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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 everyoneMaster the art of curiosityBoth 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 problemWhat metric tells you most clearly whether you have product-market fitHow to test which customers are best before you commit to oneWhat your product gains when you stop serving segments that grow slowerGuest: 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 desirableAcknowledge you cannot please everyoneBoth 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 doesWhy moving upmarket needs hires who help you grow, not hires you growHow your lowest tier can fund the move upmarket and feed your pipelineHow one strategy turns twenty scattered marketing initiatives into resultsFor 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 curiosityAcknowledge you cannot please everyoneBoth 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 featureWhat changes when "what problem, for whom?" moves to the top of every feature documentHow your margin can grow when you put a smaller group of customers firstHow asking "solution or problem?" on support tickets trains a whole team to dig deeperFor 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 everyoneSell the idea, not the productBoth 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 profitableWhat changes when you name your weaknesses before the buyer finds themWhy your positioning is capping what you can chargeWhat decides whether your strongest trait helps or hurts the businessFor 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 possibilitiesMaster the art of curiosityBoth 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 rebuildHow your customers build the advantage you cannot build yourselfWhat one word in your positioning decides who walks awayHow AI changes where a good hire still beats an average oneFor 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 everyoneBoth 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 winWhat your customer is really buying when your service looks like a commodityWhen volume starts costing you more than it paysHow domain knowledge outlives the technology you build onFor 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 productBoth 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 unsolvedWhat changes in a deal when the buyer has no fallbackWhen to tell a customer "this is the maximum we will do"How to tell whether a pilot will lead anywhere before you commit the teamFor 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 everyoneAim to be different, not just betterBoth 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 decisionsWhat saying no protects when the market starts pulling you sidewaysWhen the bigger customer gives you more room instead of lessHow years of focus turn into the speed you need laterFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Dima Gutzeit, founder and CEO, LeapXpert Website: leapxpert.com

A story about picking a fight your biggest competitor cannot win. This episode is for founders who believe the only answer to a bigger player copying them is to build faster. Most founders fear the day the giant copies them. It happened to Cyril Golub, CEO of Jinnify — Amazon shipped what they'd built within months. He'd spent twenty years inside e-commerce, long enough to know how marketplaces actually make their money. So, his answer wasn't to beat them by building faster. This inspired me to invite Cyril to my podcast. We explore why the strongest position isn't the one you defend, but the one your competitor cannot afford to take. Cyril shares what twenty years inside e-commerce taught him about reading a competitor. You'll discover what he saw in Amazon's business model that decided how he competes. We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: Master the art of curiosity Aim to be different, not just betterBoth are chapters in The Remarkable Effect. Cyril's story proves that remarkable companies don't out-build the giant. They choose ground the giant cannot take without damaging itself. Here's one of Cyril's quotes that captures how he thinks about growth: "The company should be ready to change, probably completely change level by level, and the main limiter here is the mindset of the founder and CEO." By listening to this episode, you'll learn: Why the real limit on scaling sits in the founder's head, not the marketWhy two founders make better decisions than threeWhy the safest position is one your competitor can't copy without hurting itselfWhat to study when a platform starts building what you builtFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Cyril Golub, Founder and CEO of Jinnify Website: jinnify.ai

