Podcast
SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success
Hosted by Ken Lempit · EN
Join us as we interview CEOs and GTM leaders of fast-growing SaaS and AI firms to reveal what they are doing that’s working, and lessons learned from things that didn’t work as planned. These deep conversations dive into the dynamic world of SaaS B2B marketing, go-to-market strategies, and the SaaS business model. Content focuses on the pragmatic as well as strategic, providing a well-rounded diet for those running SaaS firms today. Hosted by Ken Lempit, Austin Lawrence Group’s president and chief business builder, who brings over 30 years of experience and expertise in helping software companies grow and their founders achieve their visions. Full video and shorts on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@SaaSBackwardsPodcast
29episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Ep. 153 - The End of the Gumball Machine: Why B2B Marketing Needs a New Playbook
Feb 7, 202500:29:18Tap to summarizeGuest: Jon Miller, Co-Founder & CEO of a Stealth AI StartupJon Miller, co-founder of Marketo and former CMO of Demandbase, argues that B2B marketing’s traditional playbook—built on predictable demand generation, MQL scoring, and SDR-driven outbound—is broken. The “gumball machine” approach, where marketers expect predictable revenue by simply feeding in budget and campaigns, no longer works. Buyers have evolved, becoming more resistant to outbound tactics and opting for anonymous research. To succeed, revenue leaders must shift from short-term lead generation to long-term brand building, customer experience, and relationships.Key Takeaways:🔹 The Death of the MQL Machine: Buyers have learned to avoid traditional lead capture tactics, making it essential to rethink how marketing contributes to revenue.🔹 Brand Awareness > Lead Generation: The most successful companies focus on being top-of-mind when buyers do enter a purchasing cycle, rather than scrambling to capture leads in the moment.🔹 AI Will Kill the Old Content Playbook: The rise of AI-driven search and inbox filters means generic, mass-produced content won’t cut it. Instead, companies need to invest in original research, experiences, and trusted relationships.🔹 New Metrics for Marketing Success: Instead of obsessing over short-term pipeline metrics, CMOs should measure brand perception within key accounts, engagement quality, and community strength.This episode is a must-listen for SaaS revenue leaders struggling to adapt their go-to-market strategy in a world where buyers don’t want to be sold to.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch. 🔗 Get a Free Messaging & Content Conversion Review We’ll analyze your website and content through the eyes of your buyers to uncover what’s stopping them from booking a demo. Then, we’ll give you a personalized report with messaging tweaks to turn more visitors into sales conversations. And the best part? 💡 It’s completely free. If your pipeline isn’t full, your messaging might be the reason. Let’s fix it: https://info.austinlawrence.com/marketing-and-messaging-review
Transcribe →Ep. 152 - The Critical Shift: Adapting Your Marketing to Align with Modern Buyer Behavior
Jan 31, 202500:38:20Tap to summarizeGuest: Kerry Cunningham, Research & Thought Leadership at 6sense 85% of buyers initiate the first conversation with vendors—on their terms. If your marketing still revolves around capturing leads and pushing outbound sales, you're already behind.Kerry Cunningham, Head of Research at 6Sense, shares insights from their Buyer Experience Report 2024, revealing how today’s B2B buyers operate—and why most SaaS companies are out of sync. Buyers come into the process knowing who they’ll evaluate, and 90% of the time, they buy from their initial shortlist. If you’re not on it, no amount of sales effort will save you.🔍 So, what’s the playbook for modern marketing? Kerry explains why demand creation—not just demand capture—is the key to winning future deals. Marketers must move beyond gated content, outbound cadences, and “hunting” leads. Instead, they need to build brand presence early, engage in buyer communities, and ensure their company is top-of-mind long before a purchase is in motion.Key Takeaways:✅ Only 1-3% of your ICP is in-market at any given time. Most SaaS companies waste time on buyers who simply aren’t ready.✅ Buyers ignore cold outreach until they decide to engage. 50% receive calls and emails for weeks (even months) before responding.✅ Analysts and consultants influence over 80% of SaaS deals. If analyst relations aren’t part of your strategy, you’re missing a major growth lever.