Our Guest: Godard Abel, Co-Founder and CEO of G2, the world's largest and most trusted software marketplace. He previously built cloud CPQ pioneers BigMachines (acquired by Oracle) and SteelBrick (acquired by Salesforce).

Episode Topics:

• AI across the stack: Infrastructure, data, models, and applications—where the most significant opportunities and risks lie
• Incumbents vs. startups: Why the next decade will reward incumbents with data and trust, and AI-first challengers with 10x user experiences
• G2’s AI strategy: From generative engine optimization (GEO) to G2 AI as a buying assistant
• Future of software buying: Will AI shorten shortlists? How buying cycles, transparency, and seller roles are evolving
• Marketing in the AI era: Risks of losing optimized website conversion funnels and how vendors must retool
• Endurance in entrepreneurship: Lessons from the Leadville 100 on perseverance and keeping vision through valleys

Resources:

G2 2025 Buyer Behavior Report

Godard Abel LinkedIn

Guy Rubin is the Founder + CEO of Ebsta, a revenue intelligence platform that guides sales teams to more effective sales processes, pipeline reviews and forecast calls with Revenue Insights. 

Episode Topics:

• Overview of Ebsta’s 2025 GTM Benchmarks Report. Produced in partnership with Pavilion, the report covers $48 billion of pipeline across 655,000 opportunities, analysis of 240,000 minutes of seller discovery calls, and a survey of 2,000+ CROs + Sales Leaders.
• Guy’s perspective on the 11x velocity gap between top and bottom sales performers – up from 4x in 2022.
• Why top performers are 455% better at discovery – and what B & C players lack.
• The importance of engaging 6+ stakeholders early in the sales cycle to boost win rates from 12% to 40%+.
• The power of visual playbooks, AI-driven nudges, and qualification signals to drive consistency.
• Ebsta’s approach to forecast accuracy.
• The return of 360 sellers – handling full-cycle sales for stronger buyer relationships.
• High-performing sales channels: Partner/Referral (1.3x velocity), Organic (1.2x), Outbound (1.05x), Events (0.78x), Paid (0.68x).
• Investing in partner programs, communities, and warm referrals to raise win rates.
• Why disqualifying non-ICP deals early boosts productivity – 24% more likely among top reps.
• The human factor in sales management – helping the sales team through structure, not micromanagement.
• Ebsta Client Example: the role of data-driven RevOps in aligning leadership and driving 29% revenue growth.
• Why relationships still matter – even in an AI-powered B2B sales world.

Resources:
https://benchmarks.ebsta.com/2025-gtm-benchmarks

https://www.saasletter.com/p/value-selling

https://www.saasletter.com/p/sales-check-engine-light

Our Guest: Ben Pippenger is the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Zylo, a SaaS management platform that helps businesses gain full visibility into their software usage, optimize licensing, and streamline renewals. 

Episode Topics:

• Overview of Zylo’s SaaS Management Index annual report, which covers $40 billion of SaaS spend
• The AI adoption surge in software spend  - 75 percent increase in spending.
• The Rising of SaaS Costs - increased by 9.3 percent year over year.
• The shift from traditional seat-based pricing to usage and value-based models.
• Ben’s takes on the decline of multi-year SaaS contracts in recent data.
• Ben’s insight to IT’s shrinking influence over SaaS.
• Increasing SaaS waste - $21 million annually on unused software licenses.
• Strategies to manage and reduce rising SaaS costs effectively.
• What are some hidden costs of long-tail SaaS purchases?
• Ben shares vendor negotiation tactics and cost-saving strategies to optimize software investments.

Resources:
https://zylo.com/reports/2025-saas-management-index/

https://zylo.com/

https://www.saasletter.com/p/zylo-saas-management-index-2025

About Cloud Radio by Cloud Ratings:

Made for "full stack" cloud + SaaS operators, Cloud Radio is a SaaS podcast covers all aspects of the business of software.

Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.

https://cloudradio.cloudratings.com/

https://twitter.com/SaaSletter

https://www.saasletter.com/

About Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products. Recent report examples include: Board Management Software, Account-Based Marketing Software, Cap Table + Equity Management Software, Lead Routing Software, and Sales Training + Onboarding Software.

Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.

https://cloudratings.com/

Our Guest: Sally Duby is the Chief Sales Officer at The Bridge Group Inc., a sales strategy consulting firm for B2B companies looking for more from sales development, sales, and customer success. 

Episode Topics:

• Marketing contribution to the pipeline rose from 33% in 2022 to 40% in 2024.
• Characterization of the account manager and customer success manager.
• Who is responsible for renewal, upsell, and cross-sell?
• Average years of experience required at hire by Annual Contract Value (ACV).
• The increasing Account Executive (AE)’s average ramp time.
• How tenure and ramp time affect productivity time - Median time at productivity sits at 24 months.
• Increasing trend of quotas across all bands from <$5k to $250k+ by ACV.
• Win rates declining from 23% in 2022 to 19% in 2024.
• Decreasing trend of quota attainment among AEs from 2012 to 2024.
• Common problems of clients The Bridge Group works with.
• The Bridge Group playbook for improving sales.
• Sally’s viewpoints on outbound sales and SDR functions.
• Effective strategies for outbound sales efforts. 
• AI’s role in improving SDRs and AEs productivity.

Resources:

https://blog.bridgegroupinc.com/2024-ae-metrics-compensation-benchmark

About Cloud Radio by Cloud Ratings:

Made for "full stack" cloud + SaaS operators, Cloud Radio is a SaaS podcast covers all aspects of the business of software.

Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.

https://cloudradio.cloudratings.com/

https://twitter.com/SaaSletter

https://www.saasletter.com/

About Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products. Recent report examples include: Board Management Software, Account-Based Marketing Software, Cap Table + Equity Management Software, Lead Routing Software, and Sales Training + Onboarding Software.

Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.

https://cloudratings.com/

Our Guest: Guy Rubin is the Founder and CEO of Ebsta, a Revenue Intelligence Platform that provides insights into what drives over 500 B2B companies' success. 

Episode Topics:

• What is Ebsta’s 2024 B2B Sales Benchmark report?
• Reliance on top sales representatives - 17% of reps generate 81% of revenue.
• Difference in deal progression between average and top performers - average performers tend to lose deals during negotiation, whereas top performers experience more losses during the qualification and discovery stages.
• Guy’s insights on increasing pipelines and adopting best sales methodologies.
• How does AI fit within Ebsta’s product suite?
• How does discussing ROI accelerate the sales cycle?
• Based on poor quota attainment and certain layoffs, has sales forecasting gotten harder?
• Guy's insight on improving forecasting accuracy.

Resources:

https://www.ebsta.com/2024-b2b-sales-benchmarks/

About Cloud Radio by Cloud Ratings:

Made for "full stack" cloud + SaaS operators, Cloud Radio is a SaaS podcast covers all aspects of the business of software.

Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.

https://cloudradio.cloudratings.com/

https://twitter.com/SaaSletter

https://www.saasletter.com/

About Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products. Recent report examples include: Board Management Software, Account-Based Marketing Software, Cap Table + Equity Management Software, Lead Routing Software, and Sales Training + Onboarding Software.

Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.

https://cloudratings.com/

Our Guest: Matt Slotnick is the Co-Founder and CEO of Poggio Labs, an AI Sales Workspace purpose-built for Account Executives. Poggio is backed by Accel and Spark Capital.

Episode Topics:

• Understanding end-user workflows in GenAI applications.
• How understanding customer workflows influences team construction?
• How Poggio Labs handles the new challenge of managing user expectations for AI.
• Insights and lessons from early adopters of Poggio Labs software.
• Potential competitive tensions arising from intersecting workflows.
• Matt’s take on incumbent’s ability to innovate and why the “data is the new oil” narrative might not be true
• How does an iterative approach drive real product innovation?
• Implications for building AI versus established playbooks in SaaS.
• What aspects of Poggio are generating raving enthusiasm among users?
• Matt’s lessons learned from his cycling passion applied to entrepreneurship and company building.

