Podcast
saas.unbound
Hosted by Anna Nadeina · EN
saas.unbound is a podcast where inspiring founders and experts share their stories of founding and scaling their businesses all the way to success and eternal love from their customers.
At saas.unbound we have casual chats with entrepreneurs who have already walked from 0 to 1, to 10, and sometimes to a life-changing exit.
They share their experiences, actionable insights, and mistakes to avoid.
Your host is Anna Nadeina, Head of Growth at saas.group, passionate Growth Marketer, and a big believer in sustainable growth and the power of networking.
saas.unbound is brought to you by saas.group
20episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
How game mechanics are changing B2B onboarding in 2026 | Karel Papik @ Product Fruits
6d ago00:33:43Tap to summarizeKarel Papik spent 20 years making video games and then discovered that gaming principles for hooking users in the first hour are more advanced than most B2B onboarding. He brought that thinking to Product Fruits, then scrapped the entire roadmap to rebuild it around AI.We get into why his investors offered more money within 24 hours of hearing the pivot, how "forbidden mechanics" from gaming translate into SaaS adoption, why he stopped doing outbound and content entirely — and why he now tells founders to stop listening to customers about the future of their product.For SaaS founders, product managers, and operators thinking seriously about onboarding, AI adoption, and how to grow without chasing every trend.In this episode: → Why investors offered more money within 24 hours of the AI pivot → How gaming "forbidden mechanics" translate to SaaS adoption → Why they stopped doing outbound and content — and what replaced it → Personalizing onboarding at the user level, not the segment level → Why founders should stop asking customers about the future → The personal cost of critical thinking and going against consensus----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:00 — Intro & Karel's Gaming Background1:13 — From Video Games to SaaS: How Karel Found Product Fruits3:17 — Gaming Principles That Apply to SaaS Onboarding6:59 — Why Product Fruits Went All-In on AI9:19 — AI Personalization & How Elvin Works15:07 — The "Annotation" Method: Teaching AI About Your Product20:33 — Data Privacy & Why Customer Data Stays Separate21:40 — Dealing With AI Uncertainty & Pricing Changes22:58 — Growth Strategy: PPC Over Content26:21 — Biggest Win: The Bold Bet on AI29:17 — Founder Hack: The Power of Critical Thinking🎙️ Karel Papik - linkedin.com/in/karelpapikProduct Fruits - https://productfruits.com Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796
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Why your biggest pricing mistake is copying competitors and going cheaper | Mark Walker @ Nue
3w ago00:49:10Tap to summarizeMark Walker has been a litigator, a music industry lawyer, and a repeat SaaS founder — and he's now CEO of Nue, the revenue orchestration platform quietly running the billing stack for most of the major AI companies you've heard of.We get into why customers come to you looking for reasons not to buy, how one Nue customer had $2M unbilled and didn't know it, when Stripe is genuinely enough and when it isn't, why seat-based pricing was never really right — and what Mark thinks are the only real moats left in SaaS.For SaaS founders thinking about pricing, billing complexity, or what their revenue stack should look like as they scale.In this episode: → Why customers come looking for reasons not to buy → How to find and fix revenue leakage (one customer: $2M unbilled) → When to invest in revenue infrastructure — and when Stripe is enough → Why seat-based pricing was never the right model → Lessons from selling his last company → Why distribution and data are the only real moats left----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:24 — Introduction: Mark's Unconventional Path to SaaS1:08 — First Startup Blanketware: Ahead of Its Time3:21 — What Is Nue? Revenue Orchestration Explained4:27 — Who's Running Nue: The AI Company Client List5:44 — Pricing for the Fastest-Growing Companies in the World9:13 — When to Invest in Revenue Infrastructure16:08 — How to Price Your Product (and Stop Leaving Money on the Table)22:40 — Usage-Based Pricing: Hype or Reality?26:48 — Revenue Leakage: What It Is and Why It's Costing You Millions35:36 — Lessons from Acquisitions and Exits39:19 — Biggest Failure and Biggest Win44:08 — The Hack: Sell by Addressing What They're Afraid Of🎙️ Mark Walker - https://www.linkedin.com/in/markwalker/ Nue - nue.io Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796
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Why vibe coding is a slot machine (and what to do instead) | Eric Ries @ Lean Startup Co.
