André is the Co-founder and CEO at LeanIX, a SaaS for managing enterprise architecture and multi-cloud environments for better and faster, data-driven decision-making.

André is passionate about enabling companies to build better products and transition to a modern IT architecture. He’s experienced as a management consultant and during his studies of information science, he built modern software architectures for both startups and large enterprises. He is a global thought leader and has spoken at several high-influence industry events including the Gartner EA Summit, Hamburg IT Strategy Days, and Rethink.

During this interview we cover:

• 00:00 The Financial Due Diligence Framework Course (CODE: SAASDISTRICT for $100 OFF)
• 01:02 - Intro
• 02:15 - The Dark Side of SaaS
• 05:52 - E A Management, SaaS Intelligence & Microservice Intelligence
• 07:19 - SaaS Intelligence, is the Solution for Everybody?
• 10:13 - SaaS Management Productivity Best Practices 
• 12:58 - SaaS Security Practices & Insights
• 15:49 - Microservice Intelligence, Approaches to the Solution
• 18:00 - Tech Implementation Challenges
• 20:00 - Cleanshelf Acquisition, Strategic Fit & Objective for the Acquisition
• 24:25 - Integration Phase and Main Challenges
• 26:19 - Building to Fit an Acquisition
• 28:121  - André’s Background & Launching LeanIX 
• 30:12 - How’s André Measuring his Own Leadership Success?
• 32:53 - Opportunities New Founders Could Tackle Right Now
• 36:36 - Advice André Would Tell His 25 Years Old Self
• 38:22 - Biggest Challenges André’s Facing Right Now
• 41:17 - Instrumental Resources for André’s  Success
• 42:57 - What does Success Mean to André
• 46:50 - Get in Touch With André

Mentions:

• LeanIX

Get In Touch With André:

• André’s Linkedin

Books: 

• Measure What Matters
• The Lean StartUp
• The Hard Things about Hard Things
• No Forms, No Spam, No Cold Calls

Tag us & follow:

• Facebook 
• LinkedIn 
• Instagram 

More about Akeel:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• More SaaS Podcast Sessions
• SaaS Consulting Services
• Learn How to Value a SaaS Company

Just Start! The podcasting industry continues to grow and you should jump on board, long-form content, all the benefits of content marketing and more personal relationships with potential customers are a few of the benefits of having a podcast,  no need to break the marketing budget and can be lucrative too!.

This episode is taken from the “Behind the Mic Podcast”, go check them out now!

During this interview we cover:

• 00:00 Contentfy, your on-demand podcast & video editing & repurposing service
• 01:25 - What We do Here at SaaS District
• 02:00 - Why We Started SaaS District
• 02:40 - What is the Rationale Behind Having the Podcast
• 03:14 - Initial Challenges of Launching a Podcast 
• 04:58 - Finding Valuable Guests
• 05:42 - What Makes a Great Guest 
• 06:31 - How to Get Solid Answers & Build a Comfortable Interview
• 07:37 - Developing Conversational & Communication Skills
• 08:21 - Get The First Guests when Starting Your Podcast
• 09:30 - Leveraging the Podcast to Build Relationships
• 11:19 - What Would Akeel Jabber Will Do Differently if He Was to Start Again
• 12:48 - Testing and Iterating The Format
• 13:58 - Marketing, Growth & Distribution
• 15:36 - The Team
• 16:18 - If Akeel Jabber could interview anyone, who would it be and why?

Mentions:

• Naval RaviKant
• Tim Ferris
• Jim Collins
• Seth Godin
• Derek Sivers

Tag us & follow:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn 
• Instagram 

More about Akeel:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Saas Podcast
• SaaS Consulting
• How to Value a SaaS Company

Jim Barnish, has spent the last two decades as serial entrepreneur, operator, investor and M&A expert. He runs Orchid Black, a boutique growth services firm complete with serial entrepreneurs and growth experts, who are all accomplished operators and consultants with an investor mindset and a history of value creation and exits.

Orchid Black’s business model not only accelerates this value, but aligns their own compensation with their partner-clients’ success.

During this interview we cover:

• 00:00 The Financial Due Diligence Framework Course (CODE: SAASDISTRICT for $100 OFF)
• 01:02 - Intro
• 02:01 -  PMF & Nailing Your Niche
• 05:03 - What is Limiting Your SaaS to Achieve Faster Growth
• 07:54 -  Content Marketing Growth Hacking
• 10:49 - Best Distribution/Marketing Channels With Best ROI
• 13:04 - SaaS Metrics That Matter The Most
• 16:26 - Grow Smart & Grow Fast
• 18:18 - Orchid.Black’s Growth Hacking Playbook
• 25:32 - Orchid.Black Target Company Profile
• 29:35 - Maximizing Exit Value
• 32:19 - Predictable Revenue & Revenue Growth
• 36:17 -Jim’s  Capital Investment Network
• 37:44 - Jim’s Background Coming From an Upbringing of trials & Tribulations 
• 41:53 - Am I Ready for an Executive Coach?, Jim’s Routines & Productivity 
• 47:07 - How’s Jim Measuring his Own Leadership Success?
• 49:38 - Advice Jim Would Tell His 25 Years Old Self
• 50:23 - Instrumental Resources for Jim’s  Success
• 50:51 - What does Success Mean to Jim
• 51:10 - Get in Touch With Jim

Mentions:

• Orchid.Balck
• VCA
• Ikigai

People:

• Steve Horwitz
• Howard Joyce

Get In Touch With Jim:

• Jim’s Linkedin

Books: 

• From Impossible to Inevitable
• How to Win Friends & Influence People

Tag us & follow:

• Facebook 
• LinkedIn 
• Instagram

More about Akeel:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Best Rated SaaS Podcasts
• Learn About Our SaaS Consulting
• Learn How to Value a SaaS Company

Dan McGaw is an award-winning entrepreneur, speaker, and CEO of McGaw.io, an analytics and marketing technology consultancy as well as a SaaS platform, UTM.io.

Dan is also a 500 Startups Mentor and has previously started the first business accelerator in Orlando. He’s a thought leader in the MarTech world and a CXL instructor on the topic. 

Dan previously served as the Head of Marketing at Kissmetrics as well as worked as a CMO consultant for a number of high-growth companies, implementing tools, offering support, and analyzing their data. 

During this interview we cover:

• 00:00 The Financial Due Diligence Framework Course (CODE: SAASDISTRICT for $100 OFF)
• 01:02 - Intro
• 01:24 - Dan’s Background & Past Ventures Until McGaw.io
• 05:04 - How does Dan Measure his own Leadership Success?
• 06:54 - TopIndicators of Successful & Unsuccessful SaaS Companies
• 08:45 - Advice Dan Would Tell His 25 Years Old Self
• 10:02 - Biggest Challenges Dan’s Facing Right Now?
• 13:02 - Instrumental Resources for Dan’s  Success
• 14:58 - What does Success Mean to Dan Today
• 16:58 - Get in Touch With Dan

Mentions:

• McGaw.io
• UTM.io
• LER (Labor Efficiency Ratio)
• DiSC Profile

Books:

• The Lean Startup
• Principles
• Ego is the Enemy
• Stillness is the Key
• Built in America
• The Everything Store

Get In Touch With Dan:

• Dan’s Profile

Tag us & follow:

• Facebook 
• LinkedIn 
• Instagram 

More About Akeel

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Saas Podcast
• SaaS Consulting
• How to Value a SaaS Company

Get a Free Copy of  “Build Cool Shit” by Dan McGaw just by texting “martech” to the number 415 915 9011, Enjoy!

Dan McGaw is an award-winning entrepreneur, speaker, and CEO of McGaw.io, an analytics and marketing technology consultancy as well as a SaaS platform, UTM.io.

Dan is also a 500 Startups Mentor and has previously started the first business accelerator in Orlando. He’s a thought leader in the MarTech world and a CXL instructor on the topic. 

Dan previously served as the Head of Marketing at Kissmetrics as well as worked as a CMO consultant for a number of high-growth companies, implementing tools, offering support, and analyzing their data. 

