14 Minutes of SaaS
E122 – Trustpilot CEO Founder Peter Mühlmann – 3 of 3 – Market beats Team beats Product
Episode 122 of 14 minutes of SaaS – Trustpilot CEO Founder Peter Mühlmann – 3 of 3 – chats with AppSelekt CEO Stephen Cummins in Lisbon: "Market beats the team, beats the product. In the sense that picking the right market is often more important than anything else. But then getting the right team in place is more important than you having a good idea or not because it's the initial idea ... it's going to evolve. It's not like you’re sitting in the bathtub with the rubber duck and saying this is what the company is and what it's going to do. It is rather the sum of a 1,000 ideas. And then 990 of them are not yours"…
E121 – Trustpilot CEO Founder Peter Mühlmann – 2 of 3 – Embracing Negative Reviews
Episode 121 of 14 minutes of SaaS – Trustpilot CEO Founder Peter Mühlmann – 2 of 3 – chats with AppSelekt CEO Stephen Cummins in Lisbon: "It’s ok to get negative reviews. Actually negative reviews can be more valuable for you than positive reviews ... We did an AB split test where we're showing consumers a page with one negative review. And the other page has zero reviews. And then we do a split test that says “so which one are people more likely to buy from? And people are far, far more likely to buy from the one with one negative review ... The notion that, 'oh, you have to be perfect!' is actually not believed by your customers"
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E120 – Trustpilot CEO Founder Peter Holten Muhlmann – 1 of 3 – From the Basement
Episode 120, 1 of 3. Trustpilot CEO Founder Peter Mühlmann interviewed by Stephen Cummins, CEO & Founder of AppSelekt for 14 Minutes of SaaS. "I sold a lot on the eBays of the world and then I thought, actually I would like to start my own website also ... nobody bought because they suspected that it was just Peter sitting in a basement with his friend, two kids, selling electronics ... that was it was actually true. And I didn't want to refer them to the eBays of the world because all my competitors were there. So I thought, why isn't there a way where I can gather my customers' opinions and show it in a credible way so that people trust my business"…
E119 – Braze CEO CoFounder Bill Magnuson – 2 of 2 – Mobile is Personal
"If something needs to be audacious and if something needs to be comprehensive in order for it to really make the change, you gotta figure out a way to invest in that. And I think that, you know, when you look at … a great example is looking at Space X where they have this big audacious goal but they’ve figured out, you know, in… in as lean as you can get in the rocket world. Like ‘How do we actually sell something to the market so that we can go in and we can learn? And we can fund the thing that is the big audacious thing as well?’" Bill Magnuson, CEO CoFounder of Braze…
E118 – Braze CEO CoFounder Bill Magnuson – 1 of 2 – Reading the Tea Leaves
"Fundamentally, this problem that we’re trying to solve which is; 'How do we understand people better while they’re interacting with the brand in order to, kind of, communicate with them in a way that’s more valuable to them?' That’s a fundamental human reality and it’s one that’s not tied to any particular generation of technology. And it’s also one that’s not tied to a category of business" Bill Magnuson, CEO & CoFounder of Braze…
E117 – App Annie CEO Ted Krantz – 3 of 3 – Adding Lustre to the Gem
App Annie CEO Ted Krantz in conversation with Stephen Cummins - part 3 of 3. "Keep your head down and get it done. There's too much of a tendency today to self-promote, to push and ask for the constant, you know, next level. And I think you have to … there's a mix of make it happen and let it happen .. And then you've got to round yourself out .. Sometimes executives, even at the highest levels, they have a very difficult time balancing execution and strategy"…
E116 – App Annie CEO Ted Krantz – 2 of 3 – SaaS to DaaS
App Annie CEO Ted Krantz in conversation with Stephen Cummins - part 2 of 3. "So you have the full footprint of mobile performance. Then what we’re doing is we’re moving from metrics that we do traditionally like downloads, revenue, monthly active users, daily active users; to strategic C-Suite metrics that we can now calculate with these two datasets … that get us to customer acquisition costs, lifetime value, return on ad spend"…
E115 – App Annie CEO Ted Krantz – 1 of 3 – Forged in B2B Software Sales
App Annie CEO Ted Krantz in conversation with Stephen Cummins - part 1 of 3. "I've had three legends that I've been pretty close to. Craig Conway early on at Peoplesoft, you know. And then I moved over with Tom Siebel at C3. I’m very close to Bill McDermott still today at SAP"…
E114 – Bob Moore – 3 of 3 – All about the Network
Bob Moore, CEO & Co-founder of Crossbeam, in conversation with Stephen Cummins: "Start with something that you know and you've empathy for and you think you can have some success behind, and that success will propel you potentially into that thing being great and huge"…
E113 – Bob Moore – 2 of 3 – Selling it Twice
Bob Moore, CEO & Co-founder of Crossbeam, in conversation with Stephen Cummins: "80 percent of companies say 'we are a platform'. We can't all be platforms. A platform is like the baseline thing on which everything here should be built. It's a mesh of these companies self-identifying as platforms, but the real word should be 'ecosystem'"…
E112 – Bob Moore – 1 of 3 – The Hammer that found a Nail
Bob Moore, CEO & Co-founder of Crossbeam, in conversation with Stephen Cummins: "I knew I wanted to start a company before I knew what company I wanted to start. And that is a really problematic way to get into it, because I think a lot of people end up in this mode where you're a hammer looking for a nail"…
E111 – Christian Gabriel – 240 Degree Decision
Christian Gabriel talking with Stephen Cummins "They started off saying, ‘You know, yeah, we'd love to build Capdesk. If we can get, you know, 15 percent of your company in warrants, we'll build it.’ And once we built the prototype and our second funding round came up, I then asked them, you know, how much would it cost to hire two of you to go full time? And they gave me this ridiculous price. So then I said, 'You want to be equal co-founders, then? ... And they said ‘Yes. Wow!’ And the first thing that happened with equal co-founders was, ‘Christian, We need to rebuild the whole platform.’"…
E110 – Ilan Twig – 4 of 4 – Halcyon Days
