Protect the Hustle: Recent Episodes

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In the stillness of dawn, a lone runner paces the streets, their commitment to the run a silent battle against the comfort of rest. This is the power of accountability: when another joins the run, the journey changes—each stride is shared, and the motivation multiplies. What was once a struggle becomes a pact, as they urge each other forward, embodying the resilience and shared dedication that turn individual effort into collective endurance.

Today, we dive into the parallels between this partnership and the world of B2B SaaS with Tanya Alvarez, Founder of OwnersUP. Tanya stands as the quintessential accountability partner for SaaS leaders, teaching them to channel the spirit of a marathoner to achieve long-term success. We'll uncover how the principles of accountability can catalyze growth, foster relentless pursuit of goals, and transform the solitary sprint of business into a synchronized stride towards triumph. Join us as we explore the synergy of teamwork and accountability with Tanya, and learn how to make your business run a race where every step counts.

High-Level Overview* Goal Prioritization: Strategies for entrepreneurs to prioritize tasks effectively to ensure progress towards their most important objectives. * Accountability Groups: The role and importance of accountability groups for entrepreneurs to stay focused and motivated, sharing the concept of Owners Up as a platform that facilitates such groups. * Balancing Work and Personal Life: Tanya's personal journey from being a workaholic to achieving a healthier work-life balance, particularly after becoming a parent. * The R.A.P. Method: Tanya introduces the Review, Assess, and Prioritize method as a daily productivity tool for entrepreneurs to wrap up their day and plan for the next. * Building Supportive Communities: The significance of creating a supportive network or "village" for entrepreneurial success and parenting, emphasizing the importance of community in personal and business growth.

The R.A.P. MethodThe R.A.P. method, developed by Tanya Alvarez, is a systematic approach designed for entrepreneurs to enhance their daily productivity and maintain focus on their most impactful tasks. It’s a reflective process that encourages regular review and assessment, allowing for the prioritization of actions that drive the most value for their businesses.

• Review (R): Reflect on the day’s activities, noting accomplishments and areas of improvement. This is a time for celebration of what was achieved and understanding what could be done better.
• Assess (A): Evaluate the day on a scale of one to five to determine what made it a five and what didn’t. This helps in identifying what tasks or actions contribute to the most productive days.
• Prioritize (P): Decide on the top three tasks that, if completed, would make the next day successful. These should be tasks that align with the overall business objectives and personal goals.

This method goes beyond simple task management; it's a strategic approach for entrepreneurs to align their daily actions with their larger business goals. By implementing the R.A.P. method, founders can ensure that their efforts are not just busywork but are meaningful steps towards their company's growth and success. It's a tool for turning the chaotic hustle into a directed effort that pays off in the long run.

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In the vast seas of B2B SaaS, where many are seduced by the allure of quick success and fleeting trends, envision a master shipbuilder like Tyler King, CEO and co-founder of Less Annoying CRM. His focus isn't on hastily crafted vessels for short voyages but on robust ships designed to withstand fierce storms, emblematic of resilience and endurance.

Guiding an enduring ship, King's insights, drawn from both calm sails and tempestuous challenges, have become the navigational compass for many SaaS aspirants. Dive in with us to explore the art of building software businesses anchored in lasting vision and profit, and for more insights, catch Tyler on his podcast, Startup to Last, which centers on constructing companies built to stand the test of time.

High-Level Overview* Adapting to a Changing Audience: The need for companies to evolve and position themselves for a younger demographic, with a particular focus on the shift in onboarding practices. * Decision-making and Focus in Business: The challenges faced by founders in making strategic decisions, particularly when deciding which features to add or omit, and the importance of maintaining a specific focus. * The Trade-offs between Bootstrapping and Raising Capital: Discussing the pros and cons of self-funding a startup versus seeking external investment, highlighting the potential benefits and drawbacks of each approach. * Understanding Personal and Business Goals: Tyler King emphasizes the importance of founders knowing what they truly want from their business and life, suggesting that these preferences should guide their decision-making processes. * Advice for SaaS Founders: Tyler offers insights and recommendations for founders in the SaaS industry, stressing the importance of carving out a unique path and not letting external pressures define one's vision for success.

Building a Profitable Software Business Meant to LastIn the fast-paced world of tech startups and SaaS ventures, there’s a prevalent rush towards growth — sometimes even at the cost of sustainability. However, true success in the software industry isn’t just measured by swift scalability or the dazzle of fleeting innovations. It's gauged by the longevity and profitability of a business model that stands the test of time. Building a software company meant to last demands a mix of strategic vision, steadfast commitment, and the agility to adapt, ensuring profitability not just today, but for years to come.

• Customer-centric Approach: Begin with an unwavering commitment to understanding and solving genuine customer pain points. Long-term profitability starts with loyal customers who see the value in your solutions.
• Financial Prudence: Prioritize sustainable growth over hyper-growth. This means being mindful of cash flows, avoiding excessive debts, and ensuring you’re scaling at a pace your revenues can support.
• Continuous Innovation: Ensure that the product evolves with technological advances and changing customer needs. Stagnation is the antithesis of longevity.
• Culture of Excellence: Cultivate a company culture that values long-term vision over short-term gains. This fosters dedication, quality, and resilience among your team members.
• Feedback Loops: Regularly gather feedback not just from customers, but also from internal teams. This helps in preempting potential challenges and adjusting course proactively.
• Diversified Revenue Streams: Relying on a single revenue source can be risky. Explore multiple monetization strategies to buffer against market fluctuations.
• Adaptable Business Model: The tech landscape is ever-evolving. An adaptable business model allows you to pivot when necessary, capitalizing on new opportunities or sidestepping challenges.
• Partnerships and Collaborations: Building lasting relationships with other businesses can provide mutual growth opportunities, strengthen market presence, and offer added value to your customers.

In the journey of building a lasting and profitable SaaS business, there's no one-size-fits-all. The essence lies in understanding the unique values and strengths your company brings to the table and marrying that with the ever-changing demands of the market. It's a balance of staying true to your vision, while also being malleable enough to evolve. As the adage goes, it's not the strongest that survive, but the most adaptable.

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In the world of art, a master painter captivates audiences not only with the visual beauty of his creations but also with the emotions they evoke, turning admirers into passionate investors in his masterpieces. Similarly, in the B2B SaaS landscape, the true art lies in crafting products and services that not only draw in a dedicated community but also compel them to become advocates, monetizing the profound relationships built.

Enter Yannick Veys, the CMO and Co-founder of Hypefury (a Paddle customer), whose expertise in cultivating and monetizing a social media audience is unparalleled. With Hypefury's noteworthy acquisitions, including the Elon Musk-acknowledged acquisition of Black Magic, Yannick showcases how to turn digital admiration into tangible success.

High-Level Overview* Acquisitions Enhancing Audience Tools: Yannick Veys discusses how they strategically acquired businesses that added complementary features, expanding their suite of tools for audience growth and engagement. * Challenges with Automation & API Changes: The challenges faced due to automation, especially with tools like chatbots and the implications of major API changes by platforms like Twitter, affect how businesses engage with and grow their audience. * The Balance of AI and Human Touch: The conversation delves into the role and limitations of AI and chatbots in audience engagement. Yannick stresses the importance of a personal voice and human connection in audience building, predicting potential restrictions against over-automation on platforms. * Effective Monetization Strategies: Yannick shares specific tactics they employ to help their customers monetize their audiences, such as creating urgency with countdowns, leveraging FOMO, and automated promotions that tactfully engage audiences without overwhelming them. * Advice and Encouragement for Audience Building: The closing remarks provide advice for those starting on their audience building journey. Yannick emphasizes persistence, the importance of authentic engagement, and the idea that while beginnings might be slow, consistency and genuine interactions will lead to growth.

Digital AlchemyIn today's hyper-connected digital age, the potency of building and monetizing a social media audience cannot be overstated. Garnering a devoted audience is the crux of creating both brand loyalty and a sustained revenue stream. In the vast sea of online businesses, an engaged audience not only amplifies a brand's voice but directly translates to its financial prosperity. But how does one craft a magnetic social media presence and, more importantly, monetize this engagement effectively?

