The Remarkable SaaS Podcast

A story about changing models without burning what you built.

This episode is for sales-led SaaS CEOs who fear a new business model means starting over.

Most SaaS companies that change their business model start over with a new product.

Anton Marchanka, CEO of Zing Coach, faced that choice. He spent most of his career in B2C, making apps people choose to use.

Zing Coach started as a consumer fitness app. When it began selling to gyms, he kept the app thousands of people liked and made it their edge, under their own brand.

And this inspired me to invite Anton to my podcast.

We talk about the one comparison that got a board invested in B2C to back the move to B2B. You'll also hear what it takes to sell something gym owners have never heard of, when buying it means changing how their gym runs. And how he decides what to build, and what not, now that AI makes building easy.

We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits of remarkable software companies:

• Offer something valuable and desirable
• Sell the idea, not the product

Both are chapters in The Remarkable Effect.

Anton's story shows that remarkable companies can change their business model and stay the only logical choice.

Here's one of Anton's quotes that captures how he changed the business model without starting over:

"So we just took everything we had in a B2C, and we talked with my CTO and CPO, and we just got an idea that we don't really need to develop something new. We just need to repack the way how we're distributing that thing."

By listening to this episode, you'll learn:

• Why what your users already like can sell your new business model
• What a new category asks of buyers beyond believing your product works
• Why some buyers want to know what drives you before they talk numbers
• How to tell what customers like from what they'll pay for

For more information about the guest from this week:

Guest: Anton Marchanka, CEO of Zing Coach

Website: zing.coach

LinkedIn: Anton Marchanka

A story about removing the problem others make easier.

This episode is for sales-led SaaS CEOs whose product makes a painful job easier, when customers would rather not do that job at all.

Some problems shouldn't exist. The call centre is one of them.

Pieter de Villiers is co-founder and CEO of Clickatell. In 2000, it was the first company to let a website text a mobile phone. In 2019, it was the first to put banking and payments on WhatsApp.

So he builds to take away the reason people call. Clickatell promises its clients zero hold time within 12 months.

And this inspired me to invite Pieter to my podcast.

We talk about how Clickatell has stayed relevant for 26 years, and the hard choices that took. You'll hear why he passed on an IPO to lift margin in one market from 23% to 65%. And how he answers the question every CEO in a crowded market gets: why are you different?

We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies:

– Create new value possibilities

– Sell the idea, not the product

Both are chapters in The Remarkable Effect.

Pieter shows that remarkable companies stay relevant by holding on to the problem they solve, while the technology keeps changing.

Here's one of Pieter's quotes that captures how he judges the value his company creates:

"We've never built the company strategy based just on the margin profile. We also wanted to add value and create value. And I think margins is a truth serum around how much value are you creating."

By listening to this episode, you'll learn:

• Why being able to serve many use cases doesn't mean you should chase them all
• How asking "is this problem worth solving?" changes what you choose to build
• Why your product people should sit in on client conversations
• What to say when a buyer tells you they'll build it themselves with AI

Guest info

For more information about the guest from this week:

Guest: Pieter de Villiers, co-founder and CEO of Clickatell

Website: clickatell.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/pieterdevilliers

A story about a 40% revenue cut that paid off.

This episode is for sales-led SaaS CEOs who find it hard to say no to paying customers, even when it holds them back.

Most SaaS companies count all revenue as good revenue.

Alberto Gimeno, co-founder and CEO of Invofox, came into document processing as an outsider. He didn't know which customers would be best, so he tested four or five segments by selling to each of them himself.

At their first million in revenue, they let 40% of it go. They kept only software companies, where net revenue retention ran at 140–150%.

And this inspired me to invite Alberto to my podcast.

We talk about why message-market fit and product-market fit are two separate problems. You'll also hear why pushing up your win rate too often means leaving money on the table. And why the customers who end up bringing in 85% of revenue are often hard to spot upfront.

We zoom in on two of the 10 traits of remarkable software companies:

• Acknowledge you cannot please everyone
• Master the art of curiosity

Both are chapters in The Remarkable Effect.

His story shows that remarkable software companies are prepared to cut deep into their revenue to get a focus advantage.

Here's one of Alberto's quotes that captures why picking your customers is a product decision too:

"Choosing a segment is not only about your go-to-market operations, it changes the product that you build. An accountant, a construction company and a developer are going to need three different things even when they're trying to solve the same problem."

By listening to this episode, you'll learn:

• Why prospects ignore great products that don't offer a new way to see the problem
• What metric tells you most clearly whether you have product-market fit
• How to test which customers are best before you commit to one
• What your product gains when you stop serving segments that grow slower

Guest: Alberto Gimeno, co-founder and CEO of Invofox

Website: invofox.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gimenoalberto

A story about learning from the customers who walked away.

This episode is for SaaS CEOs who keep building features for their customers, but still lose them at renewal.

Most SaaS roadmaps are focused on interesting problems, not real ones.

Adrian Moza, CEO of Flipsnack, learned what that costs. He started as a developer 20 years ago, moved into support, then ran product before becoming CEO in 2022.

