Lessons in Building BroadSoft to a $2Billion Exit

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Mike Tessler, Managing Partner at True North Advisory and founding CEO at BroadSoft, who shares his lessons in building BroadSoft to a $2 billion exit. I had to reserve more time in my pie for internal communications, culture, employees, so on. As a leader, you've got shareholder stakeholders, you have employee stakeholders, you have customer stakeholders, and you've got to figure out how you split your time. Mike shares: ⚡️ BroadSoft's journey from their 1998 founding, to going public in 2010 on Nasdaq, and being acquired by Cisco in 2018 for upwards of $1.8B ⚡️ The decision making process behind selling BroadSoft to Cisco ⚡️ Three key lessons from scaling the business to $500M+ ARR ⚡️ Building realistic execution plan and holding teams accountable ⚡️ Why the senior team have to act as ambassadors as a company grows ⚡️ BroadSoft's secret to success with go to market partners ⚡️ The biggest partner technology challenge the industry is currently facing ⚡️ How he handled feelings of loneliness when at the top and more!

00:36:39

Insights into the Cloud Euroscape 2023 - Gen AI

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Philippe Botteri, Partner at Accel and #SaaStock2023 speaker, who shares insights into the Cloud Euroscape 2023 on Generative AI. "An IPO is primarily a financing event, right? These companies don't need the cash right now because they have a lot of cash on their balance sheet, so there is no need to go public. What is important for me, is for a company to continue to perform, to become really enduring and a category defining company, and I think, to me, that's what is the most important. Then at the right time, they're going to go public... but that's just going to be a milestone in their journey. I think the journey is the most important and making sure that all these companies are going to continue to grow and be category defining." Filmed the week prior to SaaStock 2023, Philippe shared: ☁️ Accel's take on the slow in growth stage investments this year ☁️ How the European cloud ecosystem has shown its resilience and strength in the last few years ☁️ Why they chose Generative AI as this year's Cloud Euroscape theme ☁️ The trends that are going to redefine the next 2-3 years ☁️ Revenue, profitability, M&A trends: how is the industry comparing to previous years? ☁️ What a SaaS company needs to have to make it into the Cloud 100 and more! Download Accel's Euroscape 2023 here: https://www.accel.com/euroscape --- Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders - SaaStock Dublin 2024: The largest concentration of SaaS decision makers in one place for three days of networking, connecting, and learning all things SaaS (https://www.saastock.com/saastock-2024/) - SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/) - SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world, bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home

00:29:38

Moving From a Lifestyle Business to a Growth Business With the CEO of Ticket Tailor

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Jonny White, founder & CEO at Ticket Tailor, who discusses their move from a lifestyle business to a growth business. "Who are you afraid of failing in front of? Confidence has definitely held me back over the years, and this question really put it into perspective of, well, why I'm afraid of failing. And it's usually to do with someone else's perspective. And when you ask that question, you can really break it down and think, actually, do you know what? I'm not afraid of failing in front of anyone." Jonny shares: 🚀 Why he chose to bootstrap Ticket Tailor 🚀 The anti-climatic reality of getting acquired (and why he bought Ticket Tailor back!) 🚀 How they got from $2K MRR to over $5M in revenue 🚀 Why they moved from a lifestyle business to a growth business 🚀 How working with a coach helped propel the business 🚀 The importance of keeping a lean mindset and strategically building out the team and more! --- Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders - SaaStock Dublin 2023: The largest concentration of SaaS decision makers in one place for three days of networking, connecting, and learning all things SaaS (https://www.saastock.com/saastock-2023/) - SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/) - SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world, bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home

00:32:08

How this YC Backed Company Won the SaaStock USA Global Pitch Competition

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Alex David, co-founder & COO of Corrily, to share their YC story and how they won the SaaStock USA Global Pitch Competition earlier this year. "There’s a lot of survivor bias in the startup world - like you don’t really hear about the founders who have failed, you hear about the ones who are successful so you compare yourself to them and you’re like “well I’m not that”. And so I think, that I hesitated to go into that space for a long time because of it, but you know, maybe that was fine because I learned a lot in my career and by having held off I bring a lot more experience to the table than I otherwise would have. Part of why we are having the success that we have is that none of us are college dropouts or first few years in our careers - all of us have had careers, and we’re kind of bringing that weight to the table of you know 10ish+ years of work experience and really bringing that to the forefront of what we’re doing." Alex shares: 🥇 His YC experience 🥇 The benefits of their 'follow the sun' model 🥇 From starting as an awareness play to finishing as the Global Pitch Competition winner 🥇 The value in getting honest, real feedback from the judges 🥇 The immediate introductions made after winning the competition, including one of the managing partners at Sapphire Ventures 🥇 His advice on building the right team early on 🥇 The biggest monetisation mistake SaaS companies are making and more! --- Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders - SaaStock Dublin 2023: The largest concentration of SaaS decision makers in one place for three days of networking, connecting, and learning all things SaaS (https://www.saastock.com/saastock-2023/) - SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/) - SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world, bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home)

