Matt Bilotti

SAAS NORTH Conference is less than one week away. Do you have your ticket yet? I’m excited to be speaking on the panel, “Totally Fubar! 3 Epic Founder Fails,” moderated by Kenneth Pham. I’ll be joined by Ewan Reid and Kelsey Hahn to discuss the challenges we’ve faced as founders. Entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster, and we’re sharing valuable lessons learned along the way. If you're a SaaS founder scaling quickly in Canada, I hope to see you and your team in Ottawa from November 13–14. Get your SaaS pass now—and use code MIKEPSN24 for 25% off your ticket: https://lnkd.in/gtm7eY8E #entrepreneurship #founders #leadership #scaling #startupstory

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I met Natalie (Clark) Horner out at West Slope Startup Week this year and was so impressed that we've since put together a partnership with her at CrowdSolve. Watch for a Branding 101 for Startups session we will do with her downstream but in the meantime, she is running this workshop with She Raises Capital! "In this workshop, you'll learn how to develop a powerful minimal viable brand that will attract the right investors and set you up to scale - without the overwhelm."

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This week on SaaS Expert Voices, I had a thoughtful discussion with Cory Sanford, VP of Culture and Talent at Guidant Financial. We dig into what it takes to be a successful CEO, offering actionable advice for founders, leaders, and aspiring entrepreneurs. 🎯 Some standout takeaways from our chat: 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 = 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Cory's framework simplifies the complexity of culture into something we can all measure—connection. Whether it's to your company's purpose, your leadership, or to each other, the strength of these connections is what drives true cultural impact.   𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗘𝗢 𝗮𝘀 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱: Cory made a compelling point that the CEO should be the chief storyteller and cultural steward, not just a leader. It’s the CEO’s job to define, communicate, and embody the company's values and principles, ensuring that these are consistently lived throughout the organization. Are you steering your company’s culture, or just managing it? 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗢𝗻𝗲-𝗼𝗻-𝗢𝗻𝗲𝘀: There might not be a "silver bullet" in leadership, but Cory argues that effective, regular one-on-ones come close. It's about more than just checking in; it's where the magic of leadership happens—goal-setting, coaching, and building trust. 𝗢𝗻𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿: Cory shares—"A good onboarding is the best recruiting insurance." The first days are crucial when emotions run high, and the opportunity for impact is greatest. This conversation with Cory was a reminder that in SaaS, where we often chase metrics and results, it's the human element—our connection to each other and our work—that truly sets the foundation for long-term success. With stronger connections, we can create environments where people feel more connected, valued, and motivated to contribute their best. 🎧 Tune in to hear the full episode: https://lnkd.in/gzkzg5AY

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Does negotiating with development agencies feel like a puzzle? It doesn’t have to! On this week's SaaS Founder Stories, I chatted with Kurt Willis from Boro Dev Agency, LLC. We talked about how to align your tech needs, investor expectations, and development goals. His biggest lesson? Transparency and flexibility are key to a successful partnership. If you’re scaling your SaaS and working with dev teams, this episode is a must-listen. 💡https://lnkd.in/gU88cK8E #SaaS #TechLeadership #StartupGrowth #DevAgencies #StartupAdvice

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We've been lucky with ARR growth at Jointflows. Here's why... I see a lot of technical founders struggle with sales. ☠️ They have an amazing product and a great understanding of their space but struggle to sell. So why are we lucky? ✚ We use Jointflows to sell Jointflows, which is a huge advantage. Each buying cycle is a mini-POC for the prospect. They experience Jointflows before buying it. ✚ We have the highest sales caliber in EMEA: Hitesh + Stuart. They can talk the talk and walk the walk. My dream team would be to bring in: Katie Miles, Rebecca Feiten and Neill Murphy. ✚ We are building a solution that solves our own issues. Our own issues are similar to our ICP's, so we sell by telling our own stories. ✚ We don't have a sales process... Who cares about your sales process? We have a technology that can capture the full BUYING process and automatically orchestrate everything around it. MUCH BETTER. In other words, all we do is help the buyer justify a purchase. We're their insurance policy. Any system that reports on a funnel or uses funnel data to help you will lead you to failure. We believe any mature organization should have a conversion rate between 60% and 80%. Is your conversion rate below this?