When thousands of new templates brought customers who churned after one use, he realized Flipsnack wasn't Canva and never would be. Its job is to solve the problems customers really have.

And this inspired me to invite Adrian to my podcast. We talk about what customers really want from your product. And how you can still lose big customers, even when they have no complaints about it. You'll hear how Adrian built a sales-led motion on top of PLG, without outside funding. In 2020, 15% of Flipsnack's customers were on the higher plans. Today it's 60%.

We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies:

• Offer something valuable and desirable
• Acknowledge you cannot please everyone

Both are chapters in The Remarkable Effect.

Adrian's story proves what makes a software company hard to replace: solving the problem customers can't ignore.

Here's one of Adrian's quotes that captures why he moved Flipsnack beyond PLG:

"I still believe in PLG as a motion, but it wasn't good for us because we were creating a nice-to-have product instead of a must-have."

By listening to this episode, you'll learn:

• Why your go-to-market should change the day your product does
• Why moving upmarket needs hires who help you grow, not hires you grow
• How your lowest tier can fund the move upmarket and feed your pipeline
• How one strategy turns twenty scattered marketing initiatives into results

For more information about the guest from this week:

Guest: Adrian Moza, CEO of Flipsnack

Website: flipsnack.com

LinkedIn: Adrian Moza

A story about the real problem behind every feature request.

This episode is for SaaS founders who build what customers ask for and still watch new features go unused.

Customer requests are where good teams go wrong.

Kevin Dias, founder of Ambiki, spent three years inside a Tennessee speech therapy practice, listening to therapists and building their software as he went. That software grew into Ambiki.

While building Ambiki, he wrote a book around one question: what problem are we solving, and for whom? Every feature at Ambiki starts there. No solution allowed in the answer.

And this inspired me to invite Kevin to my podcast. We talk about why defining the problem matters more now that AI makes building so fast, and the three forces that push teams past that step: customers, sales and investors. Kevin also shares why he keeps saying no to a much bigger market. You'll hear what he hands his board when they ask for a roadmap.

We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies:

• Master the art of curiosity
• Acknowledge you cannot please everyone

Both are chapters in The Remarkable Effect.

Kevin's story shows what remarkable companies do first. They pick the problem worth solving.

Here's one of Kevin's quotes that captures his warning for teams building with AI:

"Don't let the ability to quickly create features and prototypes become the evidence that you should build it. It's very easy to build it these days, but it doesn't mean you should."

By listening to this episode, you'll learn:

• Why you can miss your customers' real problem when you copy a competitor's feature
• What changes when "what problem, for whom?" moves to the top of every feature document
• How your margin can grow when you put a smaller group of customers first
• How asking "solution or problem?" on support tickets trains a whole team to dig deeper

For more information about the guest from this week:

Guest: Kevin Dias, founder of Ambiki

Website: ambiki.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kevin-dias-ambiki

Book: The Problem-First Method at problem-first-method.com

A story about the growth levers you can't see from inside.

This episode is for SaaS founders who are working harder than ever and are not seeing the growth they aspired to.

Most growth problems are hiding in plain sight.

Jason Cohen is the founder of WP Engine and author of Hidden Multipliers. He has built four companies over 25 years, two of them now worth billions, and invested in sixty more.

Across all of them he kept finding the same thing. A few small changes moved growth far more than everything else combined. Most companies never spot them.

And this inspired me to invite Jason to my podcast. We explore why the biggest growth levers in a business stay invisible to the people running it. Jason shares what he learned about customers who cost you money, about pricing that works against you, and about strengths you never counted as strengths. You'll discover why the same product can be worth ten times more without changing a thing.

We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies:

• Acknowledge you cannot please everyone
• Sell the idea, not the product

Both are chapters in The Remarkable Effect.

Jason's work proves that remarkable companies don't find more to do. They find the few things that decide everything.

Here's one of Jason's quotes that captures why the answer is often already in front of you:

"A lot of times people do know kind of what the answer is already, but they don't want to face it. They're scared to face it. It means they have to admit something they don't want to admit, or it means they have to do work they don't want to do."

By listening to this episode, you'll learn:

• Why 10% of your customers decide whether the other 90% are profitable
• What changes when you name your weaknesses before the buyer finds them
• Why your positioning is capping what you can charge
• What decides whether your strongest trait helps or hurts the business

For more information about the guest from this week:

Guest: Jason Cohen, founder of WP Engine and author of Hidden Multipliers

Website: hiddenmultipliers.com

Personal site: asmartbear.com

Free companion AI skills: skills.hiddenmultipliers.com

A story about letting go of what everyone else protects.

This episode is for SaaS CEOs who still believe their product is the thing competitors can't copy.

Your product is the easy part to copy.

Eric Bidinger is co-founder and CEO of Luca. Before that, seventeen years in private equity, where cash was the only number that counted.

Those years of buying companies taught him what a business can really defend. So when founding Luca, he decided to defend something else.

And this inspired me to invite Eric to my podcast.

We explore what a software company can still defend when anyone can rebuild the product. Eric shares why he stopped worrying about that, what his customers build up that a competitor cannot copy, and why his best clients get far more out of the same product. You'll discover what he thinks will hold his company back (and it has nothing to do with technology).

