Alexandre Pham

Discussing growth in B2B #SaaS – in our Tiny House 🏠 Julian Ostertag, Julian Wolf and I joined ARRtist SUMMIT in Berlin last week together with 500 B2B SaaS founders, CxOs and 100+ B2B SaaS investors to network, discuss innovations, trends, and the participants’ views on the sector and share our insights on 🔵 M&A trends in software / SaaS, 🔵 what investors are looking for in the space and 🔵 decisive KPIs that make a company ready for a transaction. Many of our meetings took place in our exclusive Drake Star Tiny House located in the middle of the event site – thanks to everyone who came by and said hello or met us for a chat. Also, thanks for bringing this to life together with us, Matthias Ernst, Jannis Bandorski, Julius Göllner and Julia André. As a proud sponsor of the event, it’s great to see how the community is coming together at #ARRtist. On the evening before the event, I got to attend the Speaker & Investor Dinner – another opportunity to connect with speakers and attendees. I had great conversations with VCs from the US and the Nordics about promising SaaS players in Germany and Continental Europe and we spent the night discussing what brought us all together: Our passion for SaaS companies and how to enable their growth to foster innovation in different sectors. #InvestmentBanking #MergersAndAcquisitions #Growth

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+5,000 followers on Linkedin! 🎇 👀   Since leaving Amazon two years ago, I'm incredibly grateful for the sheer number of amazing people I have crossed paths with - from sellers and partners at numerous industry events, to investors and fellow founders. I am glad to have you all along with me for this crazy ride.   To celebrate this milestone I'll share some thoughts on KPIs, and the frameworks behind defining the milestones we are actively trying to achieve. My learning since founding Ecomtent is incredible discipline is needed to anchor the entire company around 2-3 core metrics.   In my previous role, leading a team of PMs at Amazon, I was guilty of the inverse of this. On my team, each PM tracked several individual KPIs we set at the beginning of the year, specific to their program. The goal was to give individuals ownership. However, the result was a laundry list, and different team members across the organisation optimizing for different things. Tech prioritisation was a nightmare.   A better framework is one Primary metric, and 1-2 additional secondary metrics. The Primary metric should be a monetary measure - revenue or profitability. Secondary metrics should be more business-specific, inputs to drive this primary metric. For example, in its growth stage, Airbnb had a primary metric of revenue, but the secondary metrics of beds on the platform and responsiveness of hosts. There are a thousand different ways teams across the company could help to drive up these two secondary metrics - initiatives and innovation on product, sales, marketing. Team and individual goals should be structured to contribute to these 2-3 KPIs.   Your KPIs also should reflect the overall strategy. By strategy, I mean specific trade-offs you are consciously making - betting on X and not Y. For example, at Ecomtent, one of our initial secondary metrics was # managed product listings to build defensibility. This dictated our behaviour, e.g. spending dev time building a robust product that could handle catalogues with hundreds of thousands of SKUs; and our pricing. However since filling a patent, our strategy has evolved. We fired this KPI and replaced it with reducing churn. This meant listening to customers, and from their feedback dedicating resources to improving our lifestyle image generation models to ensure it remains best in class in a competitive market. It also meant delighting and surprising customers with innovations such as 'auto prompting' to improve image quality. Since firing # managed product listings, and focusing on reducing churn, we have been able to move the dial on this KPI with a reduction of -51%.   I could imagine as Ecomtent grows, that we grow our number of secondary KPIs from two to 5 or 6. But I vehemently believe discipline is needed, that KPIs should be set by leadership, monitored on a weekly basis by the entire company or business unit and fired if the strategy or landscape shifts. Do you agree? Should large teams fire their KPIs? 

