Made Not Found

In SaaS businesses, operating results are earned every single day; and good businesses are made, not found. Writing here about building organizations, learning from the experience, and appreciating the ride.

5 Themes from the TOPO Virtual Summit (with a Little Help from my Friends)

From time to time, we use this forum to share observations and trends from webinars or virtual conferences (here); and sometimes we invite…

Todd Gibby

Oct 15

Walking a Mile: Guideposts on the Customer Journey

The television series Undercover Boss has been a guilty pleasure of mine for years. Now entering its eleventh season, the show features…

Todd Gibby

Sep 23

SaaStr Annual at Home: 10 Quick Takeaways

As a card-carrying introvert, I’ve always found industry conferences to be exhausting. Likewise, over recent months, Zoom Fatigue…

Todd Gibby

Sep 4

Exec Coaching for Coachable Execs

It is a good thing to be “coachable,” meaning capable of being easily taught and trained to do something better. It’s easy to understand…

Todd Gibby

Sep 2

Customer Effort > Customer Satisfaction? Not So Fast…

A prior post explored the concept of customer effort as a critical driver of customer loyalty. That piece referenced Gartner research /…

Todd Gibby

Aug 14

Exceeding Customer Expectations is…the Wrong Goal?

“The key to customer loyalty is an effortless customer service experience.” These seemingly innocuous words caught me flat-footed and…

Todd Gibby

Aug 12

Operational Readiness: The Overlooked “Other Stuff”

A previous post on this blog shared observations about high-stakes SaaS product development initiatives; and a follow-on piece took a…

Todd Gibby

Jul 2

Variety is the Spice of Life When it Comes to Operator-Investor Interactions

This blog typically focuses on sharing observations from the twenty years I spent operating small-scale SaaS businesses. This post takes a…

Todd Gibby

Jun 24

Who Should be on the Bus: A Shortcut to Getting There

It’s easy for leaders to get caught up in the day-to-day of running small-scale businesses. Particularly during challenging times, it can…

Todd Gibby

Jun 4

Just Say No to Being an “X-led” Company

People say it all the time, usually with great pride: “We are a sales-led company.” Or, in businesses with deep technical roots, it might…

Todd Gibby

May 20

8 Steps for “Making the Most of a Good Crisis”

There’s some debate about who first said, “Never waste the opportunity offered by a good crisis.” (N. Machiavelli, W. Churchill, R…

Todd Gibby

Apr 29

They Can Handle the Truth: Communications Tips for Leaders during Crisis

In the 1992 legal drama film “A Few Good Men,” Colonel Nathan Jessep (Jack Nicholson) barks an iconic and scathing reproach to Lieutenant…

Todd Gibby

Apr 15

Pulling up from the Weeds of Cash Preservation

I remember being trapped for days in forecast models, repeatedly scouring a laundry-list of line-items to be considered for cost-cutting.

Todd Gibby

Mar 26

Rule of Holes (Part 2): More Thoughts on Answering Deceptively Difficult Questions

This blog recently featured a post that invoked the First Rule of Holes (“Stop Digging!”). That piece had been triggered by some…

Todd Gibby

Mar 20

The Case for Drop Allowance: An Under-Used SaaS Metric

When I joined my first subscription-based software business in 1999, the term Software-as-a-Service wasn’t even a thing. Since then, SaaS…

Todd Gibby

Mar 4

“The first rule of holes: when you’re in one, stop digging!”

The “law of holes” was drilled into my head as a kid; and it is sound advice. The problem, of course, is proactively identifying whether…

Todd Gibby

Feb 20

Setting Cloud Services Strategy: 5 Lessons from 5 Years

In a previous post, I shared observations relating to the process of re-platforming a SaaS solution. I was grateful when a former…

Todd Gibby

Jan 28

CEO as…Chief Conversation Officer?

The CEO role can be described in countless ways. One definition comes from the Corporate Finance Institute, which states: “The CEO is…

Todd Gibby

Jan 21

Know Your Audience, No Matter the Audience

Strong communications skills are a must-have for any aspiring executive; and leaders in small-scale SaaS businesses need to be comfortable…

Todd Gibby

Dec 13, 2019

5 Observations; 1 Complex Question

One of the benefits of the SaaS delivery model is that it enables an iterative approach to product development. Because of the relative…

Todd Gibby

Dec 10, 2019

Shining a Light on Toxic Re-Trading

“So, we’re all in agreement, right? Great, let’s do it.”

Todd Gibby

Nov 22, 2019

Exec Selling: 2 Do’s and a Don’t

As SaaS businesses scale-up, one of the most important responsibilities of an executive is to participate in and support sales efforts to…

Todd Gibby

Nov 11, 2019

Templates Help: An easy tool for delegating meaningful work to entry-level employees

The people-situation at the outset of my first CEO gig was rocky. We needed to grow and up-skill the team but were in no position to…

Todd Gibby

Nov 6, 2019

To the Break-even Point & Beyond: A new leader’s tactic for ramping-up

We all want to prove our worth. We aspire to demonstrate competence, deliver value, and be recognized for our contributions to group goals…

Todd Gibby

Oct 16, 2019

Engaging the Board: Errors and Admissions from a New CEO

Being a first-time CEO poses many new challenges, and one of the trickiest can be interfacing with a board of directors. Perceptive…

Todd Gibby

Oct 14, 2019

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