifted the sales game, targeting only in-market buyers with verified contact data and it's something any CEO can learn from, especially those navigating a crowded SaaS space.Key action items:Find a growing gap and own that nicheBuild trust first with opt-in engagementHire elite specialists for focused executionRapid Fire Recommendations:

“We're not here with a silver bullet. We're here to help teams start with visibility—because you can't manage what you can't see.” — Steve Petracek, Auvik In this special Technology Reseller News podcast recorded live from the inaugural Podcast Row at ChannelCon 2025 in Nashville, Doug Green sits down with Steve Petracek of Auvik to discuss the mounting challenges facing IT teams in an increasingly hybrid and remote working environment. Petracek, a leader at Auvik—an IT operations management platform—delivers fresh insight from the company's latest IT Trends Report. According to Petracek, 87% of MSPs today are managing at least some portion of a remote workforce, but most lack the tools to adequately address the growing risks around visibility, Shadow IT, Shadow AI, and workforce productivity. This mismatch is leading to inefficiencies and, increasingly, burnout among IT professionals. “The traditional tools built for the office don't cut it anymore,” Petracek explains. “IT teams are stitching together a dozen tools just to support a single user working remotely. That's where the stress comes in.” Petracek emphasizes that the first step in solving these challenges is visibility—not just into the network and infrastructure, but into the user's entire digital ecosystem, from sanctioned SaaS apps to unsanctioned AI tools. Auvik's platform aims to bring all of that into focus, giving IT teams one place to manage, secure, and optimize performance across environments. Key trends discussed in the podcast include: The rise of Shadow AI and its unmanaged introduction into IT ecosystems The compounding effect of tool sprawl on stress and burnout The need for automation and tool consolidation to restore efficiency Auvik's visibility-first approach to tackling modern IT operations Petracek's message to MSPs at ChannelCon was clear: hybrid work isn't a passing trend, and managing it effectively means embracing a new toolset, reducing complexity, and automating wherever possible. To dive deeper into Auvik's findings and learn how your team can better manage hybrid infrastructure, download the free IT Trends Report at https://www.auvik.com. This podcast was recorded live at ChannelCon 2025 at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, as part of Technology Reseller News' coverage of emerging technologies and trends shaping the MSP and IT services landscape.  

Did AI actually kill SEO? Or are recent traffic drops for sites like HubSpot a sign of something else entirely? In this episode, we're joined by Sam Dunning, founder of Breaking B2B and a leading expert on search strategy, to unpack what's actually happening in the world of SEO. We talk about how AI overviews are changing the way people find information, and what it all means for marketers and revenue teams.Sam shares when SEO still makes sense, when it doesn't, and what to focus on if you want to drive real pipeline today. We also dive into AI-generated content, the role of brand in LLM-driven search, and how to build a practical keyword strategy that works in 2025.(00:00) - Introduction (01:58) - Did AI kill SEO? (06:17) - When SEO doesn't make sense (10:05) - Does SEO still take forever to build? (12:24) - Should we just generate AI content? (15:39) - Buidling a Money Keyword Matrix (22:20) - Who should own the matrix? (24:45) - Quicker vs longer strategies (29:07) - Old school SEO in a world of LLMs (34:08) - Brand builders have a step up (36:21) - Common LLM hacks (43:00) - Measuring SEO in a world of LLMs (48:24) - Nothing's changed. Everything's changed. (50:29) - Wrapping up

ZITADEL is pioneering the next generation of identity infrastructure, providing a developer-first platform that handles everything from basic authentication to complex multi-tenant B2B scenarios. With $11.5 million in funding and a unique open-source approach, ZITADEL has positioned itself as the "GitLab for identity" - offering both self-hosted and SaaS deployment options while maintaining flexibility through comprehensive APIs. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, I sat down with Florian Forster, CEO and Co-Founder of ZITADEL, who recently relocated from Switzerland to the Bay Area to accelerate the company's go-to-market efforts and tap into the massive US opportunity. Topics Discussed: ZITADEL's comprehensive identity platform covering authentication, authorization, and multi-tenant scenarios The company's innovative dual-licensing approach combining AGPL open source with commercial offerings Florian's strategic decision to relocate his entire family from Switzerland to the Bay Area The evolution from per-user pricing to capability-based pricing models Building a global team across three regions: Europe for engineering, US for go-to-market, and Argentina for customer success Marketing strategy focused 80/20 on developers versus buyers Cultural differences between European and American go-to-market approaches Future vision for AI risk mitigation and behavioral analytics in identity management GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: Embrace "cash or code" open source strategy: Florian introduced the concept of "cash or code" - users either pay for commercial features or contribute meaningfully to the open source project. ZITADEL's shift from Apache to AGPL licensing ensures that free users contribute back to the community while commercial customers get enterprise features and SLAs. This dual-licensing approach creates sustainable economics while building a strong community foundation. Rethink pricing to align with customer value creation: ZITADEL is moving away from per-user pricing because, as Florian explains, "we are the system that makes users useful. So if we hinder our customers on creating users in the first place, it kind of defeats the whole idea." Instead, they're shifting to capability-based pricing where customers pay for specific features like compliance notifications rather than user seats. This removes friction from customer growth and better aligns pricing with actual value delivered. Focus marketing efforts on developers, not just buyers: ZITADEL discovered that an 80/20 split between developer-focused and buyer-focused marketing works best. Florian notes that "targeting the developer ultimately leads to us being in the debate when somebody procures a system like ours." Developers do the initial evaluation and recommendation, so winning them over is crucial for getting into procurement discussions with buyers. Leverage geographic arbitrage strategically: ZITADEL operates across three regions - Europe for core engineering (quality engineers at $100-250K vs $250-500K in Bay Area), US for go-to-market, and Argentina for customer success and sales engineering. This approach optimizes for both cost efficiency and timezone coverage while maintaining quality across all functions. Adapt messaging for cultural differences: Moving from Switzerland to the US taught Florian that "in US marketing, things get overinflated quite severely, but the buyer knows that and automatically deducts some of it." Europeans tend to under-market solid products, while US buyers expect and discount for marketing inflation. B2B founders must calibrate their messaging appropriately for different markets and buyer expectations.   //   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   

Is your SaaS team aligned—or just busy? In this episode of SaaS Fuel, Jeff Mains sits down with Jolly Nanda, GTM advisor and sales strategy expert, to discuss how SaaS founders can build scalable growth by aligning product, marketing, and sales from day one.Jolly shares insights from scaling teams at SAP, Adobe, and Atlassian, and breaks down what early-stage SaaS leaders can do today to build healthy sales pipelines, improve forecasting accuracy, and foster a culture of truth-telling inside the funnel.In this episode, you'll learn:How to fix the misalignment between sales, product, and marketingWhat most founders get wrong about pipeline hygieneWhy culture—not comp plans—drives real sales performanceHow to use product-led growth alongside sales, not against itThe mindset shift every founder must make to scaleIf you're tired of hero sales and pipeline guesswork, this episode gives you a clear framework to build process-driven, revenue-responsible teams.Key Takeaways00:00 – The sales number isn't the whole story04:10 – Early-stage GTM red flags05:30 – Product, marketing, and sales: 1 team, not 306:42 – Sales culture vs sales process08:18 – Why incentives don't fix a broken system10:01 – How to build a truth culture in sales11:47 – Why PLG doesn't mean anti-sales13:40 – Building alignment between product and revenue teams15:19 – The right kind of friction in sales and onboarding17:02 – Discovery before demo (and why that order matters)19:14 – “Hero sales” vs. scalable sales21:00 – Why most pipeline data is not accurate22:48 – Trust is a byproduct of process24:12 – 4 elements of good pipeline hygiene26:00 – Sales managers: stop being scorekeepers28:09 – Real forecasting starts with sales call truth29:20 – The connection between missed targets and broken process30:32 – How to change sales culture without killing morale32:00 – Leading indicators vs lagging indicators in GTM34:29 – Product-led + sales-led = better customer journey36:14 – Why you need revenue roles inside product38:06 – Pricing is part of GTM, not just finance 40:00 – Aligning marketing messaging with sales narratives41:27 – The next evolution of GTM rolesTweetable Quotes"Pipeline hygiene isn't a Salesforce task—it's a culture of truth." – Jolly Nanda"If sales, marketing, and product aren't on the same page, your customer feels it first." – Jolly Nanda"Don't fix sales with comp plans. Fix it with better process and culture." – Jolly Nanda"Product-led growth isn't the enemy of sales—it's fuel for it." – Jolly Nanda"The goal isn't activity—it's alignment." – Jeff MainsSaaS Leadership LessonsPipeline hygiene is a culture issue. It's not just about clean CRM—it's about truth in the funnel.Sales, product, and marketing must operate as one team. Siloed GTM leads to chaos and churn.Product-led growth doesn't eliminate sales—it elevates it. The handoff must feel seamless to the customer.Scalable sales = process + mindset. Don't build your GTM around a hero rep.Truthful forecasting starts with sales conversations. If reps are sandbagging or guessing, fix the culture first.Curiosity beats control. The best leaders build cultures where feedback flows freely across GTM.Guest ResourcesWebsite -

Today on LaunchPod, we're talking with Ken Houseman, VP of Product at Zuora. In this episode, we discuss: Why even a 0.1% increase in churn can cause huge losses, and how to turn retention into a growth engine How Zuora made payments so valuable that customers want to pay more - boosting revenue, margins, and customer retention And how Ken used AI to slash prototyping time and unlock faster, smarter product development Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-houseman/ Zuora: https://www.zuora.com/ Resources Subscribed: Why the Subscription Model Will Be Your Company's Future - and What to Do About It, by Tien Tzuo: https://www.amazon.com/Subscribed-Subscription-Model-Companys-Future/dp/0525536469 Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:14 Ken Houseman's Experience 02:45 The Role of Retention in Growth 06:38 Zuora's Approach to Subscription Billing and Payments 10:28 Enhancing Payment Processing with AI 30:57 The Future of AI in Product Management 38:03 Outro Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). Special Guest: Ken Houseman.