May 2500:57:53Tap to summarizeEric Ries wrote The Lean Startup and then spent a decade realizing he forgot to say "for the better." In this one he breaks down what's actually missing from the way founders build companies, and what to do about it before it's too late.We get into why it's always too early to set up governance until suddenly it's too late, the two-page legal filing most founders skip for no good reason, the study showing AI made developers 19% less productive while feeling 20% more, and what Samsung's refrigerator strategy says about cycle time.For founders, operators, and anyone building something they actually want to protect.In this episode: → Why governance is always "too early" until it's too late → The two-page filing that protects mission (and why founders skip it) → How surrogation destroys great companies — and why mission is the cure → The study: AI made developers 19% less productive (they thought they were 20% faster) → What Samsung's refrigerator strategy teaches about lean startup → Why "just give people what they want" is harder than it sounds----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:05 — Why Lean Startup Still Matters After a Decade3:47 — What Lean Startup Left Out (and Why Eric Wrote Incorruptible)8:25 — The Danger of "Change the World" Without Saying "For the Better"14:51 — Why It's Never the Right Time to Protect Your Mission (Until It's Too Late)17:51 — The Gruff Founder Who Secretly Had a Mission All Along20:22 — The Builder's Intuition vs. Shareholder Primacy22:03 — How to Structurally Protect Your Company's Values from Day One28:26 — Surrogation: When Metrics Replace the Mission35:56 — The AI Mania: Demos Without Products and LLM Psychosis44:51 — How Leaders Actually Learn to Use AI (The Two-Week Hack)54:09 — The Real Hack: Just Give People What They Want🎙️ Eric Ries - linkedin.com/in/eries Lean Startup - theleanstartup.com Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796
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How we doubled prices twice without losing customers | J.Y. Delmotte @BuddiesHR
May 1101:00:02Tap to summarizeJ.Y. Delmotte co-founded six startups, went through YC, and is now running BuddiesHR — a suite of Slack apps doing $56K MRR. In this one he gets unusually specific about what's working, what flopped, and what could kill the business.We get into the Slack Marketplace SEO play that captured 90%+ of inbound (and why it's nearly impossible to replicate now), what happened when he doubled the price twice, the existential risk of building on Slack, and the co-founder split that got lawyers involved.For SaaS founders thinking about growth channels, pricing leverage, and building a business that can actually be sold.In this episode: → The Slack Marketplace SEO play that captured 90%+ of inbound → Why doubling the price twice barely lost any customers → The platform risk of building on Slack — and the escape plan → Why 40 founder interviews shaped the roadmap before any code → The co-founder split that got lawyers involved → Selling KarmaLinks and TalkFluence: two acquisitions, smooth handoffs----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:05 — Introduction & Guest Background1:18 — Why J.Y Built Buddies HR2:00 — What Is Buddies HR?4:14 — Platform Risk & Slack Dependency14:18 — Growth Channels & Acquisition Strategy22:32 — Building in Public — Does It Backfire?27:42 — Revenue, Pricing & Predictability34:06 — Selling Car Links & Acquisition Lessons43:57 — Biggest Win, Biggest Failure & Lessons Learned54:31 — Founder Hack: Monthly Self-Reflection🎙️ J.Y. Delmotte - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jydelmotte 🌐 BuddiesHR - buddieshr.com Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796
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5 years of 100%+ growth with zero funding | Adnan Malik @ SoftwareFinder
May 400:39:29Tap to summarizeAdnan Malik bootstrapped Software Finder from two people in 2019 to 340 employees with 100%+ growth every year — without ever taking outside funding.The engine: a human matchmaking layer between confused software buyers and overwhelmed vendors. We get into why 70-80% of B2B software buyers end up unhappy, how a 120-person content team drove 300% organic growth while competitors collapsed, and the mid-market sales mistake costing SaaS founders their margin.For SaaS founders, operators, and marketers who want to understand how marketplaces actually scale.In this episode: → Why most B2B software buyers end up dissatisfied → The chicken-and-egg problem and the first-mover edge of starting in health IT → How content scaled to 300% organic growth while competitors dropped → Why 90% sales / 10% marketing is the costly default for mid-size SaaS → AEO in practice — and why Adnan calls it "glorified SEO" → The personal cost of scaling from 100 to 340 employees----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:05 — Introduction & Guest Welcome0:49 — What Software Finder Does & How It Started2:01 — The Business Model: Free for Buyers, Paid by Vendors5:58 — Solving the Chicken & Egg Problem9:21 — 5 Years of 100% Growth — What's Driving It14:43 — SEO Investment & Organic Traffic Wins17:04 — AEO & How LLMs Are Changing Buyer Search20:48 — Biggest Mistakes Vendors Make with Buyers25:22 — Why Brand & Reviews Matter Before the Sale26:32 — Review Manipulation & How to Build Trust30:49 — Founder Burnout & Managing Rapid Growth33:49 — Biggest Win, Biggest Failure & Lessons Learned36:38 — Advice for Bootstrapped Founders TodayAdnan Malik - linkedin.com/in/adnanmalik1 Software Finder - https://softwarefinder.com Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796
