In Demand: How to Grow Your SaaS and Stay In Demand

Pricing is one of the most powerful yet least understood growth levers in SaaS. Most founders either ignore it for years or treat it like a guessing game. In this episode of In Demand, Asia and Kim share their guide to pricing for busy founders. They cover the three phases of pricing, how to tell if it’s time to revisit your pricing, and how to run data-driven pricing experiments without wasting months or hiring a six-figure consultant. If you’ve ever felt unsure about what to charge, how to test new prices, or when to hire expert help, this episode breaks it all down step by step. Got a question you’d like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here. Links:  DemandMaven The Motivation Code Assessment  Irrational Labs Guide to Willingness to Pay Street Pricing by Marcos Rivera Pace Pricing Chapters (00:00:35) - Catching up on hobbies, motivation, and the “Motivation Code” assessment(00:13:50) - The Busy Founder’s Guide to Pricing(00:15:20) - The three phases of pricing maturity(00:18:30) - When and how to move from guessing to testing(00:21:40) - Pricing that drives net revenue retention and expansion(00:25:00) - Real examples: Intercom and Zendesk pricing overhauls(00:28:00) - Why pricing can be a hidden growth bottleneck(00:31:00) - Signs your pricing is broken and how to identify them(00:34:50) - The process for pricing research once you identify that pricing could be a problem(00:37:30) - Step 1: Pricing interviews and qualitative insights(00:39:00) - Step 2: Willingness-to-pay surveys and Van Westendorp questions(00:48:25) - Step 3: Product analytics and finding signal in usage data(00:53:00) - Turning insights into pricing hypotheses and running pricing experiments the right way(00:57:30) - DIY vs. hiring a pricing consultant(01:08:15) - Who should own pricing internally and how often to revisit it(01:17:10) - Closing thoughts: pricing as the easiest lever most founders ignore

Early-stage founders often claim they’ve reached product market fit, but when you look closer, it’s usually built on vibes, not data. In this episode of In Demand, Asia and Kim unpack what real product market fit looks like, how to measure it quantitatively, and why most early-stage SaaS companies are too quick to assume they’ve found it.  If you’ve ever wondered how to know when you’ve actually hit product market fit, or if you might be fooling yourself, this episode gives you the frameworks and numbers to tell the difference. Got a question you’d like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here. Links:  DemandMaven Previous In Demand Episodes that discuss NRR: episode 46 and episode 37 Superhuman Product Market Fit Survey ProfitWell Chart Mogul Chapters (00:02:20) - What is product market fit, and how was it historically measured?(00:07:00) - The product market fit survey and its limitations.(00:11:30) - Gross customer retention (GCR) as an underrated metric for measuring product market fit.(00:16:00) - Net Revenue Retention (NRR) as a deeper sign of product-market alignment.(00:20:10) - How GCR and NRR tell different parts of the story.(00:26:05) - Secondary indicators: churn rate, close rate, and trial-to-paid conversions.(00:28:05) - Why cohorting/segmenting reveals where PMF actually exists.(00:34:50) - You might have PMF for one segment but not another.(00:36:45) - The cautionary tale of assuming PMF too soon and how DemandMaven sets expectations with new clients.(00:44:30) - The reality check: if you’ve never charged customers, you don’t have PMF.