Title: Build a Bigger Life, Not a Bigger Lifestyle: The Real Path to Freedom with Adam Caroll Summary: In this episode of Raise the Bar Radio, guest (Adam Carroll) shares his journey from a traveling professional speaker to building sustainable wealth through passive income strategies. After realizing the limitations of trading time for money, Adam developed The Shred Method, a cashflow reorientation system that minimizes debt interest and frees up capital to build liquidity and invest. By leveraging lines of credit and algorithm-driven cash deployment, individuals can rapidly pay down debts and reallocate savings into passive income streams like real estate syndications, intellectual property, and other alternative investments. Adam stresses that most high-income earners don't have an income problem - they have a liquidity problem tied up in low-access retirement plans and excessive spending. Finally, he expands on his philosophy of "building a bigger life, not a bigger lifestyle," urging professionals to align spending and time with their values to achieve fulfillment and financial freedom within 10 years. Links to Watch and Subscribe:   Bullet Point Highlights: Trading time for money is limiting. Adam shifted from paid speaking gigs to building passive income streams for true freedom. The Shred Method minimizes interest expenses. By using cashflow more efficiently through lines of credit and optimized algorithms, debt is paid down faster, freeing liquidity for investing. Passive income is key to wealth. Adam focuses on real estate syndications, ATM tranches, intellectual property, and digital products to generate consistent, diversified passive cash flow. Most people have a liquidity problem, not an income problem. Money is often locked in 401(k)s or spent wastefully — instead, creating accessible liquidity allows for opportunity-based investing. Building a bigger life requires intentionality. Aligning spending and actions with core values (like family, freedom, growth) leads to fulfillment — not just more stuff. The game becomes fun. Once passive income starts flowing, investing becomes strategic, diversified, and compounding — eventually replacing active income and creating financial independence. Anyone can implement this. While you can DIY, Adam recommends coaching to fast-track understanding and execution of the Shred Method. Transcript: (Seth Bradley) (00:02.094) What's up, Builders? This is Raise the Bar Radio, where we talk about building wealth, raising capital, and all in all, raising the bar in your business and your life. This is the No BS podcast for capital raisers, investors, and entrepreneurs who are serious about scaling their business and living life on their own terms. I'm (Seth Bradley), securities attorney, real estate investor, and entrepreneur, bringing you world-class strategies from the best in the game.   If you're ready to raise more capital, close bigger deals, build a better you and create true financial freedom, you're in the right place. Let's go. Adam, what's going on, brother? Welcome to the show.   Hey Seth, thanks for having me, man. I'm excited about our conversation today.   Yeah, dude, super stoked to have you on today. It's going to be an awesome show, man. Let's dive right in. Tell us a little bit about yourself, your background. Take it back as far as you want to. Yeah.   Well, for the last 15 years or so, almost 20 now, guess, I've been making my living, opening my mouth and just speaking on stages all across the country. Had the opportunity to do a couple of international gigs, which was a blast. And in the midst of all that, making my living as a professional speaker, I realized that if I was very similar to your audience, if I wasn't doing the deal, doing the gig, doing the engagement, I wasn't getting paid.   (Adam Carroll) (01:26.184) And so a mentor of mine said, the goal is not to go to work and get paid. The goal is to go to work and get paid, get paid, get paid, get paid, get paid, get paid, get paid. And so I started figuring out that what I really wanted to do with the messaging that I was delivering was turn it into sort of a mediapreneurship where I was a mediapreneur creating content, but then I'd get paid for the content over and over and over again. And that today looks like I've written a bunch of books.   I've got a documentary that I produced that aired on CNBC. And now we're starting to get into more of a SaaS business, which I'm sure we'll talk about. That's the shred method. But I, you what I do when people ask me, I tell them, I love to educate people about new and different ways of building a bigger life, not a bigger lifestyle. And I would say you and I have that in common, because I know you're doing that on the show.   Yeah, absolutely, man. I gotta ask, how do you become a professional speaker? I bet a lot of people are thinking about that.   The origin story is kind of interesting because I was a clothier at the time in Denver, Colorado. And I was literally going out and meeting with high level executives in their offices, selling them custom made suits and shirts and sport coats and pants and whatnot. And it occurred to me in the middle of a meeting at one point, an appointment with one of my clients that I didn't want to measure in seams for the rest of my life. And I'll keep it PG but   This guy was one of my favorite clients. He was irreverent and funny and wasn't afraid to spend money on clothes. But this particular day, he confided in me that he wasn't wearing any underwear. And I was just like, dude, JP, what? You knew I was coming here today. He's like, I know, I just forgot. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. And I walked out and I went, I don't want to do this anymore. I just don't want to do this. And the company that I worked for is a fairly well known clothier. But   (Adam Carroll) (03:22.55) Every day I would drive around in my car listening to motivational messages. You know, they were on CDs at the time. I'm going to date myself, but I would listen to like Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield and Les Brown and Zig Ziglar. I would listen to all these CDs in my car. And Mark Victor Hansen said on one of the CDs that public speaking is one of the most noble professions because you get to travel the world. You get to change people's lives and you make a lot of money doing it. And I remember thinking.   That's what I want to do. All three of those things rolled into one. And so I reached out to a buddy of mine and said, dude, I don't think I'm in the right job. I need to be doing something else. He said, what do you want to do? And I told him, and you know how the universe kind of works in mysterious ways. He goes, well, Anne, who used to work with us, she works for a company that that's all they do is hire speakers. And so I sent in a tape, I auditioned, I got the gig.   And I was a W2 employee of theirs for about two years and then realized that I was being underpaid for the work I was doing, that I was actually probably one of the top 10 % of speakers on the roster. And then I realized that when you can make anywhere from a thousand to $5,000 an hour doing that, it was a pretty good paying gig if you were out on your own. I took the jump and have been doing it ever since.   Interesting man. I didn't realize that you could have a W-2 as a speaker I thought everybody that was speaking was getting the speakers that were getting paid, you know They were kind of doing it on their own. I don't realize there was kind of a there was a way to do it where there's a company that pays W-2 wages to speakers to speak it events. Yeah, it's interesting   It is interesting because there are companies that will hire you as a speaker to go and it may be sell their product or service. Or in this case, I was working for a company that was a division of monster.com, the job search company. And I was, I was speaking to high school and college students all across the country. And I probably presented to like 200,000 people in, two years time. So it was just a great practice run and a great way to cut my teeth on a very difficult audience. Because.   (Adam Carroll) (05:36.814) I don't know if you've ever been around a freshman in high school or a sophomore in high school, but they're like the most apathetic human beings on the face of earth. They don't want to be there. I could have lit myself on fire and they'd been like, cool, what else you got? And then when I realized that there were speakers like me that were out who basically just said, this is my topic. This is my specialty, if you will. And here's the rate. And the more they spoke and the...   we have a theory that the more you speak, the more you speak. So once you get out, you hang your own shingle and say, I'm a speaker in this topic, people begin to know you as that person. And then word gets around and obviously you have to not suck on stage. That's part of it. But if you're great at keeping audiences attention, and I really studied NLP, neuro-linguistic programming to use the right words, I studied comedians to figure out what was funny and what wasn't, and it just worked.   Over time, I had more more bookings and at the peak of my career, I was doing like 70 or 75 gigs a year.   Wow, wow, that's incredible. Definitely didn't realize that was your background. I remember those folks coming to like the office and selling suits and doing that sort of thing. So that's pretty interesting. I'm sure a lot of listeners out there are familiar with that process as well.   Yeah. Yeah, it was, it was a great, it was a great gig. mean, I met all sorts of really phenomenal business people. And I think for me, it was, it was like confirmation that I had this desire to, to impact people. And my boss at one point, he was like, Hey, these people love you. They want you to come around. They love the discussion and the conversation. They need to buy stuff from you. And, and there was a.   (Seth Bradley) (07:01.639) sorry, go ahead.   (Adam Carroll) (07:26.574) It's kind of a realization for me that I didn't necessarily want to have to sell. wanted people to buy. And speaking makes it real easy to do that.   Hmm. Yeah, makes sense. Let's jump right into it, man. Let's talk about the shred method. A lot of folks will find this very interesting. I know that I do. What is it? And let's just start there. What is it? Tell us a little bit about it.   