How to Win podcast with Peep Laja

View Top 200 Chart

Back to Rankings Page

Business
**How to Win podcast with Peep Laja**

Hear how successful B2B SaaS companies and agencies compete – and win – in highly saturated categories. No fluff. No filler. Just strategies and tactics from founders, executives, and marketers. Learn about building moats, growing audiences, scaling businesses, and differentiating from the competition. New guests every week. Hosted by Peep Laja, founder at Wynter, Speero, CXL.

Latest Episodes:

Establishing authority via industry experience with Unqork’s Gary Hoberman Mar 07, 2022

Show notes

Key Points:

Gary’s path to Unqork (01:13)
Gary describes the competitive landscape of no code platforms (03:11)
Why Gary and his team’s enterprise experience is such a big advantage (04:56)
I discuss why going big is worthwhile when playing to win (07:41)
Gary talks through the ups and downs of Unqork’s fundraising (09:33)
I share my thoughts on handling early fundraising disappointment (12:06)
I describe the advantages of making the customer your hero (16:03)
How Unqork established themselves as the go-to for tier one customers (17:20)
I unpack Unqork’s cornered resource moat (18:18)
Gary explains how Unqork is defining a new space (19:33)
How Unqork is staying ahead of their competitors (22:29)
How uncomfortability leads to growth (24:20)
Wrap up (25:05)

Mentioned:

Gary Hoberman LinkedIn

Gary Hoberman Twitter

Unqork Website

Unqork LinkedIn

Paul Singh LinkedIn

“The Startup Playbook” by Will Herman

How Guy Yalif helped Intellimize grow and raise $30 million in Series B funding

“7 Powers” by Hamilton Helmer

My Links:

Making the pivot upmarket with ScreenCloud’s Mark McDermott Feb 28, 2022

Show notes

Key Points:

How ScreenCloud came to be (01:11)
Mark describes the early competitive landscape of digital signage (03:07)
My opinion on how low-cost copycats could improve their messaging (04:33)
I explain why becoming irrelevant is a bigger risk than making a mistake (07:10)
ScreenCloud’s approach to content marketing (08:11)
My thoughts on why evangelizing category over product in a new category can help you win (09:10)
Why Mark knew moving upmarket was the right move for ScreenCloud (12:38)
I address the advantages of strategic pivots (14:09)
Mark goes through ScreenCloud’s acquisition channels (17:02)
Mark explains the moats ScreenCloud is relying on to stay competitive (19:52)
I unpack why brand marketing is importing for targeting out-of-market customers (21:58)
Mark predicts what consumer behavior will look like in 10 years (26:13)
Wrap up (27:57)

Mentioned:

Mark McDermott LinkedIn

Mark McDermott Twitter

ScreenCloud

Educating your target market with Appcues' Jackson Noel

Yamini Rangan LinkedIn

Paul J. D’Arcy LinkedIn

My Links:

Fostering founder brand as a competitive advantage with Dave Gerhardt Feb 21, 2022

Show notes

Key Points:

Dave explains why having a visible founder can set you apart (01:20)
I explain why nepotism is not a thing of the past, and how to cultivate yours (02:50)
Dave unpacks how founder story made a difference at Drift (03:22)
My thoughts on brand storytelling, and why your story is your strategy (06:02)
How Privy approached developing founder brand (07:44)
How Ben Jabbawy used his podcast as a content cache (09:30)
I explain why I put myself at the forefront when starting my company, CXL (10:33)
Dave explains the unquantifiable ROI of personal branding (13:05)
Dave dives into the risks of building a brand on an individual (16:04)
Dave talks about quality vs. quantity when it comes to social media (20:02)
My advice on social media strategy when you’re first starting out (22:10)
Why you should be prioritizing meaningful content on social media (25:15)
Wrap up (26:50)

Mentioned:

Dave Gerhardt LinkedIn

Dave Gerhardt Twitter

DGMG

“Founder Brand” by Dave Gerhardt

Gary Vaynerchuk Twitter

My Links:

Educating your target market with Appcues' Jackson Noel Feb 14, 2022

Show notes

Key Points:

How Appcues got their start (01:13)
What to do when you realize you’re not that different from your competitors (03:06)
Why Appcues found early success through content marketing (05:45)
My thoughts on content marketing as a long-term play (07:15)
How Appcues approaches competitor awareness (08:30)
I explain why studying your competition is key to differentiating (09:38)
Why Appcues is focused on being the best experience builder in the market (11:57)
My take on how small brands can compete with dominating, big brands (13:30)
Appcues’ pricing strategy (14:48)
I explain why pricing is a huge growth lever, and why it’s hard to get right (15:51)
What Appcues is doing with the money they raised in their successful Series B round (17:21)
Why Jackson regrets betting on the ubiquity of product analytics (19:11)
I unpack why high-profit business models include high customer value (22:55)
Wrap up (26:28)