💡 The companies winning today aren’t chasing buyers—they’re positioning themselves as the obvious choice before a buying cycle even starts. Kerry shares how 6Sense does this and how your team can apply these insights to future-proof your marketing.🎧 Listen now to learn how to shift your strategy for today’s B2B buyer.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch. 🔗 Get a Free Messaging & Content Conversion Review We’ll analyze your website and content through the eyes of your buyers to uncover what’s stopping them from booking a demo. Then, we’ll give you a personalized report with messaging tweaks to turn more visitors into sales conversations. And the best part? 💡 It’s completely free. If your pipeline isn’t full, your messaging might be the reason. Let’s fix it: https://info.austinlawrence.com/marketing-and-messaging-review
Transcribe →Ep. 151 - How Quiz Marketing Unlocks Revenue Opportunities
Jan 24, 202500:31:33Tap to summarizeGuest: Maxwell Nee, CRO at ScoreAppMaxwell Nee, Chief Revenue Officer of ScoreApp, shares the strategies behind scaling a low ARR SaaS product to 9,000 paying customers worldwide. By leveraging the principles of quiz marketing, ScoreApp turns engagement into actionable insights, driving top-of-funnel lead generation, accelerating sales cycles, and refining customer experiences. The platform’s success stems from a relentless focus on understanding user needs before development, validating concepts with 3,000 prospects prior to launch, and building personalized, gamified experiences that deliver measurable value.Maxwell’s perspective on SaaS growth is rooted in actionable principles: prioritize customer input, focus on enterprise value over personal branding, and invest in scalable systems. His advice for marketing leaders emphasizes clarity in messaging, the importance of simple, compelling copy, and always aligning content with the needs and emotions of the target audience.Key Takeaways:Focus on Validation: ScoreApp validated its concept with 3,000 prospective users before launch, ensuring a strong product-market fit from the start.Personalization and Gamification Drive Results: Interactive quizzes generate higher engagement and conversion rates by combining self-discovery with actionable insights.Clarity Over Complexity: Simplifying messaging and focusing on the audience’s pain points can significantly boost engagement and lead generation.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch. 🔗 Get a Free Messaging & Content Conversion Review We’ll analyze your website and content through the eyes of your buyers to uncover what’s stopping them from booking a demo. Then, we’ll give you a personalized report with messaging tweaks to turn more visitors into sales conversations. And the best part? 💡 It’s completely free. If your pipeline isn’t full, your messaging might be the reason. Let’s fix it: https://info.austinlawrence.com/marketing-and-messaging-review
Transcribe →Ep. 150 - De-Risking Paid Social Campaigns: A New Approach with Ken Lempit
Jan 17, 202500:32:27Tap to summarizeGuest: Ken Lempit, President & Chief Business Builder at Austin Lawrence GroupIn this episode, Austin Lawrence Group’s Ken Lempit shares a bold approach to overcoming the inefficiency of traditional advertising campaigns. He emphasizes a new strategy: combining foundational customer interviews with rapid, real-time testing via high-frequency organic social media posts. This iterative approach helps identify messaging that resonates most with target audiences before significant ad spend, enabling SaaS companies to avoid costly missteps. Lempit calls out outdated "ivory tower" methods, where messaging was developed in isolation and assumed durable for years. Today, he argues, messaging must evolve constantly based on audience engagement.Key Takeaways:Real-Time Validation Beats Guesswork: Test messaging in organic social media environments before committing ad budgets. Insights from live engagement can refine campaigns and improve ROI.Messaging Is No Longer Durable: Static messaging fails in today’s dynamic market. Iterative testing ensures campaigns stay relevant and effective.Drive Action with the Cost of Inaction: Instead of focusing on ROI, highlight the risks of staying in the status quo to compel prospects to act.This practical framework bridges the gap between creative intuition and data-driven decisions, setting a new standard for SaaS advertising.Other resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch. 🔗 Get a Free Messaging & Content Conversion Review We’ll analyze your website and content through the eyes of your buyers to uncover what’s stopping them from booking a demo. Then, we’ll give you a personalized report with messaging tweaks to turn more visitors into sales conversations. And the best part? 💡 It’s completely free. If your pipeline isn’t full, your messaging might be the reason. Let’s fix it: https://info.austinlawrence.com/marketing-and-messaging-review