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A serial bootstrapped SaaS founder's framework | Aaron Gibson @ Hurree
Apr 2700:44:34Tap to summarizesaas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies. In episode #17 of season 6, Anna Nadeina talks with Aaron Gibson has exited two companies, turned down VC funding, and built Hurree — a data analytics platform — by obsessing over one thing: showing users value before they quit.In this episode: → Why Aaron thinks moats are "a lot slimmer than they used to be" in the AI era → How anonymous pulse surveys exposed a culture problem he didn't know he had → Initiatives that changed team retention → His framework for knowing when to double down on a growth channel — and when to kill it → Why he doesn't expect his team to love their jobs, and what he expects instead → What serial founders actually build toward when they're "not building for acquisition"For bootstrapped founders, operators, and anyone building a team-first SaaS business in a crowded market.----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:05 — Introduction & What Hurry Solves3:20 — Aaron's Background & Journey into Tech4:45 — The Origin Story of Hurry6:38 — Showing Monster Value Before Users Churn10:12 — Using AI Internally & in the Product11:55 — Measuring AI Success14:04 — AI & Hiring: Is It Changing the Team?17:20 — Building a Strong Culture as a Startup29:22 — Growth Strategy: Bootstrapped & Customer-Obsessed30:37 — Account-Based Marketing & Go-to-Market Strategy34:30 — Building for an Exit — Lessons from Two Acquisitions37:50 — Biggest Win, Biggest Failure & Founder Hacks🎙️ Aaron Gibson - https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronhurree/ Huree - https://www.hurree.co/ Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796
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The wrong way to bring AI into your company | Leo Goldfarb @ Albato
Apr 2000:58:52Tap to summarizesaas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies. In episode #16 of season 6, Anna Nadeina talks with Leo Goldfarb, co-founder of Albato — a 100% bootstrapped automation and integration platform with 200,000 users and 80 people — after years at Microsoft, IBM, HP, and Booking.com. This episode gets into what it actually takes to build an AI-first product when you're competing with Zapier and nobody on your team has formal AI experience.In this episode: → Why Albato deliberately pivoted away from competing with Zapier head-on — and what they built instead → The AI copilot that kept crashing, and the API redesign they had to do before it could work → How to spot an AI skeptic on your team before they slow everything down → Why 95% of enterprise AI investments fail — and the metric mistake behind it → The case for decentralizing AI across every team, not siloing it in an innovation lab → What "pump your tires before tuning your car" means for founders bringing AI into legacy productsThis one's for founders and operators navigating the gap between AI hype and what it actually takes to ship something that works.----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:05 — Introduction: Meet Leo from Albato1:35 — From Corporate Life to Co-Founding a Startup6:30 — What Albato Does & 7 Years Bootstrapped10:44 — The B2B Pivot: Albato Embedded18:53 — Building AI Without Dedicated AI Engineers27:38 — Mistake #1: The AI Skeptic on Your Team35:54 — How to Actually Measure AI ROI42:27 — Biggest Win & Biggest Failure at Albato49:07 — Founder Hack: Trust Your Team, Let Go54:10 — Fix Your Foundation Before Adding AILeo Goldfarb - https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-goldfarb-7b743449/ Albato - albato.com Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796
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From open source side project to bootstrapped solo business | David Boyne @EventCatalog
