The SaaS Podcast: Build, Launch & Scale Your SaaS

Nine months. Zero revenue. One cold text to a CMO. Yosef Peterseil landed McDonald's as Blings' first enterprise sales customer while bootstrapping—and learned why charging for POCs changes everything. In this episode, founders will learn how to close enterprise sales deals without a playbook, why free POCs kill your priority, and when you're actually ready to hire salespeople. Yosef shares how he validated the wrong ICP for months before discovering customer success managers had no budget, why a 13-month contract structure eliminates double negotiations, and the $30,000 event mistake that taught him to build follow-up systems first. Blings now serves McDonald's, Mercedes, Meta, and Rocket Mortgage—hitting $1M ARR in 2023 with just 19 people. This episode is brought to you by: 💖 Gearheart → Book a free consult and get the first 20 hours free 🔑 Key Lessons 🎯 Always Charge for Enterprise Sales POCs: Even $3,000-$5,000 forces customers to prioritize you and starts vendor onboarding—free trials put you at the bottom of the list. 💰 Use 13-Month Contracts: Yosef lost months negotiating POC terms then negotiating again for commercial deals—a first-month exit clause eliminates double negotiations. 🚀 Validate ICP Budget First: Dozens of customer success interviews revealed they had no budget—pivot to where the money actually is before building. 🤝 Build Follow-Up Systems Before Events: 70 leads from a $30K event went cold because they had no HubSpot sequences or lead scoring in place. 🧠 Don't Hire Salespeople Without a Playbook: A great rep closing deals proves their skill, not your product—wait until a mediocre rep can follow your process. 📈 Scale Enterprise Sales with Channel Partners: Recruiting industry veterans to open doors for commission scaled Blings faster than direct sales. Chapters Introduction and Favorite Quote What Blings Does - The MP5 Video Format Company Metrics and Enterprise Customers The Origin Story and Co-Founder Relationship Validating the ICP Through Customer Interviews Pivoting from Customer Success to Marketing Landing McDonald's Through a Cold Text Closing the First Enterprise Sales POC Lessons from POC Agreements Why You Should Always Charge for POCs Event Marketing Mistakes - 70 Lost Leads Building a Lead Follow-Up System Hiring Salespeople Too Early Building Channel Partner Relationships Scaling with 19 People Launching PLG Motion Lightning Round 💌 Get weekly 5-minute SaaS insights: https://saasclub.io/email SaaS Club Programs Join the SaaS Club founder community: https://saasclub.co/plus Build your $10K MRR SaaS: https://saasclub.io/launch Scale from 6-figures to $1M ARR Faster: https://saasclub.io/mastermind Get 1:1 async coaching from Omer: https://saasclub.io/accelerate Resources Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/466 Subscribe to the podcast: https://saasclub.io/subscribe

Bassem Hamdy closes enterprise sales deals in 9 days—not 6 months. After scaling Procore from $10M to $100M as EVP of Marketing, he built Briq to an 8-figure ARR by selling AI automation to CFOs in construction. In this episode, early-stage B2B SaaS founders will learn the enterprise sales playbook that bypasses long procurement cycles. Bassem breaks down exactly how to close enterprise sales fast by focusing on "vision and value" instead of product demos. You will learn why you should never do free POCs, how to identify when you're wasting time with "Innovation Teams," and the land-and-expand strategy that grew Briq from $15K deals to $100K+ contracts. In this episode, Bassem also shares why he made the controversial call to fire bad enterprise clients, and how partnering with industry associations gave Briq the social proof to earn trust with risk-averse CFOs before they had logos. This episode is brought to you by: 💖 Gearheart → Book a free consult and get the first 20 hours free 🔑 Key Lessons 🎯 Sell Vision and Value, Not Features: Bassem closes enterprise sales in 9 days by confirming vision alignment and ROI before ever demoing the product. 💰 Never Do Free POCs: Free work attracts time-wasters from innovation teams. Even a dollar creates commitment and filters for real buyers. 🤝 Land and Expand for Enterprise Sales: Start with a small paid implementation that proves ROI, then expand across departments. 🏢 Target the Economic Buyer: CFOs write checks; innovation VPs waste your time. Always qualify whether your contact controls budget. 📉 Fire Bad Enterprise Clients: Large companies can drag you into dark alleys with endless requests. Cut them loose to protect your resources. 🛠️ Partner for Early Credibility: Before you have enterprise logos, partner with trade associations to earn the social proof CFOs need. Chapters Why SaaS Founders Should Ignore Feature Requests Introduction & Welcome Is AI "Human Replacement" Software? The "Construction Data Cloud" Idea (And Why It Failed) Finding the Wrong ICP The "Agile" Trap: Why Most Product Teams Are Waterfall The Investor-Forced Pivot to Forecasting How to Close Enterprise Sales Deals in 9 Days Selling on "Vision & Value" vs. Features SaaS Pricing: Moving to Tokenization & Consumption First Price Was $15K—And It Was Too Cheap CFO Sales: Overcoming Risk Aversion Building Trust with Industry Associations Firing Bad Enterprise Clients Land and Expand Strategy Lightning Round 💌 Get weekly 5-minute SaaS insights: https://saasclub.io/email SaaS Club Programs Join the SaaS Club founder community: https://saasclub.co/plus Build your $10K MRR SaaS: https://saasclub.io/launch Scale from 6-figures to $1M ARR Faster: https://saasclub.io/mastermind Get 1:1 async coaching from Omer: https://saasclub.io/accelerate Resources Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/465 Subscribe to the podcast: https://saasclub.io/subscribe

