The Remarkable SaaS Podcast

Ton Dobbe
  • 5.0 (19)
  • Technology
  • Updated Weekly

For B2B SaaS founders who are done blending in. The Remarkable SaaS Podcast features unfiltered conversations with SaaS founders navigating the real challenges of building software that matters. Hosted by Ton Dobbe, author of The Remarkable Effect, each episode zooms in on one of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies—like offering something truly valuable and desirable, and aiming to be different, not just better. Some guests are scaling fast. Others are still in the trenches—but all share hard-won lessons about what it really takes to create pull, shorten sales cycles, and become the only logical choice in their market. Expect: Honest conversations—no hype, no theory Tactical insights from sales-led SaaS founders Practical ideas you can apply to sharpen your product and your positioning If you're building a SaaS business that deserves attention—not just more noise—this podcast is for you.

  1. 4d ago

    #419 – Kevin Dias on The Problem-First Method

    A story about the real problem behind every feature request. This episode is for SaaS founders who build what customers ask for and still watch new features go unused. Customer requests are where good teams go wrong. Kevin Dias, founder of Ambiki, spent three years inside a Tennessee speech therapy practice, listening to therapists and building their software as he went. That software grew into Ambiki. While building Ambiki, he wrote a book around one question: what problem are we solving, and for whom? Every feature at Ambiki starts there. No solution allowed in the answer. And this inspired me to invite Kevin to my podcast. We talk about why defining the problem matters more now that AI makes building so fast, and the three forces that push teams past that step: customers, sales and investors. Kevin also shares why he keeps saying no to a much bigger market. You'll hear what he hands his board when they ask for a roadmap. We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: Master the art of curiosityAcknowledge you cannot please everyoneBoth are chapters in The Remarkable Effect. Kevin's story shows what remarkable companies do first. They pick the problem worth solving. Here's one of Kevin's quotes that captures his warning for teams building with AI: "Don't let the ability to quickly create features and prototypes become the evidence that you should build it. It's very easy to build it these days, but it doesn't mean you should." By listening to this episode, you'll learn: Why you can miss your customers' real problem when you copy a competitor's featureWhat changes when "what problem, for whom?" moves to the top of every feature documentHow your margin can grow when you put a smaller group of customers firstHow asking "solution or problem?" on support tickets trains a whole team to dig deeperFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Kevin Dias, founder of Ambiki Website: ambiki.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kevin-dias-ambiki Book: The Problem-First Method at problem-first-method.com

    #419 – Kevin Dias on The Problem-First Method

  2. Sep 30

    #418 – Jason Cohen on hidden multipliers

    A story about the growth levers you can't see from inside. This episode is for SaaS founders who are working harder than ever and are not seeing the growth they aspired to. Most growth problems are hiding in plain sight. Jason Cohen is the founder of WP Engine and author of Hidden Multipliers. He has built four companies over 25 years, two of them now worth billions, and invested in sixty more. Across all of them he kept finding the same thing. A few small changes moved growth far more than everything else combined. Most companies never spot them. And this inspired me to invite Jason to my podcast. We explore why the biggest growth levers in a business stay invisible to the people running it. Jason shares what he learned about customers who cost you money, about pricing that works against you, and about strengths you never counted as strengths. You'll discover why the same product can be worth ten times more without changing a thing. We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: Acknowledge you cannot please everyoneSell the idea, not the productBoth are chapters in The Remarkable Effect. Jason's work proves that remarkable companies don't find more to do. They find the few things that decide everything. Here's one of Jason's quotes that captures why the answer is often already in front of you: "A lot of times people do know kind of what the answer is already, but they don't want to face it. They're scared to face it. It means they have to admit something they don't want to admit, or it means they have to do work they don't want to do." By listening to this episode, you'll learn: Why 10% of your customers decide whether the other 90% are profitableWhat changes when you name your weaknesses before the buyer finds themWhy your positioning is capping what you can chargeWhat decides whether your strongest trait helps or hurts the businessFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Jason Cohen, founder of WP Engine and author of Hidden Multipliers Website: hiddenmultipliers.com Personal site: asmartbear.com Free companion AI skills: skills.hiddenmultipliers.com

    #418 – Jason Cohen on hidden multipliers

  3. Sep 24

    #417 – Eric Bidinger on the moat that grows while customers use it

    A story about letting go of what everyone else protects. This episode is for SaaS CEOs who still believe their product is the thing competitors can't copy. Your product is the easy part to copy. Eric Bidinger is co-founder and CEO of Luca. Before that, seventeen years in private equity, where cash was the only number that counted. Those years of buying companies taught him what a business can really defend. So when founding Luca, he decided to defend something else. And this inspired me to invite Eric to my podcast. We explore what a software company can still defend when anyone can rebuild the product. Eric shares why he stopped worrying about that, what his customers build up that a competitor cannot copy, and why his best clients get far more out of the same product. You'll discover what he thinks will hold his company back (and it has nothing to do with technology). We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: Create new value possibilitiesMaster the art of curiosityBoth are chapters in The Remarkable Effect. Here's one of Eric's quotes that captures why he walked away from seventeen years in finance: "In finance you're obviously moving money from pocket A to pocket B, and then you're just taking a cut while the money is in transit, which can be quite lucrative, but also very nihilistic in a way. Unless you own the firm, you're really not building anything that's lasting." By listening to this episode, you'll learn: Why the part you guard is rarely the part a rival struggles to rebuildHow your customers build the advantage you cannot build yourselfWhat one word in your positioning decides who walks awayHow AI changes where a good hire still beats an average oneFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Eric Bidinger, co-founder and CEO of Luca Website: ask-luca.com

    #417 – Eric Bidinger on the moat that grows while customers use it

  4. Sep 16

    #416 – Tony Migliore on the growth that isn't worth having

    A story about saying no to the volume everyone wants. This episode is for SaaS founders who assume a big market means there's enough room in it for them to take a share. Most software companies chase the biggest pile of volume. Tony Migliore has a different view. He's the founder and CEO of Moova, a last-mile delivery company in Latin America. Thirty years in logistics taught him where he has no right to win. So for Moova, he consistently turns down high-volume work priced at cents. He'd rather serve fewer retailers who need something the cheap operators cannot give them. This inspired me to invite Tony to my podcast. We explore why the biggest pool of volume is the worst place to compete. Tony shares how he decides where he can compete in a commodity market, and why some of his clients pay more than they have to. We zoom in on two of the ten traits of remarkable software companies: Offer something valuable and desirable Acknowledge you cannot please everyoneBoth are chapters in The Remarkable Effect. Here's one of Tony's quotes that captures how he decides where to compete: "Keep your eye much more sophisticated on who are your clients, who will be paying for your service, where you have the right to win, why they will be purchasing your technology instead of others. You need to keep a focus. Optimism is not a strategy" By listening to this episode, you'll learn: Why a big market says nothing about your right to winWhat your customer is really buying when your service looks like a commodityWhen volume starts costing you more than it paysHow domain knowledge outlives the technology you build onFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Tony Migliore, founder and CEO, Moova Website: moova.io and moovatech.ai

    #416 – Tony Migliore on the growth that isn't worth having

  5. Sep 9

    #415 – How Amarjot Singh picks his focus so he never has to justify the value

    A story about saying no to good, paying work. This episode is for founders whose deals keep stalling, no matter how hard the team works. A typical mantra in business software is that you build products that technically everyone can use - simply because that creates the biggest market opportunity. Amarjot Singh, founder and CEO of Skylark Labs, doesn't. He grew up watching his father serve in the Indian Army infantry, in combat. His first project after his PhD was software that helped rescue children from brothels. This has turned into a mindset where he only builds products for situations where someone's life is on the line. Everything else he says no to - even if there's good money associated with it. And this inspired me to invite Amarjot to my podcast. We explore how choosing problems by risk to human life changes who does the selling. He shares who and what he walked away from, and how that helped him to build something the right customers cannot live without. We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: Acknowledge you cannot please everyone Sell the idea, not the productBoth are chapters in The Remarkable Effect. Here's one of Amarjot's quotes that captures how he thinks about demand: "The beauty of this kind of technology is that you don't actually have to sell. The user will sell you … Once you are able to get to that point, then the sky is the limit.” By listening to this episode, you'll learn: Why the size of the problem matters less than what it costs the buyer to leave it unsolvedWhat changes in a deal when the buyer has no fallbackWhen to tell a customer "this is the maximum we will do"How to tell whether a pilot will lead anywhere before you commit the teamFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Amarjot Singh, founder and CEO, Skylark Labs Website: skylarklabs.ai

    #415 – How Amarjot Singh picks his focus so he never has to justify the value

  6. Sep 2

    #414 – How Dima Gutzeit rejected three markets and got to dictate the terms

    A story about saying no until you're the only option. This episode is for founders who believe a horizontal product means a horizontal go-to-market. A product for everyone still needs a market of one. Dima Gutzeit, founder and CEO of LeapXpert, watched bankers in Hong Kong do their real work on WhatsApp in 2017, then spent two years building before selling anything. He wrote a large part of that first product himself. He built something that fits any industry. Then he turned down almost every industry that asked. Today he sets the terms, not only the price. And this inspired me to invite Dima to my podcast. We explore why he said no to marketing applications, CPaaS, and the contact centre business, and how that gave him the upper hand in the one category he kept in focus. You'll discover what he can ask of a customer today that he couldn't ask for in the early years. We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: Acknowledge you cannot please everyoneAim to be different, not just betterBoth are chapters in The Remarkable Effect. Remarkable companies decide who they are not for before the market decides for them. Here's one of Dima's quotes that captures how he thinks about what focus buys you: "In today's market, the only way to win is not the product. Anybody can create a product; it's velocity" By listening to this episode, you'll learn: Why a horizontal product and a horizontal go-to-market are separate decisionsWhat saying no protects when the market starts pulling you sidewaysWhen the bigger customer gives you more room instead of lessHow years of focus turn into the speed you need laterFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Dima Gutzeit, founder and CEO, LeapXpert Website: leapxpert.com