A story about what he kept, and what he cut. For SaaS founders whose growth has stalled and who can't tell whether the problem is the company or the plan. Most new CEOs tear down what they inherit. Martin Payne, CEO of TextUs, took a different path. He replaced the founder CEO in April 2020. Growth had flatlined, cash was burning, and he laid off a third of the company in his first year. The business is now at $20M. He'll tell you most of what got it there was already in the building. And this inspired me to invite Martin to my podcast. We explore why a stalled company has more going for it than anyone inside can see. Martin shares what he found in his first months, the hardest call he had to make, and a culture his employees wrote. You'll discover the one thing he did twice, six years apart, for the same reason. We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: Master the art of curiosity Offer something valuable AND desirableMartin's story proves that remarkable companies read the signs others stopped noticing. Here's one of Martin's quotes that captures how he sized up what he inherited: "I came into the company thinking this is not a turnaround situation. This is a fine-tune, refine situation. And so I just went in with the mindset of there's goodness here. Now let me understand more specifically where the goodness is. Let me understand where specifically things need to be removed or changed." By listening to this episode, you'll learn: Why a stalled company rarely needs the rebuild everyone assumesWhat intellectual honesty looks like when you inherit someone else's companyWhen retention tells you more about growth than new revenue doesHow to make culture stickFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Martin Payne, CEO of TextUs Website: textus.com Nice surprise this week: Feedspot ranked The Remarkable SaaS Podcast 17th in their Top 70 Tech Startup Podcasts. Thanks for listening — that's the only reason it's there.

A story about thinking harder while everyone builds faster. This episode is for founders wondering why shipping faster with AI hasn't made their product any better. Building has never been easier. That's exactly the problem. Alex David spent a decade in pricing — Simon-Kucher, then Segment — before founding unSurvey, an AI company G2 acquired last year. Today, he leads AI Solutions there. His worry is simple: the tools got cheap, but good judgment didn't. While everyone rushed to build, he kept asking the question most people skip ”Is this even worth building?” This inspired me, hence I invited Alex to my podcast. We explore why the founders who win aren't the ones building fastest — they're the ones who know what's worth building. Alex shares why he walked away from a company that was working to start another and what a decade in pricing taught him about worth. You'll discover why the price was never yours to set — and what that changes about everything you build. We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: Master the art of curiosity (trait 4)Create momentum (trait 8)Alex's journey is an excellent example of the mindset that goes behind how remarkable software companies build something people just keep talking about. Here's Alex's approach to deciding what to build and what not: "The price is what the price is to the customer; that's what it's worth to them. You have two options: You build a product that is profitable within that constraint, or you have to spend a lot of marketing dollars to educate the customer on why they're wrong, and why it should be worth more." By listening to this episode, you'll learn: Why asking why matters more now that building costs almost nothingWhat real momentum is made of — and why founders manufacture itWhy hope is what stops founders from pivoting in timeWhy acquisitions live or die on people, not termsFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Alex David, Founder and CEO of unSurvey. Today, GM of AI Solutions at G2 Website: g2.com (and g2.ai)

A story about the market everyone assumed was taken. This episode is for founders wondering how to find room in a market owned by giants. The biggest software market in the world looked fully taken. Mazy Dar, CEO of Here, found room in it anyway. He spent 26 years on one pain the giants' browsers aren't built around — a browser made for work, not the public internet. The world's biggest banks now run mission-critical work on it. And this inspired me to invite Mazy to my podcast. We explore how you find room in a category owned by Google and Microsoft — and why the slice they leave open turned out to be sizeable. Mazy shares why he named the company after an idea rather than a product, and what he learned serving the most locked-down desktops in the world. 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 productMazy's journey proves that remarkable companies don't fight the giants head-on. They find the ground where they can become the only logical option. Here's one of Mazy's quotes that captures how he thinks about a problem hiding in plain sight: "This is not like a crazy concept. What's crazy is that in this one category of product, the web browser that's the most widely used in the world, it's the one area where the one size fits all seems to be the thing that everyone assumes is the correct answer." By listening to this episode, you'll learn: Why holding one problem for years can beat chasing the next trendWhat it really costs to let big customers design your product for youWhen to stop building only what your founding segment demandsWhy selling the idea outlasts selling the productFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Mazy Dar, co-founder & CEO of Here Website: here.io Mazy's email: [email protected]