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Hitting sales targets in May with all the public holidays can feel like such a grind 🏃🏻‍♀️ Here’s what we do at SDRs of Germany when it’s crunch time: — We check in with our most promising deals (Pipedrive’s new AI Deal Spot Feature massively helps us to identify them). — We prospect together and see if we can make use of our network to accelerate deals. — We double down on quality and personalisation, including video selling and voice notes. — We make sure we focus on revenue generating activities and prioritise correctly. And the most important thing: We remember we are not heart surgeons, so no one will die if we don’t hit it — as long as we give it our all and enjoy the party, we can always over perform next month 😜 Good luck to everyone who is still chasing those numbers — you got this 💪🏻 #saleslove

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Two weeks ago, I shared that Candis has crossed €10M ARR this year. But why is that such an important milestone, especially for a #SaaS company that (so far) operates only in Germany🇩🇪? And what is our secret sauce for success? For any SaaS business, €10M ARR is such an important milestone because you are transitioning from proving a product’s value to scaling a company. Customers trust you, growth is accelerating, and you've become a recognized brand in your segment. In Germany, it's even bigger. To put it into perspective, I’ve heard from VCs that €10M ARR in Germany is a comparable achievement to €30M–€40M ARR in the US. Building a business such as Candis in Germany alone comes with unique challenges: ➡️ Skepticism in finance: Germans, especially in finance, are super careful before they introduce SaaS or cloud-based tools—especially from newer players. We sometimes still need to explain the advantages of the cloud over on-premise solutions. I don't think anyone in the US has had to do that in the last 10 years. ➡️ Lower willingness to pay: Unlike in the US, people here often hesitate to pay for value, which makes pricing strategies crucial. We spent A LOT of time on pricing. ➡️ Conservative funding (and exit) environment: Securing bold SaaS investments is tough. German startups would be lost without funds from the US, Middle East, or Asia. ➡️ Talent: The “modern SaaS” market in Germany is still young. A couple of years ago, roles like “product marketing” or “demand generation” were barely known. Today, these positions require both expertise and native German fluency—hard to find. So how do we thrive in such a market environment? I think in the end, one huge difference is our management team. Over the past years, we’ve built a leadership group with over 40 years of combined industry experience. We try not to hire & fire, but make people stay long at the company. 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐞𝐝! There’s a deep trust in our strategy and a shared commitment to build the best product experience for our customers. And most importantly, everybody at Candis leads by doing—not delegating. Everyone on our team is willing to dive in when it matters most. A huge shoutout to the leadership team of Candis for making this possible: Linnar Schwarz, our COO José San Gil, our CTO Lars Böhnke, our Head of Product Bele Schütt, our Head of People and Culture Konstanze Famira-Parcsetich, our Head of Growth Thank you for your relentless drive, your passion for the product and the company, and your unwavering commitment—even during the tough times we went through. This milestone is just the beginning of a new curve. #SaaS #Leadership #Growth #Germany #OfficeoftheCFO #CandisTeam

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For over 25 years, Google #Search has been satisfying human curiosity one query at a time.  Connecting people with information and inspiration to bring their ideas to life is a timeless challenge: every day, 15% of the searches we see are new, and this has been true for more than a decade. And now generative AI is enabling us to unlock new ways to search and help people engage more deeply. #AI is also helping to remove language and access barriers which make Search even more useful across Asia-Pacific. A great example of this are the AI-generated topic overviews that we’ve started showing at the top of Google Search results — like the one pictured below. These AI Overviews surface richer, more comprehensive answers to complex questions, opening up entirely new avenues for exploration. This feature is now available in many languages across the region, including several in #India, #Indonesia, #Japan and #Korea. AI is also lowering barriers by making it possible to find answers with images, voice, and in your own language. Younger internet users in particular are leaning on Google Lens, which averages at over 20 billion searches a month. This has incredible potential in a region like Asia-Pacific, where young people are hungry to learn and make informed decisions, all with the ease of the phone camera’s lens. The possibilities for satisfying curiosity with AI seem endless. It’s exciting to think of the ways Google Search will help more people unleash their creativity and achieve their full potential as AI continues to advance.

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If you are into product growth (whether experienced or wanting to learn more), you will find a wealth of info in Growthmates' Growth Playbook. Go get it "while supplies last" ;-) Kudos to Kate Syuma and the Growthmates team for this resource.