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In episode 714 of Startups For the Rest of Us, I answer listener questions including how to approach acquiring a competitor, how to find a developer co-founder, and how to navigate HIPAA compliance as a bootstrapper. Check out the rest of the episode 👇  https://lnkd.in/gCC2n56E

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How do platforms like InVision by inThought Research help life science companies with product development from phase I to first year? inThought's President, Ben Weintraub explains on the podcast how Invision aggregates and analyzes vast amounts of clinical data, enabling teams to make evidence-based decisions with confidence. Decisions around: - how to design their trials? - how to communicate with regulatory agencies? - how to communicate with healthcare providers? If this is of interest, you will love the full podcast here: https://lnkd.in/eK_G272k

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Talk to Buildstash and Robbie Cargill if you want to manage your game or app binaries.

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Ever had to balance investor demands while negotiating with a dev agency? It’s tricky, but possible! In this episode of SaaS Founder Stories, Kurt Willis of Boro Dev Agency, LLC shares how understanding what everyone wants at the table can lead to better deals and long-term partnerships. Learn how to avoid common pitfalls and keep your project moving smoothly. Listen now to gain insights on scaling with the right dev partners. 🎙️https://lnkd.in/gebdbDA7 #SaaS #StartupTips #TechPartnerships #DevAgencies #StartupAdvice 

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In 2020, we sold Voxbone for $519m. That experience taught me 5 invaluable lessons on how to build and scale a successful B2B SaaS company. These lessons were so transformative that they ultimately led me to build CustomerOS. It took years of trial and error, wrong turns, and painful mistakes to figure all this out. My pain is your gain. Here's what I learned... 👇

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Founders (and advisors!) - great resource alert 🔔 Expectation alignment is key to a great advisor/founder relationship - this sets out a strong framework. 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

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In just 2 days, we’re launching the very first episode of The Vertical SaaS Podcast, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to kick things off with Nic Poulos from Euclid Ventures.🎙️ Nic has been an incredible force in the Vertical SaaS world, and in this episode, he really digs into some game-changing insights around startup strategies, industry trends, and how domain expertise can make or break a team. 💡 As someone who's deeply passionate about helping companies build exceptional teams and driving innovation, I loved this one and am excited for you all to hear Nic's insights. If you’re in vertical SaaS, investing, or just curious about where vertical software is headed, you’ll want to tune in. Make sure to check out the full episode this Wednesday! #VerticalSaaS #B2BSoftware #PodcastLaunch

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Today's episode of “Building Software Startups for Non-Technical Entrepreneurs” is all about planning — and how do you decide what gets built into your minimum viable product (MVP)? My advice might be surprising. If you've missed the first three episodes, reach out to me for access. — I’m Ian. I’ve worked on dozens of apps and startups in my career. My company offers fractional software development and leadership to entrepreneurs building apps. Have a technical question for a CTO? Shoot me a DM and let’s chat.

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SaaS founders! I'm looking for conference inspiration! What conferences are you going to in 2025? Drop your ideas here 👇👇👇 ____ Hi, I'm Carolyn. 👋 I’m here to help you fast-track traction with #pricing concepts. #saas #startups #femalefounders #entrepreneurship

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I love data. Especially people data. It helps answer those lingering..."is it just me...or?" late night questions. The OpenView SaaS Benchmark Survey is one of those annual ones I always read and reference with the founders I work with. That's why I'm so excited that High Alpha is partnering with OpenView, Paddle and Kyle Poyar to launch the 2024 annual SaaS Benchmark Survey. And guess what -- it's live! If you want early-access to the report, be sure to participate and we'll be back in November to share insights. Link to survey below. https://lnkd.in/ey9FAgYV #SaaSBenchmarks

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A lot of pre-product, pre revenue startup clients approach Calibrate to architect, design, and develop their first web or mobile app. One common theme we see among many of these ambitious co-founders is trying to launch with a larger feature set based on what they THINK their users will find valuable. In scenarios such as this, our team always advises our clients to consider pairing back the feature set to an MVP (minimum viable product). We start this process by asking our clients “what are the critical features absolutely necessary to launch your product and start getting valuable feedback from the user base?”. Anything beyond that is speculation and unnecessary. In the startup world (or even with software SMBs are launching), it’s imperative to get to market as quickly and cost effectively as possible to start establishing a POC (proof of concept) and collecting feedback; MVPs ensure that happens. Through collecting real user feedback, clients can prioritize and execute on their roadmap (aka new features) with FACTS (aka data driven insights) v. CONJECTURE (aka speculating on what users want). Check out the blog article on our site for some tips to help narrow down the feature set of a product to an MVP: https://lnkd.in/gHTeynVb