• Strategically Curate Content: Just as Yannick Veys emphasizes, the quality and relevance of content cannot be ignored. Ensure your posts resonate with your audience, offering value and establishing your brand as a thought leader.
• Authentic Voice and Engagement: Adopt an authentic voice and engage genuinely. Automated responses might be quick, but they lack the human touch that audience members yearn for. As Yannick noted, people want to interact with humans, not robots.
• Introduce Automation Strategically: While a genuine touch is invaluable, strategic automation, like the 'autopilot' function Yannick mentioned, can increase engagement and followers. Implement automation for actions like promotions without losing your brand's voice.
• Create FOMO (Fear of Missing Out): Limited-time offers, countdowns, and exclusives can drive immediate action from your audience. As Hypefury demonstrates, creating a sense of urgency can significantly boost sales.
• Monetize Through Diverse Channels: From affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, to online courses or webinars—ensure you're not putting all your eggs in one basket. Diversification is key to sustained revenue.

Building and monetizing a social media audience is as much an art as it is a science. It requires a deep understanding of one's audience, the agility to adapt to changing trends, and the creativity to offer value consistently. While the digital landscape might be ever-evolving, the fundamental principle remains: Understand your audience, offer them undeniable value, and the monetization will follow.

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Throughout human history, sacred texts and religious congregations have epitomized the enduring power of collective belief. This sense of community, united by a shared doctrine, forms a bond that transcends boundaries, emphasizing not just individual salvation but a collective spirit that uplifts and unifies. Similarly, while a SaaS company is distinct from a religion, it thrives on the relationships it fosters within its user base, emphasizing connections, shared experiences, and the collective value they bring.

Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI, having delved into the successes of iconic companies like Apple, Atlassian, and more, offers insights into harnessing community-driven growth in his book, "From Grassroots to Greatness." Today's episode takes listeners on a journey with Lloyed, highlighting the significance of community-led growth in B2B SaaS, with his book serving as a beacon for those seeking to deepen their understanding.

Get Lloyed’s new book, 'From Grassroots To Greatness: 13 Rules to Build Iconic Brands with Community Led Growth' (Top New Release on Amazon) at https://FromGrassrootstoGreatness.com

High-Level Overview* The Power of Collective Belief: Drawing parallels between religious congregations and the potential of building strong communities within the B2B SaaS sector. * Relationships and Connections in SaaS: Discussing the importance of nurturing relationships, fostering connections, and creating shared experiences among users. * Case Studies of Iconic Companies: Analyzing the growth and community-building strategies of enduring companies like Apple, Atlassian, CrossFit, Harley-Davidson, HubSpot, and others. * Lloyed Lobo's Insights and Learnings: Delving into Lloyed's research, his interactions with over a thousand leaders, and the distilled knowledge he provides in his book. * Community-Led Growth in B2B SaaS: Exploring the transformative impact of community-driven growth strategies on businesses and understanding its long-term benefits.

Community-Led GrowthIn an era where customers no longer buy products but experiences, the importance of community-led growth cannot be understated. Building a community fosters genuine connections, creating a platform where customers don't just use your product, but actively champion it. This human-centric approach positions companies at the forefront of consumer minds, forging deeper ties and ensuring longevity in a rapidly evolving market landscape.

• Value-driven Content Creation: Start by generating content that is both educational and beneficial to your target audience. This builds trust and positions your brand as a thought leader in your domain.
• Engaging Forums and Groups: Create spaces, be it online forums or social media groups, where your community can engage, ask questions, and share their experiences. This not only facilitates peer-to-peer learning but also provides invaluable feedback.
• Exclusive Events and Webinars: Host events that offer exclusive insights, previews, or discussions. This not only fosters a sense of belonging but also gives members a reason to stay engaged and involved.
• Collaborative Product Development: Involve community members in beta testing, feedback rounds, and even ideation sessions. This not only improves your product but makes them feel valued and integral to your brand's success.
• Community Ambassadors: Identify and nurture active members to become ambassadors. They can further evangelize your brand, offering a more authentic voice that resonates with potential customers.
• Feedback Mechanisms: Implement clear channels through which community members can provide feedback on products, services, or even community activities. This ensures continuous improvement and adaptability.

While the tactics to cultivate community-led growth can vary, the underlying principle remains consistent: value your community members as co-collaborators, not just consumers. Their collective wisdom, enthusiasm, and advocacy can drive your brand to new heights. As you venture into this realm, remember that genuine engagement and mutual respect are the keystones of any thriving community. Embrace them, and watch your brand flourish in ways you'd never imagined.

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In the world of American football, the coach is the linchpin, melding individuals with varying strengths, fears, and ambitions into a singular, winning force. They transcend mere instruction, turning raw talent into a harmonized strategy, creating trust, camaraderie, and synchronized action on the field.

Similarly, in B2B SaaS, managers are the driving force, identifying and harnessing the unique capabilities of their teams. Dave Kline of MGMT Accelerator embodies this synergy, mastering the art of team cohesion both in sport and business. Today's episode dives deep into the art of effective management, exploring how to optimize individual potential for collective triumph with insights from the master himself, Dave Kline.

High-Level Overview* Embracing Limitations: The episode delves into the idea of differentiating between genuine limitations and self-limiting beliefs. The story of the artist with handshakes is used as an example to demonstrate how limitations can be embraced and turned into a source of creativity, forcing one to think outside the box and foster innovation. * The Power of "And": Dave Kline discusses the potential of viewing situations as non-binary. Instead of "either-or" situations, he introduces the concept of "and," suggesting that it's possible to be two things at once, breaking traditional molds or expectations. This topic touches upon not being confined by titles or traditional methods. * Codifying Culture: The significance of understanding, preserving, and conveying the culture of a growing company is stressed. Dave Kline emphasizes the intrinsic values seen in the first few members of a company and the importance of documenting these values to ensure they aren't diluted as the company grows. * Language Precision with Values: The episode also touches upon the importance of sharp language when defining company values. Instead of generic terms like "integrity," the idea is to find specific, resonant terms that truly represent the company's values, attracting the right kind of employees and repelling those who might not align with the company's mission. * Advice for Entrepreneurs: There are multiple moments in the episode where Dave Kline offers advice to those building software businesses from the ground up. Key takeaways include the importance of staying true to one's values, understanding the difference between perceived limitations and actual ones, and ensuring the company's culture and values are clearly communicated and upheld.

Codifying Your CultureIn the dynamic realm of SaaS, a company's culture isn't just an ethereal concept; it's the very backbone of sustainable growth, innovation, and team harmony. A strong, clearly defined culture guides decision-making, promotes consistency, and most importantly, fosters a sense of unity among the workforce. To not merely sustain but truly thrive, businesses must recognize the intrinsic value of their cultural DNA and make intentional efforts to nurture, articulate, and preserve it.

• Identify Core Values: Begin by understanding the foundational values that your company stands for. What principles drive decision-making? What ethical standards are non-negotiable? Establish these clearly.
• Document Company Stories: Historical anecdotes and tales of company milestones often carry the essence of the organizational spirit. Capture these stories; they serve as living testimonials of your culture.
• Consistent Communication: Whether it's through monthly meetings, newsletters, or casual chats, ensure that the cultural ethos is always a part of the conversation.
• Leadership Modeling: Leaders and managers should exemplify the cultural standards, acting as role models for the rest of the team.
• Hire and Train Accordingly: Seek out potential hires who align with your cultural values. During onboarding, place significant emphasis on culture to ensure new members understand and embody it.
• Feedback Loops: Regularly solicit feedback on how well the team feels the company is upholding its cultural tenets. This helps in real-time adjustments and reinforces the importance of culture.
• Celebrate Cultural Wins: Recognize and celebrate when team members or departments particularly embody the company culture, reinforcing its importance.

In conclusion, while technological advancements and business strategies are pivotal, it's the unseen cultural threads that often weave the fabric of long-lasting organizational success. Codifying culture isn't about imposing a set of rules; it's about crystallizing what's already there, ensuring that as the company grows and evolves, its heart and soul remain intact.

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In the verdant heartland, rivers carve their paths, each with a destination in mind, much like the complex currents of market demand. These rivers, shaped by the terrain, can be directed and harnessed using tools like dams and pipes, ensuring every drop finds its purpose. Similarly, in the B2B SaaS world, these currents of demand transform into intricate systems, beautifully epitomized by the "Demand Waterfall".

Sidney Waterfall, the SVP of Marketing at Refine Labs, emerges as the maestro of this intricate landscape. With a profound understanding of these digital waterways, she's the beacon guiding businesses through the ebb and flow of demand. Dive in with us as Sidney reveals the mysteries of the Demand Waterfall, offering insights into turning potential interest into definitive outcomes.