Most SaaS founders think about growth through the lenses of acquisition, activation, retention, or pricing. But few think about operations and how the way you work internally either unlocks or limits growth. In this episode of In Demand, Asia and Kim dig into why operations is one of the most overlooked growth levers for bootstrapped SaaS companies. They explore how internal systems, structure, and decision-making shape your ability to execute on every other lever, from marketing to retention. If you’ve ever felt like your company’s growth has stalled for reasons you can’t quite name, this episode will help you see how your internal operations might be the missing piece. Got a question you’d like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here. Links:  DemandMaven The Bootstrap Founder (Arvid Kahl) EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) Chapters (00:00:50) - The top four growth levers that slow SaaS companies down and why Asia adds a fifth: operations.(00:06:00) - Operations is about how you deliver value, and how you structure your business to deliver value.(00:07:15) - Every company “does operations,” but intentional founders use it as a strength.(00:10:30) - How weak internal ops make it harder to pull other growth levers like acquisition and activation.(00:15:20) - A case study: how restructuring a marketing team’s meetings helped a company 2× its ARR.(00:23:15) - If you don't think about operations, it will eventually create chaos in your business.(00:27:00) - Why bootstrapped companies tend to be too slow in hiring key strategic leaders and how chasing the dream of only having a couple of employees holds founders back.(00:32:40) - Four areas to audit if ops might be holding you back: team, resources, processes, and decision-making.(00:38:00) - Why decision-making style is part of operations and how executive coaches can help with improving operations.

When it comes to growth channels, things are as straightforward as they seem. Attribution is as complex as ever, and if you move too fast, you risk wasting money on strategies that “don’t work”, not because they can’t, but because you’re too early. In this episode of In Demand, Asia and Kim dig into how to understand which channels work (or don't). They unpack false positives and false negatives, the pitfalls of premature ad testing, and why channels should be evaluated as part of a larger system, not in isolation. If you’ve ever wondered whether a channel failed because of timing or execution, this episode will help you separate signal from noise. Got a question you’d like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here. Chapters (00:01:00) - How false positives and false negatives can mislead your marketing strategy.(00:03:30) - Why it's possible to be too early into a marketing channel and how channels stack.(00:07:30) - How to do attribution by channel correctly.(00:10:15) - Customer interviews give a more complex picture of attribution.(00:13:00) - How to uncover your customer journey using interviews and jobs-to-be-done.(00:16:30) - When ads look like they’re working, but conversions tell another story.(00:26:00) - The product’s role in growth: if your PLG SaaS product can’t close, your ads can’t save you.(00:32:50) - How to tell if your company is too early for a channel or program.(00:35:30) - When it can be too early to go to a sales-led strategy.

When you’ve built a successful service or consulting company, the idea that building your own SaaS product can sound very attractive: scalable revenue, recurring customers, and product-led growth. But the reality is often far more complex. In this episode of In Demand, Asia and Kim explore why non-SaaS companies struggle when attempting to spin off software products. They cover what makes SaaS such a different business model, the hidden costs and pitfalls of under-committing, and what it really takes to make a spin-off succeed. If you’ve ever wondered whether your company should build its own SaaS product, or you’re already in the middle of one, this episode will help you avoid the most common mistakes and wasted investment. Got a question you’d like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here. Links:  DemandMaven Moz SearchPilot Chapters (00:01:00) - Why non-SaaS companies get drawn to the “siren song” of SaaS(00:03:00) - How building internal tools triggers the idea of selling a software product.(00:09:45) - Why SaaS is hard and why spinning off a SaaS product often doesn't work out.(00:14:30) - Why parent-company reputation doesn't transfer to a SaaS spin-off as often as you'd think.(00:18:30) - What are the most common pitfalls to avoid if you're thinking about creating a SaaS spin-off product?(00:23:15) - Most SaaS spin-offs require $200K–$800K of investment before they start making money.(00:28:30) - Understanding go-to-market for a SaaS product and the mistakes that parent companies often make.(00:41:30) - The problems that come up with the parent company isn't fully committed to the new product.(00:44:20) - What made Moz and SearchPilot successful when others failed.(00:47:45) - Final advice: hire experienced contributors and treat the spin-off like a true startup.

