Protect the Hustle | A SaaS Podcast

In the stillness of dawn, a lone runner paces the streets, their commitment to the run a silent battle against the comfort of rest. This is the power of accountability: when another joins the run, the journey …

In the vast seas of B2B SaaS, where many are seduced by the allure of quick success and fleeting trends, envision a master shipbuilder like Tyler King, CEO and co-founder of Less Annoying CRM. His focus isn't on hastily …

In the world of art, a master painter captivates audiences not only with the visual beauty of his creations but also with the emotions they evoke, turning admirers into passionate investors in his masterpieces. …

Throughout human history, sacred texts and religious congregations have epitomized the enduring power of collective belief. This sense of community, …

In the world of American football, the coach is the linchpin, melding individuals with varying strengths, fears, and ambitions into a singular, …

In the verdant heartland, rivers carve their paths, each with a destination in mind, much like the complex currents of market demand. These rivers, …

The introduction of fast food was nothing short of revolutionary, offering meals in minutes and setting a groundbreaking standard for efficiency in …

Taking to the skies, every pilot understands the intricate balance between the intoxicating freedom of soaring and the precise discipline within the cockpit. While they venture into new horizons, their safety and …

Think of your company's value as a rare treasure, and imagine the best way to get it into the right hands. Content marketing, when executed flawlessly, acts as the perfect delivery service, transporting your company's …

Imagine walking into an art gallery, where paintings of all colors, styles, and sizes adorn the walls, yet owning one feels impossible without …

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• 02:01 - What makes a great SaaS community
• 10:10 - The Three Types of Investors
• …

Imagine standing in a gym, facing an overwhelming array of free weights, machines, and fitness programs. Choosing where to start is challenging, and without proper guidance, you may squander your resources on …

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• 01:57 - Why some fintech is really “tech fin”
• 11:00 - Reducing the time and …

Picture this: you're attempting to make your favorite cocktail with a blender, the vital tool that promises to unify varied ingredients into a …

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• 01:59 - Connecting emotion and value to drive results
• 07:18 - What to look for …

This interview was recorded in January of 2023

Answer our five questions here.

Navigating through the expansive ocean, you're aboard a ship under the charge of a capable captain, supported by a proficient crew. This …

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• 02:13 - Zeroing in on Sales Roles
• 08:23 - Hiring someone with a fire in the …

Imagine a grand theater on the cusp of a captivating performance, each individual, from actors to orchestra to stagehands, contributing to a seamless …

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• 01:50 - The intangible rewards of selling a company
• 16:29 - Coping with grief …

Picture a cobblestone street bathed in twilight. A lone street performer, clad in worn-out garments, dances with vigor to a tune no longer in style. There's a crowd around them but, as the camera moves closer, you …

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• 01:59 - What makes an IPO a good idea
• 14:03 - Maintaining control of the …

We’ve all got a favorite band. They start off small, playing in tiny venues and relying on word of mouth to build their fan base. Their raw talent …

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Aligning your business with how customers buy
• How to implement …

Imagine a towering oak tree, its roots sprawled and deeply anchored in fertile soil while its branches stretch towards the sky. This magnificent tree embodies resilience, as it stands unshaken through the harshest of …

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• The transparency rule
• Personalization and authenticity
• How marketing is evolving

Imagine a meticulously planned space mission, where precision, openness, and shared understanding permeate every stage, from engineers poring over …

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• The importance of training
• Designing workflows
• Creating training infrastructure
• …

The image of a robust locomotive steadily traversing along a set of tracks paints a vivid picture of steadfast progress. The train, in its unwavering …

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Leveraging people skills
• The framework of customer experience
• Going the extra …

Just as a diligent gardener cultivates a seed into a flourishing plant that provides nourishment, so does a savvy entrepreneur nurture their audience …

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Having a clear understanding of value
• Consolidating talent and tools
• The …

In the heat of the championship game, imagine your favorite sport and the team captain standing at the center of the huddle. Their experience and familiarity with the weight of the trophy make them the leader every team …

You’re standing at the edge of a vast canyon. You gaze across the seemingly endless expanse. The wind whistles through the rocky outcrops, the sun casts long shadows and a river snakes its way far below. You might not …

