The Remarkable SaaS Podcast

This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey to empower business users, especially in SMEs, to easily find insights in their data without technical complexities. My guest is Thomas Wulff Wilhelmsen, Co-founder and CEO of Less.

Thomas and his co-founder, Daniel, previously worked as consultants in the data space before founding Less. Their experiences and frustrations in this role inspired them to create an analytics product for people like themselves.

And that led to the birth of Less in September 2022. The name "Less" embodies their goal of stripping away complexities to build a product that focuses on the end goal and takes care of the technical aspects behind the scenes.

Their mission: Set doers free to do what they do best: Roll up their sleeves and solve problems.

And this inspired me, and hence I invited Thomas to my podcast. We explore what, after decades of development, is still broken in the Business Analytics solutions market. Thomas shares his lessons learned from steering Less' journey as a customer-funded startup. He shares how he got early traction with paying customers and how he's creating a culture of analogical thinking to solve problems in creative ways. Last but not least, he'll inspire you with his fresh perspective on crafting a compelling narrative that sells.

Here's one of his quotes

"We've been focusing more on the persona than on the sector or industry. We call them doers. People who are curious by nature, frustrated with being dependent on other people, and want to build cool things that they can show to other people in their teams drive that change internally."

During this interview, you will learn four things:

1. Where he finds inspiration from taking Storytelling for his business to the next level.
2. What he's done differently from the start to get traction and stay in control as the business grows.
3. How he ensures everyone understands what's important, and does the right things right to create fans from the start.
4. Why he embraces being "customer funded" rather than just bootstrapped.

For more information about the guest from this week:

• Thomas Wulff Wilhelmsen
• Website: Less

This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey on the emerging opportunity to transform how we shop online. My guest is Angelo Coletta, CEO and Co-founder of Zakeke.

Angelo is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and exited multiple companies.

In 2017, he co-founded Zakeke, an AI Visual Commerce platform. It's doing groundbreaking work in transforming the B2B customer journey and shopping experience. With this focus, it's now serving 10,000+ eCommerce brands worldwide across 400+ industries

Their mission: To improve the industry's environmental footprint through the use of technology in the display process, the shopping experience, and the purchasing experience.

And this inspired me, and hence I invited Angelo to my podcast. We explore how the shopping experience is still broken today - and why. Angelo shares his how he's building an organization to fix this and shares anecdotes about his lessons learned in choosing the right team, fostering a culture of innovation, and setting ambitious long-term goals. He then elaborates on creating resilience across the business, customer-centric product development, and how strategic acquisitions and investment in eco-system helped to scale their business.

Here's one of his quotes

I wanted to create a company that was totally based on a long-term vision. This is one of the most difficult choices to make when you start because it means you burn more money in the first years of the company. My opinion is that if you don't start as a long tail business, it's difficult to transform a company with 200 or 300 big customers into a company able to serve 1000s of customers, maybe most of them small customers.

During this interview, you will learn four things:

1. Why have a global mindset from day 1.
2. Why focus on product excellence first before you consider a marketing push?
3. What Angelo specifically prioritizes when it comes to hiring the right people that will help the company grow in good and tough times.
4. The strategies he applied to establish trust and leverage their growth opportunity via the e-commerce ecosystem.

For more information about the guest from this week:

• Angelo Coletta
• Website: Zakeke

This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey to make social a positive place again - for everyone. My guest is Matthew McGrory, CEO of Arwen AI.

Matthew is a tech- entrepreneur on a big mission. He has held tech leadership roles: IT Director at Logicalis, Director Managed Services at Acora, and Managing Director at Carrenza (a cloud service provider acquired by Six Degrees Group),

In the period from July 2018 and September 2020 he took a break from his corporate life to become a House Husband. In that period he developed a passion for using AI to drive positive change.

That led him to cofound Arwen AI in September 2020. Arwen AI is a platform that helps its customers actively moderate and manage their community, across both paid and organic.

Their mission: to make social media a more positive place by filtering out hate speech and toxicity.

And this inspired me, and hence I invited Matthew to my podcast. We explore what's broken in today's Social Media world. Matthew shares his vision to make Social a place without toxicity and spam. He then elaborates on his hard-won lessons from his journey to speed up direct sales and benefit from using ecosystems to grow even faster. Last but not least, he shares his framework to increase resilience across the organization.

Here's one of his quotes:

I thought, 'This is great, we'll create some technology, fix the problem and everyone will buy it.' I was so wrong on that part. I got to about demo number 200, it was with a US broadcast news organization. And the head of digital said, 'Listen, I'm protected by the First Amendment, I can let anything go up on my channels. I don't have to get rid of it. You're giving me an extra job to do. An extra cost. Tell me why this is valuable to my business. Tell me how it makes me money or saves me money.'