Resources:

https://poggio.io/ 

Thread on building AI products + emerging moats: https://twitter.com/matt_slotnick/status/1747686262914568444

About Cloud Radio by Cloud Ratings:

Made for "full stack" cloud + SaaS operators, Cloud Radio is a SaaS podcast covers all aspects of the business of software.

Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.

https://cloudradio.cloudratings.com/

https://twitter.com/SaaSletter

https://www.saasletter.com/

About Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products. Recent report examples include: Board Management Software, Account-Based Marketing Software, Cap Table + Equity Management Software, Lead Routing Software, and Sales Training + Onboarding Software.

Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.

https://cloudratings.com/

Our Guest: Scott Brinker, VP of Platform Ecosystem at HubSpot, shapes Hubspot's platform strategy and leads business programs for its global technology partner ecosystem. He is also an editor at chiefmartec.com, with over 50,000 readers, analyzing topics at the intersection of marketing, technology, and management. 

Episode Topics:

• How much does Scott Brinker see AI impacting marketing headcount?
• Scott on the need to adapt and rethink categorizations in light of the evolving MarTech landscape.
• What are some concerns about the sustainability of the current level of saturation in the martech industry? 
• How should companies in the torso (top 100 companies) and head (top 10 companies)  navigate the presence of a large number of competitors in the long tail (12,000 companies)?
• What does composability truly mean for MarTech? 
• The business and technical risk of composability.
• Scott's recommendations and principles to CMOs and marketing leaders for implementing composability. 
• How does competition among major platforms provide opportunities and leverage for smaller, long-tail partners in ecosystems?

Sources:
https://chiefmartec.com/2023/12/major-trends-in-martech-for-2024-the-real-changes-underway-in-a-99-platitude-free-report/

https://chiefmartec.com/2023/10/products-in-the-long-tail-of-martech-have-a-wide-range-of-different-strategies-and-aspirations/

https://www.saasletter.com/p/mckinsey-cloud-roi-ai-roi

About Cloud Radio by Cloud Ratings:

Made for "full stack" cloud + SaaS operators, Cloud Radio is a SaaS podcast covers all aspects of the business of software.

Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.

https://cloudradio.cloudratings.com/

https://twitter.com/SaaSletter

https://www.saasletter.com/

About Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products. Recent report examples include: Board Management Software, Account-Based Marketing Software, Cap Table + Equity Management Software, Lead Routing Software, and Sales Training + Onboarding Software.

Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.

https://cloudratings.com/

Our Guest: Scott Leese is a six-time Sales Leader and a two-time best-selling Amazon author in the category of sales. He maintains active communities like GTM United and is also focusing on helping companies build revenue-driving motions across the organization. 

Episode Topics:

• Scott's view on shifting away from traditional VP career paths and expectations.
• What are the qualities to look for in someone who is a first-time VP of Sales?
• Scott’s advice for someone who is considering transitioning into an account executive (AE) role + Director/VP Sales level.
• The type of leaders or CEOs that Scott gets along with.
• Overall framework of the evolution of Sales from Go-To-Market to Go-To-Network.
• What type of seller performs best?
• Scott on the sales productivity of Go-To-Network approach versus cold outbound strategy.
• Scott's take on Sapphire Non-AE GTM Bloat - 90% of GTM spend is non-AE, down from 70% in 2018.
• Strategies or approaches that are currently successful in the broader environment.
• Scott elaborates his Linkedin post on self-inflicted errors: “Most deals die from predictable self-inflicted errors. Avoidable problems turn into cyclical failures caused by a lack of focus on reverse engineering root causes.”

Resources:

https://www.surfandsales.com/ 

https://twitter.com/SaaSletter/status/1700517476017246334?s=20 

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/scottleese_you-dont-get-good-at-anything-by-giving-activity-6990657671431405568-lVpl?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

About Cloud Radio by Cloud Ratings:

Made for "full stack" cloud + SaaS operators, Cloud Radio is a SaaS podcast covers all aspects of the business of software.

Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.

https://cloudradio.cloudratings.com/

https://twitter.com/SaaSletter

https://www.saasletter.com/

About Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products. Recent report examples include: Board Management Software, Account-Based Marketing Software, Cap Table + Equity Management Software, Lead Routing Software, and Sales Training + Onboarding Software.

Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.

https://cloudratings.com/

Our Guest: Ashley Acosta, Founder and CEO of Maca. Previously, Ashley was the VP of Revenue at Pipe, on the founding team at Brex, and a Mentor at First Round Capital. Now, she's pioneering the first operating system for value-based pricing through Maca, empowering growing companies to achieve greater revenue efficiency through AI-driven data insights.

Episode Topics:

• How much potential revenue are companies losing by not optimizing their pricing strategies?
• Maca’s methods of sourcing data + understanding their insights engine.
• Ashley's insight on the growing complexity of revenue management in growing companies and hidden revenue channels.
• Twitter Question #1: What are the top key results in metrics to determine pricing effectiveness? 
• Twitter Question #2: How do you think about testing pricing and gathering learnings for long sales cycle products?
• Ashley expounds on her Tweet: “Test pricing using your sales levers, not by changing your list price. This will promote learnings about internal levers faster and you'll be less likely to upset your customers by changing pricing on your website, requiring less internal uplift to change pricing.”
• How to determine pricing decisions + levers for software products by understanding overall ROI at the feature level
• Benefits of Maca's data-driven model over the traditional pricing consultant model (i.e. engaging Simon Kucher).
• The scale and type of software companies that Maca works with.

Resources:

https://maca.io/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-acosta-8aa28132/

https://twitter.com/ashleyacosta75/status/1678455416261419022

https://cloudratings.com/roi-of-it-software/

https://cloudratings.com/software-roi-drivers/

About Cloud Radio by Cloud Ratings:

Made for "full stack" cloud + SaaS operators, Cloud Radio is a SaaS podcast covers all aspects of the business of software.

Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.

https://cloudradio.cloudratings.com/

https://twitter.com/SaaSletter

https://www.saasletter.com/

About Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products. Recent report examples include: Board Management Software, Account-Based Marketing Software, Cap Table + Equity Management Software, Lead Routing Software, and Sales Training + Onboarding Software.

Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.

https://cloudratings.com/

Our Guest: Eldar Tuvey, CEO and Founder of Vertice, an automated SaaS purchasing platform that simplifies buying, renewals, and management of software applications, helping businesses streamline their procurement and save on SaaS spend. They recently launched a Cloud Cost Optimization platform, a new product built for finance leaders to optimize their AWS spend.

Episode Topics:

• Eldar’s earlier experiences as an operator buying + renewing software that led to the launch of Vertice.
• Profile of Vertice's ideal customer profile (ICP) in terms of software spend, number of customers, and employees.
• How do software vendors view “working against” SaaS purchasing platforms like Vertice?
• What inning of the cloud cost optimization game are we in?
• The potential impact of Vertice on reducing wasted cloud spend - a recent Vertice report showed organizations "wasting as much as a third (32%) of their cloud budget."
• Understanding how cloud cost optimization is achieved - “50% to 55% of savings come through financial elements (like EDPs and Reserved Instances) and 45 to 50 from engineering, different scaling, processing, etc.”
• The time to value for cloud cost optimization.
• Eldar's insight on Morgan Stanley's survey that cloud optimization efforts could ultimately increase cloud spending.
• Eldar on the 66% of companies exceeding their cloud budgets.
• How are Vertice customers responding to the average 12% price increase software vendors are implementing?
• Vertice’s recommended playbook for customers dealing with significant price hikes from vendors for must-use tools.