When you’re in the early go-to-market stage, every dollar counts, but founders can feel pressure to move fast and start considering hiring a big agency before they're ready. In this episode of In Demand, Asia and Kim unpack the trade-offs of hiring an agency too early. They explore what signals actually show you’re ready, how to avoid wasting precious cash, and alternative paths like freelancers or contractors. If you’ve ever wondered whether now is the right time to pull the trigger on agency help, this episode is for you.  Got a question you’d like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here. Chapters (00:00:57) - The risks of hiring an agency too early and why you might just be setting cash on fire.(00:04:35) - Key indicators of being ready to bring in an agency: customer volume, software category maturity, and retention.(00:07:25) - Why the best agencies are cautious about early-stage clients.(00:09:30) - Retention as a core indicator: if you’re losing half your customers after 3 months, pause.(00:14:30) - Why most companies don’t truly know product-market fit until at least 12 months.(00:17:05) - Why early-stage founders tend to think they need help from an agency or consulting firm.(00:18:20) - Lessons from Superhuman: taking time to refine before a big splash.(00:20:40) - Why remaining flexible in execution matters and where bringing on contractors or freelancers makes sense.(00:27:30) - The more cost-effective ways to test aquisition strategies.(00:31:10) - DemandMaven’s role in helping founders de-risk early go-to-market strategy.(00:34:54) - Final checklist: what to validate before spending on agency help.

Most SaaS founders pay attention to churn, but beneath the surface of a good or bad churn number, many important details are missed.   In this episode of In Demand, Asia and Kim break down the real story behind churn. What the numbers do and don't tell you and how to dig deeper to uncover the patterns driving customer retention (or loss).  From understanding net revenue retention to running effective churn interviews, this is the ultimate primer on diagnosing and solving churn for your SaaS. Got a question you’d like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here. Links:  DemandMaven ProfitWell ChurnKey ChartMogul Chapters (00:01:30) - Why a 5% churn rate may not be as healthy as you think.(00:03:55) - How do you measure churn? And getting detailed with qualified vs. unqualified churn and why you need to measure both.(00:06:05) - How to set up onboarding to keep track of qualified vs. unqualified churn.(00:07:30) - Understanding cohort-based churn and net revenue retention (NRR).(00:09:19) - How to interpret NRR and what benchmarks really mean.(00:13:35) - Why getting into segmented NRR is valuable.(00:16:30) - Churn is nuanced. If you are looking at a monthly churn number, you could be missing the bigger picture.(00:17:00) - If you collect cancellation reasons, you may miss the real reasons your customers are churning.(00:21:15) - How to conduct effective churn interviews (with participants who will actually attend) and the churn matrix: qualified/unqualified vs. activated/inactivated.(00:26:45) - What churn interviews can reveal: product confusion, missing features, poor product marketing.(00:27:30) - Product management issues that can come up in churn interviews.(00:31:15) - How to pre-select who to interview to give yourself the best chance of finding meaningful insights.(00:35:00) - Why churned customers are more talkative than trial users.(00:37:05) - What good churn research uncovers: acquisition, pricing, activation, product gaps.

In this episode of In Demand, Asia and Kim take a deep dive into one of the most overlooked revenue levers in SaaS: activation.  They walk through their activation playbook, breaking down how to define activation for your product and sharing tactical strategies for improving onboarding experiences.  Whether you're PLG or sales-assisted, this episode offers clear steps to uncover where users get stuck and how to fix it. Got a question you’d like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here. Links:  DemandMaven UserInterviews.com  Respondent.io  Product-Led Onboarding by Ramli John Samuel Hulick  UserOnboard  Reforge Chapters (00:00:55) - Why most founders overlook activation, and why that’s a huge mistake.(00:02:25) - What activation actually means and how to define it for your SaaS.(00:03:30) - Trial-to-paid is not the only way to think about activation, and may be missing a big part of the story.(00:06:15) - How to discover activation metrics using a new user retention report.(00:12:30) - Why session recordings fall short and what to use instead.(00:14:35) - The power of UX interviews and how to run them properly.(00:23:00) - What to watch for in interviews: pauses, furrowed brows, and “it was easy” lies.(00:25:55) - Looking for friction and where people get stuck.(00:27:30) - How to map your onboarding flow and prioritize product fixes once you've done UX interviews.(00:30:30) - Why valuable activation work can fail in organizations where there isn't a clear decision maker (avoiding the problems of compromise land)(00:33:45) - How does activation change in product led vs. sales led organizations?(00:38:15) - Onboarding for high complexity products.(00:43:45) - Book and other recommendations for mastering activation.(00:51:30) - A final reminder about survivor bias. Remember that just because your customers made it, does not mean that your onboarding activation is perfect.

