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.

2 Steps Toward Navigating a Crucible of B2B Sales

At Lock 8 Partners we spend a lot of time chatting with, and learning from, operators of SaaS businesses. It was in that context that I…

Todd Gibby

Oct 22

The Consequentialist Lens

At our pre-wedding rehearsal dinner, one of the groomsmen made the following toast: “A person is judged by the company they keep. And…

Todd Gibby

Aug 10

Tips for Supporting First Time CEOs

A prior post made the case in favor of hiring first time CEOs to lead small-scale SaaS businesses; and this piece picks up where that one…

Todd Gibby

Jun 28

The SaaS CEO Path Should Be Wider

Last week I had the opportunity to speak with three different SaaS execs about their careers. Each had valuable experience within…

Todd Gibby

May 10

P.S. On the Purpose of Dashboards

I recently wrote that business dashboards are instruments of control. That observation and the related post, while hopefully helpful, made…

Todd Gibby

Apr 26

The Irony of Dashboards

I’ll admit that I love a good dashboard. As an aid to SaaS operators seeking to optimize business performance, dashboards can be…

Todd Gibby

Apr 8

10 Tips Toward Messaging Clarity

As he does in his blog with astonishing frequency, David Cummings last week put his finger on a pervasive problem in startups: complexity…

Todd Gibby

Mar 22

SaaStr Build: 5 + 5 Takeaways in 5 Minutes

Bullishness and optimism in the air at SaaStr Build. Here’s to another year of sustained market strength.

Todd Gibby

Mar 12

The 10X Club + 10 Years

Valuations for publicly traded SaaS businesses are bananas right now. At the time of this post, Zoom’s enterprise value relative to its…

Todd Gibby

Dec 28, 2020

When Setting Top-line Goals, 3 Perspectives are Better than One

Tis the season…not for jolliness…but for annual forecasting. Countless companies spend the month of December frantically closing out the…

Todd Gibby

Dec 17, 2020

Pulling Up from the Weeds of “I Can Do that”

Note: This is a loosely defined “Part 2” to a prior post entitled: “Pulling Up from the Weeds of Cash Conservation.”

Todd Gibby

Nov 18, 2020

Three of the Most Empowering Words a Boss Can Say

It was 2001; and my boss was impressive — some would say intimidating. A whiz-kid founder and CEO of a fast-growing start-up that had…

Todd Gibby

Nov 4, 2020

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, 2020

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, 2020

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, 2020

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, 2020

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, 2020

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, 2020

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, 2020

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, 2020

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, 2020

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, 2020

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, 2020

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, 2020

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, 2020

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