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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.

  • About
  • Lock 8 Partners
  • Small Words // Big Impact in Leadership Language

    Small Words // Big Impact in Leadership Language

    Pronouns have been a hot topic for some time (as evident here, here, here, and here). The use of pronouns is an important issue with…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Apr 12
    CEO Diagnostic Instruments: What / Which / How

    CEO Diagnostic Instruments: What / Which / How

    A prior post on this blog referenced the use of formal assessments as a vehicle to support first time CEOs. I have admittedly received…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Mar 3
    Don’t Overthink Digital Transformation

    Don’t Overthink Digital Transformation

    · “Digital transformation is a foundational change in how an organization delivers value to its customers.” -CIO
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Jan 18
    6 Tips for Dealing with the Great Renege-ation

    6 Tips for Dealing with the Great Renege-ation

    The so-called Great Resignation was the topic of a previous post on this blog, and the following piece is a spin-off from that. That prior…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Jan 11
    “Other” Ways to Navigate an Employee Friendly Labor Market

    “Other” Ways to Navigate an Employee Friendly Labor Market

    Countless recent media stories about the Great Resignation (including this, this, and this) make for compelling general reading. But for…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Jan 4
    2 Steps Toward Navigating a Crucible of B2B Sales

    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…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Oct 22, 2021
    The Consequentialist Lens

    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…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Aug 10, 2021
    Tips for Supporting First Time CEOs

    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…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Jun 28, 2021
    The SaaS CEO Path Should Be Wider

    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…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    May 10, 2021
    P.S. On the Purpose of Dashboards

    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…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Apr 26, 2021
    The Irony of Dashboards

    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…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Apr 8, 2021
    10 Tips Toward Messaging Clarity

    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…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Mar 22, 2021
    SaaStr Build: 5 + 5 Takeaways in 5 Minutes

    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.
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Mar 12, 2021
    The 10X Club + 10 Years

    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…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Dec 28, 2020
    When Setting Top-line Goals, 3 Perspectives are Better than One

    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…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Dec 17, 2020
    Pulling Up from the Weeds of “I Can Do that”

    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.”
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Nov 18, 2020
    Three of the Most Empowering Words a Boss Can Say

    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…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Nov 4, 2020
    5 Themes from the TOPO Virtual Summit (with a Little Help from my Friends)

    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…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Oct 15, 2020
    Walking a Mile: Guideposts on the Customer Journey

    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…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Sep 23, 2020
    SaaStr Annual at Home: 10 Quick Takeaways

    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…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Sep 4, 2020
    Exec Coaching for Coachable Execs

    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…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Sep 2, 2020
    Customer Effort > Customer Satisfaction? Not So Fast…

    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 /…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Aug 14, 2020
    Exceeding Customer Expectations is…the Wrong Goal?

    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…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Aug 12, 2020
    Operational Readiness: The Overlooked “Other Stuff”

    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…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Jul 2, 2020
    Variety is the Spice of Life When it Comes to Operator-Investor Interactions

    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…
    Go to the profile of Todd Gibby
    Todd Gibby
    Jun 24, 2020
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