High-Level Overview* Tracking Macro vs. Micro Data Points: Sidney Waterfall discusses the common mistake businesses make by focusing too much on micro processes and missing out on the more critical macro data points. CEOs and leaders need to understand broader trends and insights to gauge what's working and what's not. * The Importance of Conversion Sources: Sidney talks about how businesses often get bogged down in tracking conversions at the channel or tactic level, thereby missing the bigger picture. She emphasizes understanding the macro-level perspective like the pipeline source or conversion source. * Technical vs. Marketing Perspective: Sidney and Andrew talk about whether The Vault’s primary audience is technically inclined founders or those with marketing job titles. Sidney mentions how many founders lead their sales and go-to-market strategies and how their content caters to such audiences. * The Demand Waterfall: A lighter segment of the discussion revolves around Sidney's surname, Waterfall, and its relevance in the marketing world, especially in relation to the demand waterfall concept. She shares a humorous story about her VP thinking her surname was a pen name. * Effective Go-to-market Strategy: Sidney provides advice to go-to-market leaders, emphasizing the importance of focus. She suggests that instead of spreading thin and trying multiple channels or tactics, businesses should hone in on one or two and execute them well.

The Demand WaterfallIn the intricate world of B2B SaaS, the Demand Waterfall emerges as a lucid metaphor, helping businesses visualize and optimize their process of turning potential interest into tangible outcomes. Just as rivers traverse through valleys to find their end goal, the Demand Waterfall guides businesses through various stages of capturing, nurturing, and finally converting demand, ensuring that no opportunity is missed.

The Demand Waterfall can be visualized like this:

• The Spring (Source): This is where the water (potential customers) first gushes out. It represents the marketing and promotional efforts to create awareness.
• Buckets (Flow): As the water flows down, it goes through various buckets representing different stages, like capturing interest (demand capture), nurturing the interest, and converting it into actual sales.
• Different Flows: Some buckets might be filled from multiple outlets, representing different departments (like sales, partners, etc.) working together to channel the water effectively.
• Last Bucket (Conversion): This is where water, having passed through all stages, collects in its final form, representing successful sales or partnerships.

In simple terms, The Demand Waterfall is an organized way of visualizing how businesses attract, engage, and ultimately convert potential interest into successful sales, with every department working harmoniously together, just like a series of interconnected buckets handling flowing water.

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The introduction of fast food was nothing short of revolutionary, offering meals in minutes and setting a groundbreaking standard for efficiency in food service. But as more outlets sprouted, the uniqueness dwindled; every meal tasted eerily similar. In this homogeneity, master chefs found an opening. They combined the rapid technology of fast food with their culinary artistry, creating dishes that were both efficient and distinctively gourmet.

In the B2B SaaS landscape, a similar evolution is underway. As AI technologies become ubiquitous, the challenge shifts from mere adoption to differentiation. Kieran Flanagan, CMO at Zapier, epitomizes this balance. With a deep understanding of how to harness AI while ensuring standout value, Kieran guides businesses to shine amidst a sea of sameness. In today's episode, we'll uncover strategies to stand tall in an AI-saturated market, drawing wisdom from Kieran's mastery in the field.

High-Level Overview* Market Movement and Challenges in Upgrading Products: Discussing the challenges companies face as they attempt to move upmarket, and the complexities of transitioning from a large user base to addressing the needs of enterprise buyers. * Customization and Automation in Tech Stacks: Kieran explores the future where software and tech stacks are highly customized to individual needs. Instead of relying on generic, out-of-the-box solutions, users might be able to tailor their tech infrastructure more closely to their requirements, enhancing efficiency and usability. * Future of Content and Media: How content, increasingly powered by AI, is set to change. The potential shift from brand-driven content to creator-driven content is highlighted, alongside the rise of video and the commoditization of informational content. * Role of Creators in Modern Marketing: The increasing importance of aligning with creators and leveraging their influence and reach. Brands may need to integrate, partner, or even employ creators to tap into their audience and maintain relevance. * Adapting to Change in the SaaS Landscape: How SaaS brands can remain innovative and prevent commoditization in a rapidly changing landscape, emphasizing the importance of welcoming change, being adaptable, and embracing challenges.

Standing Out with Your Content in a Commodified AI WorldIn today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a novel feature but an expected standard. As AI finds its way into countless applications, its uniqueness wanes, leading to its commodification. This shift raises the baseline of what is considered competent content in the SaaS world. With the ubiquity of AI-powered tools and services, simply being 'good' isn't sufficient. Brands must now aim higher, seeking not just to be part of the conversation, but to lead it. So, how can SaaS companies create content that doesn't just blend into the cacophony but stands out distinctly?

• Unique Narratives: Lean into stories that only your brand can tell. AI may be a common thread, but your journey, challenges, and victories with it are uniquely yours. Narrate them.
• Quality over Quantity: While AI can produce content in bulk, the emphasis should be on producing high-quality, insightful pieces that offer real value to your audience.
• Engage and Listen: Engage with your audience on various platforms. Their feedback and interactions will give you insights on what they truly value.
• Educate with Authenticity: Offer webinars, tutorials, and other educational content that doesn't just promote your product, but genuinely educates the market about the nuances of AI and its applications in your niche.
• AI + Human Touch: Use AI to gather data and insights, but ensure the final touch is human. Personal stories, emotions, and experiences can't be replicated by machines.

In the vast sea of AI-powered content, it's not the loudest voice but the most authentic and insightful one that resonates with the audience. As AI continues to weave itself into the very fabric of SaaS, remember that it's a tool, not the craftsman. Your brand's unique voice, perspective, and the human touch you bring to your content will be your differentiating factor. In a commodified AI world, it's these human nuances that will set you apart, ensuring your content not only reaches but also deeply engages your target audience.

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Taking to the skies, every pilot understands the intricate balance between the intoxicating freedom of soaring and the precise discipline within the cockpit. While they venture into new horizons, their safety and mastery rely on diligently monitoring their flight instruments. This precision and need for measured freedom is mirrored in the B2B SaaS sector. Success isn't about wild gambles but about innovating with a keen eye on vital metrics that determine the trajectory of the enterprise.

Phil Alves, a virtuoso of the SaaS realm and CEO at DevSquad, draws a striking parallel between piloting planes and pioneering in tech. Recognizing the importance of metrics and innovation, Phil emphasizes that the best don't just follow but rely on indispensable instruments. In our upcoming episode, join us as we navigate the SaaS skies with Phil, uncovering the crucial gauges every company must watch to achieve unparalleled success.

High-Level Overview* Decision Making & Rule Breaking in Business: Phil Alves discusses his approach to not always following best practices in business and market decisions, emphasizing the importance of understanding markets before making a choice. * Learning from SaaS Founders Through Podcasting: Andrew Davies and Phil Alves discuss the "SaaS Origin Stories" podcast that Phil runs. They delve into the insights and themes that have emerged from interviewing SaaS founders. * The Evolution of Market Strategies: Phil highlights how market strategies have changed over time, and how strategies that worked a few years ago might not be as effective today. * Advice for Early-stage SaaS Founders: Both speakers share advice for new SaaS founders, particularly when planning their MVP. Emphasis is placed on the importance of focusing on the initial stages of a business, being adaptive, and learning from the early days of successful companies. * The 6 Pivotal Instruments for SaaS Success: planning accuracy, failure rate change, cycle time, deployment frequency, code quality review, and rework rate.

The 6 Instruments to Keep Your Product AliveIn the vast skies of SaaS development, while innovation and groundbreaking ideas give your product the initial thrust, it's the vigilant monitoring of key instruments that ensures sustained flight. Think of these instruments as the critical gauges in the cockpit of a plane: without keeping an eagle eye on them, even the most impressive flights could encounter turbulence. The six essential instruments to keep your SaaS product thriving are planning accuracy, failure rate change, cycle time, deployment frequency, code quality review, and rework rate.

Planning Accuracy:

• Begin by setting clear, measurable goals for each sprint or project.
• Regularly review and adjust targets based on the evolving needs and feedback.
• Allow a buffer for unexpected challenges, keeping in mind that a target of 80% is healthy to maintain flexibility and innovation.

Failure Rate Change:

• Continuously monitor product deployments for bugs or issues.
• Implement a robust testing framework to catch potential failures before deployment.
• Foster a culture where quick fixes are prioritized to maintain user trust.

Cycle Time:

• Track the time taken from initiating a project to its deployment.
• Strive for shorter cycle times to increase agility, but ensure quality isn’t compromised.
• Use agile methodologies to enhance efficiency without sacrificing effectiveness.

Deployment Frequency:

• Regular deployments signal a dynamic product environment to users.
• Invest in automation tools that streamline and standardize the deployment process.
• Aim for at least a weekly deployment to remain competitive and responsive to user needs.