Saket Saurabh closed Instacart by live-coding a fix during the pitch—and that "magical moment" became the foundation of his founder-led sales playbook. In this episode, early-stage B2B SaaS founders will learn how Saket closed the first 15 enterprise customers himself using a consultative founder-led sales approach. Saket breaks down exactly how to navigate complex corporate buy-cycles without a sales background. You will learn why he went "enterprise first" instead of starting with SMBs, how to overcome the "we can build it ourselves" objection by creating magical demo moments, and why founder-led sales is essential for connecting product, market, and customer needs. In this episode, Saket also shares the "zero salary" pivot that made Nexla cash flow positive before their Series A—and why founders must do sales themselves before hiring a team. This episode is brought to you by: 💖 Gearheart → Book a free consult and get the first 20 hours free 🚨 NordStellar → Book a demo and get 20% off with code blackfriday20 🔑 Key Lessons 🎯 Founder-Led Sales Connects the Dots: Unless founders sell deals themselves, they can't fully understand how product, market, and customer needs intersect. 🪄 Create "Magical Moments" in Demos: Saket's co-founder live-coded a fix during the Instacart pitch—solving problems on the spot closes enterprise deals. 🏢 Go Enterprise First: Architecting for SMBs first prevents you from understanding enterprise-grade complexity. Nexla went straight to Fortune 500. 🤝 Consultative Founder-Led Sales Builds Trust: Don't pitch—listen. Saket's first goal in meetings was to understand if the prospect saw the same problem. 📉 The "Zero Salary" Pivot: Saket and his co-founders cut salaries to zero to reach cash flow positivity before their Series A. 💰 Price Against Internal Cost: Calculate what it costs the prospect to solve the problem internally, then price at a fraction. Chapters Introduction & The "Profit" Quote What is Nexla? (Solving the Data Fragmentation Problem) The Origin: From Ad Tech to Data Infrastructure The Contrarian Strategy: Why "Enterprise First"? Landing the First Customer (Instacart) The "Live Code" Founder-Led Sales Demo Strategy Figuring Out Enterprise Pricing & POs Founder-Led Sales: Closing the First 15 Customers Overcoming the "We Can Build It Ourselves" Objection The Pivot: Going "Zero Salary" to Hit Cash Flow Positive The Impact of AI on Data Engineering Lightning Round: Best Advice & Productivity Tools 💌 Get weekly 5-minute SaaS insights: https://saasclub.io/email SaaS Club Programs Join the SaaS Club founder community: https://saasclub.co/plus Build your $10K MRR SaaS: https://saasclub.io/launch Scale from 6-figures to $1M ARR Faster: https://saasclub.io/mastermind Get 1:1 async coaching from Omer: https://saasclub.io/accelerate Resources Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/464 Subscribe to the podcast: https://saasclub.io/subscribe