A story about what compounds when you don't take the shortcut. This episode is for sales-led SaaS founders who invested to grow fast but now realize they forgot to grow their differentiation. Most software companies buy speed — they build on someone else's foundation — and never count the cost. Renaud Charvet, co-founder and US CEO of Ringover, took the opposite path. He started in 2005 selling cheap international calls, watched Skype and WhatsApp kill that business, and built something new from scratch. Bootstrapped for fifteen years, then raised to expand — and moved his family to the US to make it work. He's never once taken the shortcut. And this inspired me to invite Renaud to my podcast. We explore how choosing ownership over speed creates an edge competitors can't copy. Renaud shares how he thinks about what's worth owning, where to focus, and what actually makes customers stay. You'll discover why the slow, expensive choice compounded into something no shortcut could match. We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: – Aim to be different, not just better – Acknowledge you cannot please everyone Renaud's journey proves remarkable companies don't copy the playbook — they own what others rent and let the advantage compound. Here's one of Renaud's quotes that captures how he thinks about building an edge: "Focus — it might feel slower in the short term, but it compounds much faster in the long term." By listening to this episode, you'll learn: What you give up the day you build on someone else's stackWhat changes when you stop selling features and start selling outcomesWhat he did when the US market ignored himWhy the customers easiest to win are the ones who leaveFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Renaud Charvet, co-founder and US CEO of Ringover Website: ringover.com

A story about choosing the one thing no competitor would copy. This episode is for sales-led SaaS founders stuck in a crowded category, wondering how to escape the price-and-features war In a crowded category, most founders just try to win it. Stan Markuze, CEO of Balance, did something else. Five companies in, with two auto-tech exits and a decade in real estate, he'd seen what a price war looks like. So when seven companies were selling the same treasury tool, he refused to be the seventh. And this inspired me to invite Stan to my podcast. We explore how refusing to compete on everyone else's terms creates an edge no rival can copy. Stan shares why he walked away from a feature-and-price war, and what turns a quiet user into a vocal one. You'll discover what happened to his sales cycle once buying his product stopped being a debate. We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: – Aim to be different, not just better – Turn customers into fans Stan's story proves remarkable companies don't fight harder inside the category—they change what they get measured on. Here's one of Stan's quotes that captures how he thinks about the standard SaaS model: "We turned the business model upside down. Usually, you pay an annual SaaS fee for a treasury management product. What we do is, if people sweep cash through our platform, for those who sweep a certain threshold, we would actually give them the treasury management system at no cost, because we're able to monetize the automatic sweeps." By listening to this episode, you'll learn: Why removing friction you can't see beats chasing growth you canWhat makes an ROI concrete enough to close on the first callWhy the metric you stop tracking matters as much as the one you keepHow a tight niche turns happy customers into a referral flywheelFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Stan Markuze, CEO of Balance Website: balancecash.io

A story about choosing the harder fight on purpose. This episode is for SaaS founders wondering why adding more features to their niche product isn't creating the edge it used to. Most niche SaaS races to add features—and wonders why margins shrink. Martin Gourdeau, CEO of Vacation Tracker, took a different path. After running Workleap as President and GM, he took a year off to study what's actually changing in software—then chose a 22-person bootstrapped company over another large stage. And he didn't pick Vacation Tracker by accident. He picked it because he believes the next wave of software will be won by a very different kind of company. And this inspired me to invite Martin to my podcast. We explore what he saw in that year off—and why it shaped a very different bet on what wins next. Martin shares why a small bootstrapped company now has an edge most large companies will never get back, why he changed the one number that decides when his whole team gets a raise, and what kind of SaaS he thinks AI will quietly destroy. We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: – Aim to be different, not just better – Create NEW value possibilities Martin's journey proves that the next wave of remarkable software companies won't look like the last. Here's something Martin observed that explains where he thinks the real opportunity sits: "High performers are notoriously bad at managing their energy levels because of this obsession to perform." By listening to this episode, you'll learn: Why most SaaS companies are competing in the wrong layerWhy ARR-per-head changes the behavior of every employeeWhat high performers get wrong about their own energyWhy delegation to agents is the skill most leaders lackFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Martin Gourdeau, CEO of Vacation Tracker Website: https://vacationtracker.io