One of the biggest pain points for first-time founders is a lack of structure within their business. One of the most popular frameworks for quickly creating structure is the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), but does it really live up to the hype? In this episode of In Demand, Asia and Kim do a deep dive into EOS. They break down its key components, where it works (and where it doesn’t), and why most founders should treat it more like a toolbox than a strict rulebook. Got a question you’d like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here. Links:  DemandMaven EOS Worldwide  Traction by Gino Wickman  - the book introducing EOS Chapters (00:00:25) - Rediscovering campaign anxiety.(00:06:00) - EOS overview: what it is and why a client recently reached out asking about it.(00:11:00) - “Right person, right seat” explained.(00:15:45) - Issues tracking.(00:20:00) - Where EOS can fall apart for small teams.(00:29:30) - The parts of EOS that Asia likes and uses.(00:32:00) - Rocks vs. OKRs: what’s the difference and when does it matter?(00:39:15) - SOPs vs. “The Way”: document your processes, whatever you call them.(00:42:15) - When are core values useful and when are they just performative?(00:52:00) - Picking and choosing from EOS: take what works, leave the rest.

Most SaaS companies know customer research matters, but too often, it becomes a one-off project or gets pushed down the list.  In this episode of In Demand, Asia and Kim break down how to make customer research a core part of your growth process. They share how their own approach to research sprints has evolved, what mistakes they made early on, and what they do now to consistently uncover insights that drive real decisions. You’ll also learn how to structure a fast, effective sprint, when to run different types of interviews (from churn to win-loss), and how to turn interviews into strategy and not just documentation. Got a question you’d like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here. Links:  DemandMaven Bob Moesta User Interviews Respondent.io  Wynter Chapters (00:01:00) - What Asia and Kim have changed about their original research interviews.(00:04:09) - How offering small incentives improved response rates and interview quality.(00:06:30) - Why letting clients watch live calls builds buy-in and alignment.(00:11:30) - Debriefing after every interview to map the four forces and pull insights from interviews.(00:15:15) - Going beyond the Jobs To Be Done research interview format to do UX interviews, churn interviews, and more.(00:18:55) - When does it make sense to use tools like userinterviews.com for interview candidates instead of going directly to your customers?(00:24:45) - Why gathering qualitative information is so important, especially for bootstrapped founders.(00:25:30) - What you can learn from churn interviews that you're missing with only a cancellation survey.(00:29:30) - Why win–loss and competitive intelligence interviews are underused growth tools.(00:34:10) - Budget-friendly recruiting tools to help you get started.

Asia just hit her 90th day as fractional CMO with a new company, and in this episode of the In Demand Podcast, she shares everything she's taking away from those first three months. This episode is a behind-the-scenes look at how a marketing leader gets up to speed, creates clarity, and shapes outcomes. Asia and Kim cover everything from digging through legacy docs to building team structure and launching new systems.  Got a question you’d like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here. Links:  DemandMaven OfferingTree Chapters (00:01:40) - What Asia focused on first: people, processes, tools, data.(00:07:30) - Identifying mission-critical gaps.(00:10:00) - Once you identify the gaps, you can start to find new opportunities.(00:12:55) - The first two artifacts that Asia created: CMO's Mandate, and a marketing strategy for the rest of the year.(00:17:15) - Month two: hiring new talent, refining workstreams, aligning on OKRs.(00:19:55) - Forecasting vs. budgeting vs. planning.(00:26:45) - Translating CAC and trial goals into action.(00:32:05) - Month three: getting executors executing .(00:35:00) - Relationship-building with product and sales.(00:36:30) - What comes next: aligning the ships, creating momentum, and scaling what works.