Transcribe →Ep. 149 - The Buyer Has Changed—Why Haven’t You? How Splashmetrics Delivers the Experience Buyers Actually Want
Jan 10, 202500:28:40Tap to summarizeGuest: Steve Brothers, CEO of SplashmetricsWith 77% of millennial buyers avoiding sales interactions until they’ve already made a purchase decision, buyers are consistently clear about what they need: fast, personalized, and self-directed answers. Yet vendors stubbornly stick to outdated practices, forcing buyers into their processes rather than meeting them where they are.In this episode of SaaS Backwards, Steve Brothers, CEO of Splashmetrics, explores how modern B2B buyers are reshaping the sales process—and how many vendors are failing to adapt. He discusses how Splashmetrics bridges this gap by enabling companies to deliver tailored, interactive content journeys that put buyers in control while providing sales with critical insights to close deals more effectively.Key Takeaways:The buyer is in control: Buyers prefer to self-educate, completing 80% of their research before engaging with sales. Vendors must adapt or risk irrelevance.Outdated models kill opportunities: Relying on traditional MQL-driven processes results in 95% of SDR outreach being ignored.TheSplashmetrics solution: The platform allows buyers to “choose their own adventure,” and bridges the sales-marketing divide to create a truly buyer-centric experience.This episode is a wake-up call for companies still stuck in yesterday’s playbook.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch. 🔗 Get a Free Messaging & Content Conversion Review We’ll analyze your website and content through the eyes of your buyers to uncover what’s stopping them from booking a demo. Then, we’ll give you a personalized report with messaging tweaks to turn more visitors into sales conversations. And the best part? 💡 It’s completely free. If your pipeline isn’t full, your messaging might be the reason. Let’s fix it: https://info.austinlawrence.com/marketing-and-messaging-review
Transcribe →Ep. 148 - From Pain Points to Purchase: Understanding Customer Motivation
Jan 3, 202500:31:37Tap to summarizeGuest: Beth McHugh, Fractional Product LeaderWhen deals stall, buying committees often default to doing nothing. Why? Because they didn’t all agree that the problem was worth solving.In this episode, Beth McHugh explains why pain points alone rarely drive action and how the Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) methodology identifies the “struggling moments” that compel prospects to move forward. These critical moments are when a prospect or team collectively decides that a problem can no longer be ignored.Beth shares why JTBD is, in her view, the most effective way to uncover the true motivations behind customer decisions. Beyond improving product-market fit, she highlights how JTBD creates alignment across sales, marketing, and product teams, ensuring everyone is focused on what truly matters to customers.Key Takeaways:Struggling Moments vs. Pain Points: Not all pain points are actionable. JTBD uncovers the struggles customers are motivated to resolve.Driving Differentiation: JTBD helps identify where your product stands out by focusing on the jobs customers are trying to accomplish.Faster Product-Market Validation: With JTBD, you can prioritize development efforts that directly address critical customer needs, reducing wasted resources.Tune in to learn how to move beyond surface-level insights and position your SaaS offering as the solution customers can’t ignore.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch. 🔗 Get a Free Messaging & Content Conversion Review We’ll analyze your website and content through the eyes of your buyers to uncover what’s stopping them from booking a demo. Then, we’ll give you a personalized report with messaging tweaks to turn more visitors into sales conversations. And the best part? 💡 It’s completely free. If your pipeline isn’t full, your messaging might be the reason. Let’s fix it: https://info.austinlawrence.com/marketing-and-messaging-review
Transcribe →Ep. 147 - How to Discover What Really Drives Customer Decisions