TripActions Co-founder Ilan Twig in conversation with Stephen Cummins: "When I worked for HP, there was no goal and everything was certain. And I'm just thinking about it right now. But that was the reality back then. That's why I was a walking dead. At least for me, I need to have something to aim for. And I need to wake up in the morning knowing that I need to solve something. I need to challenge myself with something. Be true to yourself … because when you start masking it with whatever bullshit, the chances that something good will come out of it is so low … it’s zero actually."…
E109 – Ilan Twig – 3 of 4 – Fantastic Voyage
TripActions Co-founder Ilan Twig in conversation with Stephen Cummins: "Expenses are a pain in the butt. What you optimise for when you travel for work is completely different than what you optimise for when you travel for leisure. We thought if there is a way that we could then make people think about how they make their decisions when it comes to corporate travel more similar to how they do it when they book their leisure travel, there is an interesting opportunity for saving money for the company."…
E108 – Ilan Twig – 2 of 4 – Stream to Ocean
TripActions Co-founder Ilan Twig in conversation with Stephen Cummins: "We sold StreamOnce, but I didn’t really feel that I filled a desire of building a company in the valley. It’s a nine month journey. So really there was nothing. We knew that the next thing would have to be big. And in order for that to be big, the market must be big. You know, there are markets you can have the most amazing idea, but if the market is small and you are the most successful with no competition, it will still be small"…
E107 – Ilan Twig – 1 of 4 – Loving the Machine
TripActions Co-founder Ilan Twig in conversation with Stephen Cummins: "I never try to impress. I always assume I know less. And I think this created space for wonderful relationships. And relationships are so important when you start a company."…
E106 – Georg Petschnigg – 6 of 6 – Perpetually Meaningful Movement
Georg Petschnigg in conversation with Stephen Cummins at the Web Summit in Lisbon: "Start with the team ... Because like, who knows where are things gonna go? Like, you want to be with people you like .. that you learn from, right? Because there will be highs, there will be lows. And there might not even be light at the end of the tunnel. But you will enjoy the journey if you enjoy the people that you’re with. So it’s like you’re already a winner no matter what happens if, you know, if you have the right team"…
E105 – Georg Petschnigg – 5 of 6 – New and Old Amsterdam
Georg Petschnigg, in conversation with Stephen Cummins: "Having a tool for great thinking - Paper. Having a great tool to see inspiration and hold onto it - Collect. Having a tool to show, you know, your work -Paste. Having a great tool to deliver your ideas – Transfer. Right. So, we have a tool for thinking, seeing, showing and delivering. These are sort of the pillars of the creative process.And that's an incredibly exciting proposition, right? Because the world hasn't...doesn't understand that this exists yet. But it does. Like, we built it!"…
E104 – Georg Petschnigg – 4 of 6 – Dancing with Big Tech
Having a business that has a hybrid business model where you can counter and interact with your consumer … either with free or subscription. That's what makes it so powerful because you're actually … I think WeTransfer is one of the few companies that can dance with the big tech companies. But can do it authentically, because we don't we do not depend on their distribution.…
E103 – Georg Petschnigg – 3 of 6 – Beautifully Obvious, Fifty Three to WeTransfer
Why did Bas and the team actually build WeTransfer? Well because they wanted to get behind great ideas. Okay? That's why it exists. Right? It's not to send the file. It is to make a client happy … to get like your music out … to deliver the great video! That's why they got into this! It’s the same reasons why we got started with Fifty Three! We got into it because people have those ideas locked in your head, and you have to get them out. And that's sort of where we then, you know, start thinking about … well, what if it's not about just sending files? But it's really about the transfer of ideas. It's about the movement of ideas. We want to be the company that's behind every great idea.…
E102 – Georg Petschnigg – 2 of 6 – New Found Liberty
And, you know, the name, you know, is very much inspired from like working with industrial designers, but also like being familiar with the body. The length of average arms reaches Fifty Three centimetres. That’s the space between head, heart and blank canvas. It's in that circumference where, like, people do their best work. And we wanted to make sure that our tools, which are essential to us for creation, would fit into that space. That’s essentially where in one number, we essentially wrapped up, like mapped to the human body what we set out to with Fifty Three.…
E101 – Georg Petschnigg – 1 of 6 – Not a Real Nowhere Man
Part 1 of a 6-part series for 14 Minutes of SaaS. Georg Petschnigg in conversation with Stephen Cummins. "It's funny because my childhood rebellion then actually ended up… you know, leaving that sort of entrepreneurial spirit of the household home and then joining a major American corporation. So I ended up joining Microsoft out of college then and starting my career there. And that was more like, yeah, that's …. my rebellion was working for the man!"…
E100 – Godard Abel – Infinite Aisle of Buyer Experiences – 3 of 3
"You do need obviously commitment and perseverance – so obviously only pick an idea you really willing to almost die for. Because you will have struggles, every one of my companies had struggles. And so really having that belief that this really should come into the world is super important - so you can get through the tough times."…
E99 – Godard Abel – Data, not Magic – 2 of 3
"G2, at the beginning there was a lot of skepticism in the first couple of years ... the first 2 million bucks we have to fund ourselves ... VCs were like “I get the concept, but are enterprise users going to share? … and how long is this gonna take you?” And we couldn't generate any revenue either for a couple of years. We had no metrics. So we were fortunate, we could do it because we believed in it so much"…
E98 – Godard Abel – Solving a problem close to home – 1 of 3
"I started a company in Silicon Valley, but we decided to move to Chicago partly because we had to go the organic road. We had to save money ... So I kind of realised I more, back then, strategy. I had been a consultant MBA, but I was too theoretical about business and I realized, ‘Wow, the only way we're going to grow organically … we have to close the next deal on the table.’ And then I just shifted my priority to like, ‘Hey, what's the next steps to close the next deal?’ And I'm just gonna focus on that kind of like tunnel vision and kept doing that … and then started closing more deals"…