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As I was browsing Amazon's Black Friday page, I noticed something interesting: Even Amazon struggles with maintaining a consistent tone. Some banners are formal and professional, while others are casual —often on the same page. Having a consistent brand voice is critical for clarity and connection, especially in a market like Germany. ☝🏻 For brands, this is a reminder: whether you aim for a formal or informal tone, stick to it across all touchpoints. ⩶ Consistency builds trust, which is essential for success in any market—but even more so in Germany, where precision and attention to detail are highly valued. ⩶ The German market often expects a precise, tailored tone. A mismatch can lead to confusion or even mistrust. Have you noticed how tone impacts your trust in a brand? #amazonfba #branding #brandvoice

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The digital #education #industry is going through a lot of changes, many due to the incredible technological advancements of #genAI. 🤖 It was fun to catch up with Tim Burnett ✨, who is a leading voice in the industry and has started the Test Community Network to provide a place where the ecosystem can share and exchange insights and talk about emerging trends. 🎉 It was a blast talking to Tim this morning together with my good friend and business partner Bernhard Waglechner. We briefly touched on the #digital #assessment #industry, new #trends in both #technology & #regulation, how Europe differs from other markets, such as the US, and how our solution - bizExaminer - fits into all of it. 🤓 Thanks Tim for having us, and for all you do for the ecosystem. 🙏

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Imagine speaking without saying a word! Sci-fi? Not Anymore 🧠🗣️ Rubén D. and I had the chance of interviewing Vasco Pedro, the CEO & Co-Founder of Unbabel, who demoed their mind-blowing product, Halo Halo is a revolutionary technology that combines hardware, software Gen AI and a non invasive neural interface to translate brain signals into words hence - "speaking without saying a word" 🤯 Early usage is transforming the lives of ALS patients who haven't been able to speak in years. Seeing it in action is absolutely jaw-dropping 📽️ You've got to see the demo in the interview below 👇 AI For Good 🤖💖 - It's here ✅

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I love building products and helping product teams be more effective. But a key aspect of making "products" themselves successful is the story behind them. These stories describe the value of the product and how they solve real customer problems. That is product marketing. Here is another brilliant perspective from Marty Cagan 's Silicon Valley Product Group about the importance of product marketing. #product #productmarketing #productoperatingmodel #storytelling

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Good news for the ones in tech looking for a new professional challenge... The market seems to be picking up - still fragile but: - the deal flow has been more robust in the past months and that usually means that plans for growth in the new year are starting to be finalized - the big tech are finally starting to hire again (see pic below) and that has a lot of positive impacts on all the ecosystem when it comes to the candidates The market is (slowly) coming back... ———— I always appreciate a 👍 or repost - it encourages me to keep creating free insights like this. Thanks for your support! I write every week a post (or two) about #Strategy, #Negotiation, #Leadership, and more.

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📍Berlin RevOps folks - see you next week! 👋 I just had a look at the list of participants for our 2nd Berlin meetup. Seeing so many sign-ups from all ops disciplines (Sales/Marketing/CS), I can already tell it will be awesome. Want to join us on 7 May (next Tuesday) over free pizza, drinks, and music? Link is in my profile. 🙋‍♂️ #revops #berlin #revenueoperations

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I have the most Meta job in the world - and it's not at Meta! When people ask me why I joined LinkedIn, I have only one answer, because it's LinkedIn. I don't just work for LinkedIn; I use our products everyday, hiring leaders using the very tools we offer to our customers. It's the epitome of 'meta'. The best part is being 'Customer Zero'. Testing our new products firsthand and supporting our customers as they navigate their own paths to success. Today, I had the privilege of discussing how we attract, retain and develop talent through skills-based HR with over 50 of our global customers. Gone are the days of speed-hiring based solely on job descriptions and credentials. In this VUCA world, we're prioritizing the quality of hire over traditional metrics like time to fill. By doing so, we're not just filling roles; we're upskilling our entire organisation to drive long-term growth. Shoutout to Mallika Hirwani Jiajun (JJ) Lin Ju Song Eleni Garidis for inviting me along! #TalentAcquisition #CustomerZero #SkillsBasedHiring #LinkedInLife

