Episode 91

091 Kaz Otha - Facing the Giants: Winning Against Larger Competitors

On our SaaS Fuel™ Founder Episode this week, Jeff sits down with Kaz Otha, CEO of Treasure Data.

Kaz discusses his journey of facing giants and winning against larger competitors. Kaz shares how they started with difficulties in pitching to investors, but eventually secured an investment from legendary VC Bill Thai, leading to significant growth for Treasure Data. They discovered a new category called Customer Data Platform (CDP) and decided to pivot their company in that direction, despite facing resistance. Kaz also talks about the importance of hiring the best talent and their strategy for building a successful performance company.

Join us as we dive into Kaz's insights and experiences, and learn how to navigate the challenges of competing with bigger players in the industry.

Key Takeaways

[00:00:33] Small companies can thrive in competitive markets by being agile and innovative.

[00:10:11] Lucky co-founder, rejected investors, successful growth.

[00:12:13] Treasure Data brings large-scale data processing to the cloud.

[00:17:20] Flexibility in technology choices benefits larger organizations.

[00:18:27] Flourishing martech industry sees an increasing number of vendors.

[00:23:39] Customer behavior shifting to digital, McKinsey reports 70%.

[00:26:47] Trouble, angel investor, advice, money, application, solution

[00:27:31] Customer data analytics application accelerates company growth.

[00:32:03] We expect people to work out, but they don't.

[00:35:20] Hire the best talent, energize the company, and ensure success.

[00:37:06] Exploring outside the CDP industry for talent.

[00:40:46] Save money and increase revenue for customers.

[00:43:31] Transparent leadership: tough decisions, good & bad news.

[00:48:27] Founder shares journey and insights on the show.

Tweetable Quotes

"Size isn't everything. Small companies can not only survive but indeed thrive even in waters that are full of larger competitors." — Jeff Mains 00:00:33

"The Importance of Perseverance: 'And it was really hard for the first, I think nine months we pitched to 50 investors and they all denied. But it's a process, right? You have to try out your ideas.'" — Kaz Otha 00:10:11

How to Build Value on Top of a Platform: "The other way to look at it is you build some application on top of your platform. So add more value on top of it and sell this as more like complete solution rather than infrastructure." — Kaz Otha 00:26:47

Raising the Value: "It's really good advice to be able to really kind of raise the value and really smart on your part to talk with the clients and really understand how they're using it to determine what niche to go into." — Jeff Mains 00:28:39

The Future of Software Companies: "You sometimes need some forward thinking, you know what, this is where the industry is going and then bet on that." — Kaz Otha 00:30:41

"So the only thing which makes me I would say, okay, we can execute and then build a performance company is hire the best talent." — Kaz Otha 00:35:20

SaaS Leadership Lessons

1. Embrace Challenges and Persevere: As a SaaS leader, it's essential to embrace challenges and remain persistent in the face of adversity.

2. Customer Insights Drive Business Decisions: SaaS leaders should prioritize gathering insights from customers to continuously improve their product or service offerings and drive strategic decision-making.

3. Adaptability and Flexibility: SaaS leaders must have the ability to adapt quickly to market trends and be open to exploring new directions for their business.

4. Seek Advice and Guidance: Seeking guidance from industry veterans and mentors can provide valuable insights and perspectives that can help SaaS leaders make informed decisions and navigate through tough situations.

5. Hire for Strategic Growth: SaaS leaders should invest time and effort in identifying and recruiting individuals who not only have the necessary skills and experience but also align with the company's vision and values. Strategic growth relies on having a strong team of talented individuals driving the organization forward.

6. Focus on Agility and Innovation: SaaS leaders should prioritize continuous innovation and finding unique ways to meet customer needs and differentiate their offerings in the market.

Guest Resources

Treasure Data Website: www.treasuredata.com

Kaz Otha LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kazukiohta/

Kaz Otha Twitter: https://twitter.com/kzk_mover

Resources Mentioned

Treasure Data: https://www.treasuredata.com/

Canva: https://www.canva.com/

Adobe: https://www.adobe.com/

Melanie Perkins: https://au.linkedin.com/in/melanieperkins

Cliff Obrecht: https://au.linkedin.com/in/cliff-obrecht-79ba9920

Cameron Adams: https://au.linkedin.com/in/themaninblue

Bill Tai: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kitevc

Zoom: https://zoom.us/

Salesforce: https://login.salesforce.com/

Oracle: https://www.oracle.com/

IBM: https://www.ibm.com/us-en

Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/

Gartner: https://www.gartner.com/en

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/

Google: https://www.google.com/

Uber: https://www.uber.com/us/en/about/

ChatGPT: https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt

CoPilot: https://github.com/features/preview/copilot-x

Episode Sponsor

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