Dec 20, 202400:34:58Tap to summarizeGuest: Bob Moesta, Author of “Demand-Side Sales 101”In this episode, Bob Moesta, author of Demand-Side Sales 101, reveals why uncovering your customers’ “struggling moments” is the single most efficient step for any business. Whether it’s product development, marketing, or sales, understanding the root causes behind why customers make a change transforms every decision you make.As Bob explains, customers don’t buy products—they hire solutions to make progress. Without a clear struggling moment, there’s no motivation to change, and no sale. By focusing on these moments, you’ll align your entire go-to-market strategy, saving time, money, and effort across teams.Key Takeaways:The Struggling Moment as a Catalyst: Every purchase starts with a struggle. Most companies fail to uncover this because they focus on features or pain points instead of the deeper context driving change.Align Teams Around Progress: When marketing, sales, and product understand the customer’s struggle, handoffs disappear, and everyone works toward the same goal—helping the customer progress.Most Companies Miss the Mark: 60% of B2B proposals fail due to “no decision.” This happens because companies don’t clearly define or quantify a problem worth solving.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch. 🔗 Get a Free Messaging & Content Conversion Review We’ll analyze your website and content through the eyes of your buyers to uncover what’s stopping them from booking a demo. Then, we’ll give you a personalized report with messaging tweaks to turn more visitors into sales conversations. And the best part? 💡 It’s completely free. If your pipeline isn’t full, your messaging might be the reason. Let’s fix it: https://info.austinlawrence.com/marketing-and-messaging-review
Transcribe →Ep. 146 - Why Your Demos May be Costing You Deals
Dec 13, 202400:35:44Tap to summarizeGuest: Peter Cohan, Author of “Great Demo!”Have you ever walked into a software demo, hoping to learn something new, only to sit through a “Harbor Tour” of irrelevant features? You’re not alone – and neither are your prospects.Peter Cohan, author of Great Demo!, joined us on the SaaS Backwards Podcast to unpack the biggest demo mistakes SaaS teams make:❌ Starting with the how instead of the why❌ Overloading prospects with unnecessary features❌ Failing to tailor demos to decision-makersHis solution? Flip your demos upside down. Start with the results your prospects crave, not the laundry list of features.Peter also shared:✅ How to identify wasted demos (hint: 30% of them are)✅ Why "vision generation demos" are the key to nurturing leads✅ The metrics that show if your demos are working---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch. 🔗 Get a Free Messaging & Content Conversion Review We’ll analyze your website and content through the eyes of your buyers to uncover what’s stopping them from booking a demo. Then, we’ll give you a personalized report with messaging tweaks to turn more visitors into sales conversations. And the best part? 💡 It’s completely free. If your pipeline isn’t full, your messaging might be the reason. Let’s fix it: https://info.austinlawrence.com/marketing-and-messaging-review
Transcribe →Ep. 145 - The Death of the MQL: A New Playbook for SaaS CROs
Dec 6, 202400:31:23Tap to summarizeGuest: Randy Likas, Head of North America Go-to-Market at NektarTraditional marketing tactics are losing their edge, with MQLs falling short as costly, outdated signals of real buyer intent.In this week’s episode, we explore tactics for CROs to tackle the “great ignore” with guest Randy Likas, Head of North America Go-to-Market at Nektar, a revenue efficiency platform that unifies customer interaction data and helps you discover new revenue opportunities.Randy discusses how CROs must reevaluate their playbooks and processes, focusing on how to re-engineer strategies and redeploy technology to align with emerging trends in buyer behavior–positioning the CRO role as not just operational but transformational.Key insights you'll gain:How changing buyer behaviors, like the "great ignore," are reshaping outreach strategiesWhy MQLs are losing relevance and how to focus on buying groups insteadHow breaking down silos between sales, marketing, and success boosts revenue efficiencyOther resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch. 🔗 Get a Free Messaging & Content Conversion Review We’ll analyze your website and content through the eyes of your buyers to uncover what’s stopping them from booking a demo. Then, we’ll give you a personalized report with messaging tweaks to turn more visitors into sales conversations. And the best part? 💡 It’s completely free. If your pipeline isn’t full, your messaging might be the reason. Let’s fix it: https://info.austinlawrence.com/marketing-and-messaging-review
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