Episode 80

080 Sam Baker - Finding Go To Market Repeatability

Join Jeff Mains in this week's episode of the SaaS Fuel™ Expert Series as he welcomes Sam Baker, Principal at Scale Venture Partners, to talk about everything from the power of face-to-face networking events to the potential of robots in the food services industry.

Sam highlights the significance of fostering a robust connection between CEOs, founders, and board members, likening it to the dynamics of a valuable friendship. He also stresses the importance of establishing clear expectations from the outset to ensure fruitful collaboration.

Sam Baker drops some serious wisdom on the differences between the investment scenes in Boston and Silicon Valley, as well as the key indicators of success for SaaS and cloud businesses.

Key Takeaways

00:00:00 SaaS Fuel Podcast: Tips And Strategies For Overwhelmed Tech Founders

00:01:02 Tech Week in Silicon Valley: Connecting with Founders and Discovering New Solutions

00:04:11 Find Your Perfect Software Solution with Tech Po: Honest Reviews and Latest Editions

00:11:48 Exploring the Exciting World of Investment Opportunities: A Conversation with Scale Venture Partners

00:16:06 Revolutionizing Warehouses: How Automation is Solving Labor Shortages and Cutting Costs

00:17:34 The Rise of Robotic Baristas: Exploring the Future of Coffee-Making Technology

00:25:03 Proof of Concept Pitfalls: Why They Don't Always Lead to Long-Term Engagements

00:28:28 The Shift from Growth at All Costs: Why Companies are Prioritizing Healthy Cash Spend and Efficiency

00:32:01 Insights from a Long-Standing Firm: Navigating the Financial Future and Investment Strategy

00:36:11 Behind the Scenes: A Venture Capitalist's Favorite Presentations and the Importance of Meeting the Entire Partnership

00:37:29 Why Humility is Key to Building Strong Business Relationships: A Story of Owning Mistakes and Winning Trust

00:41:16 The Importance of Trust in Long-Term Business Partnerships: Insights from SaaS Fuel

00:42:46 The Power of Partnership: How Taking an Active Role Can Help Build Great Companies

00:47:33 The Importance of Setting Communication Expectations with Your Board Members: Insights from a Venture Capitalist

Tweetable Quotes

"Being a successful entrepreneur is not just about making money, it's about creating a business that you're proud of and that makes a positive impact on the world." - Jeff Mains (00:35)

"It's an interesting crossroad standing at the intersection of new unknown better and the old familiar choosing the right solution can feel a bit like standing in front of a big vending machine with a mass array of colorful candies." - Jeff Mains 02:11)

"This is just a job where the learning curve never plateaus and you know you're always talking to people that are tinkering around with interesting things and our job is to figure out whether or not there's a good investment opportunity there." - Sam Baker (11:59)

"It's really been that first or second go-to-market around 95% of the time, and we like where we play." - Sam Baker (35:47)

"Setting expectations upfront is a key ingredient." - Sam Baker (47:48)

"I always love to have conversations, especially with folks in the audience." - Sam Baker (49:25)

SaaS Leadership Lessons

1. Humility is key to building strong business relationships: One of the guests shared a story about a leader who owned up to a mistake and made a joke about it in front of the team. This level of humility and transparency can help build trust and strengthen relationships with team members and clients.

2. Know your business inside and out: To make the right decisions for your business, it's important to have a deep understanding of your vision, goals, and capabilities. This will help you identify the right problems to solve and evaluate potential solutions.

3. Listen to your team and clients: Your team and clients can provide valuable insights that can help you make better decisions. By listening to their feedback and incorporating it into your decision-making process, you can create a more collaborative and effective work environment.

4. Focus on repeatable customer engagements: Building strong relationships with customers is essential for SaaS businesses. By focusing on repeatable customer engagements, you can create a loyal customer base that will help drive growth and success.

5. Embrace uncertainty: The development of markets can be unpredictable, and it's important for SaaS leaders to be comfortable with uncertainty. By embracing uncertainty and being adaptable, you can position your business for success in a rapidly changing landscape.

Guest Resources

Sam Baker (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-baker-94a04a19

Scale Venture Partners (Website): https://www.scalevp.com/

Scale Venture Partners (Twitter): https://twitter.com/scalevp

Email: sam@scalevp.com

Resources Mentioned

Tekpon: https://tekpon.com/

Cristian Dina

Alexandru Stan

Alina Maria Stan

Scale Venture Partners (Website): https://www.scalevp.com/

Rory O'Driscoll: https://www.scalevp.com/team/rory-odriscoll

Stanford: https://www.stanford.edu/

Berkeley: https://www.berkeley.edu/

Caltech: https://www.caltech.edu/

MIT: https://www.mit.edu/

Harvard: https://www.harvard.edu/

Brown University: https://www.brown.edu/

Yale: https://www.yale.edu/

Locus Robotics: https://locusrobotics.com/

Dusty Robotics: https://www.dustyrobotics.com/

DHL: https://www.dhl.com/us-en/home.html

FedEx: https://www.fedex.com/en-us/home.html

UPS: https://www.ups.com/us/en/Home.page

Soft Robotics: https://www.softroboticsinc.com/

CyberGRX: https://www.cybergrx.com/

Episode Sponsor

Our sponsor today is Tekpon. Their goal is to help every business choose the right software. When you’re looking for a new solution a great place to start is Tekpon. Search by category, latest additions, most popular in a category, and best of all honest reviews from users. How does it work in the real world? Does the reality match the hype? That’s what we all want to know right? Beyond the sales pitches, white papers, and candy-coated testimonials - is this the right solution and what do actual users say about it? And what alternatives are there that I don’t know about yet? It’s easy to engage with the usual suspects. What is new, exciting, better, faster, and maybe cheaper? You can find your next great solution at Tekpon.com T E K P O N and be sure to check out the Tekpon SaaS podcast as well. Cristian great job talking with founders and highlighting great solutions in SaaS - their best episode is #14. Just saying. They are a great group of people led by cofounders Alexandru and Alina. You can catch up with them today and tomorrow at SaaStock.

Small Fish, Big Pond – https://smallfishbigpond.com/ Use the promo code ‘SaaSFuel’

Champion Leadership Group – https://championleadership.com/