In this episode of SaaS Origin Stories, Phil speaks with Jane Portman, Co-Founder of Userlist, an email marketing platform built with B2B Saas in mind. Together, they discuss Jane’s history of creating successful products and how they led to what Userlist is today, the experience of joining an accelerator program as an SaaS founder, and why expansion revenue is the goldmine of SaaS.

Guest at a Glance:

Name: Jane Portman

About Jane: Jane Portman, Co-Founder of Userlist, an email marketing platform built with B2B Saas in mind. A UI/UX consultant, specializing in web application design, Jane also runs the UI Breakfast Podcast. 

• Jane on LinkedIn
• Userlist on LinkedIn
• Userlist Website
• UI Breakfast Website

Links from the episode:

• Jane on LinkedIn
• Userlist on LinkedIn
• Userlist Website

Topics we cover:

• [00:07] - The Problem that Userlist Solves and How Jane Discovered It
• [01:26] - Jane’s History of Trial and Error in Creating Successful Products
• [06:41] - Making the Decision to Join an Accelerator
• [09:54] - Business Growth after Joining an Accelerator
• [13:35] - Finding Your First Customers
• [19:38] - Dealing with Surprising Customer and Non-Customer Feedback 
• [24:25] - Learning the Limit of Resources
• [26:04] - Expansion Revenue as the Goldmine of SaaS
• [27:44] - Tiered vs. Metered Pricing Models
• [31:54] - The Problem with Pricing Too Low

[33:02] - A Look into the Current and Future Picture of Userlist