During this interview, you will learn four things:

1. How he gained traction in a market where customers resisted to buy because they saw the solution as an extra job and an extra cost.
2. What he did differently to gain technical and commercial momentum.
3. What he invested in early on to get access to strategic accounts and speed up the commercial contracting process in enterprise sales situations.
4. How he goes about to keep the business humming, and keeping everyone aligned and motivated - especially in tough times.

For more information about the guest from this week:

• Matthew McGrory
• Website: Arwen AI

This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey to take GTM efficiency to the next level for enterprise SaaS companies. My guest is Josh Ellars, CEO of OpenGTM.

Josh has over 15 years of experience leading successful go-to-market (GTM) functions at high-growth SaaS companies like Metalogix, Qualtrics, and OpenGov. This extensive background gives him unique insights into scaling SaaS businesses.

In 2021, he founded Patri, which was rebranded OpenGTM in 2023. OpenGTM is a platform to create content buyers love, capture high-intent leads, and uncover the truth behind your buyers and pipeline.

Its mission: to unite sales, marketing, customer success, and product around the attributes of highly-retained customers in order to boost revenue and retention.

And this inspired me, and hence I invited Josh to my podcast. We explore what's broken in today's world of Go-to-Market (GTM). Josh shares his wealth of experience in scaling SaaS businesses. He emphasizes the importance of the "sell, design, build" methodology, where market demand pulls product development. He also explains, how their approach helps companies cut through the noise of the crowded go-to-market tech landscape. And last but not least he shares some big lessons learned on differentiation and growing efficiently.

Here's one of his quotes:

Too often in Go To Market and in company building in general, we're driven by product market fit. And that's wonderful. But a big portion of that is really identifying: Is there security and regulatory fit? Is there a financial fit? Can we get some sort of return out of this investment we're making in this customer? And I absolutely saw that I had to learn the hard way and lose some very large deals. That got me thinking that I think there's a better way to to vet these opportunities.

During this interview, you will learn four things:

1. What B2B SaaS companies should look for beyond product-market fit to grow more efficiently.
2. What framework they use to drive their product strategy to build remarkable products.
3. How they avoid getting caught up in tech-stack rationalization.
4. How to expand market scope gradually while maintaining a narrow focus on the ideal buyer profile.

For more information about the guest from this week:

• Josh Ellars
• Website: OpenGTM

This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey to sustain in a heavily competitive market. My guest is Niklas Hanitsch, Co-founder and CEO of SECJUR.

Niklas is a tech entrepreneur on a Mission. He was an idealist punk who turned lawyer, then SaaS founder. He's got deep expertise in data privacy, compliance, and agile product development. And entered the prestigious Top 40 under 40 list by Capital Magazine in November 2023.

Over the years, he grew the belief that while data protection and compliance requirements are important, the implementation should not become a stumbling block for companies.

And that became the big idea behind SECJUR, an AI-driven compliance automation platform, which he founded in December 2017.

Their vision: A world where businesses are always compliant, but never have to think about it.

And this inspired me, and hence I invited Niklas to my podcast. We explore how personal tragedy grew into entrepreneurial drive. He shares how he bootstrapped the company towards growth, navigated fundraising during a recession, and built a resilient team culture from the start. Beyond that, he elaborates on his frameworks for strategic decision-making, hiring for values fit, and relentlessly delivering customer value. Last but not least he shares practical advice on how to stay motivated and sane in the crazy world of building a software business.

Here's one of his quotes:

"Bootstrapping was definitely something that made us successful because we had time to really focus on the business and not focus on fundraising, on report creating reports and stuff like this. So we learned a lot about what customers really want in that time, because we could spend all our time with customers."

During this interview, you will learn four things:

1. How Bootstrapping gave him an advantage you cannot get when you start your venture with VC backing.
2. His approach to staying ahead of the competition as the market gets more crowded.
3. His advice (having been a lawyer himself) on how to go about committing to contracts
4. His 3-step framework for hiring talent

For more information about the guest from this week:

• Niklas Hanitsch
• Website: SECJUR

This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey to finally solve the problem of managing all your personal and professional relationships. My guest is Matt Achariam, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Clay.

Matt has a diverse background in product development and design.

He was a principal at design agency FortySix, working with clients like Disney, BBC, Expedia, and the University of Pennsylvania, and held product roles at Custora (acquired by Amperity) and LayerVault (acquired by Tiny Capital).

