In 2011, the billionaire co-founder of PayPal, Peter Thiel, started giving $100k to young entrepreneurs under 22. ...but only if they would drop out of college. $100k paid to 20 applicants per year without taking any equity at all.  There was nothing in it for him. So why did he do it? 

When you first came up with a price for your SaaS product, I bet you did one of 3 things: Picked a low number because “you’re just starting out” Matched (or beat) a competitor’s price Chose a number based on what you would spend How would you feel if I told you to take that price… and double it?

How fast can you scale a software business? 0 - 150 employees in 12 months...? How would you even manage that?! For Elias Torres, the CTO and co-founder of Drift, and my latest guest on the Escape Velocity podcast… it was easy. Elias is the stuff of legends. He’s a machine. He’s been either the founder, CTO or VP of engineering at: Hubspot  Performable Lookery And now Drift. He’s very technical, a coder at heart, but he’s mastered how to

“What the $%&# is a CSM… and how is that going to make me money?!” When I started out in business nearly 20 years ago, there was no such thing as a CSM. Those 3 letters just didn’t go together. Nowadays, most B2B SaaS businesses see a CSM as essential to scaling a business faster, reducing churn, getting greater customer LTV and protecting your brand.

Being a venture funded SaaS founder is like walking into a casino to bet all of your employees’ salaries… every single day. Your decision to make one choice over another - bet on red or black - can cost your company millions. A few wrong bets can dry up your finances and run your company into the ground. But a few consecutive right bets can leave your competition for dead and give you the lion’s share of the market.

Try this theoretical A/B test in your mind. The control is your SaaS product as it is right now. The ‘B’ variation is your exact same business… ...but with hundreds of 3rd party product review sites publishing in-depth reviews of your software. Let’s get clear on this: You aren’t writing these reviews. Other people are. These reviews are shared on blogs, social media, and on YouTube. The publishers of these reviews are driving their own traffic. Without changing anything about

There’s a GOLDMINE of product insights right underneath your nose… And you’re probably ignoring it. A treasure trove of data at your fingertips about new product features, your ideal customers, and opportunities for new verticals or marketing funnels you have left untapped. This is the high-level stuff that I coach people through, and you’ve already got it. Hiding in plain sight. Where is it?

If I took the pain of early-stage software founders and boiled it down into one question, it’s this: “How do I fund my software business without giving up ownership?” Although I don’t believe that money solves everything, I know that it helps. With enough funding, you can:

It’s a gift... and a curse… I bet you have it too.  You can’t get your mind off of it, can’t shut it down. You wouldn’t be an entrepreneur if you didn’t have it… What is it? The Entrepreneurial Muscle. It’s that thing that makes you analyze businesses wherever you see them, that makes you criticize marketing material every day. You do cost-vs-revenue math in the supermarket aisle… count seats in the airplane and multiply by ticket cost… try to

I want you to meet someone who I have huge respect for: Natalie Nagele. Not only has Natalie been working in the SaaS and software space since her late teens, but she’s been courageous enough to experiment with optimizing her team. ...even if it means asking them to work less.