During this interview we cover:

• 00:00 The Financial Due Diligence Framework Course
• 01:02 - Intro
• 02:11 - Getting Your First 10 - 100 Clients 
• 06:25 - 100K on Customer Acquisition VS Product Lead Growth
• 09:30 - The Relation of  Time and Labour for CAC Improvement
• 12:05 - What is a Successful Customer Acquisition Campaign 
• 14:02 - Top Mistakes to Avoid at Early Stages & the Importance of Mistakes
• 18:33 - Scalable Channels, The Right Time to Scale
• 23:50 - Still Content Marketing After PMF?
• 27:19 - SEO, Technical VS Content Quality
• 29:00 - Why SaaS Companies Fail to Build Tech Stack
• 32:40 - Top Tech Stack Tools 

Mentions:

• McGaw.io
• UTM.io

• Harvest Tracker
• Attribution App
• Amplitude
• Autopilot

Books:

• Hooked
• Build Cool Shit

Get In Touch With Dan:

• Dan's Linkedin

Tag us & follow:

• Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/SaaSDistrictPodcast/
• LinkedIn  https://www.linkedin.com/company/horizen-capital
• Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/saasdistrict/

More about Akeel:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• SaaS Podcasts
• SaaS Consultant
• How To Value Your SaaS Company

Paul Cowan is the CMO at FreshBooks, one of the top accounting software in the cloud for Owners, self-employed professionals, and their teams. 

Paul, with his 20+ year career, has held leadership positions at large corporations such as Shutterstock, Feast (where he was the co-founder), DIVE Networks, and Spin Master. 

He’s marketed phones, food, booze, toys, and more recently,  SaaS products. He’s creativity and experience has allowed him to create award-winning marketing campaigns.

When he’s not brainstorming new ways to transform the ad industry with the Freshbooks global marketing team, you might find him building things at his cabin in Toronto or sliding down the side of a mountain on some fresh snow. 

During this interview we cover:

• 00:00 The Financial Due Diligence Framework Course (CODE: SAASDISTRICT For $100 off)
• 01:02 - Intro
• 01:30 -  Slacktivism, the Myth of Purpose Driven Consumerism
• 06:33 - Disruptive Marketing, The Future of AI Advertising
• 11:01 -  Is Ai Ready to Overtake The Market?
• 12:05 - Paul’s Background & FreshBooks on Terms of Size Today
• 13:26 - How Does Paul Measure His Own Success 
• 15:00 - Advice Paul Would Tell His 25 Years Old Self
• 16:17 - Biggest Challenges Paul’s Facing Right Now?
• 17:57 - Instrumental Resources for Paul  Success
• 19:36 - What does Success Mean to Paul Today
• 21:09 - Get in Touch With Paul

Mentions:

• FreshBooks
• Shutterstock
• cinc.co

Get In Touch With Paul:

• Paul’s Linkedin

Tag us & follow:

• Facebook 
• LinkedIn 
• Instagram 

More about Akeel:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• SaaS Podcasts
• SaaS Consultant
• How To Value Your SaaS Company

Paul Cowan is the CMO at FreshBooks, one of the top accounting software in the cloud for Owners, self-employed professionals and their teams. 

Paul, with his 20+ year career, has held leadership positions at large corporations such as Shutterstock, Feast (where he was the co-founder), DIVE Networks and Spin Master. 

He’s marketed phones, food, booze, toys, and more recently,  SaaS products. He’s creativity and experience has allowed him to create award-winning marketing campaigns.

When he’s not brainstorming new ways to transform the ad industry with the Freshbooks global marketing team, you might find him building things at his cabin in Toronto or sliding down the side of a mountain on some fresh snow. 

During this interview we cover:

• 00:00 Contentfy, your On-Demand Podcast Editing & Repurposing Team
• 01:02 - Intro
• 02:25 -  Customer Experience & Product Experience
• 04:28 - Branding byCreating Experiences
• 10:04 - Why Companies Focus on Ads & Not on Customer Experience
• 12:48 - Timeframe for Ads
• 15:42 - Adapt Product Development to Customer Expectations
• 18:00 - Who Really Owns Product Experience?
• 20:05 -  ROI on Product Experience as a Growth lever
• 22:51 - Product-led GTM Strategy
• 
  

Mentions:

• FreshBooks

Get In Touch With Paul:

• Paul’s Linkedin

Tag us & follow:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Instagram

More about Akeel Jabber:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Saas Podcast
• SaaS Consulting
• How to Value a SaaS Company

Connor Hey, from Org3D, specialist recruiters in Cyber Security and Data & Analytics, speaks with Akeel Jabber - the start-up investor and host of SaaS District at Horizen Capital.