He has a lifelong obsession with the craft of design, sparked by childhood curiosity about why certain objects elicit feelings of joy. This led him to question the status quo in relationship management software - and that's how the vision behind Clay was born.

In 2018, he and his co-founder, Zach Hamed, founded the company, an app for managing personal and professional relationships.

Their mission: to help people be more thoughtful and helpful with their relationships, ultimately helping them achieve more and be happier by putting others first.

And this inspired me, and hence I invited Matt to my podcast. We explore his journey of building Clay. Matt shares how he and his team create meaningful differentiation beyond just solid functionality. He elaborates how they gained early traction and created strong organic growth that enables them to now manage over 100 million relationships. Last but not least, Matt shares his insights on navigating tradeoffs, maintaining confidence in decision-making, and staying true to company values while scaling rapidly.

Here's one of his quotes:

Be very clear about the values and the lines that you will cross and won't cross because when things start speeding up, momentum is something very precious.

When you move really fast, you have to move with confidence. And if you don't have the confidence and that foundation, you're not going to be able to make decisions rapidly.

During this interview, you will learn four things:

1. His unconventional approach towards creating a "minimum remarkable product" instead of a "minimum viable product"
2. How they strengthen their differentiation by focusing on things other than just functionality, and where he focuses to find inspiration.
3. How they've managed to achieve all their growth to be entirely organic and driven by word-of-mouth
4. What signals, he in hindsight, wishes they had paid more attention to in order to grow even more.

For more information about the guest from this week:

• Matt Achariam
• Website: Clay

This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey to build a business that can survive crises and emerge stronger every time. My guest is Lee Rubin, founder and CEO of Confetti.

Lee is a visionary culture leader with over a decade of experience in B2B sales. In 2014 she founded Wekudo - a remote corporate event planning agency. The idea behind it came while working at ZocDoc, where she struggled with the bureaucracy and logistics of planning team-building events.

Soon after that, she founded Confetti, realizing that the problem could only be solved through a combination of technology and people (not just people).

Under Lee's leadership, Confetti achieved exponential 600% growth during the COVID-19 pandemic and grew it as the leading solution for virtual team-building through a relentless focus on quality experiences.

Their mission: to simplify event planning while empowering organizations to build stronger, happier, and more holistic teams through unforgettable shared experiences that make work life more memorable.

And this inspired me, and hence I invited Lee to my podcast. We explore her journey to build a successful B2B SaaS company in a period when most of her competitors ceased to exist. Lee shares her story about a remarkable pivot during Covid, and why she decided to do nothing when "back to work" kicked in again. She also shares how she wasted 3 valuable years at the start, and what she could have done differently to avoid that. Last but not least, she elaborates on what ingredients she doubles down on to build a product people just keep talking about.

Here's one of her quotes:

The main contributor to our success is that we built a platform that had a very strong form of agility. The platform can support various different use cases if we really want it to. It allowed us to pivot super quickly [during Covid]. The last invoice that we got from an in-person event and the first invoice that we got for a virtual was 10 days. We didn't spend time sitting in sadness that our events business was in shambles. We got right back to the drawing board, back to playing and having fun and trying to see what sticks - and the virtual events stuck.

During this interview, you will learn four things:

1. What she has done differently to survive during & post-COVID when other competitors closed their doors.
2. How she managed to pivot her entire business in less than 10 days when Covid started.
3. What she learned from niching down, where everyone else was widening the net - and how that played to their advantage.
4. How she's embedded delivering "wow factor" in every aspect of her company - and why this has become unnegotiable for her.

For more information about the guest from this week:

• Lee Rubin
• Website: Confetti

This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey to create a sticky and healthy B2B SaaS business. My guest is Emeric Ernoult, Founder and CEO of Agorapulse.

Emeric is a serial entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in social media and SaaS. He co-founded affinitiz, one of the first modern social network SaaS platforms in France in the early 2000s.

In 2010, he founded Agorapulse, a social media platform. He grew it from generating €150,000 in annual revenue to achieving the same figure every two days, without taking significant outside funding.

This makes Agorapulse an inspiring bootstrapped SaaS success story. Hence, I invited Emeric to my podcast. We explore his insights on what it takes to create a successful B2B SaaS company without having to rely on external funding. He shares his big lessons learned running the business through a PLG motion and explains why they've pivoted to a sales-led SaaS motion, thereby moving up the market. Last but not least, he elaborates on his approach to customer segmentation, creating measurable business value, and how to enable constant evolution

Here's one of his quotes:

"Do not raise money. VC firms and investors are going to tell you that you're going to get more than money... if you don't know how to leverage that money, you're basically just giving away part of your company for something that you're not going to get value from."