Code Quality Review:

• Implement thorough code reviews as a mandatory step before any deployment.
• Foster a culture of constructive feedback, ensuring that code reviews become learning opportunities.
• Keep reviews concise, targeting under 200 lines for optimal comprehension.

Rework Rate:

• Differentiate between productive refactoring and unproductive rework.
• Track instances where previous work has to be redone and investigate root causes.
• Use this metric as a mirror to reflect on the clarity of initial requirements and communication.

In closing, while charting the unknown is the dream of every SaaS pioneer, it's essential to remain tethered to these six instruments. They not only ensure smooth flight but also guide towards uncharted territories safely. Remember, in the realm of SaaS, it's not enough to just take off; sustained flight requires vigilance, responsiveness, and an unwavering commitment to quality and user satisfaction.

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Think of your company's value as a rare treasure, and imagine the best way to get it into the right hands. Content marketing, when executed flawlessly, acts as the perfect delivery service, transporting your company's unique offerings directly to a curious and engaged audience. In B2B SaaS, this precision becomes paramount, with the content acting as customized parcels, addressing the specific needs of each client.

Jose Cayasso, commonly known as Caya, is at the forefront of this strategic delivery system. As the CEO of Slidebean, he has amassed over 350,000 subscribers on their YouTube channel, turning content delivery into an art. Today, we'll dive deep with Caya, understanding how to craft content that doesn't just inform but resonates and engages. Join us as we uncover the secrets behind Slidebean's massive success and learn how to transform your content into the ultimate delivery tool.

High-Level Overview* Passion for Content Creation Over Monetization: Caya expresses his passion for creating content rather than focusing on monetization, highlighting the value he places on the content itself over the potential revenue it might generate. * Welcoming and Supporting the Startup Community: Katy Hammond and Caya discuss the need for honesty and validation in the startup community, especially for early-stage founders, and how to create a more welcoming environment. * Challenges and Lessons from Failed Content Series: They delve into lessons learned from the retired series "Five Minute Tech" and the importance of creating evergreen content that remains valuable to viewers for years. * Content Strategy Differences with YouTube and TikTok: Caya elaborates on the differences between YouTube and TikTok, highlighting the long-term monetizable value of evergreen content on YouTube and the accessibility of TikTok for companies and creators. * The Importance of Honest Feedback in Idea Validation: Caya emphasizes the value of honest feedback in the startup community, discussing the common issues founders face in validating their ideas and the importance of critical rather than merely positive responses.

Leveraging Content MarketingIn today's digitally-driven world, content marketing stands as one of the most powerful tools for startups to gain visibility, establish authority, and foster relationships with potential customers. It provides a cost-effective way to communicate a brand's value proposition while resonating with the target audience's needs and preferences. When done right, content marketing not only drives organic traffic and boosts SEO but also cultivates trust, turning passive readers into active customers and brand advocates.

• Define Your Audience: Before creating content, understand who you're speaking to. Create detailed audience personas to cater content to specific needs and pain points.
• Tell a Story: Go beyond traditional promotional tactics. Narrate the journey of your startup, share success stories, or discuss challenges and how you overcame them.
• Quality Over Quantity: It's more beneficial to produce high-quality, in-depth content less frequently than churning out low-value content regularly.
• Leverage Different Mediums: Diversify your content portfolio. Use blogs, videos, podcasts, webinars, and infographics to cater to varied audience preferences.
• SEO is Key: Research relevant keywords and integrate them seamlessly into your content. This ensures that your content gets discovered by the right audience.
• Engage and Interact: Use content to foster a two-way conversation. Encourage comments, feedback, and share user-generated content to build community and trust.
• Analyze and Adjust: Regularly monitor content performance using analytics tools. Understand what's working and what's not, and tweak your strategy accordingly.

In conclusion, leveraging content marketing is not just about populating a blog or sharing videos sporadically. It's a strategic endeavor that requires consistency, understanding of the audience, and continuous learning. As startups are in a unique position to be agile and innovative, they can capitalize on content marketing to carve a niche for themselves in crowded markets. The journey might be demanding, but the results in terms of brand loyalty, awareness, and revenue growth are well worth the effort.

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Imagine walking into an art gallery, where paintings of all colors, styles, and sizes adorn the walls, yet owning one feels impossible without guidance. In the world of B2B SaaS, that art gallery is your software, and the potential buyers are visitors seeking the perfect piece. Just as an art enthusiast needs a path to ownership, potential customers require a seamless and intuitive process to discover and purchase your software. Empowering these buyers is about guiding them on a journey, making the process as enjoyable as wandering through an art gallery, and making it easy to buy your product.

Enter Melissa Kwan, Cofounder and CEO of eWebinar, an artist in her own right in the world of SaaS. She's crafted a business model where customer desires meet business acumen, making the software purchase as delightful as a stroll through an art gallery. In today's episode, we will explore with Melissa the importance of aligning your company with personal values and making the software purchase process a joyful symphony of success.

High-Level Overview* Personal Philosophy in Business Decision Making: Melissa talks about her unique approach to entrepreneurship, starting with a list of non-negotiables, focusing on what makes her happy, and how this philosophy guides her business decisions. * Online Sales and Product Development: She emphasizes her desire to create a business that can be sold entirely online. This includes her preference to avoid in-person sales and her focus on building and selling a product through the internet. * Building Business with Friends and Family: Melissa's choice to include friends and family in her business, both as team members and investors, highlights a personal and relational aspect of her business approach. * Work-Life Balance and Lifestyle Design: She discusses her approach to weaving together work and life to create a balanced and fulfilling lifestyle. This includes working remotely, setting her own hours, and designing her business to align with her personal values and desires. * Strategies for Startup Success: The conversation includes advice and guidance for aspiring entrepreneurs and startups, particularly in the product-led SaaS space. Melissa's insights cover areas like creative working instead of merely working harder, the importance of staying connected to the reasons for starting a business, and finding ways to delegate and automate for greater efficiency and happiness.

The 5 Elements of a Killer On-Demand DemoAn on demand demo is a video presentation that aims to sell a product or service to potential customers without any direct interaction. The goal is to address prospects' objections preemptively and efficiently guide them through the sales process. Melissa Kwan, a sales expert with nearly 20 years of experience, outlines the five essential elements of an on demand demo:

• Agenda: The agenda sets the tone for the on demand demo, providing a roadmap of what will be covered. By giving prospects a clear structure, they can anticipate what's coming and stay engaged throughout the presentation.
• Personal Story: Establishing credibility is crucial in sales. Sharing a personal story helps humanize the presenter and builds trust with the prospects. It also explains why the presenter is passionate about the product, increasing the likelihood of the prospects sharing that enthusiasm.
• Addressing Competition: Instead of focusing on competitors directly, the on demand demo concentrates on the problem the product solves and the unique features that differentiate it from other offerings. This approach avoids negative comparisons while highlighting the benefits of the product.
• Key Features as Customer Success Stories: Demonstrating the product's key features as customer success stories connects the prospect with real-world benefits. This approach goes beyond a mere product feature overview and shows how the offering can solve specific problems and improve the prospect's experience.
• Call to Action: A strong call to action at the end of the demo guides prospects toward the next step in the sales process. By clearly stating what action the prospect should take, the presenter increases the likelihood of converting them into customers.

By incorporating these five elements into their on demand demos, sales professionals can create compelling and persuasive presentations that address prospects' objections and effectively lead them to make a decision, resulting in higher conversion rates and successful sales outcomes.

Further LearningsFollow Melissa on LinkedIn.

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Check out the detailed field guide here

Topics discussed in this episode:

• 02:01 - What makes a great SaaS community
• 10:10 - The Three Types of Investors
• 13:24 - Focusing on the interpersonal side of the business
• 18:20 - Building and Maintaining the Founder-Investor Relationship
• 23:44 - Embracing the silence during investor meetings

This is a Paddle production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• 01:57 - Why some fintech is really “tech fin”
• 11:00 - Reducing the time and friction to execute
• 19:00 - The "Buy now, Pay later" space
• 23:56 - The anchor tenant persona
• 30:11 - How to find anchor tenants

This is a Paddle production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• 01:59 - Connecting emotion and value to drive results
• 07:18 - What to look for when building a marketing team
• 16:26 - Prioritizing efforts on areas of biggest influence
• 21:35 - Setting up a team of highly skilled marketers
• 34:09 - Which partnerships are essential within your organization

This is a Paddle production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• 02:13 - Zeroing in on Sales Roles
• 08:23 - Hiring someone with a fire in the belly
• 14:07 - SDR Training, Enablement and Progression
• 21:00 - Setting up sales opportunities for success
• 39:01 - The value of compassionate leadership

This is a Paddle production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• 01:50 - The intangible rewards of selling a company
• 16:29 - Coping with grief after an exit
• 28:02 - The fundamentals of building in public
• 34:09 - Why losses resonate more than wins
• 43:07 - How authenticity scales

This is a Paddle production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• 01:59 - What makes an IPO a good idea
• 14:03 - Maintaining control of the process
• 20:43 - Crafting your IPO Story
• 31:49 - Was the IPO worth it?