Welcome back to In Demand!  In this episode, Asia and Kim take on three topics founders don’t talk about enough: how to listen for insight during customer research, what it really looks like to run a fast-moving (but focused) marketing team, and the difference between great managers and great leaders. Whether you're hiring your first team, navigating leadership, or trying to pull messaging clarity from customer interviews, this one will hit home. Got a question you’d like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here.   Links: DemandMaven Bob Moesta (Jobs to Be Done) Examples of great leaders: Steve McLeod - founder of Feature Upvote  Josh Ho – founder of Referral Rock Rand Fishkin – CEO of SparkToro The Captain Class by Sam Walker Chapters (00:01:00) - The difference in how Asia listens during customer research interviews.(00:06:30) - Your prospects might be comparing you to solutions you aren't aware of.(00:08:27) - Once you start noticing a pattern, look at the behaviors that the pattern is leading to.(00:10:45) - What’s a value theme, and how can you use them to attract better-fitting customers?(00:15:50) - How Asia turns research insights into actual team priorities.(00:20:30) - What it really looks like to operate as a fractional CMO.(00:24:20) - Inside a product marketing launch: managing briefs, ownership, and execution.(00:31:55) - Leadership vs. management: what’s the difference, and what are the traits of good managers vs. the traits of good leaders?(00:42:00) - What makes someone a visionary, and how does that fit into leadership and management?(00:46:00) - Personal examples: Asia’s mom as a bank manager, Kim’s thoughts on captains and coaches.

What happens when the market wants one thing, but you want to build something else? In this episode of the In Demand Podcast, Asia and Kim unpack the emotional tension founders face when their product attracts a different kind of customer than they originally set out to serve.  From internal conflict to organizational confusion, they explore how this misalignment can quietly stall growth and what it takes to move forward with clarity. Got a question you'd like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here.   Links:  DemandMaven Dr. Sherry Walling The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Keeping Your Shit Together by Sherry and Rob Walling   Chapters (00:03:00) - When your product grows in a direction you didn’t intend.(00:05:40) - The founder-product conflict: There is a new segment of the market that is growing and more important, but you’re not as excited to serve them.(00:11:30) - When you are serving multiple segments, you eventually face a choice on which segment you will focus your product.(00:14:40) - How this tension has shown up in the history of DemandMaven and how they've adapted to it.(00:15:11) - Start by mapping your options and the trade-offs of each. But if you want to move forward, you've got to make peace with the trade-offs.(00:19:00) - You can commit to one path and still pivot later. Decisions are not permanent.(00:21:40) - Not choosing a clear direction is what kills momentum. Committing to one path, even if it's not the best path, will almost certainly be better than thrashing between options.(00:24:25) - What keeps founders stuck: emotional attachment, ego, identity, fear, and discomfort.(00:28:05) - The conflict has to be resolved. Staying stuck drains time, energy, and growth.(00:31:00) - Resource: Dr. Sherry Walling’s work on founder emotional health.

When does it make sense to bring on a Fractional CMO, and what should you expect from one? In this episode, Asia and Kim dig into the ins and outs of Fractional CMOs: what they do, when to hire one, how they’re different from heads of marketing or full-time CMOs, and the biggest risks and rewards founders should know. Asia also reflects on her current work as a Fractional CMO and shares how she approaches structure, team-building, and strategy without getting stuck in the weeds. Got a question you'd like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here. Chapters (00:02:05) - Fractional vs. full-time: what’s the difference and when does each make sense?(00:03:30) - A CMO’s core responsibilities: budget, strategy, and team.(00:05:30) - You don’t need a team in place already to hire a CMO, but you do need budget and runway.(00:07:00) - Heads of marketing often get hired like CMOs, but they’re not the same.(00:11:45) - A head of marketing thinks in channels, whereas a CMO thinks in markets, products, and investment strategy.(00:13:45) - Product marketing, demand gen, hiring, retention, and outsourcing are important parts of a CMO's responsibilities.(00:16:15) - Attribution and analytics, even if it's messy, is something that a CMO should take ownership of.(00:21:30) - You might need a CMO if you’re making investments that aren’t paying off and no one’s connecting the dots.(00:23:15) - Trial periods are worthwhile when you're hiring for a CMO role since hiring the wrong person in a c-level role is costly.(00:26:50) - There are different types of CMOs, some are more visionary and others are more operational.(00:33:15) - The biggest thing to monitor with a fractional role is if marketing falls behind because there isn't a full-time leader.(00:36:00) - Less time can lead to more focus. A great fractional CMO will have a high level of clarity about priorities.