E97 – Eric Boduch – Co-founder of Pendo – Love your Product – 2 of 2
"As founders, we all had product backgrounds … we all understood this pain … like we all had this issue of how do you get data about how your software is being used? ... We install a snippet of code and then it just works. It captures everything that's like super empowering to me as a product manager" Eric Boduch, co-Founder of Pendo…
E96 – Eric Boduch – Co-founder of Pendo – Small Town Exit – 1 of 2
"We looked at each other one night when we were working rather late, which we had a tendency to do. Right. Do we really want to run a consulting company? We looked at each other and we;re both like .. No! So then we start thinking, well, what do we want to do? And from that we said; ‘Well, we really like the idea of building a product!’" Eric Boduch, Co-founder of Pendo…
E95 – Harrison Rose, CoFounder & Chief Customer Officer at Paddle – Speedboat for Scaleups – 2 of 2
"The US for us is a very large market, if not the largest. And they get to benefit from the luxury that they're existing in a huge market in their own right. They don't have to think about Europe until they're quite late in their journey. But per your comments in doing so, they grow a lot slower than anyone else [internationally]. And I think one way we're encouraging to think about that earlier is by providing them with the infrastructure that they can just turn on" Harrison Rose, CoFounder & Chief Customer Officer at Paddle in conversation with Stephen Cummins of 14 Minutes of SaaS…
E94 – Harrison Rose, CoFounder & Chief Customer Office of Paddle – Schoolboy Entrepreneurs – 1 of 2
"The same day that I picked up my A-level results, I drove straight to Paddle's first office for our very first day at Paddle. The reason why a SaaS company should either win or lose shouldn't be how well they’ve invested in some of their billing infrastructure … or whether they've done that right or not. It should be on the quality of their products, and the value of that delivery." Harrison Rose, CoFounder & Chief Customer Office of Paddle in conversation with Stephen Cummins, AppSelekt founder & CEO…
E93 – Michael Litt, CEO & coFounder of Vidyard – Pruning the Rosebush – 2 of 2
"I realised in the process of hiring and going from 50 to 200 people, and taking really good individual contributors and making them managers … we didn't really think about firing. We didn't think about the negative aspect of that and basically pruning the rosebush ...... [on the reverse freemium] "we try to provide as much valuable value as possible to those end users for free, and then have discussions about upgrading to other features over time. If they never do, that's totally fine because they're using us versus a competitor" Michael Litt, CEO and coFounder of video hosting platform Vidyard…
E92 – Michael Litt, CEO & coFounder of Vidyard – Blackberry Ice Cream – 1 of 2
"YouTube on Blackberry's website was a bit of a challenge because a YouTube player functions as an outbound link to YouTube's website - which is an ad monetised platform …. that's how they make money. If your competitors are smart, they can advertise against the videos you have on your homepage". Michael Litt, CEO & co-Founder of Vidyard. Solving this challenge for Blackberry (v. Apple) was the birth of his scaleup, video hosting platform Vidyard…
E91 – Hande Cilingir, Insider CEO & Co-founder – 3 of 3 – Surrounded by Good People
Part 3 of 3 episodes with Hande Cilinger, CEO & Co-founder of Insider. in conversation with Stephen Cummins in Hong Kong. She talks about the importance of founders developing company culture and finding good people that align with the same core beliefs and principles…
E90 – Hande Cilingir, Insider CEO & Co-founder – 2 of 3 – Evolution of Insider
This is part 2 of 3. Recorded at RISE in HK, Hande Cilingir, Insider CEO & Co-founder in conversation with Stephen Cummins. We learn how Insider got product market fit, and how they’ve scaled. We get a fascinating perspective on Turkish history, and she discusses work-life balance for founders…
E89 – Hande Cilingir, Insider CEO & Co-founder – 1 of 3 – Born Entrepreneur
1 of 3 with Stephen Cummins chatting to Hande Cilingir, CEO & Co-founder of Insider, a growth management platform for digital marketers. We hear about Hande's humble background in Turkey, the influence of her parents, her education, and the influences of London and Shanghai…
E88 – Anna Gong, Perx CEO – 3 of 3 – Raising the Bar
3 of 3 recorded at RISE HK, Anna Gong, the CEO & Board Member of Perx tells Stephen Cummins about being bullied in school growing up as a Chinese immigrant in Florida. She talks about how the perceived difficulty of entry into south-east Asia actually represents an opportunity. Anna also reflects on what keeps her motivated, and people that influenced her…
E87 – Anna Gong, Perx CEO – 2 of 3 – Drowning in Pipeline
2 of 3. Anna Gong, the CEO & Board Member of Perx in conversation with Stephen Cummins. Anna talks about escaping her lucrative corporate straight-jacket to a baptism of fire in Perx - where she pivoted to turn the company right side up. She also explains how she couldn’t hire people of the right standard from old-school software companies…
E86 – Anna Gong, Perx CEO – 1 of 3 – Never give up!
1 of 3. In RISE HK, Stephen Cummins chats with Anna Gong, the CEO of Perx- an enterprise B2B SaaS company using machine learning to augment customer loyalty. She has strong self belief is an arch creator of hyper-growth. She's moved from Guangzhou (China) to Florida to many cities in Silicon Valley to Singapore to Japan. As CEO, Anna practically re-founded Perx…
E85 – Larry Gadea, Envoy CEO & Founder – 3 of 3 – Make Boring Exciting!
We find out why it’s great to look for the most boring problems imaginable, and then set about making the solution sexy in order to attract the most talented people out there to the company. Final part of a 3 part mini-series with Stephen Cummins interviewing Larry Gadea, CEO & Co-Founder of Envoy for 14 Minutes of SaaS.…
E84 – Larry Gadea, Envoy CEO & Founder – 2 of 3 – a Trojan Horse
Larry describes Envoy as a Trojan Horse to “get into people’s offices though the front desk and through the visitor sign in to the rest of the office.” 2nd of a 3 part mini-series with Stephen Cummins interviewing Larry Gadea, CEO & Co-Founder of Envoy for 14 Minutes of SaaS. Larry reveals why his Trojan Horse strategy has turned his initially simple start-up idea into a platform for upgrading the office experience.