Resources:

https://www.vertice.one/inside-saas/cloud-cost-optimization-launch

https://www.vertice.one/inside-saas/reports/cloud-spend-report-2024

https://www.vertice.one/inside-saas/cloud-spend-insights-september-2023

https://www.vertice.one/saas-purchasing-insights

About Cloud Radio by Cloud Ratings:

Made for "full stack" cloud + SaaS operators, Cloud Radio is a SaaS podcast covers all aspects of the business of software.

Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.

https://cloudradio.cloudratings.com/

https://twitter.com/SaaSletter

https://www.saasletter.com/

About Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products. Recent report examples include: Board Management Software, Account-Based Marketing Software, Cap Table + Equity Management Software, Lead Routing Software, and Sales Training + Onboarding Software.

Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.

https://cloudratings.com/

Our Guest: Andy Willson, Co-Founder and former CEO of Logikcull, a cloud-based eDiscovery solution trusted by hundreds of legal teams to automate discovery and legal holds for disputes, subpoenas, investigations, record requests, and more. After 19 years of building, Logikcull was acquired by Reveal in late August 2023.

Episode Topics:

• How Andy is feeling post-exit.
• How Logikcull created an inbound GTM motion with product-led growth dynamics.
• Andy's insights into managing customer expectations in the context of artificial intelligence (AI) in legal tech.
• Andy's advice and strategies for people outside legal tech expanding into AI.
• We then dive deep into Andy’s excellent “19 Lessons From 19 Years” 
• “#1.  The team you build is the company you build. Want to build a great company? Find great people and never settle”.
• “#4.  Get written agreements for the work you need done, not assumed expectations. ASSUME = ASS + U + ME.”
• “#5.  Hire leaders that run at high tempos with high energy & high capability. The team will mirror them and the force will multiply.”
• “#8.  Build something people want and value. Price accordingly.”
• “#9. No customers -> No employees -> No revenue -> No business. Focus on customers and have all employees, especially engineers, frequently interact with customers. This will create empathy and empathy drives urgency.”
• “#16.  Small teams with high agency & chips on their shoulders will win. Keep your teams small and give them the direction & freedom to succeed. More customers and more revenue is > more employees. “Chips on shoulders puts chips in pockets.” - Josh Wolfe”
• “#18.  Extinction-level events will happen (we had a few ourselves =). The team you build will define whether your business lives or dies during these times. So, when in doubt, hire for grit. Tough times don’t last. But tough people do.”
• “#19.  Never give up.”
•  A final question: How did Andy maintain a healthy relationship with a co-founder for two decades?

Resources:

“19 Lessons From 19 Years” Twitter Thread: https://twitter.com/iDedupe/status/1678381125042044931

https://www.logikcull.com/

https://resource.revealdata.com/en/press/logikcull-ipro-acquisition

About Cloud Radio by Cloud Ratings:

Made for "full stack" cloud + SaaS operators, Cloud Radio is a SaaS podcast covers all aspects of the business of software.

Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.

https://cloudradio.cloudratings.com/

https://twitter.com/SaaSletter

https://www.saasletter.com/

About Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products. Recent report examples include: Account-Based Marketing Software, Cap Table + Equity Management Software, Lead Routing Software, Sales Training + Onboarding Software, and Sales Conversation Intelligence Software.

Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.

https://cloudratings.com/

Our Guest: Ben Schaechter is the Co-founder & CEO of Vantage, a cloud cost optimization platform for AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, Datadog, Snowflake, Databricks, Fastly, and more. 

Episode Topics:

• The current maturity level of the Cloud Cost Optimization cycle.
• The dollar threshold of cloud spending at which organizations should consider pursuing cloud optimization services
• Understanding how Vantage facilitates the process of cloud optimization.
• Ben's view on the hyperscaler cloud service providers' included cost management tools + looking at all elements contributing to cloud usage-based cost.
• Ben's take on the Morgan Stanley thesis that cloud cost optimization leads to greater spending / more workloads long-term.
• Do all optimization efforts lead to greater lock-in with the cloud provider?
• Commitment mechanisms + taking advantage of Enterprise Discount Program (EDP).
• The timeframe for yielding positive results after implementing cloud optimizations.?
• Ben’s commentary on trends outside the hyperscalers, including Snowflake, Databricks, and Datadog.

