Episode 747 | Evolving SaaS Customer Success Over 7 Years (with Jane Portman)

Episode 747 | Evolving SaaS Customer Success Over 7 Years (with Jane Portman)

Author: Rob Walling January 7, 2025 Duration: 35:54
In episode 747, Rob Walling interviews Jane Portman, co-founder of Userlist, to discuss the evolution of their SaaS customer success strategy. Jane shares the four stages of Userlist’s customer success journey, from the early days of trial and error to implementing done-for-you services. They also discuss the challenges of customer onboarding for complex products. Topics we cover:  (2:20) – How customer success works at Userlist (5:27) – Dealing with upfront onboarding friction  (9:51) – Stage 1, “young and naive” (12:16) – Stage 2, “hire someone” (19:06) – Stage 3, “done for you services” (25:47) – Leveraging the Userlist blog (29:26) – Stage 4, “developing your own frameworks” Links from the Show:  SaaS Institute TinySeed Jane Portman (@uibreakfast) | X Jane Portman (@uibreakfast.com) | Bluesky Userlist Episode 471 | Fighting to Gain Traction in a Crowded Space with Jane Portman of Userlist Episode 742 | Normalizing Hard Things, Facing Your Biggest Threat, and Making it Fast (A Rob Solo Adventure) Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore Userlist Closes a Pre-Seed Round with 21 Angel Investors SaaS Email Marketing Strategy: Everything You Need to Know 20+ “Invite Your Team” Email Examples Atomic Emails: Our Proven Method for Writing Email Campaigns If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you! Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify

Rob Walling hosts Startups For the Rest of Us, a long-running conversation focused squarely on the realities of building a company without massive venture funding. This isn't about Silicon Valley fairy tales; it's a practical, ground-level view of entrepreneurship. Each episode delves into the specific journeys of founders who are starting, acquiring, or growing their SaaS businesses, emphasizing the path of bootstrapping. You'll hear the unvarnished details-the strategic decisions, the unexpected obstacles, and the hard-won victories that define the daily life of a founder. The discussions are built on real stories, offering tangible lessons from both struggle and success. For anyone who has ever felt that the typical startup narrative doesn't reflect their own resource-constrained reality, this podcast provides a necessary and relatable perspective. It’s a deep resource for actionable advice and genuine camaraderie, connecting you with the experiences of those navigating the same challenging terrain. Tune in for honest conversations that cut through the hype and focus on building sustainable businesses.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 100

Startups For the Rest of Us
Podcast Episodes
Episode 749 | TinySeed Tales s4e1: Introducing Hammerstone.dev [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:08
Welcome to Season 4 of TinySeed Tales, where we follow the founders of one SaaS startup throughout a few years as they share their struggles, victories, and failures. In the first episode of Season 4, Rob introduces us t…
Episode 748 | The Ins and Outs of Startup Investing [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:43
In episode 748, Rob Walling sits down with Einar Vollset, co-founder of TinySeed, to discuss the ins and outs of startup investing. They explore the differences between VC and angel investing, the importance of deal flow…
Episode 746 | 9 Startup Predictions for 2025 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 22:25
In episode 746, Rob Walling looks ahead to 2025 with nine startup predictions, exploring trends in no-code tools, search, autonomous vehicles, AI, and an increase in platform risk for bootstrapped founders. Topics we cov…
Episode 743 | How to Sell Your Business Without Regret [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:42
In episode 743, Rob Walling and Dr. Sherry Walling read the first chapter of their new book, Exit Strategy: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Selling Your Company Without Regret. They discuss the emotional and psychological ch…
Episode 741 | What Actually is Product Led Growth? (with Wes Bush) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:48
In episode 741, Rob Walling talks to Wes Bush, CEO and Founder of ProductLed, about the nuances and misconceptions of product-led growth. Wes debunks common myths and explains how companies can leverage their product to…