The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

Nadim Hossain is the Founder and CEO @ BrightFunnel, the startup that shows marketing true impact on revenue. They are backed by many past guests of the show including Matt Garratt @ Salesforce Ventures, Tim Kopp, and James Cham @ Bloomberg Beta. As for Nadim, prior to founding BrightFunnel, Nadim was VP of Marketing and Sales Development at PowerReviews, paving the way to a $170M exit. He was also a product marketing executive at Salesforce.com during their hyper-growth years.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

• How did Nadim make his way into the world of SaaS and come to found BrightFunnel?
• To what extent is marketing an art or a science in today's data driven world? How can marketers use and analyse data to drive decision making?
• How can founders determine which channels are a must have as opposed to a nice to have? What metrics should determine this? Does brand building not count in the revenue driven world today?
• Nadim has previously said, 'marketing is eating sales'. What does Nadim mean by this? How does Nadim evaluate the expansion of the marketing funnel?
• What are the biggest mistakes B2B companies make in today's environment? How can they rectify this and sustain a brand that will deliver for the long term?

60 Second SaaStr

If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here:

Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

Nadim Hossain

Nadim Hossain is the Founder and CEO @ BrightFunnel, the startup that shows marketing true impact on revenue. They are backed by many past guests of the show including Matt Garratt @ Salesforce Ventures, Tim Kopp, and James Cham @ Bloomberg Beta. As for Nadim, prior to founding BrightFunnel, Nadim was VP of Marketing and Sales Development at PowerReviews, paving the way to a $170M exit. He was also a product marketing executive at Salesforce.com during their hyper-growth years.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

• How did Nadim make his way into the world of SaaS and come to found BrightFunnel?
• To what extent is marketing an art or a science in today’s data driven world? How can marketers use and analyse data to drive decision making?
• How can founders determine which channels are a must have as opposed to a nice to have? What metrics should determine this? Does brand building not count in the revenue driven world today?
• Nadim has previously said, ‘marketing is eating sales’. What does Nadim mean by this? How does Nadim evaluate the expansion of the marketing funnel?
• What are the biggest mistakes B2B companies make in today’s environment? How can they rectify this and sustain a brand that will deliver for the long term?

60 Second SaaStr

If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here:

Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

Nadim Hossain

Michael Pryor is Co-Founder & CEO @ Trello, now Head of Product with Trello at Atlassian following their recent acquisition. For those that do not know, Trello lets you work more collaboratively and get more done. Prior to the acquisition they raised from some of the best in the business including the likes of Spark Capital, Index Ventures and Box Group. Michael is also a board member at StackOverflow.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

• How did Michael make his way into the world of startups and come to found Trello?
• What does Michael believe is fundamental to making a market transition successfully? What were the challenges of the early market transition with Trello?
• What does Michael believe are the 3 key elements that make a great CEO? How does Michael approach the element of cash burn? Does Michael agree for the need of sustainability within growth?
• How does Michael look to continually recruit the best talent? What are the secrets to running a 60% remote workforce so efficiently?
• How did the Atlassian deal come about? What was the thought process behind the sales vs raise more venture funding? How did Michael broach the process with regards to transparency within the team?

60 Second SaaStr

If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here:

Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

Michael Pryor

Michael Pryor is Co-Founder & CEO @ Trello, now Head of Product with Trello at Atlassian following their recent acquisition. For those that do not know, Trello lets you work more collaboratively and get more done. Prior to the acquisition they raised from some of the best in the business including the likes of Spark Capital, Index Ventures and Box Group. Michael is also a board member at StackOverflow.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

• How did Michael make his way into the world of startups and come to found Trello?
• What does Michael believe is fundamental to making a market transition successfully? What were the challenges of the early market transition with Trello?
• What does Michael believe are the 3 key elements that make a great CEO? How does Michael approach the element of cash burn? Does Michael agree for the need of sustainability within growth?
• How does Michael look to continually recruit the best talent? What are the secrets to running a 60% remote workforce so efficiently?
• How did the Atlassian deal come about? What was the thought process behind the sales vs raise more venture funding? How did Michael broach the process with regards to transparency within the team?