Yeah, the shred method, first of all, thank you for asking. it's, it's, for me, I don't say this lightly, but nothing has built more wealth for me and my family than following this model. And the reason for it is there are two great expenses that everyone has in life. And I'm sure all of your listeners, be they attorneys, doctors, other professionally degreed folks.   If you're in a W-2 job, you know this to be true. The two greatest expenses we have in life are taxes and the interest expense on debt. Those are the two greatest expenses. And a gentleman that I had met years ago who helped me with tax situations, just a brilliant, brilliant strategist, he said, Adam, if you focus on minimizing your tax liability, that will get you halfway there. And it's very easy to do, buy real estate, have depreciable assets.   you know, make personal expenses, business expenses, etc, etc. But he said, if you can focus on minimizing the interest expense on debt, this is like a video game that you can't lose. And so when I learned about the shred method, and this is known by a variety of different terms, some people call it an Australian mortgage, it's called velocity banking, we've taken those concepts and turbocharged them.   (Adam Carroll) (09:09.474) almost like putting nitrous oxide in a gas tank, you know, in terms of making it go faster. But the shred method is a unique tool and a way of reorienting your cash flow through your household so that it is being used to the most efficient use possible. And to kind of qualify that, Seth, if you were to leave your home in the morning to go to the grocery store, as an example, and you came back home, emptied the car out,   knowing you had to go to post office at like 4 p.m., would you leave your car idling in the driveway all day?   (Adam Carroll) (09:46.284) Nope. No, and why wouldn't you?   Wasteful.   Yeah, wasteful, you'd burn gas, it'd be hard on the engine. It's just inefficient, right? And yet what most people do is they get their income, their income gets deposited into a checking account, and it sits there for days, weeks, months, sometimes years on end. And we never really use it to its highest efficiency. Meanwhile, we might have debts, commercial debts, primary mortgages, might have student loans yet. And all of those are accruing amortized interest.   right? And you might say it's compound interest working against you to a certain extent. But at the very least amortized interest means that the majority of the interest you're paying on that debt is upfront, it's in the first one to five years. And so the shred method teaches people how to take that income that is being super inefficient in an account, and instead begin to apply it through a process that allows you to blast away   the highest interest or highest payment debts that you have, freeing up cash flow, building equity, and ultimately, and this is the key, creating liquidity to go buy passive income properties, if you will, or other passive income plays.   (Seth Bradley) (11:02.058) Interesting. Yeah, and we actually haven't had anyone on the show to speak about this method, whatever nomenclature you might use. So let's go in a little bit more detail. mean, what is the vehicle? What is this flow of money that you're talking about?   So, know, logistically, here's how it works. Money typically would just get deposited into checking. You pay everything out of checking your mortgage, your car loan, your credit cards, living expenses. And the gurus would tell you that anything extra should really go towards savings and investments, right? And for most people, it goes to Costco, Target and Dining Out. That's where it goes. You know, it doesn't stay in the account, doesn't go into savings. If it does, it goes there for a small period of time. I think that most people   don't really have a savings account, they have a put and take account, because they put a little bit in, take a little bit out, put a little bit in, take a lot out. So the way this works is the money instead of being deposited straight to a checking account gets deposited into what we call a shred account. And the shred account could either be a line of credit, or it could be just a side account of money that you have sitting there that has not been accessed in some time. And what we tell our users is that   you really want to have either a line of credit or a shred account that is one and a half to two times what your monthly net take home is. So if you're bringing home 10 grand a month net, then ideally you want either a line of credit or a shred account of 15 to 20 grand. And the magic of this is the money is going to flow into that account. But the shred method is powered by a piece of software that is based on an algorithm that's tracking your income.   your expenses, the interest that you're paying on all your debts, and how much discretionary money you have available at any given point in time. And essentially, we're leveraging that in really short bursts of time against your largest debts, which could be, again, student loans, could be your mortgage, could be commercial properties. And in doing that, what we're doing is we're saving copious amounts of interest, like literally tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars.   (Adam Carroll) (13:11.122) And in the process, we're freeing up a ton of equity. So people that are saying, hey, I'm paycheck to paycheck. It's hard for me to figure out how am I going to invest more money? We're telling them the money is going to come from the equity that you're creating in your properties by paying them down rapidly.   I love that because I can see where this is going to potentially free up some extra cash to invest. A lot of folks out there, including myself back in the day, we got caught up in this thing we call the golden handcuffs where we're just spending everything. Like you said, we're spending it on Target, on eating out, on things that we really don't need. mean, there's a time and place for spending money on having a good time and enjoying your life for sure.   But we just we tend to overdo it as our income grows our expenses grow right along with it And a lot of people that I talked to about investing they're like, you know I don't have fifty thousand dollars to invest in this real estate deal or a hundred thousand dollars in this real estate deal and it's like well Well, why don't you you know make three hundred thousand dollars you why don't you have fifty thousand dollars to invest in this awesome deal? Right or to you know, put aside for your emergency fund. Like why don't you have these things set up?   So, you know, we always have to walk them through, you know, the expenses is the issue. Really, it's what are you spending all this money on? we try to find how they can save on those expenses so that they can invest in these assets that are really going to set them financially free.   No doubt. And I think you hit the nail on the head. If somebody's making, and honestly, I tell people if you're making six figures plus $100,000 plus, and you don't have 10, 20, $50,000 ready to go, there's something fundamentally wrong. And here it is, we're sending too much money to our banker, and it just goes up in smoke. Right? We like to refer to it as the interest to income ratio, which is if you take how much income you make,   (Adam Carroll) (15:11.694) and you back out how much of that income is actually going to pay interest expense, it'll probably blow your mind. If someone's got a multi-six figure home or mortgage that they're paying on, and they've got student loans, and maybe they're driving a $50,000 to $100,000 vehicle with a payment attached to it, you're probably burning 50 to 60 grand a year in interest and not really thinking twice about it. So what this does is it starts to claw back some of the money that you're sending to your banker.   Which by the way, they make plenty of money. They don't need your money. That is the most profitable business out there is banking and lending. mean, literally, Seth, if you drive two miles around your property there, how many banks would you be able to stop at, do you think? Ballpark best guess.   Right, half a dozen.   Easily, right? And they're probably $10 million buildings minimum. Out there, they're even more, right? So, so this is the deal. They're profitable business ventures. And what we have to remember sometimes is we are their compound interest vehicle, right? Us making our payment every single month is what makes the banks all the money. And if we can game that system, if even for 12 to 18 months at the very beginning of our debt,   we can strip away a huge chunk of the interest that we would normally be paying them over the course of a decade or more. To your audience, that's how I'd say this is how you find the extra 50 or 100 grand because you do have it and it should be in the equity of your property and easily accessible as a liquidity tool. It just isn't because you haven't challenged the banking system.   (Seth Bradley) (16:57.073) Yeah. Now, is this something you can set up yourself or is this something that you need an expert to kind of walk you through? I'm sure if you could probably do it either way. It's just like anything else. You want to take the shortcut or not. But yeah, I just like to know your thoughts on that.   You're exactly right. I I could build a deck on my house if I wanted to and had three months to learn how to do it. Anybody can learn how to do this. My question to most people when they say, I do this myself? I'll say, yes, why haven't you? And for that, the investment with us is very minimal, mainly what it is is coaching and being able to help people get the logistics right. Because once they get it, it's very simple.   but there requires a little bit of retraining the brain in terms of how to handle your money and where the cash flow goes, because it's so, it's like so ingrained in us to live in the banker's business model, put money in checking, pay your bills, anything leftover goes over here. And if you look at it critically, the two groups that are really making money using the existing platform are bankers,   and any advisors that are accepting your money and then turning around and doing something with it. A friend of mine used to call it the helper class. So when the helper class has your money, they're making a ton of money, probably more than you are. And that's our goal is to begin to start to pull back some of the money from the helper class to keep it for ourselves to build those massive passive permanent streams of income.   Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. We tend to bash a few of those helper class folks. I mean, they're not all created equal, including some financial advisors and folks like that that, you know, they're okay people, but their interests aren't necessarily aligned with yours.   (Adam Carroll) (18:51.576) That's right. I would agree with that. I don't want to villainize them, but I think that personal finance is personal. The challenge that I have with anyone out there who espouses a certain way, mine included, is it has to be for the right kind of audience, the right avatar. From our perspective, the people that we help out are the ones who do want to break free from the W-2. They want to create massive passive permanent streams of income.   Over time, they'd like to build a bigger life, not a bigger lifestyle. So if someone's chronically overspending, got to have the newest of the new every single time, they may not be a perfect fit with our strategy because the goal is to continually increase your income while either keeping your expenses similar or even trending down over time, which is not to say that you can't expand where you're spending. Your income is increasing exponentially relative to your expenses.   we do that through the model that we're teaching people. So, you if you're a new car every six months or 12 months kind of person may not be a perfect fit. But if you're somebody who's like, hey, the debt's kind of oppressive, I want to get rid of it. And I want to build, you know, massive wealth for future generations, then generally speaking, we're a pretty good fit for for those folks.   Yeah, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And I feel like there's, there's probably, it's probably a math equation, right? Like we can't necessarily do it on this show because it's, everybody's taking it in by audio for the most part. there's gotta be an algorithm and you could probably, you know, set those expense numbers and interest numbers that you're paying on your mortgage and other debts and what you're going to pay on that through the shred method and kind of see the savings and how you can grow that wealth year over year.   You're exactly right. It is super fluid. So if your income changes, your expenses change, we plug all that data in and hit recalculate and the thing automatically adjusts to whatever your expenses are. So one of the things that I would never fault anyone for is taking awesome vacations or buying a new car, whatever your choice is. Again, we're not going to villainize anyone for living their life.   (Adam Carroll) (21:06.67) But what we can do through shred is to say, hey, if you're going to drop 10 grand on a vacation, it's going to change your payoff by a month or two months or six months, depending on your income and discretionary income. And if someone knows that and they're planning on it, at least they're armed with that information as opposed to, gosh, we shouldn't do this, but we did or should we buy this $50,000 card? Does it make sense? Or 80 or 150 or whatever your number is.   We can show you exactly do it, just know this is what it changes in the process.   Yeah, yeah, I like that because you can just show them this is the impact it's going to have on paper before they do it and then you can make a better decision on whether or not you want to do that or not.   Absolutely. And furthermore, and you'll appreciate this, I know you're of this mindset, you'll get to a point where it's like, if you want the new car, then invest the money in a syndication or another property that puts enough money in your pocket, you can go pay for the car. But let your assets pay for your liabilities. And I think that's the main thing that many people, I'm sure your listeners, certainly folks that we engage with.   They don't have a lot of assets. They work hard, they make good money, but that is the sum total of their income, is active income. And our goal is to increase passive income over time where it supersedes your expenses because at that point you're financially free.   (Seth Bradley) (22:36.758) Right, right. What are some of the passive investments that you're involved in or that you recommend to people once they've implemented this system and they're trying to build those passive income streams?   Yeah, there are a number of them and I keep getting introduced to more and more all the time, Seth. I mentioned that, you know, that I was a mediapreneur and that the goal was to work, do the work and then get paid, get paid, get paid, get paid. So I started looking for other passive income streams. I really do love real estate. I've been invested in real estate for a long time. We divested of personally held real estate about four or five years ago. And   You know, I think I was too early to the party, but I thought the market was peaking and I thought I could get the max amount out of my properties. And I think I did at the time. And then we were introduced to syndications and we started really appreciating the fact that you could own a piece of a 350 unit apartment complex in South Carolina or Houston, Texas, or some other growing city and get a couple things, either monthly or quarterly income. You could get bonus depreciation.   And you basically got a K1 at the end of the year, which allows you to claim some of those expenses. And so we love syndications. We try and stack syndications on top of each other. they're coming due. They're selling every three or four or five years. So we'll put an amount of capital in knowing that it's going to turn over in short order. And we'll have another amount of capital to put in. And generally speaking, that capital amount just keeps going up.   So we love syndications. I've been introduced and we haven't pulled the trigger yet, but on ATM tranches where you can buy, have you heard this investment? Yep. So you can buy, you know, an amount of ATM machines where you're basically compensated on whatever the fee revenue on those are. There are many advantages to those. There are some drawbacks to it, but it's again, a passive income stream and one that's fairly consistent.   (Seth Bradley) (24:25.798) yeah, for sure.   (Adam Carroll) (24:44.59) Then I really like intellectual property plays. I will tend to invest in a business that has some IP and it may not cashflow right away, but I know that in two or three years, the IP is probably going to be worth something. It's more of a long-term play for me. I'm not going to put as much in it, but we have a couple of 25 to $50,000 investments in those kinds of deals as well. That, in addition to books and   documentary is still selling and things like that I'll keep doing. For me, the process of creating passive income is kind of a game. And so whatever the next thing is, I'm digging in, I want to learn it. total sidebar, but I'm trying to teach my sons and my daughter, this is the way of the future. It's not about working a nine to five and getting W2 and staying with the company for 30 years, it just doesn't happen anymore. It's about setting up   just perpetual income streams that allow you to live the way you want to live. And that, you know, I think that answers your question, hopefully.   (Seth Bradley) (25:52.174) Pardon the interruption, but we don't do ads. Instead, know that if you're raising capital for real estate, my law firm, RaiseLaw, is here to give you the expert legal guidance you need to raise capital compliantly and structure and close your deal. And if you're looking for a done-for-you fund-to-fund solution, Tribest is the industry's only all-in-one setup and fund administration solution. Visit Raise.Law and Tribest.com to learn more.   Yeah, yeah, that's right. You're preaching to the choir here, man. That's awesome. And you're kind of pretty deep into it. A lot of people will invest in a syndication and it is expensive to get involved, right? I mean, it's 50 grand or so or more to get into one of these things. And they're like, okay, I'm done. But you can't be done. You have to keep saving, keep investing. And you're in it to the point where past investors start really start accumulating wealth because they start stacking.   They start coming due every two, three, four, five years. You put it back in another one and they just compound on each other. And you're really accumulating this tax free if you stack them correctly. So it is an incredible vehicle once you get going. And it does turn into a game. I mean, you can look at your bank account or look at your personal P &L and just see how it's growing over five, 10 years. It's incredible. And you're not doing any work. You're vetting the sponsor, the market and the deal and really just the sponsor once you get really good at it.   and you keep reinvesting with the same sponsors that you like and there's no work involved, no tenants, toilets and trash, none of that.   Yes. Yes. And I think you hit the nail on the head when you find a sponsor you really like and you jive with, it's easy to roll the money over to them because they're constantly looking for the next deal. their reputation, their personality, everything is based on their success. they have a very, very vested interest to make you money. And so I don't think I fully realized when I was younger   (Adam Carroll) (27:50.35) the power of having the ability to write a 50 or $100,000 check. And once you get there and you can do 50 or 100 or get to a point where you can write a $500,000 or a million dollar check, things change drastically because there are syndicators out there that will take a million bucks. They'll pay you $90,000 a year guaranteed on the investment. You'll get bonus depreciation and write-offs and all of that. And you'll have like a...   200 % return on it within four or five years, three, four or five years. That's where you can buy a new car every year or two or three, because you need like a $75,000 or $80,000 write-off to your business. So you need a truck or you need a heavy vehicle,   Yeah, yeah, that's right. I mean, that's a good point. mean, people that have $500,000, a million dollars or more liquid, I mean, you can just look at a simple math and you get an 8 to 10 % return on that in cash flow, just in cash flow. You know, if you're living reasonably, you can live off of that. So, yeah, so you can be, you you don't need $10 million, $20 million to retire off of this if you invest in the right deals.   Totally. Totally.   (Seth Bradley) (29:03.926) and kind of spread it across, diversify in different deals, different sponsors, different geographies, different asset types. You can be retired if you want to. It's closer than people think.   I would agree. We have a theory that nearly everyone and certainly your audience could be free, done, done completely in 10 years or less. Absolutely. We call it a 10-year freedom plan. the challenge, think, Seth, and I would be curious your take on this, but I think the challenge for most people is not necessarily an income problem. It's a liquidity problem. So you make good income, right? And we talked about it. It's the expenses that factors in.   But where the majority of your investments go are probably in qualified funds. They're sitting in 401ks and Roth IRAs. Unless it's self-directed, you can't really access it till you're 59 and a half. And even then it's 59 and a half to 70 and a half, you have free rein access. Otherwise the government's regulating how much you take out without fees or penalties. That's a liquidity problem. And so the shred method takes that into account and starts to build   pockets or buckets of liquidity that you can draw from. The first is your home equity, or it could be equity in a commercial property. And then the next would be building a bank of money that you're borrowing from at some point in time, just another bucket. And the more buckets of money that we create, the more liquidity you have and the more investments you can get into, thereby increasing your passive income. So to your point, you do this well, it's like a video game you can't lose over time.   Yeah, yeah, that's right. And we've been programmed to think if we have a high paying job, we just put as much as we can into a 401k and we're doing the right thing and we're doing everything that we need to do and we're not and then everything that doesn't go into that 401k we're spending. So we're not saving anything else. We're not keeping anything else liquid. And we're just assuming that we're going to be okay because we put this money in the 401k. Well, like you said, you can't access it until you're 60 years old. That's right. Unless you take it out with a major penalty. So   (Seth Bradley) (31:10.062) You know, one way to do that obviously is to roll it over in an SDIRA or self-directed, I'm sorry, 401k, the self-directed, something that you have some control over. And then it does become liquid in the sense that you can at least invest it in things that you want to invest in rather than a financial advisor or just stocks, bonds and mutual funds. And then as you said, there's different ways that you can free up liquidity, a HELOC.   something like that borrow against a life insurance policy we've talked about infinite banking policies things like that there's there's creative ways to do it you just need to be aware of it most people just aren't aware of how to how to do that   Yeah, I think that's what's so valuable about your show too, man, is that we only know what we know. And there's an enormous amount that we don't know we don't know. So when I got introduced to syndications, and I got introduced to the ATM tranches, and I'm looking at these going, you know, there is risk, there's risk in everything. But the risk is so mitigated. And you don't realize that if you're writing $100,000 check, and they're saying, yeah, we're going to pay you 9 % guaranteed.   And these are some syndicators will promise an interest rate based on what class of investor you are, A, B, C, D, whatever it may be. But when I looked at that and I go, if I'm striving to get eight to 10 % in the S &P 500, and I have zero control over that, where would I rather be placing my money? That was something I didn't know I didn't know. And it's always fascinating to me to begin sharing this with people because   When I share the shred method, a lot of folks go, not too good to be true. If it's so good, why isn't everybody doing it? And what I'll tell them is because of human behavior and because the bank's lobbies and their marketing engine is so powerful. But it's not magic, it's math. We're taking mathematical principles, risk-based principles and applying it to real estate or finance and figuring out how to make an amount of money that will supersede what you're.   (Adam Carroll) (33:13.782) your W2 job is pretty simple. That's right. Yeah.   Yeah, pretty simple. It's math. Just got to get it down on paper, right? Yeah. All right. Let's switch gears a little bit. I want to quickly get into, you know, this concept that you preach about building a bigger life at work because I think that's, you know, inspiring and that sort of thing and really life in general, right? Tell us about that concept and kind of dive in a little bit.   Yeah.   (Adam Carroll) (33:37.964) Yeah, you know, this started, it would actually started from a conversation I had with a recent college graduate, and they had gotten an advanced degree, they were going into a high paying job. And I think they'd been at it for maybe nine months or so. And we were having coffee and this person said to me, I'm just not satisfied. And I said, Well, what what is it you're not satisfied with? And they said, Well, the issue is that I thought at this point in time after graduating, he'd be traveling the globe.   You know, that was what he had always romanticized was just tons of travel and do whatever he wanted to do. And I said, well, what's keeping you from that? And he goes, well, you know, I just got into this long-term lease apartment. go, okay. And he said, and I bought a bunch of furniture that I financed. And, and then it's like, okay. He goes, I have a couple of gym memberships, not one, two gym memberships, you know, each probably 80 to 120 bucks a piece a month had a car payment because he needed a fancy car. And I said,   Dude, it sounds to me like you're building a bigger lifestyle, not a bigger life. And what you're asking for is a bigger life. And that became almost a deep dive search for me on what would building a bigger life mean for me and my family. And what I did, Seth, was I started digging into what are my core values? How can I live according to those core values, not according to my neighbor's core values, you who may be drastically different than mine? And...   I ended up writing a book called The Build a Bigger Life Manifesto, which breaks down how do you do this step by step. And there are 10 core tenets. And the first one is you got to build on a strong values foundation, like understanding what is it truly you value in life. And if you're doing more of that, then your life should be fulfilling. And mine are family, freedom, love, growth, and connection. And if I'm fulfilling those five buckets on a weekly basis, generally speaking, I'm really fulfilled.   And so the second is have a bigger vision and a bigger vision for your life might mean I'm not going to stay in this job for the next 20 years and hopefully make partner. then hopefully, because we all know that as you get promoted in a W-2 job, it doesn't mean you work less. It means you work more. And so my bigger vision was I want to make my vocation, my vacation. I'm going to speak, but I'm going to speak in cool places that I can take my family to. People are going to pay me really well to do it.   (Adam Carroll) (36:03.368) and I'm going to do it X number of times a year. And then I started asking, and this is the third step, asking bigger questions. And bigger questions look like, okay, so if I wanted to do that, how would I get better at speaking? How would I get so good that people will pay me 10 or 15 or 20 grand to go do what I do for an hour? What would that look like? I started asking not how would I pay my house off early? How would I pay my house off by the end of this year?   And when I asked that question, answers started coming and we were able to do it. So this is kind of the layout of how we walk people through this process. And for me, a bigger life today is just that, you know, I live for my family. I want to travel with them. I want to have tons of fun with them while they're still in the house. I have two teenagers and one in college. And soon, you know, eventually they'll be gone and it'll be my wife and I going and living the life that we most want.   Our lifestyle right now is pretty locked in. We have a beautiful home, we drive nice cars, but everything's paid for. And at this point, the goal is just to continually create massive passive permanent streams of income that afford us the ability to be generous, to live the life we want. And ultimately for me to be able to go share that message with other people.   And something so simple that you did there, it's just, you know, ask yourself what's important. A lot of us don't take the time to think about why we're upset, why are we not happy. And a lot of it comes down to not filling those buckets that are important to us on a regular basis. to be able to figure that out, you've got to take a few moments to think deeply about what it is that's important to you.   100%. And I'll give you a great example, Seth. One guy that we worked with, he realized that one of his core values that was not being fulfilled was adventure. So he loved his job and he goes, I don't know what it is, I'm just dissatisfied. And we went through the values assessment and adventure was on there. I go, well, where are you getting adventure? And he said, you know, that's the problem. I'm not, I haven't had an adventure in two years. I said, so maybe in building your life,   (Adam Carroll) (38:21.538) we need to figure out where are you carving out adventure for yourself or your family to make sure that you're doing it. For him, community was a big part of it. And he was getting some of that in his day-to-day client interactions. But what he really wanted was to build a community of friends that would go do stuff together. And I said, that's on you, man. If you really want that as part of your life, you got to build whatever that looks like.   And what if you combine that and adventure? So you get a whole group of adventure seekers that get together three times a year to go skiing in Aspen or, you know, go skydiving on a weekend or whatever it is. What would that look like to do that? And he lit up and you know, I could do this right now. So to your point, I think we're all very, very close to having a fulfilled life and building a bigger life. But you do have to take time to figure out what does that look like for you.   For sure, for sure. And a lot of the folks listening are attorneys and doctors and they tend to have high suicide rates, all these crazy things, substance abuse. people from the outside looking in think, why? Because you're making all this money. You have this high profession that everybody looks up to and you're not unhappy. And that's why, because those folks...   folks like us, we're just really focused on just that occupation. And that's it. And we don't focus on some of the other things that would fulfill us and make us happy. tons of attorneys I talk to try to get, they're like, how do I start investing as quickly as possible? Make as much money as quickly as possible so I can get out of this job because I hate being an attorney or I hate being a dentist or whatever it is. But really, that might not be the issue. The issue is that you're not filling up those buckets outside of your   career. And if you were to start filling those buckets, start paying more attention to those things, you might not be as unhappy in your career. And you might actually find that you enjoy what you're doing because you're good at it. You worked really hard to get there and you're making a good bit of money doing it.   (Adam Carroll) (40:22.06) No doubt, no doubt. I would add to that, that I think the majority of professions that you just listed, dentists, doctors, lawyers, et cetera, what they really want is they want to maintain professional status, do what they do, they've gone to school, they've learned how to do it. But over time, they want to work less and less, not more and more. And if you're doing what you recommend on the show, and if you're leveraging something like the shred method to create it, you can get to a point where   half or more of your income, ideally all of it, is replaced by passive income. But it requires that you get really focused on working for the right reasons and not filling in the lack of fulfillment or unhappiness with a new car or the next do-dad or spending a fortune on something. Instead, decide, I'm going to go get into an investment this year that will begin the process of creating passive income for me to start building the life that I truly want.   And it is, it's pretty transformational once you figure out how to do it and what the next steps are.   Yeah, it's like the matrix. mean, you start kind of, as soon as you start, it becomes a game, how you said it earlier in the show, and you just start seeing things that you didn't see before. You start being presented with new types of investments and businesses that you can invest in that you never saw before, but they were right under your nose. It does turn into a fun game, a money game.   Yeah, no question. I was at a conference not too long ago and they were calling me Morpheus because I made a reference to the red pill or the blue pill. And they were like, dude, you're Morpheus. I just took the red pill. Now I'm going down the rabbit hole. So beware. Are you ready to take the red pill?   (Seth Bradley) (42:08.374) Love that, love that. All right Adam, before we jump into the freedom four, what's one last golden nugget for our listeners?   A golden nugget for your listeners is that money today is abstract. It's not a concrete thing. Several decades ago, you would be given cash or you'd pay for things in cash. And today, virtually everything is a cashless transaction. And when we're not using cash, it doesn't feel real. If we're using Apple Pay or we're swiping our card or tapping our card,   It doesn't feel real. In fact, there's no pain sensor that triggers when you do that. The opposite is true on Amazon. When you hit one click ship for $47, a pleasure sensor actually is activated because you're in anticipation of that thing coming to you. So we also have to realize that the more money you make, it feels like, well, the more you have to spend. But because money doesn't feel real, you're spending way more than you think you are.   because of the abstract nature of it. So some of that is like reigning back in and understanding these are real dollars that you're putting on a card or swiping on your phone or whatever it may be and deciding is this the best intentional use of this money or could I be using it to build the life that I truly want? And I will add to that Seth that it's very short. There's a short amount of time that it requires you to function just a little bit differently.   order to get there where all the passive income covers your wants. So just like intentionality for the next 12 to 24 months will make a massive difference in your life.   (Seth Bradley) (43:48.502) Yeah, that's all it takes. All right, let's jump into the freedom four. What's the best thing you do to keep your mind and body healthy?   I am part of an exercise group called F3 and it stands for fitness fellowship and faith. There's like 75,000 guys all over the world that do this every morning. And we get up, you know, rain, sun, sleet or hail. I mean, we were working out in like eight degree Fahrenheit weather this winter outside. It's always outside. And I love it. I do it four or five, sometimes six mornings a week. But for me, just getting up the first hour of my day will   will dictate what the rest of my day does. And so my F3 brothers and I, that's the right way for me to get started.   awesome. With all your success what is one limiting belief that you've crushed along the way and how did you get past it?   you know, this is, this is going to sound a bit like an oxymoron statement, but a limiting belief is that, man, there's so much opportunity. And for me, I'm a bright, shiny object guy. for years, my wife was like, just pick one opportunity, please just pick one. And so for me, it's, you know, it's the fact that there is so much I can do limits me because you can really get very, very good at one thing.   (Adam Carroll) (45:08.078) But I'm a big fan of James Clear and the book Atomic Habits. And he'll say that it's hard to get traction when your focus is divided. And so I've been really intentional about zeroing in on my focus and knowing that this is what I'm setting out to do. And it may be for 12 months or 24 months or five years. And I'll reevaluate along the way. But I've got one thing and I'm really focused on that. So that's been a limiting belief I've had to get over.   Awesome. Awesome. What's one actionable step our listeners can do right now to start creating more freedom?   Well, go to the shredmethod.com not to do a self plug, it is. Go watch the masterclass, see what we do and how we do it. If you are already intrigued by this and are wondering like, what should I do with a HELOC or should I have a HELOC? My answer to everyone is everyone should have a HELOC, everyone. If you have equity in your home, why do you not have a line of credit? If for nothing else to have that is an emergency.   of some kind. So point blank, the first thing you ought to do is go access a line of credit, be it a home equity line, a personal line of credit, a P lock, or a B lock, a business line of credit. can also do a cash value line of credit. But I think you got to have one of those because when you understand this method, this process, that's a linchpin to making this work.   Great. How is passive income made your life better?   (Adam Carroll) (46:42.698) you know, I like to call it mailbox money and, man, love mailbox money. When it shows up, I celebrate and I've, I've had a mantra for years that I'm a money magnet, that money comes easily and frequently, that I get more checks in the mail than I do bills. And I just repeat those mantras over and over again. So every time I set up another form of passive income, man, it's just like a win.   that you feel deep down inside. And it doesn't matter, Seth, if it's 50 bucks or 15 bucks or five bucks or 5,000, right? Total sidebar, real quick story, but I was sitting with a buddy of mine at a conference and he kept showing me his phone and he was clearly showing off. But every time he'd pop up his phone, was like another sale was made. And it'd be like $27, $170, $300. And I go...   Dude, how are you doing this?" And he said, I set up these funnels and it's just a little digital product I created and we're doing ads and we're putting all the people towards these ads. And I said, so how many of those do get a month? He goes, I don't somewhere between $9,000 and $10,000 a month is coming in. And I remember feeling giddy for him and giddy about the idea that this could be possible, that you could just do whatever you want to do every day. Go fishing, go surfing, be on a sailboat somewhere and pull up your phone and be like, well, this is cool. just made...   $800. So for me, we have started to build that into what we're doing. I now get alerts on my Apple Watch. It's a Slackbot. So every time a sale is made, it pops up. we went to Mexico over spring break and the vendors on the Mexican beaches, they bless themselves every time they make a sale. And so now when a sale pops up on my Slackbot,   I'm like, all right, I made a sale. This is awesome. So how has it changed my life? I'm more grateful. I sleep well at night. I have peace of mind. And I know that, you know, future generations are going to be taken care of by the wealth that my wife and I are creating.   (Seth Bradley) (48:45.29) I love it, All right, Adam, this has been incredible. We're going to let listeners find out more about you.   Well, you can find out more about me personally at adamcarroll.info. It's two R's, two L's, adamcarroll.info. And again, if you want to check out the Shred Method, we have lots of free resources. So you can go and do a ton of research. We have a savings analysis there that you can plug in your numbers and see how much you could save and how quickly you could be out of debt. All of that is available at theshredmethod.com.   All right, brother. Appreciate your time. Thanks again for coming on the show and we'll to have you on again soon.   Love it, Seth. Keep doing what you do, man. This is super important stuff.   Alright brother, talk soon.   (Seth Bradley) (49:28.578) Thanks for tuning in to Raise the Bar Radio. If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Keep pushing, keep building, and keep raising the bar. Until next time, enjoy the journey. Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links: Seth Bradley's Links: https://x.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/ https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/ https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en Adam Carroll's Links: https://www.threads.com/@adam.carroll/ https://www.instagram.com/adam.carroll/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcarrollspeaks/ https://www.facebook.com/AdamSpeaks/ https://x.com/adamcarroll https://open.spotify.com/show/1fPEUnWdnbcOcbYdksY1Yi https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJREGkPP6UwMucJMPvDS8xg

On today's episode I share a comprehensive guide to building micro SaaS businesses, which are niche-focused software products that can be developed by individuals or small teams. I explain the difference between traditional SaaS and micro SaaS, share real examples of successful businesses generating $20K-40K monthly revenue, and outline a step-by-step playbook for validating ideas, building MVPs, and growing through audience building and SEO. Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 01:08 - What is a MicroSaaS? 02:25 - Examples of successful micro SaaS businesses 05:35 - Growth flywheel explanation 07:57 - User journey and funnel metrics 12:06 - Building in public strategy 18:28 - MicroSaaS Frameworks 21:58 - MicroSaaS Ideas 1: PermitSync 25:33 - MicroSaaS Ideas 2: PodScriptor 28:52 - MicroSaaS Ideas 3: SpecSheet 32:30 - MicroSaaS Ideas 4: CartSaver 33:58 - MicroSaaS Ideas 5: GrantGuru Get Your Complete Financial OS at https://www.brex.com/sip Key Points: • Micro SaaS businesses focus on niche markets with specific products, typically built by solo founders or small teams • Successful micro SaaS businesses can generate $10K-50K monthly profit with 80-90% margins • Growth comes from building an audience first, identifying pain points, creating solutions, and reinvesting revenue • Pricing strategies typically include free trials converting to monthly subscriptions or usage-based models The #1 tool to find startup ideas/trends - https://www.ideabrowser.com LCA helps Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups build their future - from Warner Music to Fortnite to Dropbox. We turn 'what if' into reality with AI, apps, and next-gen products https://latecheckout.agency/ Boringmarketing - Vibe Marketing for Companies: boringmarketing.com The Vibe Marketer - Join the Community and Learn: thevibemarketer.com Startup Empire - a membership for builders who want to build cash-flowing businesses https://www.skool.com/startupempire/about FIND ME ON SOCIAL X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/

#517 If you've never considered building an online directory as a business, this episode might just change your mind! Host Brien Gearin is joined by Frey Chu — known as the directory expert — who shares how he built multiple profitable directories from scratch and turned them into passive income machines. Frey breaks down what a modern directory business really looks like (hint: it's way more than Yellow Pages), how to find profitable niche ideas, and the step-by-step process he uses to build, rank, and monetize directories using SEO, affiliate links, and display ads. He also reveals how directories can become sellable assets or fuel even bigger ventures like SaaS or lead gen agencies. Whether you're an SEO nerd, digital side hustler, or aspiring solopreneur, this episode uncovers an underrated business model with surprising upside! What we discuss with Frey: + What online directories actually are + How Frey built passive income from directories + SEO strategies for ranking directory sites + Niche research and data enrichment tips + Common monetization methods (ads, leads, products) + Tools used to build and scrape data + How to stand out from larger competitors + Selling directories as digital assets + Why directories still work in the AI era + Growth potential through lead gen and SaaS Thank you, Frey! Check out Ship Your Directory at ShipYourDirectory.com. Follow Frey on YouTube. Watch the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠video podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ of this episode! To get access to our FREE Business Training course go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠MillionaireUniversity.com/training⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. And follow us on: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tik Tok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To get exclusive offers mentioned in this episode and to support the show, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠millionaireuniversity.com/sponsors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Want to hear from more incredible entrepreneurs? Check out all of our interviews ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of the TestGuild Automation Podcast, host Joe Colantonio welcomes Matt Gilbert, founder of Clear Insight, for a conversation packed with practical wisdom for testers looking to break into, or advance in, modern software quality practices. Drawing on his experience working across industries such as insurance, healthcare, and SaaS, Matt shares how he transitioned from an aspiring developer to a passionate advocate for testing. They dive deep into the challenges of uniting disparate testing tools, making complex data from performance, accessibility, and security checks accessible to all team members, and the critical importance of educating both testers and business leaders about quality risks. Matt discusses how Clear Insight was born from the need to simplify usability and performance feedback, making actionable insights available for everyone, regardless of technical background. Plus, you'll hear Matt's take on using AI responsibly in regulated spaces and his advice for testers who want to expand their role beyond functional testing. Whether you're new to automation, a testing veteran, or curious about the growing intersection of AI and quality engineering, this episode has actionable strategies and real-world stories you won't want to miss.

Steven Forth has been a frequent guest on Impact Pricing and is a co-creator of the COMPASS framework. Michael Mansard is the Principal Director of Subscription Strategy at Zora. He's an investor in and mentor to several startups, and he started his career in consulting at companies like Deloitte and SAP, so he knows a lot. In this episode, Steven and Michael dive deep into the COMPASS framework for evaluating pricing metrics in the age of AI and agentic systems, exploring how traditional SaaS economics are being turned upside down and why companies need to move away from user-based pricing models.   Why you have to check out today's podcast:  Learn why AI pricing fundamentally breaks the traditional SaaS model of "expensive to build, cheap to run". Understand the COMPASS framework's 14-question assessment for selecting optimal pricing metrics. Explore the accelerating cycles of pricing complexity and simplification across technology waves.   "I think that most people are clueless and do not want to admit that they're clueless. And I think admission is key because admission leads you to a scientific approach to pricing and enables you to accept, to try smaller samples, especially in the age of AI."  – Michael Mansard   Topics Covered:  02:08 – How Michael got into pricing  03:12 – Defining business models vs. pricing models vs. pricing metrics  06:22 – Introduction to the COMPASS framework and why it exists  07:25 – How AI flips traditional SaaS economics on its head 08:03 – The gym membership paradox in AI pricing 11:05 – Steven's perspective on whether pricing fundamentals have changed  24:20 – Pricing evolution cycles and their accelerating speed  27:39 – How COMPASS captures competitive differentiation  34:28 – Michael's pricing advice on embracing iteration and admitting uncertainty   Key Takeaways: "I've seen more change in my part of the technology world in the last six months than I've seen in my entire lifetime." – Steven Forth “If you price it per user, the more a user uses it, the worse margin it would yield. And that's a problem, right? So I call that the gym membership paradox." – Michael Mansard "We need to change the metric. Now the billion dollar question is what metric? And the raison d'être of that framework is exactly that. It's to help people navigate, hence the notion of COMPASS." – Michael Mansard   People / Resources Mentioned:  COMPASS Framework: 14-question assessment for pricing metrics: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/compass-agentic-ai-pricing-metric-framework-your-2-part-mansard-f9qqe  Roger Martin Strategic Choice Cascade: Framework for aligning pricing with business strategy: https://rogermartin.medium.com/decoding-the-strategy-choice-cascade-475d40555eb1 John Maeda's "The Laws of Simplicity": Design principles applicable to pricing models: https://lawsofsimplicity.com/  Karan Sood: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soodkaran/  PriceFX: Company introducing 125 agents: https://www.pricefx.com/ and https://lp.pricefx.com/agents_trial.html   Connect with Steven Forth:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenforth/  Email: steven@ibbaka.com   Connect with Michael Mansard:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmansard/    Connect with Mark Stiving:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  Email: mailto:mark@impactpricing.com  

The market feels like a paradox, stocks soaring, wealthy investors thriving, yet small businesses and new real estate players are barely keeping afloat.Why? It's not just about tools or talent anymore. It's about grit, systems, and the willingness to bet big when others are playing it safe.This episode dives into why some are scaling with confidence—and others are shrinking in fear. From the rise of educational platforms baked into SaaS, to how affiliate marketing and storytelling are reshaping customer acquisition, it's clear:This isn't just a hard season. It's a defining one.Get access to our real estate community, coaching, courses, and events at Wealthy University https://www.wealthyuniversity.com/Join our FREE community, weekly calls, and bible studies for Christian entrepreneurs and business people. https://www.wealthykingdom.com/ If you want to level up, text me at 725-527-7783!--- About Ryan Pineda: Ryan Pineda has been in the real estate industry since 2010 and has invested in over $100,000,000 of real estate. He has completed over 700 flips and wholesales, and he owns over 650 rental units. As an entrepreneur, he has founded seven different businesses that have generated 7-8 figures of revenue. Ryan has amassed over 2 million followers on social media and has generat...