We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies:

• Create new value possibilities
• Master the art of curiosity

Both are chapters in The Remarkable Effect.

Here's one of Eric's quotes that captures why he walked away from seventeen years in finance:

"In finance you're obviously moving money from pocket A to pocket B, and then you're just taking a cut while the money is in transit, which can be quite lucrative, but also very nihilistic in a way. Unless you own the firm, you're really not building anything that's lasting."

By listening to this episode, you'll learn:

• Why the part you guard is rarely the part a rival struggles to rebuild
• How your customers build the advantage you cannot build yourself
• What one word in your positioning decides who walks away
• How AI changes where a good hire still beats an average one

For more information about the guest from this week:

Guest: Eric Bidinger, co-founder and CEO of Luca

Website: ask-luca.com

A story about saying no to the volume everyone wants.

This episode is for SaaS founders who assume a big market means there's enough room in it for them to take a share.

Most software companies chase the biggest pile of volume.

Tony Migliore has a different view. He's the founder and CEO of Moova, a last-mile delivery company in Latin America. Thirty years in logistics taught him where he has no right to win.

So for Moova, he consistently turns down high-volume work priced at cents. He'd rather serve fewer retailers who need something the cheap operators cannot give them.

This inspired me to invite Tony to my podcast. We explore why the biggest pool of volume is the worst place to compete. Tony shares how he decides where he can compete in a commodity market, and why some of his clients pay more than they have to.

We zoom in on two of the ten traits of remarkable software companies:

• Offer something valuable and desirable
• Acknowledge you cannot please everyone

Both are chapters in The Remarkable Effect.

Here's one of Tony's quotes that captures how he decides where to compete:

"Keep your eye much more sophisticated on who are your clients, who will be paying for your service, where you have the right to win, why they will be purchasing your technology instead of others. You need to keep a focus. Optimism is not a strategy"

By listening to this episode, you'll learn:

• Why a big market says nothing about your right to win
• What your customer is really buying when your service looks like a commodity
• When volume starts costing you more than it pays
• How domain knowledge outlives the technology you build on

For more information about the guest from this week:

• Guest: Tony Migliore, founder and CEO, Moova
• Website: moova.io and moovatech.ai

A story about saying no to good, paying work.

This episode is for founders whose deals keep stalling, no matter how hard the team works.

A typical mantra in business software is that you build products that technically everyone can use - simply because that creates the biggest market opportunity.

Amarjot Singh, founder and CEO of Skylark Labs, doesn't. He grew up watching his father serve in the Indian Army infantry, in combat. His first project after his PhD was software that helped rescue children from brothels.

This has turned into a mindset where he only builds products for situations where someone's life is on the line. Everything else he says no to - even if there's good money associated with it.

And this inspired me to invite Amarjot to my podcast. We explore how choosing problems by risk to human life changes who does the selling. He shares who and what he walked away from, and how that helped him to build something the right customers cannot live without.

We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies:

• Acknowledge you cannot please everyone
• Sell the idea, not the product

Both are chapters in The Remarkable Effect.

Here's one of Amarjot's quotes that captures how he thinks about demand:

"The beauty of this kind of technology is that you don't actually have to sell. The user will sell you … Once you are able to get to that point, then the sky is the limit.”

By listening to this episode, you'll learn:

• Why the size of the problem matters less than what it costs the buyer to leave it unsolved
• What changes in a deal when the buyer has no fallback
• When to tell a customer "this is the maximum we will do"
• How to tell whether a pilot will lead anywhere before you commit the team

For more information about the guest from this week:

Guest: Amarjot Singh, founder and CEO, Skylark Labs

Website: skylarklabs.ai

A story about saying no until you're the only option.

This episode is for founders who believe a horizontal product means a horizontal go-to-market.

A product for everyone still needs a market of one.

Dima Gutzeit, founder and CEO of LeapXpert, watched bankers in Hong Kong do their real work on WhatsApp in 2017, then spent two years building before selling anything. He wrote a large part of that first product himself.

He built something that fits any industry. Then he turned down almost every industry that asked. Today he sets the terms, not only the price.

And this inspired me to invite Dima to my podcast. We explore why he said no to marketing applications, CPaaS, and the contact centre business, and how that gave him the upper hand in the one category he kept in focus. You'll discover what he can ask of a customer today that he couldn't ask for in the early years.

We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies:

• Acknowledge you cannot please everyone
• Aim to be different, not just better

Both are chapters in The Remarkable Effect.

Remarkable companies decide who they are not for before the market decides for them.

Here's one of Dima's quotes that captures how he thinks about what focus buys you:

"In today's market, the only way to win is not the product. Anybody can create a product; it's velocity"

By listening to this episode, you'll learn:

• Why a horizontal product and a horizontal go-to-market are separate decisions
• What saying no protects when the market starts pulling you sideways
• When the bigger customer gives you more room instead of less
• How years of focus turn into the speed you need later

For more information about the guest from this week:

Guest: Dima Gutzeit, founder and CEO, LeapXpert

Website: leapxpert.com