00:32:07

Bootstrapping to $10M ARR and Then Exiting Through Private Equity

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Lloyed Lobo, co-founder at Boast AI, who shares how he bootstrapped to $10M ARR and then exited through private equity. "I know it’s an overused term “your network is your net worth”, but trust me, it’s the best way to engineer privilege. You may not have a network or you may not have influence, but if you create influence - just the compound interest on creating that influence - giving, giving, helping, bringing people together over time is you’re going to have everything you want." Lloyed shares: ⚡️ His childhood in Kuwait and the positive impact the community had on him ⚡️ Why risk and companionship are part of his DNA ⚡️ Getting to eight figures in revenue with no marketing spend ⚡️ Why ignoring the influence of luck is a mistake ⚡️ The impact financial freedom had on his mental health and more! --- Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders - SaaStock Dublin 2023: The largest concentration of SaaS decision makers in one place for three days of networking, connecting, and learning all things SaaS (https://www.saastock.com/saastock-2023/) - SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/) - SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world, bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home)

00:59:04

What’s Required to Raise Venture Capital When The World Has Changed

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show, our host Alex Theuma is joined by Carl Fritjofsson, General Partner at Creandum, who discusses what's required to raise VC in this changing world. "Put the work that you do, both internally in how you build your own processes, but also the end product experience - put that through a lens of generative AI to see where things can be improve, where efficiency can be gained or where new value can be created. I think the next generation of companies will certainly have some kind of AI capabilities deeply ingrained in their DNA." Carl shares: 🎯 His experience with imposter syndrome 🎯 Mistakes when basing their strategy and path on market externalities and competition 🎯 Battle scars from growing the business 🎯 The value of having a strong underdog mentality 🎯 If expectations have changed for desired year on year growth 🎯 If implementing AI in your business is truly necessary 🎯 Why energy beats brains and more! --- Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders - SaaStock Dublin 2023: The largest concentration of SaaS decision makers in one place for three days of networking, connecting, and learning all things SaaS (https://www.saastock.com/saastock-2023/) - SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/) - SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world, bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home)

00:37:13

Has Branding in B2B SaaS Taken a Back Seat?

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show, our host Alex Theuma is joined by Angeley Mullins, Chief Commercial Officer at Resourcify, who shares if branding in B2B SaaS has taken a back seat. "So every founder and CEO has a voice, they founded their company for a reason, most people that founder their companies, you know, are overcoming a ton of adversity to found their companies and to raise capital. So use your voice, and whichever medium that works for you, if it’s giving panel sessions, if it’s being on the news, if it’s writing articles, doing a content blog, like you said it depends on the type of company and what they’re selling. You have a voice, and use it. That’s the most important thing." Angeley shares: 🔥 Being a builder vs an optimiser 🔥 The value of team consensus and cohesion 🔥 Being in an era of sustainable revenue growth 🔥 The relationship between product market fit and brand identity 🔥 Building a brand that will keep paying off overtime (best done at Series A stage) 🔥 If TikTok is effective for B2B 🔥 The importance of being fearless. More people are afraid of success than they are of failure and more!

00:36:58

Scaling Papaya Global Past $100M ARR

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Eynat Guez, Co-founder & CEO at SaaS unicorn Papaya Global, who discusses how she scaled the company beyond $100 million ARR. "So, thinking on scale and thinking of really, really good processes and infrastructures is very important at this stage because otherwise you're just going to find yourself in an endless loop when you are trying to catch up people; we are trying to understand what they need. And obviously, I mean, this will impact their ability to grow, this will impact their ability to meet their targets. And then you're going to find yourself in the second loop, which you're constantly replacing people and training new people, but then you are not changing the narrative or changing the problem that you have." Eynat shares: 🔸 Growing the business 300% YoY since year one 🔸 How keeping a lean team helped them scale quicker 🔸 Raising $5M in their first three years, and $445M in the following five 🔸 The importance of choosing the right clients at the right time- in the early days, focus on those with standards and needs you can meet vs the 'big-name' logos 🔸 Why the first $1M needs to be sold by the founder, not a salesperson 🔸 Their initial struggle around training infrastructures and more!

00:27:06

True Grit - What It Takes To Be An Entrepreneur

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Isaiah Studivent, CEO Evron, and Chalique Seabron, COO Evron, who discuss what it takes to be an entrepreneur. Isaiah and Chalique share: 🔥 The 72 hour call that turned into building Evron 🔥 The hustle - going door to door for their first prop tech customer 🔥 The entrepreneurial founder mindset: humble, positive, and a little bit delusional 🔥 Driving several million in pipeline for their customers 🔥 Marketing isn't magic: communicating expectations with their clients early on and more!

00:40:30

Applying AI to Reimagine Your Product and Your Company to Make a Quantum Leap Forward in Tough Times

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show, our host Alex Theuma is joined by Godard Abel, Co-founder and CEO of G2, who shares the importance of applying AI to reimagine your product and your company to make a quantum leap forward in tough times. It'll be easier to get from hundred to a billion than it was to get from, frankly, zero to one, you know, or even zero to a thousand dollars is the hardest right? And then I think each order of magnitude gets a bit easier if you stay with it. But it's, I'd say years of grinding. And then eventually we figured out the flywheel and it started spinning. Godard shares: ⭐️ G2 becoming the buffet of SaaS and software ⭐️ Their 2-3 year journey to get to $1M ARR ⭐️ The AI alphabet - from LLMs to vector databases ⭐️ Launching Monty - G2’s first ever AI virtual assistant ⭐️ Having to seize technology faster than the big industry leaders ⭐️ His 15+ years of working with conscious leadership coaches and more!

00:37:54