60 Second SaaStr

If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here:

Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

Michael Pryor

Matin Movasatte is the Founder and CEO @ Heap. the startup that provides analytics infrastructure to automate away the annoying parts of user analytics. They have raised funding from some of the best in the business including our friends and former guests of The Twenty Minute VC including Pejman Nozad, Alexis and Garry @ Initialized, Josh Reeves at Gusto, Redpoint and more incredible investors. As for Matin, prior to Heap Matin was a product manager at Facebook and spent time at both Google and Mozilla. I would like to say a big thank you to Jason Lemkin for the intro today.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

• How did Matin make his way into the world of SaaS having been at Facebook and Google?
• What were Matin's biggest takeaways from seeing how Facebook operate? What were the pros and cons of their operations? How has this influenced how he builds Heap today?
• Why does Matin believe that you should always sell your product before it is done being built? What benefits does this have in terms of pricing and iteration? What are the dangers of asking for payment upfront?
• Why does Matin think it is crucial to hire your customer success team before your sales team? How do customer success drive customer acquisition?
• What does Matin mean when he says that "product organisation fit" is so important? How can startups determine the fit? What can be done to optimise this?

If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here:

Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

Matin Movasatte

Matin Movasatte is the Founder and CEO @ Heap. the startup that provides analytics infrastructure to automate away the annoying parts of user analytics. They have raised funding from some of the best in the business including our friends and former guests of The Twenty Minute VC including Pejman Nozad, Alexis and Garry @ Initialized, Josh Reeves at Gusto, Redpoint and more incredible investors. As for Matin, prior to Heap Matin was a product manager at Facebook and spent time at both Google and Mozilla. I would like to say a big thank you to Jason Lemkin for the intro today.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

• How did Matin make his way into the world of SaaS having been at Facebook and Google?
• What were Matin’s biggest takeaways from seeing how Facebook operate? What were the pros and cons of their operations? How has this influenced how he builds Heap today?
• Why does Matin believe that you should always sell your product before it is done being built? What benefits does this have in terms of pricing and iteration? What are the dangers of asking for payment upfront?
• Why does Matin think it is crucial to hire your customer success team before your sales team? How do customer success drive customer acquisition?
• What does Matin mean when he says that “product organisation fit” is so important? How can startups determine the fit? What can be done to optimise this?

If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here:

Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

Matin Movasatte

Didier Elzinga is the Founder & CEO @ CultureAmp, the world's most powerful employee feedback and analytics platform. They have raised funding from some of the best in the business including the likes of Index Ventures, our friends at Felicis Ventures and Blackbird Ventures. As for Didier, he previously co-founded technical academy award winning Rising Sun Research and is non-executive director at Tourism Australia, the Atlassian Foundation and Slingsby Theatre. I also have to say a huge thank you to Ilya @ Index and Niki @ Blackbird for the intro, without which the show would not have been possible.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

• How did Didier make his way into the world of SaaS? What was the a-ha moment for him with CultureAmp?
• What were Didier's biggest takeaways from watching Scott and Mike build Atlassian? How did that affect and alter how he structured CultureAmp?
• How does Didier evaluate product market fit? What are the signs? What metrics determine whether you have it or you do not? Why did Didier decide to bootstrap until $1m ARR?
• Why does Didier believe there is so little innovation in the go to market strategies of today? What would he like to see change and where does he see opportunity?
• Why does Didier not believe in paying sales teams commission? How does this affect his ability to hire? How does this affect the internal compensation structure of the firm?

60 Second SaaStr

1. Didier's Fave SaaS resource?
2. What does Didier know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning?
3. What has been the most challenging element of the CultureAmp journey?