This is a Paddle production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Aligning your business with how customers buy
• How to implement product-qualified leads
• The stages of product-led growth
• How to measure success
• Simplifying onboarding

This is a Paddle Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• The transparency rule
• Personalization and authenticity
• How marketing is evolving
• Maintaining a sustainable sales cycle
• Reducing operational inefficiencies

This is a Paddle Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• The importance of training
• Designing workflows
• Creating training infrastructure
• Tracking progress & accountability
• The future of training

This is a Paddle Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Leveraging people skills
• The framework of customer experience
• Going the extra mile
• Creating an effective triage system
• stagnate, upgrade, or die

This is a Paddle Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Having a clear understanding of value
• Consolidating talent and tools
• The Efficiency of Agile Sales
• Maintaining target accounts
• How to navigate funding

This is a Paddle Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Marketing effectively by being unconventional
• The roadmap to company-wide efficiency
• Obsessing over process
• Overcoming fears as an operator
• The two rules for disagreeable discussions

This is a Paddle Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• The role flexibility plays in feedback
• 4 pillars that drive ClickUp’s prioritization
• How to harvest leads from a wide marketing net
• ClickUp’s brand awareness strategy
• What most companies miss when going multi-product

This is a Paddle Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Christian’s early SaaS origins
• Solving customer problems
• The roadmap to success
• Getting your customers to trust you
• What makes London perfect for SaaS

This is a Paddle Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Innovation in customer success
• Establishing a retention focal point
• Optimizing retention
• What most companies miss with retention
• Who owns churn and expansion revenue.

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Innovating a Product with Real Demand
• Understanding How People Work Differently
• Establishing a Consistent Market Fit
• Hard Lessons of a Dynamic Business Environment
• Working Toward Common Goals with Differing Values

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• The Next Wave of Video
• Being Simple But Powerful
• How Monetization Adds Value to a User
• The Signal to Move Upmarket
• Having a Culture of Open Debate

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Market Integration
• The Baseline of Effective Selling
• The Framework of Capital Efficiency
• Calibrating Planning Cycles
• Insights on Product Stacking

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Integrating sales, marketing, and customer success
• Being easy, fast, and affordable
• The 5 major prongs of segment marketing
• Instilling empathy in your marketing
• The questions to ask to uncover needs

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• End-to-End Ownership of a Problem
• Having a Marketing-Led Sales Motion
• How to Nail Your Content Distribution Plan
• Applying TLC to Every Aspect of Customer Experience
• Identifying a Consultative Advisory Driven Salesperson

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• The One Rule that Makes a Good Email
• Mapping Out an Email Journey
• Getting from Value Realized to Value Achieved Moments
• How to Deal with Non-Responsive Readers
• Keeping Readers Focused on Your Message

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode

• There is no perfect formula for building a business
• Hardships and how to navigate them
• Examples from the ProfitWell Crew
• Using operational redundancies
• Building the right team
• Getting through hardship by doing what you love

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode

• The experience of purchasing software has drastically changed: it's broken
• Timing is everything especially if the market catches up
• How to handle fierce competition
• Can you brute force change in a market?
• Gutting Hubspot's product team and rebuilding 90% of the software
• Discovering customer centricity and getting as close as possible
• Going from persona to focusing on the end user customer experience.

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Topics covered in this episode

• Having a product team that can say “no” in order to stay on plan
• Choosing one singular focus and target customer instead of trying to do everything
• The future goals of Yesware
• Keeping product and sales focus, and how it's made Yesware successful
• Getting your team aligned and on board with direction
• The Characteristics of a great salesperson

This episode is produced by Dan Callahan, Benjamin Hillman, and Patrick Campbell. Additional support by Steve Cerasoli and Allissa Chan.

Written by Mary Matton

Protect the Hustle is a ProfitWell Recur Production. All rights reserved.

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode

• The relationship of the customer and product
• The shift in the market in relation to customer research
• How data plays into the market
• An introduction to customer research
• Understanding qualitative customer research
• Understanding quantitative customer research
• Frequent objections to data collection and rebuttals

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People are the hardest part of building a company.

Think about it - when you’re building a company, your people are the company. And if you’re terrible at finding great people, hiring great people, and keeping great people, then your company is going to fail.

Mike Volpe is an excellent example of someone who is great at all three of those. Currently the CEO of lola.com, he was able to put together one of the most all star marketing teams of the past couple of decades during his time as the CMO of HubSpot.

In this episode of Protect the Hustle, Mike walks us through his methodology for recruiting, hiring, and retaining stellar team members that allowed him to build the marketing department at HubSpot into what it is today.

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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If you ask someone to define “culture” in your office, you might get a response about ping-pong tables or beers on tap. But we know culture constitutes something so much greater. It’s the collection of habits you accept and nurture within your organization. It’s molding the same foundational principles that drive the core of behavior, but also having fiercely diverse views in all other aspects. 

And this is where your skeptics come in. While skeptics can be incredibly difficult to deal with at times, they are key to building a solid culture, which is something Katie Burke, Chief People Officer at HubSpot, believes to her core. She discreetly recognizes the difference between skeptics and cynics, embracing feedback from skeptics as the way to ultimately grow (and better) your organization.

Topics covered in this episode

• The advantage of staying truly unique in your market
• Building a successful culture with consistency, time, energy, and effort
• Recognizing the value in skeptics
• Evolving your culture through feedback

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Going Smaller to Get Bigger
• The Consumer is always in pursuit of Value
• The Open Secret to Success
• Amelia Earhart’s Role in Category Creation
• The Need to Sacrifice to Specialize

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Dispelling the Myth that Marketing is Subjective
• Operating in the Feedback Economy
• The Onus of Employee Growth Opportunity

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode

• Paul English's affinity for design
• What is Lola and why business travel Paul's focus
• How to make travel simpler
• The process around "lead users"
• How to evangelize simplicity and service within the right team
• An intolerance for bad design
• How driving for Uber influenced rating within Lola

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed:

• How HubSpot developed a data-driven sales playbook
• The powerful potential of combining marketing and customer success
• The Science of Scaling
• Leading indicators that signal a readiness to scale
• What to do when scaling breaks

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Their surprising founding story
• The mortar between the bricks of SaaS
• A set of principles that are always true
• Solving problems so customers can focus on value
• Saving the worry for the ones you haven’t yet found

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Knowing when to stop failing
• The freedom granted by bootstrapping
• Being realistic about risk
• The Buddhism of work-life balance

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Enterprise being SaaS by nature
• Solving SaaS infrastructure problems
• The leaky bucket of B2B and B2C
• The one responsibility CEO’s can’t forget

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• The recipe to embrace resistance to change
• Navigating the exposure to perfection
• The unsatisfactory answer to nailing company culture
• The key to repeatable scaling success

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Discovering intelligent talent
• Managing distributed teams well
• Building an engine that brings the world closer
• The mental framework behind scaling a company
• Finding comfort in increased delegation

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Being a champion of the mundane
• A globetrotter approach to customer development
• Examining product manager hubris
• The biggest limitation to growth
• The four tech ecosystems of India

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• The Tedious Transition from Perpetual Software to Subscriptions
• The Fundamentals of a Stable Business
• Efficient Use of Capital
• The Single Unlock to Building Something Awesome

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode

• What is the Wistia Way?
• Learning to install processes but go with the flow
• The simple benefits of being genuine
• How to make your strengths stronger
• The dynamic of Wistia CEO Chris Savage and CTO Brendan Schwartz
• Taking a "values-first" approach to product.

This episode is produced by Dan Callahan, Benjamin Hillman, and Patrick Campbell. Additional support by Robert Byrne and Allissa Chan.

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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*This episode was filmed prior to the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Topics covered in this episode

• The shift from a product economy to a subscription economy
• How to build a long-term, sustainable startup
• The power of a strong marketing strategy and the power of storytelling

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Every company goes up market eventually, especially in B2B. Most do so by expanding their offering, few actually make the leap from abandoning the low end of the market and going right at the enterprise instead. So how do you get there? Transitioning from the startup market to the enterprise world requires strategic pivoting and a proactive group effort. 