#14MoS…
E83 – Larry Gadea, Envoy CEO & Founder – 1 of 3 – from Ceaușescu to Caduceus, Crossing Thresholds
Of all the great people Stephen interviewed for 14 Minutes of SaaS, CEO & Founder of Envoy, Larry Gadea, is the one that crossed the most thresholds (and facilitated the crossing of them of course) - from crossing land borders to entering offices to rapidly removing roadblocks on his entrepreneurial journey. Larry takes us through his early days in Google, Shopify and Twitter. He explains that while a clear value prop and a consistent user experience has been important in turning Envoy’s brand into a hyper-growth software meme. Episode 1 of 3.…
E82 – Winnie Lee, COO & Co-founder at Appier – 2 of 2 – 72 Hour Work Week
Concluding episode of a 2-part 14 Minutes of SaaS conversation in RISE Hong Kong - Stephen Cummins interviews Winnie Lee, COO and Co-founder of Appier. Winnie, a self-confessed workaholic, tells us why she’s happy to work 72 hours a week. She also explains why she believes Taiwan is a great choice of country in which to start up a software company…
E81 – Winnie Lee, COO & Co-founder at Appier – 1 of 2 – Molecular to Artificial Intelligence
Stephen Cummins interviews Winnie Lee, COO and Co-founder of Appier – an AI driven platform that helps enterprise scale B2B entities make better marketing decisions.HQ’d in the city of Taipei, Appier also has offices in japan and Singapore, and has raised 80M USD since this interview. The newspaper Taiwan News recently claimed that Appier is a new unicorn. Part 1 of a 2 episode interview that took place at RISE, Hong Kong
#14MoS…
E80 – Sean Percival, CMO at Whereby, Ex 500 Startups. 5 of 5. The Rocket’s Red Button
Episode 80 of 14 Minutes is the final one of a 5-part mini-series. Stephen Cummins chats with Sean Percival, CMO at Whereby, formerly of 500 Startups and Myspace. "I talked a little bit about why Myspace lost. We were not narrow. We were in every vertical you ever could be in. So, in the early stage, you have to be ruthless about doing one thing great and not many things kind of okay ... I think this is where a lot of founders struggle, because they're smart people … they have so many ideas"…
E79 – Sean Percival, CMO at Whereby, Ex 500 Startups. 4 of 5. Freedom to Thrive
Episode 79 of 14 Minutes of SaaS is the fourth instalment of a 5-part mini-series. Stephen Cummins chats with Sean Percival, CMO at Whereby, formerly of 500 Startups and Myspace. "We're trying not to allow [Whereby] to become a large feature, bloated product, which is what happened to Skype, what happened to WebEx, and happening to so many these products. Zoom feels get might be going down that path .. I'm going to be a thorn in their side. And if they're not thinking about us, they will be soon"…
E78 – Sean Percival, CMO at Whereby, Ex 500 Startups. 3 of 5. Loving Life & Janteloven in Oslo
Episode 78 of 14 Minutes of SaaS is the third part of a 5-episode mini-series. Stephen Cummins chats with Sean Percival, CMO at Whereby, formerly of 500 Startups and Myspace. "Dave McClure is slight controversial in some cases, but still a really good guy. Dave invested in Wittlebee ... And he said to me ‘I'm going to invest 50K dollars ... I don't think this is gonna work out though. And if it doesn't work out and you need a job, I want you to contact me first, that's all I ask.’"…
E77 – Sean Percival, CMO at Whereby, Ex 500 Startups. 2 of 5. Small is Beautiful too
Episode 77 of 14 Minutes of SaaS is the second instalment of a 5-part mini-series. Stephen Cummins chats with Sean Percival, CMO at Whereby, formerly of 500 Startups and Myspace. "That Wittlebee was a great business ... a year into it, we were making almost 3M dollars in annual revenue. Recurring revenue. And so it was going good, but the VCs were just like ‘Go! Go! Go!’ And I'm like, ‘Wait a minute. My inventory is breaking. My supply chain is not like ironed out. Like we're growing too fast.’ And they're like ‘Perfect. Keep doing that! And here's a little bit more money!’"…
E76 – Sean Percival, CMO at Whereby, Ex 500 Startups. 1 of 5. Inventing the Social Graph
Episode 76 of 14 Minutes is the first of a 5-part mini-series. Stephen Cummins chats with Sean Percival, CMO at Whereby, formerly of 500 Startups and Myspace. "Myspace was a cultural phenomenon. It was on the news every night. It was everyone's top. We were the first to kind of build the social graph - which everything is built on now. You know, Facebook, Linked, everything has a social graph. And we really started around that too. So, I mean it was everywhere. It was unavoidable .. Facebook were big data smart. And we were data dumb. We just didn't know really what was going on there. This is a big reason that Facebook won"…
E75 – Jonathan Anguelov, COO & Co-Founder of Aircall. 4 of 4. Unicorn Desires
E75 - Part 4 and concluding episode of a mini-series with Jonathan Anguelov, co-founder and COO of Aircall. In this final episode we find out about Jonathan’s beliefs regarding a lot of faster developing tech areas – and, more importantly, why they should be adopted and introduced into the business with caution. And - he has some amazing advice for anyone seeking to start a business.…
E74 – Jonathan Anguelov, COO & Co-Founder of Aircall. 3 of 4. Sales Fordism.
E74 - Part 3 of a 4-part mini-series with Jonathan Anguelov, co-founder and COO of Aircall. Jonathan doesn’t see VC rounds as reasons to celebrate, but he does see VC as a no-brainer if the ambition is both huge and urgent – and his vision is to build the future of telephony in less than 10 years. He reveals a love for open office working - and explains why he believes in ever-increasing employee specialisation and Sales Fordism as they take on the challenge of onboarding 10 new employees a week.…
E73 – Jonathan Anguelov, COO & Co-Founder of Aircall. 2 of 4. VC is about Accelerated Execution.
E73 - Part 2 of a 4-part mini-series with Jonathan Anguelov, co-founder and COO of Aircall.