Together, they outline some really valuable insights for start-ups looking to acquire funding; the importance of selling the story of the start-up, what are some of the funding alternatives, and how harmful it is to ask for too much funding.

This Episode is taken from the “Grow Tech Fast - The Org3D Podcast”, go check them out now!

During this interview we cover:

• 00:00 Contentfy, your on-demand podcast & video editing & repurposing service
• 01:23 - Getting into the SaaS Industry & Entrepreneurship through Acquisition
• 07:32 - Why To Raise Money & Why To Sell?
• 09:18 - Metrics to Evaluate When Making an Investment or Acquisitions
• 13:41 - Raising Exactly What You Need & Getting The Pitch Right
• 19:27 - How Harmful is To Ask Too Much Funding
• 21:05 - SaaS Valuations & The Metric That Matters
• 24:32 - Advice For New Entrepreneurs 

Mentions:

• Org3D
• Investor-Ready Pitch Deck
• Robert Kiyosaki
• Connor Hey

Tag us & follow:

• Facebook 
• LinkedIn 
• Instagram 

More about Akeel:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Best Rated SaaS Podcasts
• Learn About Our SaaS Consulting
• Learn How to Value a SaaS Company

Ray Rike is the CEO & founder of RevOps Squared, a company that conducts benchmarking research across a wide variety of KPI categories in the B2B SaaS industry enabling SaaS companies to exponentially increase customer acquisition, customer expansion, and customer retention efficacy.

Ray Rike has more that 30 years now of experience in the SaaS industry, his passion for data-driven & metric-based decision making has helped him succeed across five SaaS company exits.

During this interview we cover:

• 00:00 Contentfy: Your Podcast Editing & Repurposing Team
• 01:02 - Intro
• 01:24 -  Ray’s 5 Exits & Journey Up Until RevOps Squared
• 07:56 - Exit Strategy, Will Salesforce or Hubspot Buy My SaaS?
• 14:27 - Building for an Exit?
• 17:38 - Advice Ray Would Tell His 25 Years Old Self
• 20:54 -  What does Success Mean to Ray Today
• 35:51 - Get in Touch With Ray

Mentions:

• RevOps Squared

People:

• Tom Reilly

Get In Touch With Ray:

• Ray’s Linkedin

Tag us & follow:

• Facebook 
• LinkedIn 
• Instagram 

More about Akeel:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• More SaaS Podcast Sessions
• SaaS Consulting Services
• Learn How to Value a SaaS Company

Ray Rike is the CEO & founder of RevOps Squared, a company that conducts benchmarking research across a wide variety of KPI categories in the B2B SaaS industry enabling SaaS companies to exponentially increase customer acquisition, customer expansion, and customer retention efficacy.

Ray Rike has more than 30 years now of experience in the SaaS industry, his passion for data-driven & metric-based decision-making has helped him succeed across five SaaS company exits.

During this interview we cover:

• 00:00 Contentfy, your On-Demand Podcast Editing & Repurposing Team
• 01:02 - Intro
• 02:08 - What exactly are Revenue Operations & Why You Need it
• 03:26 - Metrics & Benchmarks Helping SaaS Companies
• 07:01 - What’s the Strategy When Looking at the Overall Industry Performance
• 12:41 - Best Tools to Keep Track of Your SaaS Metrics
• 15:47 - Where RevOps Squared is Gething Insights & Industry Data
• 19:44 -  Hard Decisions to Improve Your Performance Based on Metrics
• 26:36 -  The Most Important SaaS Metrics and KPI’s
• 31:27 - How valuable is Your Product, What Investors Want to See.
• 33:00 - Outro

Mentions:

• RevOps Squared
• SaaS Benchmarks
• SaaS Metrics
• Insight Squared
• SaaS Optics
• Sage Intacct
• Demand Base

Get In Touch With Ray:

• Ray’s Linkedin

Tag us & follow:

• Facebook 
• LinkedIn 
• Instagram 

More about Akeel:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Saas Podcast
• SaaS Consulting
• How to Value a SaaS Company