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Marketing effectively by being unconventional
• The roadmap to company-wide …

Imagine you're preparing to open a brand-new restaurant in a bustling city. The cuisine is exquisite, the ambiance is perfect, and the service is impeccable. But as the doors open and potential customers walk by, they …

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• The role flexibility plays in feedback
• 4 pillars that drive ClickUp’s …

This week's guest is Kyle Poyar, Operating Partner at OpenView. Kyle sat down with Patrick Campbell at SaaStock 2022 to discuss the ins and outs of product-led growth and how businesses can capitalize on this strategy …

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Topics discussed in this episode:

• Christian’s early SaaS origins
• Solving customer problems
• The roadmap to success
• …

This week's guest is John Griffin, co-founder and CRO of m3ter, who joined Neel Desai at SaaStock 2022 to discuss the importance of usage-based billing in SaaS and its impact on businesses. John emphasizes the need for …

Today's guest is April Dunford, founder of Ambient Strategy and author of the essential positioning book Obviously Awesome. April's an expert on positioning, including what it is, what people get wrong with it, and what …

Today's guest is Andy Whyte, CEO of MEDDICC and author of the book on MEDDICC. He has been a sales leader for 20 years. His discussion with Paddle's …

Today's guest, Anna Gong, founded Perx Technologies in 2014. Her discussion with Paddle's Neel Desai is a curious one when it comes to the topic of …

Today's guest, James Mayes co-founded Mind the Product in 2010. Much like the eponymous character in Jerry Maguire, James has a strict code of ethics that he sticks by when thinking of product management. Instead of …

Today's guest is Godard Abel. He is the Co-founder & CEO of G2.com, a software marketplace with authentic peer reviews to make purchasing software that much easier. With his vast experience as an executive heading …

Today's guest is Zandra Moore. She is the Co-Founder and CEO of Panintelligence, an embedded analytics platform for SaaS vendors. Beyond the stellar work she does in tech, Zandra is a champion of inclusivity. In our …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Innovation in customer success
• Establishing a retention focal point 
• Optimizing retention
• What most companies miss …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Innovating a Product with Real Demand
• Understanding How People Work Differently
• Establishing a Consistent Market Fit

Topics discussed in this episode:

• The Next Wave of Video
• Being Simple But Powerful
• How Monetization Adds Value to a User
• The Signal to Move Upmarket
• …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Integrating sales, marketing, and customer success
• Being easy, fast, and affordable
• The 5 major prongs of segment …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• End-to-End Ownership of a Problem
• Having a Marketing-Led Sales Motion
• How to Nail Your Content Distribution Plan
• …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• The One Rule that Makes a Good Email
• Mapping Out an Email Journey
• Getting from Value Realized to Value Achieved …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Marketing-driven growth vs. product-driven growth
• The ingredients that make up community
• How community drives the …

On today’s episode Patrick dives deep into the analysis of The AMEX effect, which is a phenomenon of pricing at the point where your customer doesn’t think much about the purchase. He walks through all the data and how …

Today's guest is Kim Walsh. She heads up Sales, Partnerships, and Customer Success over at Apollo.io. As an early member of HubSpot and her continued …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Market Integration
• The Baseline of Effective Selling
• The Framework of Capital Efficiency
• Calibrating Planning Cycles

Topics covered in this episode

• There is no perfect formula for building a business
• Hardships and how to navigate them
• Examples from the ProfitWell …

Topics covered in this episode

• The experience of purchasing software has drastically changed: it's broken
• Timing is everything especially if the …

Topics covered in this episode

• Having a product team that can say “no” in order to stay on plan

• Choosing one singular focus and target customer …

Topics covered in this episode

• The relationship of the customer and product

• The shift in the market in relation to customer research

• How data plays …

People are the hardest part of building a company.