Ibby Syed built his AI SaaS to $150K ARR—then realized he'd accidentally built a consulting business. Customers weren't logging in. They'd call with questions, get answers, and disappear. In this episode, early-stage B2B SaaS founders will learn how Cotera escaped the services trap and pivoted to an AI SaaS agent platform to hit $1M ARR. Ibby breaks down exactly how to recognize you're stuck in a consulting trap and escape it. You will learn why his co-founder's 100-line OpenAI experiment outperformed months of data science work, and the painful decision to fire legacy customers to focus on building a real AI SaaS product. In this episode, Ibby also reveals his "value-first" LinkedIn outbound strategy that books 25+ meetings a week, why AI SaaS products need ongoing utility (not one-time insights), and how teaching customers to build their own AI agents made the business scale. This episode is brought to you by: 💖 Gearheart → Book a free consult and get the first 20 hours free 🚨 NordStellar → Book a demo and get 20% off with code blackfriday20 🔑 Key Lessons 🚨 Early AI SaaS Revenue Can Be a Trap: Ibby hit $150K ARR but customers weren't logging in. The business looked like software but operated like an agency—a dangerous signal he almost ignored. 🔄 The Consulting Trap Kills AI SaaS Scalability: When every customer needs custom work, you're not building a product. If customers call for answers instead of logging in, you've built a services business. 💡 Let API Breakthroughs Trigger Your Pivot: Ibby's co-founder solved a customer problem with 100 lines of OpenAI code that outperformed a complex data science solution. That contrast made the AI SaaS opportunity obvious. 🎯 Deliver Value Upfront in Outbound: Instead of pitching, Ibby sends actual leads from a Reddit monitoring agent. "If you actually show value, people go crazy for it." 📉 Analytics Products Lack Stickiness: Dashboards answer questions, but once answered, there's no reason to return. AI SaaS products need ongoing utility, not one-time insights. 🛠️ Teach Customers to Build, Don't Build for Them: After the pivot, Cotera stopped doing custom implementations. They showed customers how to build their own AI agents—that's what made the AI SaaS business scale. Chapters Introduction Favorite Quote & Mindset What is Cotera? Ideal Customer & Revenue Snapshot Founding Story & YC Entry Early Product & Customer Interviews Outbound Strategies on LinkedIn Effective Outbound Today Common Mistakes with AI Outreach Realizing the Need to Pivot OpenAI API "Wake Up" Moment Transitioning to AI SaaS Agent Builder Product Differentiation & Competition Prompt-Based Workflow Approach Traction Before & After Pivot Evolving Pricing Model How to Contact Ibby 💌 Get weekly 5-minute SaaS insights: https://saasclub.io/email SaaS Club Programs Join the SaaS Club founder community: https://saasclub.co/plus Build your $10K MRR SaaS: https://saasclub.io/launch Scale from 6-figures to $1M ARR Faster: https://saasclub.io/mastermind Get 1:1 async coaching from Omer: https://saasclub.io/accelerate Resources Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/463 Subscribe to the podcast: https://saasclub.io/subscribe

Bilal Aijazi built a freemium SaaS to millions of monthly active users—but struggled to convert free users to paid. Then he discovered that most users would never pay, and the real buyers were hiding in plain sight. In this episode, early-stage B2B SaaS founders will learn the freemium SaaS playbook that took Polly from $8/month to 7-figure ARR. Bilal breaks down exactly how to identify buyers in a sea of free users. You will learn the "Pain Tolerance" metric that proved demand (80% completion on a 5-step install), how to separate "pollinators" from paying customers, and why attaching to expensive company rituals drives sticky freemium SaaS conversion. In this episode, Bilal also shares how Slack building a competing feature forced him to diversify to Teams, Zoom, and Google Slides—and why creator-based pricing works better than workspace pricing for horizontal products. This episode is brought to you by: 💖 Gearheart → Book a free consult and get the first 20 hours free 🚨 NordStellar → Book a demo and get 20% off with code blackfriday20 📡 Signal House → Learn more and get a demo 🔑 Key Lessons 🚀 Pain tolerance signals demand: 80% of users completed a 5-step manual install—proving massive demand before Slack even had an app store. 💰 Freemium SaaS conversion requires separating users from buyers: Most free users picking lunch spots will never pay. The buyers are running company all-hands and sales kickoffs. 🔄 Surviving platform risk means diversifying: When Slack built Workflow Builder, Polly expanded to Teams, Zoom, Google Slides, and PowerPoint. 🎯 Hook conversations into the product: Every signup triggers an email asking for feedback—these conversations reveal which use cases convert to paid. 💡 Creator pricing works for horizontal freemium SaaS: Charge poll creators, not every user. Enterprise tiers shift to monthly active users. Chapters The "Punch in the Face" Reality of Startups What Polly Does and Who It Serves Scaling to Millions of Monthly Active Users The Origin: Messaging Platforms Meet Enterprise Launching on Slack Before the App Store Existed The First Product: Polls in Slack The 5-Step Onboarding Nightmare (That Worked) Product Hunt Viral Moment Transitioning from Viral Bot to Real Company The Freemium SaaS Strategy The Fantasy Football Customer: First $8/Month Finding Buyers in a Sea of Free Users Free-to-Paid Conversion Challenges What Goes Behind the Paywall Horizontal vs. Vertical Approach Building Polly Workflows When Slack Built a Competing Feature Managing Platform Risk Why Technical Founders Must Learn Sales Building on Multiple Platforms Today Would You Start Horizontal Again? Lightning Round 💌 Get weekly 5-minute SaaS insights: https://saasclub.io/email SaaS Club Programs Join the SaaS Club founder community: https://saasclub.co/plus Build your $10K MRR SaaS: https://saasclub.io/launch Scale from 6-figures to $1M ARR Faster: https://saasclub.io/mastermind Get 1:1 async coaching from Omer: https://saasclub.io/accelerate Resources Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/462 Subscribe to the podcast: https://saasclub.io/subscribe