Madhavan Ramanujam is the world's foremost expert on pricing and monetization strategy. As managing partner at Simon-Kucher, he helped over 250 companies, including 30 unicorns, architect their pricing strategies. He's the author of the definitive book on pricing, Monetizing Innovation. Now he's back with a sequel, Scaling Innovation, which reveals how to build enduring businesses by dominating both market share and wallet share. He recently left Simon-Kucher to launch his own fund, 49 Palms, focused on helping early-stage AI companies.In this conversation, we discuss:1. The 2x2 framework that identifies your optimal pricing model2. Why AI companies can capture 25% to 50% of value created, vs. 10% to 20% for traditional SaaS products3. Why popular AI coding tools may have already doomed themselves with underpricing4. The “give-and-get” framework top negotiators use to extract maximum value from every deal5. The negotiation strategy that helped one founder 4x their deal size overnight6. How to frame POCs as “business case creation” instead of technical demos (and why this changes everything)7. Why AI companies must get monetization right from day one—not “figure it out later”8. How companies like Intercom's Fin and Sierra pioneered outcome-based pricing (charging $0.99 per AI resolution)9. The single question that reveals if your pricing is too complex—Brought to you by:Enterpret—Transform customer feedback into product growth: https://enterpret.com/lennyDX—A platform for measuring and improving developer productivity: https://getdx.com/lennyPersona—A global leader in digital identity verification: https://withpersona.com/lenny—Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/pricing-and-scaling-your-ai-product-madhavan-ramanujam— My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/168109183/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation—Where to find Madhavan Ramanujam:• X: https://x.com/madhavansf• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madhavansf/• Promo email for Scaling Innovation: promo@49palmsvc.com — If you're purchasing more than five copies, send a screenshot of your receipt to enter Madhavan's exclusive bundle raffle.—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 Madhavan and his work(04:30) The core thesis of Scaling Innovation(09:20) Common traps founders fall into(12:06) Beautifully simple pricing(15:00) Mastering negotiations(26:51) Other strategies for effective pricing and monetization(27:35) How AI pricing is different(31:33) Handling POCs(36:25) The importance of mastering monetization(38:58) Choosing the right AI pricing model(43:13) Current trends in AI pricing(44:48) Strategizing for outcome-based models(50:23) Packaging strategies for scaling(51:37) Adapting pricing strategies over time(53:40) Key axioms for pricing success(58:00) Takeaways for founders(01:01:33) Lightning round and final thoughts—Referenced:• The art and science of pricing | Madhavan Ramanujam (Monetizing Innovation, Simon-Kucher): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-art-and-science-of-pricing-madhavan• Cursor: https://www.cursor.com/• The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can't stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell• Sierra Finn: http://www.sierrafinn.com/• Chargeflow: https://www.chargeflow.io/• GitHub: https://github.com/• Intercom: https://www.intercom.com/• Warren Buffett's quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/11478913-if-you-ve-got-the-power-to-raise-prices-without-losing• Sierra: https://sierra.ai/• Clay Bavor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claybavor/• Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9603208/• Delphi: https://www.delphi.ai/• Dara Ladjevardian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dara-ladjevardian/• Sam Spelsberg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuel-spelsberg/• Lennybot: https://www.lennybot.com/• Granola: https://www.granola.ai/• Simon-Kucher: https://www.simon-kucher.com/• Josh Bloom on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabloompricingconsulting/—Recommended books:• Monetizing Innovation: How Smart Companies Design the Product Around the Price: https://www.amazon.com/Monetizing-Innovation-Companies-Design-Product/dp/1119240867• Scaling Innovation: How Smart Companies Architect Profitable Growth: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119633060• Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers: https://www.amazon.com/Business-Model-Generation-Visionaries-Challengers/dp/0470876417• Thinking Fast and Slow: https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374533555/• Contagious: Why Things Catch On: https://www.amazon.com/Contagious-Things-Catch-Jonah-Berger/dp/1451686587/—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

Fernando Fanton is one of the most respected product leaders in Europe, having held Chief Product Officer roles at Monzo and Just Eat. He previously led product and tech at Rappi, one of Latin America's most valuable startups. Today, Fernando is the CPO @ Property Finder; one of the biggest breakout unicorns from MENA.  Agenda: 00:00 – Is “having a vision” actually killing great product teams? 03:15 – Why do most products suck—and what separates the great ones? 07:20 – Should we kill the PM role entirely? Fernando says maybe. 11:45 – Is Monzo's obsession with trust more powerful than speed? 16:10 – What's the #1 reason internal tools will never replace SaaS? 21:00 – Will AI wipe out the need for designers and PMs? 26:30 – Is it arrogant for product teams to protect users from “bad” choices? 32:15 – What's the future of product when OpenAI controls the whole stack? 37:40 – What Monzo product blew up—and why no one saw it coming? 42:55 – Can a bank built on principles really become a $100B company?  

Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are my favorite episodes from the past 10 years, published once a month. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. Brad Jacob's simple principle of "think big, move fast" is one I think about often. Brad's resumé is remarkable. He has founded seven companies, all of which are billion-dollar or multibillion-dollar businesses. He has done 500 M&A transactions and raised $30 billion of debt and equity capital. Currently, he is the Executive Chairman of XPO, a commercial trucking company that he started in 2011 and has grown into one of the largest logistics businesses in the world. He is a true force of nature, and I hope you enjoy his episode. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠WorkOS⁠⁠⁠. WorkOS is a developer platform that enables SaaS companies to quickly add enterprise features to their applications. With a single API, developers can implement essential enterprise capabilities that typically require months of engineering work. By handling the complex infrastructure of enterprise features, WorkOS allows developers to focus on their core product while meeting the security and compliance requirements of Fortune 500 companies. Visit ⁠⁠⁠WorkOS.com⁠⁠⁠ to Transform your application into an enterprise-ready solution in minutes, not months. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit ⁠⁠joincolossus.com/episodes⁠⁠.  Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Follow us on Twitter: ⁠⁠@patrick_oshag⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠@JoinColossus⁠ Show Notes (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:02:11) Identifying key factors in a market before investing (00:05:07) Gleaning insights from early acquisition experiences (00:08:43) Delving into the seller's mindset during a business sale (00:12:51) Weighing pre-built against organic growth strategies in acquisitions (00:17:20) Defining the elements of an ideal business (00:22:49) Engaging constructively with Wall Street (00:24:36) Discussing the substantial buyback of XPO shares (00:28:16) Ambition as a recurring theme in entrepreneurial success (00:30:17) Emphasizing the need to facilitate team agility (00:32:35) Highlighting the joys of post-acquisition integration (00:36:09) Drawing lessons from Ludwig Jesselson's principles (00:40:34) Comparing the risks and rewards of early versus late adoption (00:44:09) Reflecting on errors made in trend analysis (00:48:59) Strategies for implementing new technologies in enterprises (00:51:59) The significance of thought experiments in strategic decision-making (00:56:00) Recalling transformative events from his early years (00: 57:22) Outlining what makes a meeting 'electric' (01: 01:53) Sharing experiences with exemplary leadership (01:05:02) Strategies for maximizing team potential (01:07:37) Deciding the right time to step away from a business (01:08:58) Unveiling unexpected challenges in entrepreneurship (01:18:45) Philosophies for leading a fulfilling life (01:21:04) Finishing How To Make A Few Billion Dollars (01:22:53) The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Brad