Think about it - when you’re building a company, your people are the company. And if you’re terrible at finding great people, hiring great people, and keeping great …

If you ask someone to define “culture” in your office, you might get a response about ping-pong tables or beers on tap. But we know culture …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Going Smaller to Get Bigger
• The Consumer is always in pursuit of Value
• The Open Secret to Success
• Amelia Earhart’s …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Dispelling the Myth that Marketing is Subjective
• Operating in the Feedback Economy
• The Onus of Employee Growth …

Topics covered in this episode

• Paul English's affinity for design
• What is Lola and why business travel Paul's focus
• How to make travel simpler
• The …

Topics discussed:

• How HubSpot developed a data-driven sales playbook
• The powerful potential of combining marketing and customer success
• The Science …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Their surprising founding story
• The mortar between the bricks of SaaS
• A set of principles that are always true
• …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Knowing when to stop failing
• The freedom granted by bootstrapping 
• Being realistic about risk
• The Buddhism of …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Enterprise being SaaS by nature
• Solving SaaS infrastructure problems
• The leaky bucket of B2B and B2C
• The one …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• The recipe to embrace resistance to change
• Navigating the exposure to perfection
• The unsatisfactory answer to …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Discovering intelligent talent
• Managing distributed teams well
• Building an engine that brings the world closer
• The …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Being a champion of the mundane
• A globetrotter approach to customer development
• Examining product manager hubris
• …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• The Tedious Transition from Perpetual Software to Subscriptions
• The Fundamentals of a Stable Business
• Efficient Use …

Topics covered in this episode

• What is the Wistia Way?

• Learning to install processes but go with the flow

• The simple benefits of being genuine

• How …

*This episode was filmed prior to the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Topics covered in this episode

• The shift from a product economy to a …

Every company goes up market eventually, especially in B2B. Most do so by expanding their offering, few actually make the leap from abandoning the low end of the market and going right at the enterprise instead. So how …

Topics covered in this episode

• Great marketing is built from the consumer up, not the product

• Use classical positioning language as a framework to …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Why everyone should have the skill to sell
• The secret to nailing the niche
• Dissecting the ideal customer
• Why most …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Embracing Complexity When Selling to SMBs
• How to Be Successful in an Emerging Market
• The Playbooks to Educate an …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• The golden ticket of customer advocacy
• Taking video off its pedestal
• A guide to customer advocacy
• Seeding stories
• …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• The last millisecond experience
• Phase transitions of growth
• Avoiding premature optimization
• Centralized vs …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• The Itch to Strategically Operate
• A System for Firing and Developing People
• Keeping the Rhythm with the Operational …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Creating Content with Desirable Value
• Which Marketing Metrics Make the Most Sense
• Surviving the No-Exit Situation
• …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Two Infrastructure Shifts with Data
• Having a Love Affair with Caution
• Unlocking and Accelerating Human Reasoning
• …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Making pricing accessible
• Tech-enabled Demand Generation
• The rich tapestry cadence of MOFU
• Creating a sticky and …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• The culture shock of non-negotiable feedback
• Selfless service
• The foxhole method of business
• Building your own …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Destigmatizing the Cannabis Industry
• How to Measure Word of Mouth
• Creating Delightful Moments
• The Ingredients for …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Wanting to Own Your Destiny
• Managing Shiny Object Syndrome
• When to Do the Unscalable
• How to Maintain Authenticity …

Topics covered in this episode

• We must continually power the curious, because feedback is essential for growth.
• Companies who don’t listen to …

Topics covered in this episode

• The primary reasons for Moz's failure and what Rand would've changed about the operation
• The implications of creating …

Topics covered in this episode

• Building, scaling and distribution: the new challenges for software companies
• How first perfecting a single product …

Topics covered in this episode:

• What is positioning?
• Dissonance between revenue timeliness and marketing priorities
• Category creation and adoption.
• …

Over the past century we've gone through a few waves in purchasing behavior. After setting up infrastructure in the industrial revolution we entered …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Shame led to work ethic
• When to give up on your dreams
• The shift from marketing to brand affinity
• The unlock to …

This week I'm sharing one of our internal memos that's slightly redacted on one of our core principles at ProfitWell: thinking from first principles. …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Being a champion for small businesses 
• Democratizing success with technology 
• Why accountants are superheroes 
• When …

In a world with seemingly infinite options and infinite marketing to show us those options, consumer purchasing behavior has changed dramatically. …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• The Accidental Entrepreneur
• The Desire for Elevated Status
• Selling Transformation or Identity Reinforcement
• The …