    #414 – How Dima Gutzeit rejected three markets and got to dictate the terms

  7. Aug 26

    #413 – How Cyril Golub chose the ground Amazon can never stand on

    A story about picking a fight your biggest competitor cannot win. This episode is for founders who believe the only answer to a bigger player copying them is to build faster. Most founders fear the day the giant copies them. It happened to Cyril Golub, CEO of Jinnify — Amazon shipped what they'd built within months. He'd spent twenty years inside e-commerce, long enough to know how marketplaces actually make their money. So, his answer wasn't to beat them by building faster. This inspired me to invite Cyril to my podcast. We explore why the strongest position isn't the one you defend, but the one your competitor cannot afford to take. Cyril shares what twenty years inside e-commerce taught him about reading a competitor. You'll discover what he saw in Amazon's business model that decided how he competes. We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: Master the art of curiosity Aim to be different, not just betterBoth are chapters in The Remarkable Effect. Cyril's story proves that remarkable companies don't out-build the giant. They choose ground the giant cannot take without damaging itself. Here's one of Cyril's quotes that captures how he thinks about growth: "The company should be ready to change, probably completely change level by level, and the main limiter here is the mindset of the founder and CEO." By listening to this episode, you'll learn: Why the real limit on scaling sits in the founder's head, not the marketWhy two founders make better decisions than threeWhy the safest position is one your competitor can't copy without hurting itselfWhat to study when a platform starts building what you builtFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Cyril Golub, Founder and CEO of Jinnify Website: jinnify.ai

    #413 – How Cyril Golub chose the ground Amazon can never stand on

  8. Aug 12

    #412 – How Martin Payne turned a flatlined company from $7M to $20M

    A story about what he kept, and what he cut. For SaaS founders whose growth has stalled and who can't tell whether the problem is the company or the plan. Most new CEOs tear down what they inherit. Martin Payne, CEO of TextUs, took a different path. He replaced the founder CEO in April 2020. Growth had flatlined, cash was burning, and he laid off a third of the company in his first year. The business is now at $20M. He'll tell you most of what got it there was already in the building. And this inspired me to invite Martin to my podcast. We explore why a stalled company has more going for it than anyone inside can see. Martin shares what he found in his first months, the hardest call he had to make, and a culture his employees wrote. You'll discover the one thing he did twice, six years apart, for the same reason. We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: Master the art of curiosity Offer something valuable AND desirableMartin's story proves that remarkable companies read the signs others stopped noticing. Here's one of Martin's quotes that captures how he sized up what he inherited: "I came into the company thinking this is not a turnaround situation. This is a fine-tune, refine situation. And so I just went in with the mindset of there's goodness here. Now let me understand more specifically where the goodness is. Let me understand where specifically things need to be removed or changed." By listening to this episode, you'll learn: Why a stalled company rarely needs the rebuild everyone assumesWhat intellectual honesty looks like when you inherit someone else's companyWhen retention tells you more about growth than new revenue doesHow to make culture stickFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Martin Payne, CEO of TextUs Website: textus.com Nice surprise this week: Feedspot ranked The Remarkable SaaS Podcast 17th in their Top 70 Tech Startup Podcasts. Thanks for listening — that's the only reason it's there.

    #412 – How Martin Payne turned a flatlined company from $7M to $20M
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5
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About

For B2B SaaS founders who are done blending in. The Remarkable SaaS Podcast features unfiltered conversations with SaaS founders navigating the real challenges of building software that matters. Hosted by Ton Dobbe, author of The Remarkable Effect, each episode zooms in on one of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies—like offering something truly valuable and desirable, and aiming to be different, not just better. Some guests are scaling fast. Others are still in the trenches—but all share hard-won lessons about what it really takes to create pull, shorten sales cycles, and become the only logical choice in their market. Expect: Honest conversations—no hype, no theory Tactical insights from sales-led SaaS founders Practical ideas you can apply to sharpen your product and your positioning If you're building a SaaS business that deserves attention—not just more noise—this podcast is for you.

Information

  • Creator
    Ton Dobbe
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    419
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved 2022-25
  • Show Website
    The Remarkable SaaS Podcast

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