Growth isn’t just marketing. And if you’re stuck and growth isn’t happening, you’ll need to look beyond marketing and acquisition.  In this episode of the In Demand Podcast, Asia and Kim break down what it means to troubleshoot growth. They explain how growth work goes beyond campaigns and into retention, expansion, pricing, onboarding, and more. Plus, they dive into how product marketing overlaps and differs from growth and why founders often under-invest in the real levers that move growth. Got a question you'd like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here.  Chapters (00:01:44) - Growth marketing vs. head of growth: very different roles.(00:04:47) - A head of growth looks across the whole business, not just marketing.(00:05:40) - An early mistake founders often make is to focus only on marketing and acquisition when they are trying to solve growth problems.(00:08:07) - The moment Asia realized marketing wasn’t enough and how that led her into growth.(00:12:40) - Troubleshooting growth means identifying why growth is slow or stuck.(00:15:00) - Step by step on troubleshooting growth and benchmarks that matter.(00:22:45) - Troubleshooting = identifying root causes and giving you a clear plan to fix them.(00:30:30) - Product marketing overlaps with growth, but it's not the same job.(00:35:56) - Recap of what differences exist between a product marketer, a VP of growth, and a marketer.

Most SaaS companies hit growth plateaus, and too many founders assume the problem is either unsolvable or too complex to fix. In reality, that's rarely true. In this episode of In Demand, Asia and Kim unpack how to shift your mindset from "This can't be solved" to "Who's already solved this, and how can I learn from them?" They also introduce CUES, a prioritization framework that helps you focus on the right growth ideas instead of spinning your wheels. Got a question you'd like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here. Chapters (00:00:55) - Why founders often treat growth problems like they’re unsolvable.(00:05:22) - There are a lot of founders creating pain for themselves by trying to reinvent the wheel.(00:08:02) - Almost every single growth problem has been solved before, you just need to find the people who did it.(00:09:00) - Books, articles, and experts: where to actually look for answers.(00:14:10) - Learning enough to get started and putting your knowledge into practice.(00:19:15) - One of the things founders need to be able to do at a high level is understand trade offs.(00:24:00) - What does the process look like for troubleshooting growth?(00:25:00) - What net revenue retention tells you and how to find and use it in ProfitWell.(00:34:00) - Spotting the levers: activation, positioning, and pricing.(00:39:00) - Prioritization traps: why common frameworks like ICE often fail.(00:42:55) - Try CUES instead: Confidence, Understanding, Ease, and Speed.(00:55:05) - Recapping what was covered on this episode.

Hiring for marketing is hard, especially when you’re a technical founder. If you’ve never worked closely with marketers, how can you confidently hire one? In this episode of the In Demand Podcast, Asia and Kim break down why marketing hires are so tricky for SaaS founders. They walk through the differences between strategic leaders vs executors, how to define the role you really need, and why under-hiring is one of the biggest mistakes founders make. Got a question you'd like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here.  Chapters (00:01:10) - Why is hiring for marketing so hard (especially when you're a technical founder)?(00:05:00) - Don’t base your hiring benchmark on celebrity marketers.(00:06:50) - Sometimes the people who are best at self-promotion aren't the best at marketing your business.(00:09:55) - Start by defining your fully loaded marketing budget and if it's possible for you to afford a quality full-time hire.(00:12:30) - Strategic vs. tactical hires: What kind of marketer do you need?(00:17:30) - Why experience with a similar company in a similar stage is critical.(00:20:33) - You can’t spot fit from a resume; you must dig in during interviews and think about how you will work with this person.(00:29:30) - VC vs. bootstrapped: know who your role will attract.(00:35:05) - Consider overseas talent as there are great marketers at much more competitive salaries(00:38:00) - Use the Rule of 40 to assess when you're ready to hire.(00:43:00) - Successful ROI on a marketing hire is not only about growth rate, it's also about creating a qualitative impact, like freeing up the founder to have a higher impact.