Resources:

https://www.vantage.sh/

https://www.vantage.sh/cloud-cost-report/2023-q2

https://www.vantage.sh/cloud-cost-report/2023-q1

About Cloud Radio by Cloud Ratings:

Made for "full stack" cloud + SaaS operators, Cloud Radio is a SaaS podcast covers all aspects of the business of software.

Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.

https://cloudradio.cloudratings.com/

https://twitter.com/SaaSletter

https://www.saasletter.com/

About Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products. Recent report examples include: Lead Routing Software, Sales Training + Onboarding Software, Sales Conversation Intelligence Software, and Partner Relationship Management (PRM) Software

Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.

https://cloudratings.com/

Our Guest: Elena Hutchison, formerly an Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Medallia, is now the Founder of Up/Right Analyst Relations. The firm offers coaching, consulting, and fractional analyst relations services, specifically designed to enhance companies' engagement with Gartner, Forrester, and other industry leaders.

Episode Topics:

• Understanding the analyst relations function beyond quadrants + how analyst firms serve their own customers
• Elena’s insights on the accuracy of Gartner’s Magic Quadrants and Forrester’s Wave
• Elena expands on her “Most Important Sales Cycle of the Year” post 
• Should companies always participate in an analyst Request for Information (RFI)?
• How can early + mid-stage companies best work with analyst firms?
• How analysts evaluate emerging vendors within categories + significance of vendor financial stability
• The value of customer stories around ROI when collaborating with analysts
• How to gain buy-in for an analyst relations program?
• Understanding the timeline for tangible, positive results from an analyst relations program.
• Elena’s insights on the differences between the largest analyst firms and niche analyst firms.

Resources:

https://www.uprightar.com/blog/your-analyst-evaluation-is-the-most-important-sales-cycle-of-the-year

https://www.uprightar.com/blog/debunking-five-myths-of-analyst-relations-for-startup-ceos
https://www.saasboost.io/outsourced-sales-blog/top-saas-directory-and-review-sites-complete-guide-2023

About Cloud Radio by Cloud Ratings:

Made for "full stack" cloud + SaaS operators, Cloud Radio is a SaaS podcast covers all aspects of the business of software.

Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.

https://cloudradio.cloudratings.com/

https://twitter.com/SaaSletter

https://www.saasletter.com/

About Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products. Recent report examples include: Lead Routing Software, Sales Training + Onboarding Software, Sales Conversation Intelligence Software, and Partner Relationship Management (PRM) Software

Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.

https://cloudratings.com/

Our Guest: Claire Suellentrop recently published “Forget The Funnel”, a book outlining the Customer-Led Growth framework she and her partner Georgiana Laudi use in their consulting work with SaaS companies. Prior to founding Forget The Funnel, Claire was the Director of Marketing at Calendly.  

Episode Topics - “Forget The Funnel” Excerpts We Dive Into:

• “Many marketing teams operate in a haphazard way, endlessly experimenting until something sticks. This is no way to generate long-term growth. In fact, it prevents sustainable and predictable growth. Most marketing teams don’t have time to stop, look around, and ask themselves, ‘Why isn’t this working?’”
• Customer Value Surprises + Disconnects - “Autobooks claimed to be an all-in-one tool - the research showed that only one feature set actually got small business owners through the door: online invoicing and payment processing.“
• Doing Too Many Customer Jobs To Be Done - “Step 4: Pick One Job. One of the biggest mistakes we see companies make at this stage is trying to solve all of their customers’ Jobs at once. That’s because each Job can represent vastly different customer needs and priorities.”
• Customer Value Mapping - “That’s the ultimate goal of the Customer-Led Growth Framework: making your customer’s experience quantifiable, unambiguous, and the bedrock of your organization: every department, every team, every decision.”
• And details on timelines and tactics for implementing Forget The Funnel at your company

Episode Resources:

https://www.forgetthefunnel.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Forget-Funnel-Customer-Led-Predictable-Recurring-ebook/dp/B0C386KSTG

About Cloud Radio by Cloud Ratings:

Made for "full stack" cloud + SaaS operators, Cloud Radio is a SaaS podcast covers all aspects of the business of software.

Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.

https://cloudradio.cloudratings.com/

https://twitter.com/SaaSletter

https://www.saasletter.com/

About Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products. Recent report examples include: Session Replay Software, Sales Compensation Software, Digital Sales Room Software, and Direct Mail Automation Software 

Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.

https://cloudratings.com/

Our Guest: CJ Gustafson is the Chief Financial Officer of PartsTech, an automotive-focused vertical SaaS platform which recently raised a Series C led by OpenView Ventures.  He is also the author of Mostly Metrics, a metrics-centric SaaS newsletter. 

Episode Topics:

• The dichotomy between investor metrics and operator metrics. 
• Metrics that investors can overemphasize.
• What metrics CJ  prioritizes when running a business?
• CJ's insights on raising a Series C in a challenging equity market in 2023. 
• His advice on building out a finance function in an early stage company?
• Identifying potential sources of "financial athletes" to hire.
• CJ’s views on choosing the right company and maximizing the upside from your equity compensation..

Episode Resources:

https://www.mostlymetrics.com/

https://www.mostlymetrics.com/p/building-finance-teams

https://twitter.com/cjgustafson222

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/

https://kellblog.com/2022/10/11/you-cant-fix-a-cac-payback-period-the-operator-vs-investor-view-of-saas-metrics/

About Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products. Recent report examples include: Virtual Event Software, Sales Compensation Software, and Direct Mail Automation Software 

Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.

https://cloudratings.com/

Our Guest: Nick Franklin is the Founder and CEO of ChartMogul, a subscription analytics SaaS suite with over 2,500 SaaS customers. ChartMogul recently launched a new CRM designed for B2B SaaS companies, which combines lead, trial, opportunity, and subscription data in a single platform.

Episode Topics:

• The decision-making process for going multi-product and launching a CRM at ChartMogul
• Nick's insights on over-reliance on expansion - 30%+ from expansion in ChartMogul’s  2023 Retention Report - and new logo productivity
• Nick's advice on capital-efficient strategies for early-stage founders.
• What are some strategies and considerations for selecting geographical locations for employee recruiting?

Episode Resources:
https://mogul.io/ 

https://chartmogul.com/saas-retention-report/

https://chartmogul.com/blog/introducing-chartmogul-crm/

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/softwares-over-reliance-expansion-matt-harney/

About Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products. Recent report examples include: Virtual Event Software, Sales Compensation Software, and Direct Mail Automation Software 

Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.

https://cloudratings.com/

Our Guests: Pablo Dominguez and Matthew E. May of Insight Partners , a leading global asset management firm with over $90 billion in assets under management and an extensive portfolio of software investments. Their recent book, "What a Unicorn Knows", draws on their extensive experience working with successful startups and provides a guide for achieving rapid but lasting growth.

Episode Topics:

• Streamlining experimentation with existing processes. 
• How shortening “quote to cash” is a common lean process and accelerated value improvement in their work with portfolio companies?
• The perils of an over reliance on data-backed predictions for experimentation validity.
• Integrating experimentation strategies into your work and job descriptions.
• Responding to whether “visionary” or “optimizer” CEO/Founder types do better in their S.C.A.L.E framework, Matt and Pablo give their views on the foundational elements driving success.

Episode Resources:

https://www.insightpartners.com/ 

https://whataunicornknows.com/

https://www.insightpartners.com/ideas/scaling-for-growth/

About Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products. Recent report examples include: Virtual Event Software, Sales Compensation Software, and Direct Mail Automation Software 

Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.

https://cloudratings.com/

Our Guest: Ryan Walsh is the Founder and CEO of RepVue. Sometimes called “a Glassdoor for sales,” RepVue is the largest platform for crowdsourced ratings (140,000 and growing) of sales organizations globally. 