May Habib has witnessed this first hand, as she played a pivotal role in the market transition of content intelligence platform Qordoba. May oversaw a considerable transformation with Qordoba, moving from the low end of the market as a content localization product to selling to giant enterprises like Marriott, Visa, and Condé Nast. She's steadfast in the mindset that training is everything, and you must prioritize heavy coaching, transparency, and feedback in the process. Listen here to see how she did it so successfully.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Transitioning markets (from startup to enterprise) through strategic pivoting
• Training your team for proactivity through heavy coaching
• The value of transparency and feedback in your process of transition

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode

• Great marketing is built from the consumer up, not the product
• Use classical positioning language as a framework to build brand
• Brand informs every aspect of product experience
• A customer's willingness to pay for a premium experience
• How a company articulates a value proposition.

This episode is produced by Dan Callahan, Benjamin Hillman, and Patrick Campbell. Additional support by Robert Byrne and Allissa Chan.

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Why everyone should have the skill to sell
• The secret to nailing the niche
• Dissecting the ideal customer
• Why most companies stall
• The anatomy of a successful cold call

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Embracing Complexity When Selling to SMBs
• How to Be Successful in an Emerging Market
• The Playbooks to Educate an Ecosystem
• The Advantage of Building a Company in Brazil
• Managing People and Problems

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• The golden ticket of customer advocacy
• Taking video off its pedestal
• A guide to customer advocacy
• Seeding stories
• Tying metrics back to a leading indicator

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• The last millisecond experience
• Phase transitions of growth
• Avoiding premature optimization
• Centralized vs distributed teams

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• The Itch to Strategically Operate
• A System for Firing and Developing People
• Keeping the Rhythm with the Operational Success
• Building a Culture of Learning
• Sharing Numbers in a Way that Motivates

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Creating Content with Desirable Value
• Which Marketing Metrics Make the Most Sense
• Surviving the No-Exit Situation
• Finding Comfort in Uncertainty

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Two Infrastructure Shifts with Data
• Having a Love Affair with Caution
• Unlocking and Accelerating Human Reasoning
• The 10 Star Experience
• Questioning the Inherent Value of Data

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Making pricing accessible
• Tech-enabled Demand Generation
• The rich tapestry cadence of MOFU
• Creating a sticky and attractive content environment
• Tackling the 12-legged deal

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• The culture shock of non-negotiable feedback
• Selfless service
• The foxhole method of business
• Building your own personal advisory board
• Conflict between making money and purpose

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Destigmatizing the Cannabis Industry
• How to Measure Word of Mouth
• Creating Delightful Moments
• The Ingredients for Strong Word of Mouth
• Missteps to Avoid in the Word of Mouth Process

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Wanting to Own Your Destiny
• Managing Shiny Object Syndrome
• When to Do the Unscalable
• How to Maintain Authenticity as a CEO
• The Emotional Side of M&A

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode

• We must continually power the curious, because feedback is essential for growth.
• Companies who don’t listen to input—both internally with employees and externally with users—are missing out on opportunity for growth (and potentially harming their brand entirely).
• Surveys are a key tool for attainment of real perspectives.
• Remaining in sync with your team is a must for seamless collaboration.

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode

• The primary reasons for Moz's failure and what Rand would've changed about the operation
• The implications of creating an anti-active usage product
• The lessons Rand extracted from early failure and how he picked back up again as a secondary founder
• The cruciality of leveraging your resources—namely, people and product—to optimize for the right thing

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode

• Building, scaling and distribution: the new challenges for software companies
• How first perfecting a single product can lead to multi-product success
• Discovering the competitive edge of a market
• Leveraging the location benefit of Chennai
• The power of alignment and managing your team
• The value of an integrated user experience

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode:

• What is positioning?
• Dissonance between revenue timeliness and marketing priorities
• Category creation and adoption.
• How to position your product.

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Over the past century we've gone through a few waves in purchasing behavior. After setting up infrastructure in the industrial revolution we entered a wave of mass production and consumerism. People could purchase lots of goods from a variety of options for the first time and they took advantage of the shift. Suburbs blossomed and our consumptive economy boomed.

What comes after the foundations of consumption though? Well - choice.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Shame led to work ethic
• When to give up on your dreams
• The shift from marketing to brand affinity
• The unlock to content distribution
• Wistia’s internal content mandate

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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This week I'm sharing one of our internal memos that's slightly redacted on one of our core principles at ProfitWell: thinking from first principles. A lot of you asked how I'm able to produce frameworks and thoughtful commentary quickly/frequently and a lot of it came from honing this trait. I was lucky in the fact that I went to university on a debate scholarship, so I wrote, spoke, and thought from first principles for 40 hours per week for four years (eight if you count high school).

This concept is hard to teach, so the below pulls from many other authors, going as far back as my main homie Demosthenes. If you find this worthwhile, obviously share. Want to get this superpower in the hands of as many people as possible.

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Being a champion for small businesses
• Democratizing success with technology
• Why accountants are superheroes
• When growth isn’t the goal
• The “number 8 wire” mentality.

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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In a world with seemingly infinite options and infinite marketing to show us those options, consumer purchasing behavior has changed dramatically. We've gone from a place of inherently trusting brands by default—after all, why would they lie—to distrusting brands by default. Turns out they lie all the time.

The result? Most marketing has shifted to needing to reinforce trust through free trials, money-back guarantees, and plenty of content. If you can "try before you buy" or at least feel like the brand's spoken to you enough, you'll feel more comfortable making a purchase.

One particular piece of content that's been on the rise are influencer and celebrity endorsements. As media becomes more and more fragmented, we end up trusting individuals over institutions. Let's explore this phenomenon with a bunch of data to answer, should you embark on influencer marketing even in B2B?

Go to http://protectthehustle.com/ for the full write-up

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• The Accidental Entrepreneur
• The Desire for Elevated Status
• Selling Transformation or Identity Reinforcement
• The Cyclical Nature of Marketing
• Frequency Required for a Messaging Breakthrough

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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For decades we've been talking about active usage in the context of retention. After all, if someone is using the product, then they must be happy, right? Our market has changed though as we're able to measure outcomes better and automate more than we ever have before.

The result—our fixation on active usage may no longer be valid.

In fact, the data actually suggests that the least used products have the best retention, as long as they have a measurable outcome. I get that's a bit counterintuitive, so let's explore this concept with a nice framework, some examples, and of course the data to determine if you should be building a product for usage at all.

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• The thin line between being stubborn and principled
• Software as a craft industry
• Permeating shared values throughout a team
• Tactical steps to D.E.I.
• The decision-making values filter

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Pricing is one of those topics that sits at the nexus of uncomfortable and long term, which means companies often don’t think about it for far too long. Even when they eventually figure it out, they don’t touch it again for years.

In this episode, Patrick provides a compact, yet thorough, guide to pricing strategy and tells you exactly where and how to get started.

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Understanding the Root of Customer Wants
• Building an Intentional Culture
• The Leapfrog Differentiator
• Living Out Your Weirdness
• The Secret to Uncomfortable Conversations

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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This week I want to try something a bit different. I'm going to talk through a problem I'm currently working on—essentially a ProfitWell business case—but I haven't completely bridged the framework for or solution quite yet. I'd love your feedback and ultimately any referrals you can send my way for help (or the positions mentioned). As progress or a solution comes into focus, I'll then share the findings with the community.

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Marketing-driven growth vs. product-driven growth
• The ingredients that make up community
• How community drives the potential of a tech ecosystem
• The drive to stand out and be different
• Unlocking your authentic self with a willingness to adapt

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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This episode is a deep dive on Twitter's decision to enter the subscription world. I've been talking about this for quite some time (as has Scott Galloway, and plenty of Twitter team members have been trolling those posts, so I hope I helped ;)), but to me this is the perfect move and it's not because of the obvious stock market reasons. Let's jump in.

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• The democratization of automation
• Not hiring until it hurts
• Aligning on a singular strategy to empower individual execution
• Manufacturing a leveraged growth machine
• Straddling the many precipices of entrepreneurship

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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This episode is an internal memo (slightly redacted and modified) on one of ProfitWell's core axioms of "feedback is non-negotiable." Patrick wanted to share it because he's been thinking about this memo quite a bit the past couple of weeks, and a lot of you have been asking for how we run ProfitWell. If you find these worthwhile, let us know and we'll publish more. Enjoy.

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Using mega trends as a tailwind to growth
• Building product principles into your business
• How to choose the right problems to solve
• The foundational pillars of building product
• The discomfort around decision-making tradeoffs

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Today, we're sharing a framework for becoming a media company, including why you should abandon your current inbound strategy and move to media. HubSpot bought a media company for this very reason.