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SaaS founders please trust me on this one. Regret is more expensive than tracking product data. Don't let hindsight be your only insight. --- P.S. If you're interested in learning more about which metrics you need to measure and how - I'm hosting a free webinar in July to answer all your questions 💡 Want to join? 👉 Like this post and comment "metrics" below and I'll send you the link :)

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Scaling a SaaS company isn’t just about rapid growth; it’s about building a team that can thrive WITHOUT you. In my early years as a leader, I made the classic mistake of trying to stay too involved in every aspect of the business. I wanted to be in the center of everything so that I knew what was going on at the very granular level and could answer any question my boss would ask. I wanted the "A." And, honestly, I was a bit of a control freak. But I also was not sleeping, and my wife was not happy with how much time I spent at work and thinking about work versus being present with our young family. It wasn’t until I realized this wasn’t sustainable that things began to change for me personally and the people in the organization I was leading. Recently, Glenn Gow, CEO Success Coach, highlighted a critical insight: the true role of a CEO is to build a great leadership team. One that can pivot, adapt, and grow the company independently. This shift from being the hands-on creator to an empowering leader is crucial and one that many early-stage founders are unable to make. In fact, during our conversation, Glenn shared that 60% of early-stage founder/CEOs get replaced within five years, primarily due to the inability to scale the company fast enough. The core issue often lies in their failure to evolve and step back. . . to let others take the reins. This hit home for me. I’ve seen firsthand how vital it is to hire leaders not just for their expertise but for their ability to build and scale teams. The ability to recognize inflection points in your business and adapt your leadership style is what ultimately drives sustainable growth. So, here’s my challenge to fellow SaaS founders: Are you ready to shift your focus from doing the work to empowering your team to do it better than you ever could? Would love to hear your thoughts on building and scaling leadership teams. What’s worked for you, and what hasn’t? #SaaS #Leadership #ScalingUp #TeamBuilding #FounderJourney #SaaSBuilder

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A frequent question I get asked is how to test different go-to-market models and figure out what's scalable for an early-stage startup. In fact it was a question posed last week to myself and Tamara McMillen by Sam Marchant at the excellent event for early stage founders. But I've never written it down! Well, until now (full link to the post in comments). Here’s a a very brief overview of the best way to approach systematically testing Go-To-Market strategies when you're super early stage (pre-PMF): Step 1: Review the ‘4 Fits’ Go-To-Market Model Start by reviewing the four core components of Brian Balfour's go-to-market model: Market Fit: Ensure your desired target market matches your product and pricing. Product Fit: Align product complexity & time to value with your acquisition channels and customer needs. Acquisition Channels: Evaluate the cost and viability of these channels to reach your market in the context of your commercial model and product value (the size of the pain it solves) Commercial Model: Ensure your pricing covers costs and generates profit, particularly when considering the cost to serve your target market the expect CAC of your chosen acquisition channels. Identify and resolve any misalignments early to avoid costly issues later. Step 2: Real-World Testing Over Theory Focus on real-world testing rather than theory. This stage is about activity and learning. Prioritize understanding and testing what messaging resonates before identifying the most effective channels. Establish Language-Market Fit (h/t Matt Lerner): Even if your channels aren't perfect, the right message will convert some sales. Whereas the 'right' channel with the wrong message will result in a lot of wasted time and spend. Start Broad: Initially, target a broad audience to gather extensive feedback. This helps avoid missing out on potential customer niches. (You can refine and focus on a narrow ICP later, when scaling) Use the Three Whys Framework: Why Change? Can you clearly articulate the pain point your product solves? Why Change Now? Can you highlight the urgency of solving the problem? Why You? Can you differentiate your product from alternatives? Step 3: Analysis Analyse data to identify where your messaging might be falling short and refine it. Look for patterns among closed deals to identify your best-fit customers and understand their characteristics. Once you've gathered enough data, interview these customers to refine your ICP and optimise distribution channels. For a more detailed explanation of how to run this process, check out the link below! #b2b #saas #startups #gotomarket #growth

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