Welcome to the new season of In Demand! For this season, Asia is joined by her new co-host Kim Talarczyk the Client Services Manager at DemandMaven! In this first episode of the season, Asia and Kim discuss recent conferences like MicroConf and Indie Founders, highlighting the value of founder communities and the insights from conversations with founders. They cover how DemandMaven is changing and new projects, like Asia’s work as a fractional CMO, and how the changing tech paradigm is changing businesses in 2025.  Got a question you'd like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here.  Chapters (00:02:07) - Meet the New Co-Host: Kim Talarczyk(00:08:39) - What Asia learned from her experience at Indie Founders(00:14:00) - Reflections from initial experiences as a fractional CMO(00:16:00) - The tension that often exists within founder CEOs (00:19:00) - What makes a good CEO (and why founders often aren't best at CEO work)(00:27:00) - Planning in unpredictable times(00:30:00) - Why acquisitions are an important signal of industry changes (00:34:25) - Delta's 100 year anniversary and decade long trends(00:41:15) - The power of podcasts and the challenge of creating when it can feel like you're talking into a vacuum(00:48:30) - Future plans for In Demand

Hey founders! Asia here  Got a burning marketing or growth question you'd like us to unpack on the podcast? Well now you can slide into our voicemail and drop an audio message covering your exact question. Just pop on over to our voicemail app by clicking here and leave us a message or if you'd prefer to write us something, email us at podcast@demandmaven.io Here are a few ideas you can ask us to get the wheels turning: - Should I require a credit card on signup or not?- I've been struggling with activation of my product. What should I do?- I'm torn between these two customer segments. Help!- How should I be thinking about using (insert marketing channel here)?- What are some ways I can manage my marketing team?- What are some KPIs / OKRs we should be tracking for growth or marketing?- How do I know if this feature is ready to be launched?- What are some clever ways we can use case studies?- I can't tell if we should kill this plan we're offering or not. How should we decide?As so much more! Make sure to give us context you feel comfortable sharing and let us know if you'd prefer to be anonymous! Thank you as always for being a listener! 

When you're in the early stages of building a business, you need to move quickly. But when you're testing growth channels, there is a difference between moving quickly and freaking out.   In this episode of the InDemand podcast, host Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, uncovers the pitfalls that teams can fall into when reacting to quantitative results.   She covers the mistakes that founders make when reacting to experiments and how to set yourself up for success when running tests and reacting to the results.   TL;DL 0:22 - Don't freak out about bad numbers. Early technical founders have a tendency to overreact to test data from marketing and growth campaigns. But in growth you're working with humans, not code, and you can't always trust immediate results. 4:35 - A one to two week experiment with low spend on a growth channel likely won't show you a clear result. If you react to it you might be missing a big opportunity. 8:00 - A company Asia worked with was testing out a video demo option. After one week and getting two requests for the video the team was resigned to the fact that it wasn't working, but after waiting it turned out that having the video was actually increasing the number of prospects entering the pipeline. 12:45 - You always have to remember that quantitative outputs can tell you 'what', but can't tell you 'why'. Before you react, you have to pause and dig deeper to understand what is driving the numbers. 20:07 - When you're running a test, the sample size matters. You need a large enough volume of results to be able to trust the results. There is a natural variance in the results you get and if you end an experiment early you might just be seeing variance.