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How a Simple 10-Minute PRIVATE Conversation on Facebook Left Me Thinking for Days I had a private conversation with someone (let’s call him “SUDO”), and what happened in less than 10 minutes stuck with me for days. Normally, I like to keep things private, but I’m sharing this because of the powerful impact this brief exchange had on me. I sent SUDO a message, explaining a concept and a game plan for a product. I laid it all out in clear, simple terms—about 300 characters long—hitting all the key points with excitement, expecting great feedback. But then, SUDO replied with one request: “Summarize everything in one sentence.” At that moment, I went completely blank. It was strange because I’ve done countless presentations, taught difficult concepts, and pitched ideas. I’m used to simplifying things. But for the first time, I couldn’t respond right away. It took me a while to come up with an answer. But even after the conversation ended, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. That simple request exposed a gap in my communication skills. How do you take an idea—no matter how well you’ve already simplified it—and condense it into a single, powerful sentence? It’s like summarizing an entire movie series into one line, without losing the magic. I realized I hadn’t mastered the art of summarizing things down to their purest form. Being a programmer, I started thinking about this in different contexts, running through examples in my head for days. I even revisited Alex Hormozi’s emails and saw the same principle at play. After reflecting on this, I made 10 resolutions to apply this idea across everything I do. Let me share one of them with you: Resolution #1: Speaking Sessions Before I create slides for any speaking event, I now write down one true sentence that summarizes the entire session. If I can’t find that sentence, I don’t make any slides. This forces me to focus on the core message, and it’s made my presentations unforgettable. People leave my sessions with clarity, and they can execute on what they’ve learned without revisiting the material. The power of one true sentence. It’s simple but incredibly effective.

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Probably the highest-quality individual in my professional network - currently open for opportunities :) if interested, you can read his short bio below

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We're taking our partnership with Pennylane to the next level 🚀 Since last year, we’ve financed over €30M for Pennylane clients with a Business Account. Today, we’re going further: 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐏𝐃𝐏. Pennylane users can now instantly fund accounts receivable in just 8 clicks and less than 27 seconds. Curious to see how it works? Check out Arthur Waller & Morgan O'hana’s posts for a demo video 📺 #PDP #einvoicing #LaaS #embeddedlending #SMB #accountsreceivable

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After 13 incredibly exciting years, my final days as the COO of jameda have passed – it was a blast! 🚀 It started with a super small team in a backyard in Munich City when doctor reviews were uncertain to be legal. We've gone through break-even, high margins while growing heavily, transformed to SaaS, underwent two super successful company sales, and merged with Docplanner while hyper-growing to >300 heads. Now, after the challenging merge with Docplanner is completed and the company is in the new setup, it's time for me to move on... So many changes, low- and highlights, so many learnings - way too much to summarize them here in any fancy list! Throughout this crazy journey, the most important aspect for me has always been the team and shareholders, so a big thanks to all the people who joined me on this trip, building a great company where people felt appreciated and valued. There are way too many people to thank for making that happen, but I want to mention a few here briefly: 👉 Dr. Florian Weiß: What should I say, love you, man! F&F forever. 👉 Dr. Philipp Goos: As a friend but also CEO of jameda back then, you convinced me with your passion and drive that jameda would be great for both of us. You were right - thanks for your trust, power, and commitment. 👉 Michael Nowak: Thanks for founding this company and being a friend for 13 years. I don't think either of us expected that we would make such a team. Thanks! 👉 Stefan Winners & Paul-Bernhard Kallen & Hubert Burda Media: Thanks for believing in this company when others had so many doubts, pushing, sparring, and developing. Missed our board meetings a bit! 👉 Mariusz Gralewski & Carlos Fernández Elviro & Docplanner: Thanks for believing in the company and me. I learned a lot in the last 2 years, thanks, guys! Docplanner is a great group with extraorinary, committed people aiming for one of the most important missions we have, no question we will be super successful - worldwide. I will watch closely! Again, thanks also to everyone I haven't mentioned here for making this journey happen 👊 Finally, I will now find some more time for my two sons while creating the future. For the moment: Mic Drop. Cheers

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