Apr 1300:46:00Tap to summarizesaas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies.In episode #15 of season 6, Anna Nadeina talks with David Boyne, founder of EventCatalog, an open-source documentation tool specifically designed for event-driven architectures (EDAs), allowing teams to document, visualize, and discover services, events, schemas, and producers/consumers.Dave Boyne left a senior AWS developer advocate role — the highest salary he'd ever earned — and jumped into bootstrapping with 12 months of runway, a self-hosted documentation tool, and no clear business model. Fourteen months later, Event Catalog has crossed $300K in revenue, and Dave reached personal sustainability in just 8 months.In this episode:→ Why Dave chose a self-hosted license key model over SaaS — and why it made procurement 10x easier→ How he reached sustainability in 8 months without raising a single dollar→ His AI-powered content and coding workflows as a solo founder→ The post-sale mistake he almost didn't catch: ignoring renewals while chasing new sales→ Why he raised prices twice — and the 20% drop-off rule he uses to know when pricing is right→ How he uses LinkedIn to build trust with developers without ever leading with the product----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:00 — Introduction & Guest Background1:55 — From AWS to Bootstrapping5:00 — Marketing on LinkedIn7:25 — What is Event Catalog?9:39 — Business Model: Open Core Over SaaS14:23 — Building with AI as a Solo Founder38:08 — Biggest Win & Biggest Failure41:46 — Founder Hacks & Closing ThoughtsThis one's for solo founders and technical builders who want to see what the zero-to-$300K journey actually looks like.David - https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-boyne/EventCatalog - https://www.eventcatalog.dev/
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Why building inside your competitor is a better strategy | Pieter Boon @ImpactPilotv
Apr 600:46:14Tap to summarizesaas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies. In episode #14 of season 6, Anna Nadeina talks with Pieter Boon, co-founder of ImpactPilot, a Customer Success (CS) platform designed specifically as an add-on for HubSpot.Pieter spent his career in post-sale roles — from Google's ads team to a SaaS startup he helped sell to a unicorn. Now he's building Impact Pilot, a customer success tool that lives inside HubSpot, not next to it. Three months after launch, HubSpot announced a competing feature. Here's what happened next.In this episode: → Why standalone CS platforms create "ghost towns" of stale data → The difference between customer support and customer success (and why it matters for retention) → The classic first-hire mistake that sets CS teams up to fail → How to use AI in customer success without damaging real customer relationships → Why Pieter raised only $500K — and what he used it for → The one tactic that keeps customers renewing: celebrate their wins with themThis episode is for B2B SaaS founders and revenue leaders thinking seriously about post-sale growth, churn, and when (and how) to build a CS function.----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:00 — Introduction & Welcome0:34 — Pieter's Background: From Google to SaaS Startup Founder2:04 — Customer Support vs. Customer Success Explained3:11 — Do All SaaS Companies Need a CS Team?5:05 — Why Impact Pilot is Built Inside HubSpot (Not Standalone)10:09 — Why HubSpot Over Salesforce? Narrowing the ICP12:21 — Bootstrapping to Angel Round: The Fundraising Mindset Shift15:04 — How to Start Customer Success as a SaaS Founder19:07 — Using AI in Customer Success: Use Cases & Guardrails31:02 — What "Being Active on LinkedIn" Actually Means34:42 — Building Your First CS Team the Right Way39:51 — Biggest Win, Biggest Challenge & One Founder HackPieter - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pieter-boon/ImpactPilot - https://impactpilot.io/Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796
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The anti-hypergrowth SaaS: build a business you want to run | Joel Griffith @browserless
Mar 3000:58:49Tap to summarize•saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies. In episode #13 of season 6, Anna Nadeina talks with Joel Griffith, founder of browserless, a cloud-based headless browser-as-a-service platform that allows developers to run automated browser tasks.Joel Griffith didn’t start in tech, he was a professional jazz musician.Today, he runs browserless, a browser automation infrastructure powering AI agents, bots, scraping systems, and developer tools worldwide.In this episode, we cover:• What “headless browser” actually means (without jargon)• Why Joel chose to bootstrap instead of raising VC• Growing to $1M ARR without a marketer• Open source as a growth engine• Rewriting the entire product to eliminate technical debt• AI, automation, and whether bots are good or bad• The emotional reality of hiring, firing, and founder lifeIf you're building a devtool, infra SaaS, or considering rewriting your codebase - this one’s for you.Joel Griffith - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-griffith-93933332/Browserless - https://www.browserless.ioSubscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796
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