During this interview, you will learn four things:

1. Why you should prioritize investing in amazing customer support, especially when bootstrapping and the product is still evolving
2. How to go about hiring people that have the highest chance to bring your company success
3. What to focus on when you want to transition from PLG to a sales-led motion
4. His first principle when it comes to prioritizing features to create products people start talking about and keep talking about.

For more information about the guest from this week:

• Emeric Ernoult
• Website: Agora Pulse

This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey to turn a startup into a +$100M ARR growth business. My guest is Jim Yu, Founder & Exec Chair at BrightEdge

Jim Yu is the visionary. He started his career at Mercator Software (now IBM), serving as Director of Product Development, and then moved to Salesforce.com, where he was a Director of Product Management.

He graduated from university when he was 16 years old, and holds an MBA from Stanford University, a Master's in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia, and a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of South Dakota.

In 2007, he founded BrightEdge, where he's been at the helm as CEO for 16 years. He grew BrightEdge into a global leader, helping more than 8,500 of the world's largest brands drive measurable, predictable revenue from their websites and search engines

Their mission: to help marketers deliver content that resonates with their audience and drives business impact. More specifically, BrightEdge aims to transform online content into tangible business results, such as traffic, revenue, and engagement.

And this inspired me, and hence I invited Jim to my podcast. We explore his journey of building BrightEdge into a successful SaaS company that crossed the $100M ARR bar. He elaborates on his first principles when it comes to building core differentiators, being intentional about market choices, and setting clear milestones for each growth stage. Lastly, he shares his advice on managing go-to-market investments and staying driven by a strong mission to scale intelligently.

Here's one of his quotes

What really paid off was when we found the big box retail segment. So if you think about social networks, they have a lot of web pages that represent musicians or people or things like that. But on the retail side, they have a lot of products, they have a lot of categories. And if those show up well on search, it leads directly to purchases and revenue.

So the next use case we built into our technology was connecting the dots back to purchases and orders. And so then you could see, as you optimize for organic search, what was the impact on revenue, and then that's when we started to really get forth. We ended up getting most of the big retailers.

During this interview, you will learn four things:

1. Why he has been intentional about certain GTM techniques and how he's picked his verticals to bet on.
2. His first principle on making strategic choices that are aligned with the core capabilities and DNA of the company.
3. His approach to scaling, and when to step on the gas and when not.
4. How he defined their unfair advantage and what makes them different as a company

For more information about the guest from this week:

• Jim on LinkedIn
• Jim on Twitter
• Website: BrightEdge

This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey to solve the most challenging productivity challenge in Manufacturing: human action. My guest is Max Fischer, Founder and CEO of Deltia.

Max is a mechanical engineer. In 2014, he was a founding member of HackZurich, the largest hackathon Switzerland has ever seen.

In 2015, he co-founded Actyx and digitized 40+ factories. In this startup, he led product management, sales, and marketing teams.

Meanwhile, he has established himself as a thought leader in the space of digital transformation for the factory floor.

In November 2022, Max founded Deltia, a startup focused on helping factory operators track, analyze and improve efficiency by identifying the best possible processes and assisting workers with digital tools.

Their mission: to make human work in manufacturing more productive and less error-prone by taking out the guesswork.

And this inspired me, and hence I invited Max to my podcast. We explore what's broken in identifying productivity opportunities in manufacturing. Max explains how for the first time ever - this is possible. He shares some of his big lessons on building the company, especially when it comes to foundational questions like "who's it for" and 'what's it for' - and how that helped them remain highly focused.

He elaborates on his first principles for building the platform and how that helps them stay resilient and offer scalable solutions.

Here's one of his quotes

There are a lot of decisions that you take both on the technical level and what customers you're serving. Who is the user that you're trying to focus on? We decided quite early on to not specifically target the Toyota's of this world. The automotive OEMs are basically the best-run manufacturing companies in the world. There are use cases, obviously, also for technology, no doubt about that. But I think a big opportunity is to help the 98% of other factories to come to a similar level to where Toyota of Volkswagen are today.

During this interview, you will learn four things:

1. Why functionality is important - but not as important as system design
2. How to go about building for business scalability rather than just technical scalability of your solution.
3. Why the dream is not to help Toyota or Volkswagen - but companies much smaller and weaker than those brands.
4. What they are doing differently to accelerate stakeholder buy-in from IT, legal, and Unions.

For more information about the guest from this week:

• Max Fischer
• Website: Deltia