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed:

• How HubSpot developed a data-driven sales playbook
• The powerful potential of combining marketing and customer success
• The Science of Scaling
• Leading indicators that signal a readiness to scale
• What to do when scaling breaks

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode:

• The art of making technology
• The alignment of product, marketing, and sales
• Prioritizing marketing initiatives
• Knowing when to pivot and when to stay the course
• The common thread of successful companies

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Today, Patrick goes deep on defending hustle culture. He discusses how to better align what you want with your efforts, as well as how we'd be better off not judging others for their choices, and reminding you that you have agency.

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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On today’s episode Patrick dives deep into the analysis of The AMEX effect, which is a phenomenon of pricing at the point where your customer doesn’t think much about the purchase. He walks through all the data and how to take advantage of this.

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode:

1. What makes your business is more than just a piece of tech.
2. Subscriptions make better citizens of the world.
3. The fundamental shift occurring with your customers.

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics discussed in this episode.

• In 2021 and in general, you need a coach to give you proper outside perspective and to check your self-awareness.
• If you're in B2B SaaS, I recommend Dan Martell and his SaaS Academy program. There's no one I've met more helpful to SaaS Founders. And he offered up some 1:1 time to Protect the Hustle subscribers. You can book that time here.

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode:

• How to avoid getting sucked into traps
• Using perspective to get everyone on the same page
• Creating tools to reveal answers
• The importances of shared language
• Understanding nuances to unlock frameworks

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Today, Patrick goes into probably the most obvious, superficial point we could learn from Disney. It's lazy analysis. And why we need to go deeper to uncover why this is so powerful for every subscription business out there.

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode:

1. Difficulty of category creation
2. Marketing trends with the rule of 3
3. Rift between marketing factions
4. How to acquire a company
5. Customer needs and wants

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode:

• The evolution of growth
• Prioritizing and positioning
• Overinvesting in a few growth bets
• Playbooks and planning
• Learning from mistakes

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode:

• Earning the right to educate
• Weaponizing your ego
• Generating demand
• Characteristics of success
• The key to leverage

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode:

1. Building a career off problem solving
2. The growing skills gap
3. Keeping pace with innovation
4. Developing a learner’s mindset
5. The growth of silicon slopes

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode:

1. Don’t be a solution searching for a problem
2. Tall Poppy Syndrome in Canada
3. Cultivating a culture of competition
4. The importance of stepping away

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode:

• Bootstrapped beginnings
• Subscriptions are the future
• Contributing vs. building your own
• Rallying behind a metric
• Positioning your company globally

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode:

1. Roots in programming
2. Talking to your customers
3. Finding levers for growth
4. Lessons in scaling
5. Alignment and shared vision

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode:

1. What is positioning?
2. Dissonance between revenue timeliness and marketing priorities
3. Category creation and adoption.
4. How to position your product.

Watch the video version of this episode at protectthehustle.com.

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode

• Accepting the lows with the highs of entrepreneurship
• The importance of a support system
• Trust & loyalty comes through being human & garnering interactions
• Building community
• The people are what make a company successful

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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This week, Patrick and Neel discuss the considerable thought that should go into a company statement when presented with a sensitive and significant event—and how action can speak louder.

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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*This episode was filmed prior to the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Topics covered in this episode

• The shift from a product economy to a subscription economy
• How to build a long-term, sustainable startup
• The power of a strong marketing strategy and the power of storytelling

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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In this episode, PC and Neel discuss the pros and cons around mandated vs. unlimited time off. Plus, what does the travel industry recovery look like?

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode

• We must continually power the curious, because feedback is essential for growth.
• Companies who don’t listen to input—both internally with employees and externally with users—are missing out on opportunity for growth (and potentially harming their brand entirely).
• Surveys are a key tool for attainment of real perspectives.
• Remaining in sync with your team is a must for seamless collaboration.

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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In this episode, PC and Neel share their take on these burning topics:

• Google's platform flex on Zoom
• Facebook Shop
• Joe Rogan's move to Spotify

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode

• You have to remain authentic. Much of authenticity stems from accepting vulnerability.
• Surround yourself with the right people. Your tribe should support your future, not your past.
• Find a way to constantly pay it forward and contribute to your community.

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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In this episode, PC and Neel bring up some questions around the road to redemption.

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode

• Why providing customers with a desired outcome is crucial
• How to align customer success properly within an organization and how to measure it
• The scoreboard Nick recommends using to help rationalize feedback
• Customer outcomes + great customer experience = customer success

Check out the making of Nick's rap song, "Who's Fired Up?" here.

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode

• The primary reasons for Moz's failure and what Rand would've changed about the operation
• The implications of creating an anti-active usage product
• The lessons Rand extracted from early failure and how he picked back up again as a secondary founder
• The cruciality of leveraging your resources—namely, people and product—to optimize for the right thing

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode

• The saga of Brian Halligan's purchase of Jerry Garcia's guitar
• The differences of running a company with 2 to 20 people, 20 to 200 people, 200 to 2,00 people, and beyond
• Recognizing that mistakes happen but ensuring that mistakes do not happen more than once
• Maintaining high-performance and how slacking in one area can lead to the downfall of the entire company Everything is tied together.
• There is no hero ball in a Scale-Up
• Death by overeating vs starvation by not executing
• Going into other markets after championing marketing automation
• Staying focused on the long arduous journey of creating a great company
• The hunger to be a pillar company in Boston that makes your children proud.
• Staying motivated by going after big meaty problems and staying determined with horizon planning

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Welcome to the first-ever episode of Tradeoffs, where Hiten Shah (of FYI and Product Habits) and I talk through the product decisions of popular companies and the potential tradeoffs they made as a result. We break down how these choices shaped the growth of these companies and what it means for their future. Starting it off is our conversation about online streaming juggernaut Netflix.

You can find a full blog write up here, as well as subscribe to get the show delivered to your inbox weekly.

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Company culture means a lot of things to a lot of different people, not because culture has a lot of definitions, but because culture has been co-opted by perks, ping pong tables, and snacks in the kitchen. In reality, culture is behavioral, it’s the collection of habits that we accept and tolerate within our company and it will make or break your business.

Culture is hard though, because it's your responsibility to hire the right people, nurture the right behaviors, and let people go when they aren't fitting the future. As a group, we're pretty terrible at this, particularly that last one.

To help, on this week's episode of Protect The Hustle, we interview one of the most prolific figures in People Operations and HR, Patty McCord, the former Chief Talent Officer at Netflix and author of Powerful, a book that's taken high growth companies by storm. We discuss how Patty went from Texas border towns and Oregon lumber yards to making the tough decisions to push Netflix to a $160B market cap, which included redefining what HR is supposed to be inside a company.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How HR and People Operations became legal and anything but helping people do their best work within a company
• How writing down your values is pretty much the last step in the culture cultivation process
• How to model behavior instead of punishing or negatively reinforcing people
• How management has ultimate responsibility for all of this
• How to apply these learnings to your hiring process
• How to nurture your current team and stamp out politics
• How to let people go who are no longer a fit for the mission

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Every company goes up market eventually, especially in B2B. Most do so by expanding their offering, few actually make the leap from abandoning the low end of the market and going right at the enterprise instead. So how do you get there? Transitioning from the startup market to the enterprise world requires strategic pivoting and a proactive group effort. 

May Habib has witnessed this first hand, as she played a pivotal role in the market transition of content intelligence platform Qordoba. May oversaw a considerable transformation with Qordoba, moving from the low end of the market as a content localization product to selling to giant enterprises like Marriott, Visa, and Condé Nast. She's steadfast in the mindset that training is everything, and you must prioritize heavy coaching, transparency, and feedback in the process. Listen here to see how she did it so successfully.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Transitioning markets (from startup to enterprise) through strategic pivoting
• Training your team for proactivity through heavy coaching
• The value of transparency and feedback in your process of transition

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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People are the hardest part of building a company.

Think about it - when you’re building a company, your people are the company. And if you’re terrible at finding great people, hiring great people, and keeping great people, then your company is going to fail.

Mike Volpe is an excellent example of someone who is great at all three of those. Currently the CEO of lola.com, he was able to put together one of the most all star marketing teams of the past couple of decades during his time as the CMO of HubSpot.

In this episode of Protect the Hustle, Mike walks us through his methodology for recruiting, hiring, and retaining stellar team members that allowed him to build the marketing department at HubSpot into what it is today.