Episode Topics:

• The concept of RepVue and how it aims to solve the problem of information asymmetry in the sales rep hiring process.
• Ryan’s views on market conditions, including declining quota attainment and inbound lead flow.
• Why is quota attainment - currently in the 40% range across software - so low, and how does this situation happen?
• Asking the tough questions as an interviewee: understanding territories, quota attainment, a company's burn rate, and cash runway when considering new sales positions.
• How much product due diligence should sales reps conduct before joining a software company
• If Ryan were a growth equity or private equity investor, how would he assess the strength and health of a sales organization?
• Signs an SDR will become a successful Account Executive

Episode Resources:

https://www.repvue.com/

Quota Attainment Data Trend - https://twitter.com/ryan_c_walsh/status/1636704102980648961

About Cloud Radio by Cloud Ratings:

Made for "full stack" cloud + SaaS operators, Cloud Radio covers all aspects of the business of software.

Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.

https://cloudradio.cloudratings.com/

https://twitter.com/SaaSletter

https://www.saasletter.com/

About Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products.

Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.

https://cloudratings.com/

Our Guest: Cory Wheeler, Co-Founder + Chief Customer Officer of Zylo, a leading SaaS Management and Optimization platform with over $30 billion in SaaS spending under management. Zylo’s investor base includes Bessemer Venture Partners, GGV, and Menlo Ventures.

Episode Topics:

• Zylo’s “2023 SaaS Management Index” report 
• Cory’s view on a more challenging SaaS market environment - the 1st year with a decline in their platform-wide SaaS spend
• The drivers of SaaS spending declines, like reductions in force and underutilized apps 
• Stories of SaaS sprawl, including an organization with 49 different project management apps
• How vendor customer success teams need to prove value and ROI at every renewal
• The significant waste of unused licenses - 56% average monthly utilization in the 2023 Zylo SaaS Management Index
• Project Management Tools as a prime example of SaaS sprawl and underutilization
• Balancing SaaS tools for maximized ROI
• The emerging trend of SaaS negotiation services
• Importance of governance in managing SaaS applications within organizations - balancing prudence against undue bureaucracy.
• A smart insight into the role of Enterprise License Agreements in mitigating risks from “shadow IT”

Episode Resources:

https://zylo.com/reports/2023-saas-management-index/

https://www.saasletter.com/p/saasletter-cost-discipline-post-svb

SaaSMe Podcast on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMpzGma3CYOXHcibXCvz3?si=ad5a24f4e8f54234

SaaSMe Podcast on Other Platforms:

https://podcast.zylo.com/public/112/SaaSMe-Unfiltered%3A-The-SaaS-Management-Podcast-c316deea

About Cloud Radio by Cloud Ratings:

Made for "full stack" cloud + SaaS operators, Cloud Radio covers all aspects of the business of software.

Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.

https://cloudradio.cloudratings.com/

https://twitter.com/SaaSletter

https://www.saasletter.com/

About Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products.

Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.

https://cloudratings.com/

Our Guest: Scott Stouffer, Founder + CEO of ScaleMatters, a Go-To-Market (GTM) Optimization Software Platform.

Episode Topics:

• What to do if you inherit bad RevOps data + systems
• His take on the SaaS industry's declining sales quota attainment levels
• The dangers of focusing too much on late-stage pipeline
• Areas of waste at the top-of-the-funnel
• The ROI of investing in RevOps to eliminate GTM waste
• How tech stacks are often the root cause of GTM waste
• Why everyone invests in RevOps too late
• Reinvesting savings into growth + equity value creation
• His perspective on cold investor outreach

Episode Resources:

scalematters.com

About Cloud Radio by Cloud Ratings:

Made for "full stack" cloud + SaaS operators, Cloud Radio covers all aspects of the business of software.

Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.

About Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products.

Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.

cloudratings.com