For decades we've been talking about active usage in the context of retention. After all, if someone is using the product, then they must be happy, right? Our market has changed though as we're able to measure outcomes …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• The thin line between being stubborn and principled
• Software as a craft industry
• Permeating shared values …

Pricing is one of those topics that sits at the nexus of uncomfortable and long term, which means companies often don’t think about it for far too long. Even when they eventually figure it out, they don’t touch it again …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Understanding the Root of Customer Wants
• Building an Intentional Culture
• The Leapfrog Differentiator
• Living Out …

This week I want to try something a bit different. I'm going to talk through a problem I'm currently working on—essentially a ProfitWell business …

This episode is a deep dive on Twitter's decision to enter the subscription world. I've been talking about this for quite some time (as has Scott …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• The democratization of automation
• Not hiring until it hurts
• Aligning on a singular strategy to empower individual …

This episode is an internal memo (slightly redacted and modified) on one of ProfitWell's core axioms of "feedback is non-negotiable." Patrick wanted to share it because he's been thinking about this memo quite a bit the …

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Using mega trends as a tailwind to growth
• Building product principles into your business
• How to choose the right …

Today, we're sharing a framework for becoming a media company, including why you should abandon your current inbound strategy and move to media. …

Topics discussed:

• How HubSpot developed a data-driven sales playbook
• The powerful potential of combining marketing and customer success
• The Science …

Topics covered in this episode:

• The art of making technology
• The alignment of product, marketing, and sales 
• Prioritizing marketing initiatives 
• …

Today, Patrick goes deep on defending hustle culture. He discusses how to better align what you want with your efforts, as well as how we'd be better …

Topics covered in this episode:

1. What makes your business is more than just a piece of tech.
2. Subscriptions make better citizens of the world.
3. The …

Topics discussed in this episode.

• In 2021 and in general, you need a coach to give you proper outside perspective and to check your self-awareness.
• …

Topics covered in this episode:

• How to avoid getting sucked into traps
• Using perspective to get everyone on the same page
• Creating tools to reveal …

Today, Patrick goes into probably the most obvious, superficial point we could learn from Disney. It's lazy analysis. And why we need to go deeper to …

Topics covered in this episode:

1. Difficulty of category creation
2. Marketing trends with the rule of 3
3. Rift between marketing factions
4. How to acquire a …

Topics covered in this episode: 

• The evolution of growth
• Prioritizing and positioning
• Overinvesting in a few growth bets
• Playbooks and planning
• …

Topics covered in this episode:

• Earning the right to educate
• Weaponizing your ego
• Generating demand
• Characteristics of success
• The key to leverage

…

Topics covered in this episode:

1. Building a career off problem solving
2. The growing skills gap
3. Keeping pace with innovation
4. Developing a learner’s …

Topics covered in this episode:

1. Don’t be a solution searching for a problem
2. Tall Poppy Syndrome in Canada
3. Cultivating a culture of competition
4. The …

Topics covered in this episode:

• Bootstrapped beginnings
• Subscriptions are the future
• Contributing vs. building your own
• Rallying behind a metric
• …

Topics covered in this episode:

1. Roots in programming
2. Talking to your customers
3. Finding levers for growth
4. Lessons in scaling
5. Alignment and shared …

Topics covered in this episode:

1. What is positioning?
2. Dissonance between revenue timeliness and marketing priorities
3. Category creation and adoption.
4. …

Topics covered in this episode

• Accepting the lows with the highs of entrepreneurship
• The importance of a support system
• Trust & loyalty comes …

This week, Patrick and Neel discuss the considerable thought that should go into a company statement when presented with a sensitive and significant …

*This episode was filmed prior to the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Topics covered in this episode

• The shift from a product economy to a …

In this episode, PC and Neel discuss the pros and cons around mandated vs. unlimited time off. Plus, what does the travel industry recovery look like?

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network …

Topics covered in this episode

• We must continually power the curious, because feedback is essential for growth.
• Companies who don’t listen to …

In this episode, PC and Neel share their take on these burning topics: 

• Google's platform flex on Zoom
• Facebook Shop
• Joe Rogan's move to Spotify

This …

Topics covered in this episode

• You have to remain authentic. Much of authenticity stems from accepting vulnerability.
• Surround yourself with the …

In this episode, PC and Neel bring up some questions around the road to redemption.

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

Topics covered in this episode

• Why providing customers with a desired outcome is crucial

• How to align customer success properly within an …

Topics covered in this episode

• The primary reasons for Moz's failure and what Rand would've changed about the operation
• The implications of creating …

This is a ProfitWell Recur Studios production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

Topics covered in this episode

• The saga of Brian Halligan's purchase of Jerry Garcia's guitar

• The differences of running a company with 2 to 20 …

Welcome to the first-ever episode of Tradeoffs, where Hiten Shah (of FYI and Product Habits) and I talk through the product decisions of popular …

Company culture means a lot of things to a lot of different people, not because culture has a lot of definitions, but because culture has been …

Every company goes up market eventually, especially in B2B. Most do so by expanding their offering, few actually make the leap from abandoning the low end of the market and going right at the enterprise instead. So how …

People are the hardest part of building a company.

Think about it - when you’re building a company, your people are the company. And if you’re terrible at finding great people, hiring great people, and keeping great …

Topics covered in this episode

• Having a product team that can say “no” in order to stay on plan

• Choosing one singular focus and target customer …

If you ask someone to define “culture” in your office, you might get a response about ping-pong tables or beers on tap. But we know culture …

The word hustle dates back to the 1680s from the Dutch word “hutselen” which means “to shake, to toss”. The very core of the word is around shaking up and pushing forward, which is why plenty of the dictionary …

Topics covered in this episode

• What is the Wistia Way?

• Learning to install processes but go with the flow

• The simple benefits of being genuine

• How …

Topics covered in this episode

• Building, scaling and distribution: the new challenges for software companies

• How first perfecting a single product …

Topics covered in this episode:

• Great marketing is built from the consumer up, not the product

• Use classical positioning language as a framework to …

Topics covered in this episode

• There is no perfect formula for building a business

• Hardships and how to navigate them

• Examples from the ProfitWell …

Topics covered in this episode

• Paul English's affinity for design

• What is Lola and why business travel Paul's focus

• How to make travel simpler

• The …

Topics covered in this episode

• The relationship of the customer and product
• The shift in the market in relation to customer research
• How data plays …

Topics covered in this episode

• The experience of purchasing software has drastically changed: it's broken

• Timing is everything especially if the …

Topics covered in this episode

• Interviews with Crazy Egg's Hiten Shah, ProfitWell's Facundo Chamut, and ProfitWell team members Erin Phinney, Neel …

Topics covered in this episode

• The saga of Brian Halligan's purchase of Jerry Garcia's guitar

• The differences of running a company with 2 to 20 …

Topics covered in this episode

• Interviews with Drift's David Cancel, Moz/Sparktoro's Rand Fishkin, Pillar's Sarah Hodges, Harvard Business School's …

Protect the Hustle is a ProfitWell Recur Production.

Benjamin Hillman - Show Producer
Dan Callahan - Creative Producer
Robert Byrne - Show Intern
Allissa Chan - Creative Intern

Co-Hosted by Patrick Campbell and Ben Hillman
…

Get notified as soon as Protect the Hustle is live: http://www.protectthehustle.com/

Topics covered in this episode:

• Earning the right to educate
• Weaponizing your ego
• Generating demand
• Characteristics of success
• The key to leverage

This is …

Check out the field guide here

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Being a champion for small businesses 
• Democratizing success with technology 
• Why …

Check out the field guide here

Topics covered in this episode:

• How to avoid getting sucked into traps
• Using perspective to get everyone on the same page
• …

Check out the field guide here

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Marketing-driven growth vs. product-driven growth
• The ingredients that make up community

Check out the Beyond the Budget Podcast here.

Hey Protect the Hustle fans, I hope you're loving the insights from this season. I have something special for you today which is the first episode of our new podcast Beyond …

Answer the five questions here: https://forms.gle/TsTckkK5QokH1U6w6