In this episode Jonathan talks about growing up in Paris with an inspiring Mum who immigrated from Bulgaria and became a business person, giving Jonathan a front row seat into the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur. It didn’t put him off because he started his career as an entrepreneur while still in university, aged 20.…
E72 – Jonathan Anguelov, COO & Co-Founder of Aircall. 1 of 4. Mission to Integrate with all SaaS Apps
Episode 72 – Part 1 of a 4-part mini-series with Jonathan Anguelov, co-founder and COO of Aircall in conversation with Stephen Cummins. Founded in Paris in 2014, it’s the only cloud phone system that has built integrations into 100 different SaaS applications in 2019. Its mission is to unlock the power of voice, specifically the power of telephone calls through integration the Intercoms, Salesforces, Zendesks, gong.io’s and freshdesks of today. It's valuation is already north of 250M USD…
E71 – Phil Chambers, CEO & Co-Founder of Peakon. 2 of 2. Take off! Becoming Niklas Östberg’s Delivery Hero
Part 2 and concluding episode of Phil Chambers, CEO & Co-founder of employee engagement software leader Peakon chats with Stephen Cummins. We go much deeper into the value that Peakon actually introduces into the world – and how things like contextual learning targets can improve management teams more effectively and how comparatively high Peakon numbers can be used to attract employees to your company…
E70 – Phil Chambers, CEO & Co-Founder of Peakon. 1 of 2. The Long Goodbye
Phil Chambers, CEO & Co-founder of employee engagement software leader Peakon chats with Stephen Cummins. Founded in 2014, it’s raised $68M in investment. Employee numbers have gone from 80 to 230 in 24 months. Phil tells us his story leading up to this startup and how Peakon can detect whether your best staff are thinking of leaving up to 250 days in advance…
E69: Harry Glaser, CMO & GM of SiSense, ex Periscope Data CEO & Co-founder – Start with the Right Co-Pilot
Harry really underlines the value of finding an amazing co-founder - his talented room-mate in college for 4 years, Tom O'Neil. He started his career in Google in product management and that was a very formative experience for him. Since this interview Harry’s company Periscope was acquired by SiSense and now he’s the General Manager and CMO there.…
E68: Mike Molinet, COO & Co-founder of Branch – Deep Linking Consumer App Pain to B2B SaaS Bliss
E68: Mike Molinet, COO and Co-founder of Branch.io
Mike is a former volunteer firefighter, a fan of building and failing fast, and now the co-founder of a hyper-growth B2B SaaS scaleup. He tells the story about how deep linking and mobile growth platform Branch evolved from a consumer app.…
E67: Nicolas Dessaigne, CEO & Co-founder at Algolia – Developers are Heroes!
In the WebSummit in Lisbon we interview, for the 2nd time, Nicolas Dessaigne, CEO & Co-founder of enterprise search platform Algolia. For Nicolas developers are the new heroes and they have a big influence on the buying decision for Algolia. The company is in the news having raised $110M after the interview we did. He was the 2nd person we’d ever interviewed. Check out episode 2 of 14 Minutes of SaaS if you’re interested in company culture.…
E66: Peter Reinhardt, Segment CEO & Co-founder – the World doesn’t Give a Shit
E63: Peter Reinhardt, CEO and Co-founder of Segment. Since this interview Peter Reinhardt, CEO and Co-founder of Segment, and his team have raised another 175M USD to bring total funding to to $284 million and a valuation of over 1.5B. He validated an idea he was trying to kill by… Read More…
E65: Adi Azaria, Workiz CEO & Sisense Co-founder – Growth Hacking in Red Oceans
Adi Azaria, Workiz CEO & Sisense Co-founder; Growth Hacking in Red Oceans.
Stephen Cummins met Adi for a second time in the Web Summit and it was all change. He had navigated the difficult path of separation from a business intelligence rocketship SiSense, which he’d co-founded, to falling in love with the startup world again, and finding his latest passion in field service scheduling software Workiz. If you’re interested in hearing more about Adi’s formative years, tune into episode 8 of 14 Minutes of SaaS … although recorded early in the life of the podcast, it is one of the episodes that has had the highest listenership.…
E64: Polina Montano, Job Today Co-Founder – 3 of 3 – a Tech Star is Born
Polina Montano, Job Today Co-Founder – 3 of 3 – a Tech Star is Born A Tech Star is Born – Polina goes deeper into Job Today and discusses the changes that have occurred in the company and the reason why it can be a motor for economic growth by… Read More…
E63: Polina Montano, Job Today Co-Founder – 2 of 3 – Luxembourg – Doyenne of Retail leaves her Shell
Episode 2 of 3 in the mini – series (episode 63 of 14 Minutes of SaaS) In Luxembourg by now – A multiple prize winning doyenne of Retail leaves her prized fashion store and works in an all conuming hard core retail position for Shell managing 6 petrol stations with… Read More…
E62: Polina Montano, Job Today Co-Founder – 1 of 3 – Post Perestroika St Petersburg to Amsterdam
This is the first episode of a 3 part series with Polina Montano, Co-founder of Job Today interviewed by Stephen Cummins. Previously interviewed way back in episode 3, this conversation is a deeper and more personal dive into who Polina is, the challenges she faced in Russia, her adventures abroad and ultimately how she became a major tech founder…
E61: Martin Henk, Co-founder of Pipedrive. Focus, Validate, Say No!
Martin Henk grew up in a small place in Estonia and ultimately became Co-founder and former CPO (Chief Product Officer) of a certain well known rocket-ship known as PipeDrive. He talks about the importance of product validation as early as possible, and about how entrepreneurs and product builder need to stay focused and clear and avoid distractions. In conversation with Stephen Cummins.…
E60: Bridget Harris, Co-founder and CEO of YouCanBook.me – 2 of 2, Nailing a Remote Culture
Bridget Harris, Co-founder and CEO of YouCanBookMe interviewed by Stephen Cummins. Bridget talks hiring remote first people and when it comes to founders … she says they need to be alive, intentional, patient and prepared to land planes in the dark – over and over again.…
E59: Bridget Harris, Co-founder and CEO of YouCanBook.me – 1 of 2 – My VC is Viral Cycling
CEO & Co-founder of YouCanBook.me Bridget Harris chatting with Stephen Cummins. She chats about her history and colourful CV – from Covent Garden busker to film and television to a very successful career in politics to serial product creator with her husband and co-founder Keith, to bootstrapping YouCanBook.me - appointment scheduling SaaS…
E58: Patrick Campbell, Founder and CEO of Profitwell. 3 of 3, Ambition
Episode 3 of a 3 part interview with Patrick Campbell, SaaS pricing guru and CEO & Founder of Profitwell, chatting with Stephen Cummins. reveals his ambition in 2 ways. Firstly he opines that the sort of work-life balance delivered to employees by the Basecamp guys is really tough if you want to build a very large company. Secondly he sees VC funding as a tool that he’ll use at some point in the future. #14MoS…
E57: Patrick Campbell, Founder and CEO of Profitwell. 2 of 3, Last One off the Ship
Patrick Campbell, SaaS pricing guru and CEO & Founder of Profitwell talks – in conversation with Stephen Cummins for 14 Minutes of SaaS. Patrick opens up a lot about his own strengths and weaknesses as a founder CEO, but he puts his mitts up to the world too - saying that most big companies in the business analytics world paint pretty pictures with data, but have failed to evolve into companies that pro-actively surface solutions for customers.…
E56: Patrick Campbell, Founder and CEO of Profitwell. 1 of 3, Chasing Hard Targets
Patrick Campbell, SaaS pricing guru and CEO & Founder of Profitwell, in conversation with Stephen Cummins for 14 Minutes of SaaS. When he got tired of working for the intelligence services in the US and learning stuff about the world he’d maybe rather not have found out – he left and eventually set up Profitwell - a SaaS business for other SaaS businesses who value understanding how to improve the financial metrics underpinning their subscription business. #14MoS…
E55: Mark Organ, Founder of Influitive and Eloqua. 3 of 3. Lego Rules!
Final episode of this 3 part mini-series with Mark Organ, Exec Chairman & Founder of Influitive (and original founder and former CEO of Eloqua). He tells Stephen Cummins that 'Best Place to Work' awards are a sham. He talks about Marshall McLuhan’s famous quote ‘The medium is the message.’ Today he feels the messenger is the message. Mark reflects on how Lego is the King of advocate marketing and is a prime example of how B2C is always years ahead of B2B…
E54: Mark Organ, Founder of Influitive and Eloqua. 2 of 3. Cashflow Obsessed
Influitive and Eloqua founder Mark Organ confesses to Stephen Cummins that he has an obsession with cashflow in the early stages of his startups – and explains why this obsession led to the founding of Influitive. We’ll also find out how many months it took him to learn to speak and understand Mandarin. And what app he used to help make that happen.…
E53: Mark Organ, Founder of Influitive and Eloqua. 1 of 3. 4X Humans
Canadian Mark Organ, founder of Influitive and Eloqua in conversation with Stephen Cummins for 14 Minutes of SaaS. Influitive helps companies strategically mobilise advocates within their community. The company has raised $60M USD in its 9 year existence. Before that he was the founding CEO of Eloqua which was subsequently sold for $870M USD to Oracle. Part 1 of 3…
E52: David Darmanin – Founder & CEO of Hotjar – 2 of 2 – Pragmatism before Passion
Concluding half of a 2 part series. Hotjar CEO David Darmanin tells Stephen Cummins about his passion for building 100% distributed companies, the importance he places on self awareness and building on one’s strengths, and he mentions books that he mandates all new employees to read…
E51: David Darmanin – Founder & CEO of Hotjar – 1 of 2 – 4 O’Clock in the Morning
Part 1 of 2. CEO & Founder Dr. David Darmanin chats to Stephen Cummins about his startup awakening at 4 o clock in the morning in Malta that led to the founding of Hotjar – software used by marketers, product managers and UX designers that helps you rapidly understand your customers…
E50: Dave Blake – Founder & CEO ClientSuccess – Built for CSMs by CSMs
Dave Blake, founder and CEO of ClientSuccess, a SaaS based customer success platform, founded in Lehi in the Silicon Slopes of Utah in 2014. He talks with Stephen Cummins about how his solution was built for CSMs by CSMs.…
E49: Vaughan Fergusson – Founder & ex CEO of Vend – 7 of 7 – the Illusion of Overnight Success
Vaughan Fergusson, Founder and ex CEO of Vend, reveals whether he has lost the fear as an entrepreneur. He advises entrepreneurs to look after their health and take their time – overnight successes are uncommon in the startup world. It normally takes 10 years to build something really valuable.…
E48: Vaughan Fergusson – Founder & ex CEO of Vend – 6 of 7 – Don’t Fail too Fast
Vaughan Fergusson, Founder and ex CEO of Vend, talks about mentorship and why team and timing are more important than ideas. Also the power of diversity when it comes to hiring effectively and also regarding the creation of effective innovative ideas.…
E47: Vaughan Fergusson – Founder & ex CEO of Vend – 5 of 7 – New Zealand evolves away from Tall Poppy Syndrome
Vaughan Fergusson, Founder and ex CEO of Vend, explains how a post Xero New Zealand is evolving away from tall poppy syndrome into a growing sense of confidence and a stronger personality in the world. He discusses the challenges of governments being slow to innovate.…
E46: Vaughan Fergusson – Founder & ex CEO of Vend – 4 of 7 – Tell you Story
Episode 4 of a 7 part series with Vaughan Fergusson. Episode 46 of 14 Minutes of SaaS. If Pam Fergusson had not borrowed money to buy her children a computer, would Vend and OMG tech exist today? Vaughan doesn't think so.…
E45: Vaughan Fergusson – Founder & ex CEO of Vend – 3 of 7 – Online will Never Kill Bricks and Mortar Retail
Vaughan Fergusson, Founder and ex CEO of Vend, describes journey with the startup he founded - the first holistic cloud based retail platform. He feels the online experience will never kill bricks and mortar retail.…
E44: Vaughan Fergusson – Founder & ex CEO of Vend – 2 of 7 – Therapeutic Personal Challenges
Vaughan Fergusson, Founder and ex CEO of Vend, talks about people who influenced him and 10 years of amazing personal challenges which he initially used as therapy for his obsessive compulsive tendencies with in business…
E43: Vaughan Fergusson – Founder & ex CEO of Vend – 1 of 7 – the Importance of Timing
Vaughan Fergusson, Founder and ex CEO of Vend, describes a no-frills upbringing, how he got into software, and gives a great example of the importance of timing in startups.…
E42: Cameron Adams – Co-founder & CPO of Canva – 2 of 2 – Designing a Unicorn
Cameron Adams – Co-founder & CPO of Canva, talks about product innovation and building teams that feel safe enough to express their creativity and take risks. He explains why it's almost impossible to AB test your way to a unicorn.…
E41: Cameron Adams – Co-founder & CPO of Canva – 1 of 2 – One Percent Done
Cameron Adams, Co-founder & CPO of Canva, talks about his personal history and his decision to become a co-founder of this current rocket ship. Canva is a graphic design platform that has raised $157M dollars on a $2.5B valuation, but he says they're only 1% done!…
E40: Chris Wysopal – Co-founder & CTO of Veracode – 2 of 2 – Startups take a long time
Chris Wysopal, Co-founder & CTO of Veracode, talks about how startups take time and how some founders may look like an overnight success, but usually they've been at it for years. And how to be a successful founder, you need to love what you do.…
E39: Chris Wysopal – Co-founder & CTO of Veracode – 1 of 2 – a Push from Symantec
Chris Wysopal is Co-founder & CTO of Veracode, a data security SaaS company which sold for $950 million USD. He talks about his hacker mindset and the push Symantec gave him to leave and cofound his company…
E38: Whurley – Founder & CEO of Strangeworks – 8 of 8 – control yourself, not your team
Whurley discusses his night-time routine and advises founders not to control their teams and to respond rather than react to important events. In essence he advises founders that the need to control oneself is should be much more pressing than any misplaced desire to control one's team…
E37: Whurley – Founder & CEO of Strangeworks – 7 of 8 – data, not drama
“For me the talent I work on the most is objectivity .. Data, not Drama .. which is my philosophy for how you should run a startup and run your life. So in my startups anyone can challenge any decision I’ve made, they can challenge anything, and they can challenge… Read More…
E36: Whurley – Founder & CEO of Strangeworks – 6 of 8 – Entrepreneurship is unromantic
E35: Whurley – Founder & CEO of Strangeworks – 5 of 8 – fear, uncertainty and doubt kill innovation
Expensive meme. will Quantum kill the Blockchain star? Killer blindspot. Do the best companies canabalise their own markets? Big VC: "Wanna buy a bottle of fear, uncertainty & doubt?" Little startup: "Yes please". Innovation exits stage early
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E34: Whurley – Founder & CEO of Strangeworks – 4 of 8 – extracting purpose out of infinite choice
Whurley talks about the great challenge to finding one's purpose being almost infinite choice. Finding this is key to getting up in the morning filled with joy about the day ahead, charged with energy & desire to make whatever it is happen…
E33: Whurley – Founder & CEO of Strangeworks – 3 of 8 – baby steps towards a quantum leap
Our protagonist acquires wisdom & sheds his super-hero costume – he’ll create an interface between a swelling crowd of dev talent and tech that’ll utterly transform our future – in incomprehensible ways. A vision of an AWS for Quantum …
E32: Whurley – Founder & CEO of Strangeworks – 2 of 8 – darkness before enlightenment
A whirlwind career as a serial-entrepreneur takes off as whurley loses the fear, gains financial independence, then goes through a psychological slump before re-emerging to invent retirement as a service. …
E31: Whurley – Founder & CEO of Strangeworks – 1 of 8 – crashing into his future self
A car crash inspires the first step along a serpentine path to becoming an arch inventor, technologist & market strategist. Whurley accelerates the evolution of quantum computing with Strangeworks. He followed no rules in school. His pied piper is an imagination roaming far beyond the box.…
E30: Mike Reiner, CoFounder City.ai, Democratising AI – 2 of 2
Mike Reiner talks about democratising AI, how he expanded City.ai from Berlin and Amsterdam into to dozens of cities globally, and how he assesses whether he wants to invest in a founding team…
E29: Mike Reiner, CoFounder City.ai, Berlin v Amsterdam, 1 of 2
Mike Reiner talks about democratising AI, how he expanded City.ai from Berlin and Amsterdam into to dozens of cities globally, and how he assesses whether he wants to invest in a founding team…
E28 – Ysiad Ferreiras, ex-COO @ Hustle – Understanding & Cultivating Uniqueness – 3 of 3
Final part of a 3-part mini-series with Ysiad Ferreiras, ex-COO of Hustle. Maslow's hierarchy of needs as framework for understanding others, profitable diversity, differentiating oneself…
E27 – Ysiad Ferreiras, ex-COO @ Hustle – Magic of Sales Engineering – 2 of 3
Part 2 of a 3-part mini-series with Ysiad Ferreiras, ex-COO of Hustle. Deep dive into Hustle’s value prop, the magic of sales engineering, and why he’s wired to be a successful COO…
E26 – Ysiad Ferreiras, ex-COO @ Hustle – Gang Member to Silicon Valley Exec – 1 of 3
Part 1 of a 3-part mini-series with Ysiad Ferreiras, ex-COO of Hustle. He discusses his evolution from gang member to hedge fund trader to getting depressed in India to Silicon Valley exec…
E25 – Garry Tan, Co-founder & Managing Partner of Initialized – Fixing a Broken World – 2 of 2
Garry Tan, co-founder & managing partner of Initialized. Discovering what needs to be fixed in the world, why there's never too much capital, the power of great engineers as well as investments Patreon, Coinbase & Plate IQ. 2 of 2…
E24 – Garry Tan, Co-founder & Managing Partner of Initialized – the Power of Smart Engineers – 1 of 2
Garry Tan, who is co-founder and managing partner of Initialized. The Palantir blues, Big company blindness, there's never too much capital, the power of a great engineer as well as Algolia, EasyPost and Rainforest QA, 1 of 2…
E23 – Andrew Mullaney, Ex Co-Founder & CTO NewsWhip – Embrace the Now, Forget Legacy – 3 of 3
Andrew Mullaney, ex Co-founder Newswhip - knowing what makes your co-founders & investors tick, navigating a sea of distractions, why a life bereft of holidays creates a soulless vacuum that sucks in bad decisions. Part 3 of 3…
E22 – Andrew Mullaney, Ex Co-Founder & CTO NewsWhip – I’m a Virus. I never go away – 2 of 3
Why does Andrew Mullaney, ex Co-founder Newswhip, describes himself as a virus? Why recessions are better than booms in a way, the one question Andrew will ask if he interviews you, and starting up in Dublin. Part 2 of 3…
E21 – Andrew Mullaney, Ex Co-Founder & CTO NewsWhip – from Darkness springs Opportunity – 1 of 3
Andrew Mullaney, ex Co-founder Newswhip - tracking how billions of people engage with stories. Andrew reflects on whether working for a large consultancy helps one as an entrepreneur & tells how he gave away a startup! Part 1 of 3…
E20 – Russ Heddleston, Co- Founder & CEO of Docsend – Self-Service for Starters – 3 of 3
Part 3. Russ Heddleston, CEO of Docsend talks about co-founders being on a similar financial footing before starting, and on whether to target small business with self-serve first in B2B SaaS…
E19 – Russ Heddleston, Co-Founder & CEO of DocSend – Deconstructing Content Consumption – 2 of 3
Part 2. Russ Heddleston, CEO of Docsend (founded 2013, raised $10M), chats about counter-intuitive observations around fund raising pitch decks and whether voice interfaces will kill Docsend…
E18 – Russ Heddleston, Co-Founder & CEO of DocSend – Mobile First is Overrated – 1 of 3
Russ Heddleston, CEO and Co-Founder of DocSend (founded 2013, $10M raised), talks about whether you should startup with friends and why mobile first strategies can be over-rated in B2B SaaS.…
E17 – Boyan Tanchev, Co-Founder & CPO of Timify – Web Designer to SaaS Founder
Boyan Tanchev, CPO & Co-founder of Timify (founded 2012, raised $7M), talks about his love of product design, Timify's success in the competitive online scheduling space, and life in Munich…
E16 – Tyler Koblasa, CloudApp founder / Invisible Technologies CRO – Not Sweating the Small Stuff – 2 of 2
Tyler Koblasa, then CloudApp CEO & founder, now CRO of Invisible Technologies, talks about his Dad's great journey, not being reactive, AR, Voice UIs, machine learning, and being in the moment…
E15 – Tyler Koblasa, CloudApp founder / Invisible Technologies CRO – Not Drowning in Silicon Distractions – 1 of 2
Tyler Koblasa, then CloudApp CEO & founder, now CRO of Invisible Technologies - talks career, agency before SaaS, LA v San Fran, StartUp Weekend v Hackaton, mentorship & bootstrapping.…
E14 – Kolton Andrus – Gremlin – Part 3 of 3
Kolton Andrus – CEO and Co-founder of Gremlin, a company that breaks IT systems on purpose to make them stronger. Gremlin is just 3 years old and has already raised $27 million in investment…
E13 – Kolton Andrus – Gremlin – Part 2 of 3
Kolton Andrus – CEO and Co-founder of Gremlin, a company that breaks IT systems on purpose to make them stronger. Gremlin is just 3 years old and has already raised $27 million in investment…
E12 – Kolton Andrus – Gremlin – Part 1 of 3
Kolton Andrus – CEO and Co-founder of Gremlin, a company that breaks IT systems on purpose to make them stronger. Gremlin is just 3 years old and has already raised $27 million in investment…
E11 – Ryan Carson – Treehouse – Part 3 of 3
Ryan Carson, Co-Founder and CEO of Treehouse – based out of Portland, Oregon in the United States. Treehouse helps companies like Google…
E10 – Ryan Carson – Treehouse – Part 2 of 3
Ryan Carson, Co-Founder and CEO of Treehouse – based out of Portland, Oregon in the United States. Treehouse helps companies like Google…
E09 – Ryan Carson – Treehouse – Part 1 of 3
Ryan Carson, Co-Founder and CEO of Treehouse – based out of Portland, Oregon in the United States. Treehouse helps companies like Google…
E08 Adi Azaria –– Sisense
Adi Azaria, Co-Founder and Chief Evangelist of Sisense. His company has raised $97M for its business analytics solution. Sisense prepares, analyses, and…
E07 Ron Palmeri – Layer and Prism
Ron Palmeri is Founder and CEO of Layer and Founder of Prism. Layer has raised about $30 million in 5 years for its toolkit for building better conversations…
E06 Edith Harbaugh – Bright Side of a Dark Launch
Edith Harbaugh, CEO and co-founder of LaunchDarkly, adores software so much that she’s built a product that helps other companies build …
E05 Eilon Reshef – Gong.io and Conversational Intelligence
Eilon Reshef, Co-founder and CTO at Gong, talks about his conversational intelligence platform for helping sales teams converse more effectively. Gong was founded founded in 2015…
E04 Rick Stollmeyer – MINDBODY
Rick Stollmeyer, is Co-Founder and CEO at MINDBODY. He started this in a garage in 2001. Way back then it was an app for boutique health & fitness businesses to manage the scheduling of their fitness classes. Now it’s the largest…
E03 Polina Montano – Cofounder of Job Today – Metamorphosis
"I was actually running a chain of stations. The turnover of both staff and customers is very, very high, very high volumes. And so its really, really challenging filling those positions and making sure you have people in the right place at the right. We are talking about urgency here. ... Isn't it crazy? ... …..that in a world of technology and innovation in which we live today, with people looking for a job … we still have to print out resumes and hit the streets … literally walking in and out of restaurants and shops … it just happens because all of those local jobs are not available online. They're hidden. And job seekers can’t find them. So that's one of the issues we wanted to solve, just connect instantly over our mobile interface. People are looking for staff, and candidates that are looking for jobs"…
E02 Nicolas Dessaigne – Algolia – Soul Searching Engine of Company Culture
Nicolas Dessaigne, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, chats about Algolia, his platform for building search into your business. Algolia was founded founded in 2012. "Especially in the world of developers … you need to get to win their trust. And it's not by hiding anything you are going to win their trust. Yeah, actually, it's how you react when there is a problem that's going to create a relationship ...It's a bit counterintuitive. But sometimes when you have a problem, a bug, it's an occasion to shine"…
E01 Mada Seghete – Branch – Creating Urgency from Bucharest to Palo Alto
“I’m a mobile gamer. I’m always addicted to one game. You play very differently when you have only one life left ... I had an imaginary competitor so when I was doing my homework, my imaginary competitor friend always did better than me and that is what motivated me” Mada Seghete, Cofounder of Branch…