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode

• Having a product team that can say “no” in order to stay on plan
• Choosing one singular focus and target customer instead of trying to do everything
• The future goals of Yesware
• Keeping product and sales focus, and how it's made Yesware successful
• Getting your team aligned and on board with direction
• The Characteristics of a great salesperson

This episode is produced by Dan Callahan, Benjamin Hillman, and Patrick Campbell. Additional support by Steve Cerasoli and Allissa Chan.

Written by Mary Matton

Protect the Hustle is a ProfitWell Recur Production. All rights reserved.

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If you ask someone to define “culture” in your office, you might get a response about ping-pong tables or beers on tap. But we know culture constitutes something so much greater. It’s the collection of habits you accept and nurture within your organization. It’s molding the same foundational principles that drive the core of behavior, but also having fiercely diverse views in all other aspects. 

And this is where your skeptics come in. While skeptics can be incredibly difficult to deal with at times, they are key to building a solid culture, which is something Katie Burke, Chief People Officer at HubSpot, believes to her core. She discreetly recognizes the difference between skeptics and cynics, embracing feedback from skeptics as the way to ultimately grow (and better) your organization.

Topics covered in this episode

• The advantage of staying truly unique in your market
• Building a successful culture with consistency, time, energy, and effort
• Recognizing the value in skeptics
• Evolving your culture through feedback

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The word hustle dates back to the 1680s from the Dutch word “hutselen” which means “to shake, to toss”. The very core of the word is around shaking up and pushing forward, which is why plenty of the dictionary definitions have some derivation of movement or energy.

The core of hustle was around changing your environment and “shaking” things up to produce large scale action.

But then hustle changed. Hustle became more gratuitous.

Startups started latching onto the word as the gratuitous image of "crushing it" and tweeting out unnecessary vocalizations of superficial feelings of accomplishment.

Hustle lost its edge.

The thing is though - hustle still means hustle.

Hustle is a beacon to changing your own personal circumstances and destroying the demons that haunt you and try to prevent you from doing that one extra call, that one extra rep, or whatever it takes.

And to do our part to the greater hustle community, we’re bringing you season 2 of Protect the Hustle - stories in the trenches from the people doing the actual work and protecting everything that hustle stand for...

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Topics covered in this episode

• What is the Wistia Way?
• Learning to install processes but go with the flow
• The simple benefits of being genuine
• How to make your strengths stronger
• The dynamic of Wistia CEO Chris Savage and CTO Brendan Schwartz
• Taking a "values-first" approach to product.

This episode is produced by Dan Callahan, Benjamin Hillman, and Patrick Campbell. Additional support by Robert Byrne and Allissa Chan.

Protect the Hustle is a ProfitWell Recur Production. All rights reserved.

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Topics covered in this episode

• Building, scaling and distribution: the new challenges for software companies
• How first perfecting a single product can lead to multi-product success
• Discovering the competitive edge of a market
• Leveraging the location benefit of Chennai
• The power of alignment and managing your team
• The value of an integrated user experience

This episode is produced by Dan Callahan, Benjamin Hillman, and Patrick Campbell. Additional support by Robert Byrne and Allissa Chan.

Protect the Hustle is a ProfitWell Recur Production. All rights reserved.

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Topics covered in this episode:

• Great marketing is built from the consumer up, not the product
• Use classical positioning language as a framework to build brand
• Brand informs every aspect of product experience
• A customer's willingness to pay for a premium experience
• How a company articulates a value proposition.

This episode is produced by Dan Callahan, Benjamin Hillman, and Patrick Campbell. Additional support by Robert Byrne and Allissa Chan.

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

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Topics covered in this episode

• There is no perfect formula for building a business
• Hardships and how to navigate them
• Examples from the ProfitWell Crew
• Using operational redundancies
• Building the right team
• Getting through hardship by doing what you love

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Topics covered in this episode

• Paul English's affinity for design
• What is Lola and why business travel Paul's focus
• How to make travel simpler
• The process around "lead users"
• How to evangelize simplicity and service within the right team
• An intolerance for bad design
• How driving for Uber influenced rating within Lola

This episode is produced by Dan Callahan, Benjamin Hillman, and Patrick Campbell. Additional support by Robert Byrne and Allissa Chan.

Protect the Hustle is a ProfitWell Recur Production. All rights reserved.

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Topics covered in this episode

• The relationship of the customer and product
• The shift in the market in relation to customer research
• How data plays into the market
• An introduction to customer research
• Understanding qualitative and quantitative customer research
• Frequent objections to data collection and rebuttals

This episode was produced by Dan Callahan, Benjamin Hillman, and Patrick Campbell. Additional support by Robert Byrne and Allissa Chan.

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.
All rights reserved.

Go to http://www.protectthehustle.com/ to get the data Patrick talked about in this episode.

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Topics covered in this episode

• The experience of purchasing software has drastically changed: it's broken
• Timing is everything especially if the market catches up
• How to handle fierce competition
• Can you brute force change in a market?
• Gutting Hubspot's product team and rebuilding 90% of the software
• Discovering customer centricity and getting as close as possible
• Going from persona to focusing on the end user customer experience.

This episode is produced by Dan Callahan, Benjamin Hillman, and Patrick Campbell. Additional support by Robert Byrne and Allissa Chan.

Protect the Hustle is a ProfitWell Recur Production. All rights reserved.

Tearing Down Salesforce's Pricing: http://bit.ly/2NdjRfW
Protect the Hustle with Brian Halligan: http://bit.ly/2PxYS5x
Protect the Hustle with Patty McCord: http://bit.ly/2vsugdk

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Topics covered in this episode

• Interviews with Crazy Egg's Hiten Shah, ProfitWell's Facundo Chamut, and ProfitWell team members Erin Phinney, Neel Desai, Peter Zotto, and Ben Hillman
• Why feedback is crucial to your business
• How feedback makes us disinclined to be obedient
• How to use feedback as leverage in our favor to get people on board to give great feedback
• Actionable methods to solicit feedback and proper environments to give it
• What constitutes feedback and how to interpret all kinds

This episode is produced by Dan Callahan, Benjamin Hillman, and Patrick Campbell. Additional support by Robert Byrne and Allissa Chan.

Protect the Hustle is a ProfitWell Recur Production. All rights reserved.

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Topics covered in this episode

• The saga of Brian Halligan's purchase of Jerry Garcia's guitar
• The differences of running a company with 2 to 20 people, 20 to 200 people, 200 to 2,00 people, and beyond
• Recognizing that mistakes happen but ensuring that mistakes do not happen more than once
• Maintaining high-performance and how slacking in one area can lead to the downfall of the entire company Everything is tied together.
• There is no hero ball in a Scale-Up
• Death by overeating vs starvation by not executing
• Going into other markets after championing marketing automation
• Staying focused on the long arduous journey of creating a great company
• The hunger to be a pillar company in Boston that makes your children proud.
• Staying motivated by going after big meaty problems and staying determined with horizon planning

This episode is produced by Dan Callahan, Benjamin Hillman, and Patrick Campbell. Additional support by Robert Byrne and Allissa Chan.

Protect the Hustle is a ProfitWell Recur Production. All rights reserved.

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Topics covered in this episode

• Interviews with Drift's David Cancel, Moz/Sparktoro's Rand Fishkin, Pillar's Sarah Hodges, Harvard Business School's Julia Austin, and Netflix's Patty McCord
• Why diversity is so important for your business, but how diversity is much more than a number or a proportion of your team
• Why we're so bad at cultivating diverse teams, including interview/recruiting bias, poor environments to foster diversity
• Research on resume bias in tech for women, PoC, Christians, and even Republicans
• Research on preference differences between men and women, as well as younger team members and older team members
• How to create the best environment to hold the line when it comes to diversity
• How to remove the bad kind of bias from your recruiting and hiring process
• How to inject some good bias into your recruiting and hiring process

This episode is produced by Dan Callahan, Benjamin Hillman, and Patrick Campbell. Additional support by Robert Byrne and Allissa Chan.

Protect the Hustle is a ProfitWell Recur Production. All rights reserved.

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Protect the Hustle is a ProfitWell Recur Production.

Benjamin Hillman - Show Producer
Dan Callahan - Creative Producer
Robert Byrne - Show Intern
Allissa Chan - Creative Intern

Co-Hosted by Patrick Campbell and Ben Hillman
Additional Production by Patrick Campbell

Patty McCord's book Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility: http://bit.ly/powerfulpm
The current Netflix Culture Deck can be found here: https://jobs.netflix.com/culture
The archived culture deck can be found here: http://bit.ly/netflixculturearchive

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Get notified as soon as Protect the Hustle is live: http://www.protectthehustle.com/