If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here:

Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

Didier Elzinga

Didier Elzinga is the Founder & CEO @ CultureAmp, the world’s most powerful employee feedback and analytics platform. They have raised funding from some of the best in the business including the likes of Index Ventures, our friends at Felicis Ventures and Blackbird Ventures. As for Didier, he previously co-founded technical academy award winning Rising Sun Research and is non-executive director at Tourism Australia, the Atlassian Foundation and Slingsby Theatre. I also have to say a huge thank you to Ilya @ Index and Niki @ Blackbird for the intro, without which the show would not have been possible.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

• How did Didier make his way into the world of SaaS? What was the a-ha moment for him with CultureAmp?
• What were Didier’s biggest takeaways from watching Scott and Mike build Atlassian? How did that affect and alter how he structured CultureAmp?
• How does Didier evaluate product market fit? What are the signs? What metrics determine whether you have it or you do not? Why did Didier decide to bootstrap until $1m ARR?
• Why does Didier believe there is so little innovation in the go to market strategies of today? What would he like to see change and where does he see opportunity?
• Why does Didier not believe in paying sales teams commission? How does this affect his ability to hire? How does this affect the internal compensation structure of the firm?

60 Second SaaStr

1. Didier’s Fave SaaS resource?
2. What does Didier know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning?
3. What has been the most challenging element of the CultureAmp journey?

If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here:

Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

Didier Elzinga

Fayez Mohamood is the Founder and CEO @ Bluecore, the company that is transforming the way eCommerce marketers use data and automation to communicate with customers. They have raised nearly $30m in funding from some of the best in the business and past guests of the show including the teams from FirstMark Capital and Felicis Ventures just to name a few. As a result they have enjoyed some rapid scaling having seen the team grow from 50 to over 100 in just 10 months. As for Fayez, prior to Bluecore he was Head of Product at BigDoor and before that he founded, Gameday Tycoon, a fantasy sports game that runs on Facebook.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

• How did Fayez make his way from fantasy sports game to successful SaaS founder with Bluecore?
• To what extent does Fayez consider B2B marketing an art or a science with the rise of data? How can SaaS startups use data to drive conversion and upsell? What metrics does Fayez hone in on?
• What 2 methods does Fayez use to harmonise the sales and marketing team? How can these teams be structured to ensure for a clear communication channel and culture of transparency?
• With the team growing from 30 to over 100, what does the hiring process look like for Fayez? How has this altered and developed over time? What have been the big lessons in the rapid scaling of the team?
• How does Fayez view efficiency within organisational structures? What must founders watch out for in the scaling process of their companies?

60 Second SaaStr

1. Advantages and disadvantages of being a SaaS firm in the US?
2. Fayez's fave SaaS reading material?
3. What does Fayez know now that he wishes he had known when he started?

If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here:

Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

Fayez Mohamood

Fayez Mohamood is the Founder and CEO @ Bluecore, the company that is transforming the way eCommerce marketers use data and automation to communicate with customers. They have raised nearly $30m in funding from some of the best in the business and past guests of the show including the teams from FirstMark Capital and Felicis Ventures just to name a few. As a result they have enjoyed some rapid scaling having seen the team grow from 50 to over 100 in just 10 months. As for Fayez, prior to Bluecore he was Head of Product at BigDoor and before that he founded, Gameday Tycoon, a fantasy sports game that runs on Facebook.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

• How did Fayez make his way from fantasy sports game to successful SaaS founder with Bluecore?
• To what extent does Fayez consider B2B marketing an art or a science with the rise of data? How can SaaS startups use data to drive conversion and upsell? What metrics does Fayez hone in on?
• What 2 methods does Fayez use to harmonise the sales and marketing team? How can these teams be structured to ensure for a clear communication channel and culture of transparency?
• With the team growing from 30 to over 100, what does the hiring process look like for Fayez? How has this altered and developed over time? What have been the big lessons in the rapid scaling of the team?
• How does Fayez view efficiency within organisational structures? What must founders watch out for in the scaling process of their companies?

60 Second SaaStr

1. Advantages and disadvantages of being a SaaS firm in the US?
2. Fayez’s fave SaaS reading material?
3. What does Fayez know now that he wishes he had known when he started?

If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here:

Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

Fayez Mohamood