Mentioned:

Appcues Website

Appcues LinkedIn

Jackson Noel LinkedIn

Jackson Noel Twitter

Ben Horowitz Twitter

Ryan Law Twitter

“Love your competitors - how great businesses do strategy” Alex Smith

Twilio

Datadog

Patrick Campbell LinkedIn

Mixpanel

Kissmetrics

Google Analytics

Prof. Jonathan Byrnes

My Links:

Entering a growing ecosystem with Postscript's Alex Beller Feb 07, 2022

Show notes

Key Points:

The origins of Postscript (01:05)
Why Postscript chose to build on top of Shopify’s platform (02:15)
My thoughts on the advantages of attaching yourself to a growing ecosystem (03:34)
Postscript’s initial, rapid growth (06:38)
Alex’s thoughts on the SMS marketing channel opening up(08:45)
I explain the law of double jeopardy, and how B2B buyers are satisficing (09:40)
Why Postscript’s product strategy is to stay ultra-focused (12:57)
My take on differentiating by building for a specific audience (13:56)
Postscript’s hiring strategy through a year of explosive growth (18:02)
My insight into common hiring missteps, and how to avoid them (20:43)
Why Alex wishes they’d built out Postscript’s go-to-market strategy sooner (23:51)
My thoughts on pricing strategy, and the advantages of a usage-based model (25:15)
What Postscript is building to carry them into the future (26:57)
Wrap up (27:50)

Mentioned:

Postscript

Alex Beller

Y Combinator

How SaaS investor Andrew Chen of a16z is helping entrepreneurs use network effects to tackle the cold start problem

Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science

My Links:

Differentiating by understanding your uniqueness with Verblio's Steve Pockross Jan 31, 2022

Show notes

Key Points:

How Verblio got their start (01:02)
Steve explains who (and what) Verblio is competing against (04:35)
How Verblio is attracting top talent (07:33)
Steve talks about scaling while maintaining content quality (08:08)
What Verblio is doing to build brand reputation (08:37)
My thoughts on the importance of story-based marketing over fact-based marketing (09:06)
Steve talks about the sales channels Verblio is exploring at this stage in their growth (11:42)
My take on why timing is so important when entering a rapidly growing market (13:42)
Steve’s thoughts on product strategy and competing on value (15:00)
I explain why identifying your company’s uniqueness can lead to success (16:12)
Why Verblio chose to focus on digital marketing agencies (17:58)
Verblio’s strategy for future growth (20:14)
My thoughts on avoiding commoditization in mature categories (21:21)
Wrap up (24:20)

Mentioned:

How Ross Hudgens focused on high quality clients, content and services to grow Siege Media

Mimi Turner

The magical science of storytelling, David JP Phillips

“Only the Paranoid Survive” by Andrew Grove

My Links:

Building trust through transparency with Metadata’s Gil Allouche Jan 24, 2022

Show notes

Key Points:

How Gil pivoted from a marketing career to starting tech company Metadata (1:12)
My thoughts on innovation as a transient advantage (04:19)
How Metadata is competing on innovation (06:56)
Why Gil made an early marketing investment in G2 Crowd (10:46)
Why Metadata opted to tap into pre-existing demand for ABM software (12:41)
How Gil and Metadata are differentiating by prioritizing transparency (14:49)
My thoughts on gaining customer trust through transparency (18:13)
Why Gil’s initial strategy did not focus on brand (20:31)
My take on building brand as a sustainable asset (21:47)
My view on defining your target market (24:46)
Gil’s predictions for the future (27:44)
Wrap up (28:57)

Mentioned:

Metadata

Category Creation and Product-led Differentiation with Drift's David Cancel

DemandBase

Terminus

6sense

Bigger than This by Fabian Geyrhalter

Tamara Grominsky on how Unbounce are pairing marketer and machine to create a new category and fend off the competition

My Links:

Category creation and product-led differentiation with Drift's David Cancel Jan 17, 2022

Show notes

Key Points:

David talks about category creation and conversational marketing (01:05)
I give my thoughts on category creation and category design, with a quote from Chris Lochhead (03:50)
David talks about the downsides of category creation, and Drift's success was a bet (4:50)
I give my thoughts on the pitfalls of category creation, with a clip from Gainsight CEO Nick Mehta (07:40)
David discusses the cost of category creation, and how Drift had to look for low-cost, high-reward ways to build mental availability (09:45)
I give my thoughts on the surround sound effect, with a quote from Alex Birkett (15:10)
I give my tops tips on generating mental availability, with a clip from Les Binet on the 60/40 rule(17:10)
David gives his thoughts on commoditization and competition emerging in the category (20:25)
David talks about the cycle of technology in SaaS (21:55)
David discusses the death of product-based differentiation (23:30)
I give my thoughts on product-led growth as a transient competitive advantage (24:15)
David discusses Drift's failure to create a 'revenue acceleration' category (24:55)
I give my thoughts on Drift's learnings and strategic narrative, with a clip from Andy Raskin (26:30)
David gives his thoughts where the market is going next (27:50)
David talks about how SaaS has to pivot to become customer-centric, not business-centric (29:20)
David discusses their next milestones and the value of teams and the human component (30:10)
Wrap Up (31:00)

Mentioned:
Hubspot
Gainsight
Slack
Google Ads
Facebook Ads
SaaStr
Chris Lochhead

My Links:
Twitter
LinkedIn
Website
Wynter
Speero
CXL

How to Win in SaaS - 15 insights from the series so far Jan 10, 2022

Show notes

Key Points:

Tapping into pre-existing demand (00:40)
Listening to customer demands with Alina Vandenberghe - Co-Founder of Chili Piper (01:45)
Moving away from feature-based differentiation with Guy Yalif, CEO of Intellimize (03:25)
Niching down and focusing on a specific audience with Nathan Barry, founder and CEO of ConvertKit (06:00)
Out-innovating the competition with Colin Nederkoorn, founder and CEO of Customer.io (08:10)
Doubling down on organic content marketing with Patrick Campbell, founder and CEO at ProfitWell (10:05)
Educating your customers with Patrick Campbell (13:45)
Creating a community with Alex Kracov, former VP of marketing at Lattice (15:10)
Perfecting your operations and processes with Devin Bramhall, CEO at Animalz (16:50)
Creating a category with Tamara Grominsky chief strategy officer at Unbounce (18:50)
Creating a great offer or freemium plan with Patrick Campbell, founder and CEO at ProfitWell (21:10)
Piggybacking on growing ecosystems such as Shopify or Chrome with Ben Jabbawy, CEO of Privy (22:05)
Attracting the best talent (24:10)
Building moats with Morgan brown, VP Growth at Shopify (24:50)
Building long-term relationships (25:45)
Wrap up (26:10)

My Links:
Twitter
LinkedIn
Website
Wynter
Speero
CXL

How SaaS investor Andrew Chen of a16z is helping entrepreneurs use network effects to tackle the cold start problem Dec 20, 2021

Show notes

Key Points:

Andrew talks about moats and how he identified network effects as a valuable growth tool (01:17)
Andrew gives his thoughts on how collaborative use and networking have improved enterprise software across the board in the last decade (04:26)
I give my thoughts on sustainable vs transient competitive advantages, with a clip from Rita McGrath (07:07)
Andrew discusses how network effects can be used to revolutionize industries in surprising ways, for example AirBnB taking on hotels (09:00)
Morgan Brown, VP of growth at Shopify, gives his thoughts on utilizing network effects (10:30)
We discuss the Cold Start Problem, and how businesses need to work out what a network looks like to them, and kick start it with clever marketing and growth strategies (12:00)
Tinder co-founder Sean Rad explains how Tinder targeted a specific use-case to make sure its atomic network grew the way they needed it to (14:00)
We talk about the importance of establishing the minimum network to make your product viable, formulas for success, and some of the ways major firms like AppSumo and Uber built their atomic networks (15:45)
Andrew talks about low-cost strategies for developing your atomic network (18:30)
We discuss network effects in relation to web 3.0, crypto and NFT's (20:05)
I ask Andrew about why some established companies struggle to build or maintain network effects (22:10)
Author of the Innovator's Dilemma Clayton Christensen explains sustaining innovations (23:12)
Andrew gives his thoughts on the failure of Google+ and the lessons we can learn (24:30)
I give my thoughts on working out what an atomic network looks like for Wynter, and how different companies have taken advantage of (or failed in) network effects (26:30)
Andrew talks about how he uses data to inform his potential investments, breaking down networks to see if a company is growing organically, has global appeal, or is more of a localized niche product (27:30)
Wrap up (30:40)

Mentioned:
Notion
Asana
Slack
Tinder
Ebay
Craigslist
Appsumo
Convoy
Dropbox
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)

My Links:
Twitter
LinkedIn
Website
Wynter
Speero
CXL

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

How to Win podcast with Peep Laja

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected