saas.unbound

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies. In episode #10 of season 6, Anna Nadeina talks with Sergiy Korolov, co-founder of Railsware and the brain behind Mailtrap.From accidentally launching one of the most popular developer tools with zero marketing budget, to running the company with an all-engineer team — Sergiy's journey is packed with lessons most founders learn the hard way.In this episode: → How Mailtrap grew to hundreds of thousands of users before charging a cent → The "product studio" model Railsware uses to co-found new companies → Why bootstrapping forces better decisions than VC money → The hard truth about vibe coding and AI's real impact on engineering teams → How to hire when you don't know enough to assess the role → Why your biggest job as CEO is to stop having sleepless nights----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:05 — Introduction & Product Overview0:27 — Background & Early Days of Railsware3:51 — Building Product Studio Culture6:58 — Creating Mailtrap - From Tool to Platform14:10 — Developing Product Taste & Skills Matrix19:25 — Hiring Strategy & Team Building27:22 — Dogfooding & Product Development Process35:24 — AI Integration in Products & Engineering44:16 — Wins, Lessons & The Calendly Story48:26 — Founder Hacks & Work-Life BalanceSergiy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sergiykorolov/Railaware - https://railsware.com/Mailtrap - https://mailtrap.io/Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies.In episode #9 of season 6, Anna Nadeina talks with Simon Manz, founder of entitys.io, a cloud-based Product Information Management (PIM) and Digital Asset Management (DAM) platform specifically designed for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the B2B sector.Simon joins the podcast to unpack one of the hardest pivots in SaaS: transforming a professional services company into a product-focused software business.----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:05 — Introduction & Product Overview1:24 — Simon's Background & Journey to Entities3:03 — Pivoting from Services to SaaS Product7:14 — Culture Change & Team Transformation12:36 — Identifying the Right ICP15:00 — Building Relationships in B2B Mid-Market22:38 — Why Bootstrap vs VC Funding25:48 — Positioning & Marketing Strategy28:13 — Building Reviews & Community36:19 — Wins, Failures & Key LessonsSimon - https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-manz/entitys - entitys.ioSubscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies. In episode #8 of season 6, Anna Nadeina talks with Max Armbruster, founder of Talkpush, a conversational AI-driven recruitment platform designed to automate high-volume hiring processes.----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:05 — Introduction and Hiring Challenges1:18 — First Principles of Recruitment3:44 — Bias and Company Culture6:07 — Founder Involvement in Hiring7:56 — TalkPush Origin Story9:26 — Building a Remote International Team13:03 — Remote Work Culture and Cadence20:37 — AI Voice Interviews and Screening24:03 — Preventing Cheating in AI Interviews30:51 — Bootstrap vs VC Funding Journey41:44 — Lessons Learned and Actionable AdviceMax - https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxarmbruster/ Talkpush - https://www.talkpush.com/ Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies.In episode #7 of season 6, Anna Nadeina talks with Benjamin Houy, founder of CopyCat Cafe, an AI-powered language learning platform—formerly known as French Together—that helps users learn French by imitating native speakers rather than focusing on traditional grammar rules.----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:05 — Introduction & Background1:11 — Starting CopyCat Cafe6:03 — Competing with Duolingo10:46 — Building Lowlight (GEO Tool)14:34 — Lessons from B2B vs B2C17:31 — Working with a Co-founder26:08 — Growth Strategies29:57 — Rebranding to CopyCat Cafe36:01 — Biggest Wins & Failures39:18 — AI Empowerment at SaaS GroupBenjamin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminhouy/CopyCat Cafe - https://copycatcafe.com/Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies.

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies. In episode #6 of season 6, Anna Nadeina talks with Belma Ibrahimovic, Head of AI at saas.group, a founder-friendly acquirer of B2B SaaS companies and a global team of passionate SaaS operators building the future of software.----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:00 — Introduction & Belma's Background2:44 — Is Anyone Behind in AI?6:14 — Where to Draw the Line with AI9:46 — Can AI Replace Teams?14:26 — AI Empowerment at SaaS Group18:06 — Learning Resources & Time Investment21:50 — How Brands Use AI in Products30:44 — Building with AI: Technical Challenges35:23 — Staying Ahead in AI39:47 — Biggest Wins & Failures45:42 — Practical AI Hack: Using ProjectsBelma - https://www.linkedin.com/in/belma-ibrahimovic/Saas.group - https://saas.group/Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies. In episode #5 of season 6, Anna Nadeina talks with Iliya Valchanov, founder of Juma, an AI workspace platform built for marketing teams to collaborate and create on-brand content.----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:00 — Introduction & Background2:44 — The OpenAI Letter & Rebrand Trigger5:35 — The Power of Product Communities8:03 — Finding Product-Market Fit at $1M ARR9:22 — Choosing the Name: Just Marketing10:14 — The Vision: AI Marketing Super Agent13:46 — Data Analysis: The Killer Use Case27:19 — Impact on Growth & SEO32:02 — AI in Operations: Where to Draw the Line39:20 — Wins, Failures & Team Changes42:00 — Growth Hack: Analyzing Customer CallsIliya - https://www.linkedin.com/in/iliya-valchanov/ Juma - https://juma.ai/ Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies. In episode #4 of season 6, Anna nadeina talks with Edward Barrow, Co-Founder & CEO @ Cloud Capital, a Cloud Cost Management platform helping finance (CFOs) and engineering teams control, forecast, and optimize cloud spending, especially on AWS, by bridging financial and technical visibility.----------- Episode's Chapters -----------1:37 — Ed's Journey: From Bootstrap to VC-Backed SaaS6:48 — Post-Acquisition Life: M&A and Private Equity9:16 — Cloud Spend Benchmarks: 10-20% of Revenue12:10 — The Commitment Trap: Saving Money vs Taking Risk15:39 — AI's Impact on Cloud Economics20:11 — How Cloud Capital Works: Financial Risk Transfer29:28 — Building AI-Native: Wisdom Plus Automation34:01 — Partnership Strategy: Bottom-Up vs Top-Down41:49 — 20 Years of Lessons: Running at Brick Walls43:55 — Founder Hack: Walking MeetingsEd - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ebarrow/ Cloud Capital - https://www.cloudcapital.co/ Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies. In episode #3 of season 6, Daniel Thulfaut, the Head of Product at saas.group talks with Arne Kittler, co-founder of Product at Heart, a conference for curious product people, and an experienced product management leader, building digital products & services for 25 years.----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:05 — Introduction and Guest Welcome2:44 — The Power of Product Communities5:46 — Internal vs External Communities10:12 — Building Community at Xing13:05 — Community Rituals and Values15:39 — Scaling Challenges and Context26:19 — Community Formats and Co-Creation34:54 — Fractional Leadership Roles39:28 — When Part-Time Leadership Works44:13 — Managing Time and PrioritiesArne - https://www.linkedin.com/in/arnekittler/ Product at Heart - https://productatheart.com/ Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies.In episode #2 of season 6, Anna Nadeina talks with Frank Lämmer, co-founder of fortrabbit, a managed, Platform as a Service (PaaS) cloud hosting provider specifically for PHP developers.----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:05 — Introduction and Background1:37 — From Graffiti Artist to Tech Entrepreneur3:03 — Starting fortrabbit and Early Days5:49 — Developer-Focused Product Strategy8:00 — Brand Voice and Marketing Approach10:54 — Co-Founder Struggles and Departures14:11 — Market Challenges and Competition23:47 — Hiring Strategy and Team Building25:20 — Remote Work and International Hiring36:20 — Bootstrap vs VC Funding Philosophy44:59 — Lifestyle Entrepreneurship and Future PlansFrank - https://www.linkedin.com/in/franklaemmer/fortrabbit - https://www.fortrabbit.com/

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies. In episode #1 of season 6, Anna Nadeina talks with Geoff Roberts, co-founder of Outseta. ----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:52 — Introduction and AI's Impact on SaaS2:15 — Outseta's Core Platform and Market Position6:21 — Innovation Speed and Strategic Direction8:15 — 2025 SaaS M&A Market Shifts & The Rise of AI10:51 — Evaluating Strategic Opportunities15:09 — Competitive Advantages and AI Integration20:21 — Customer Service Philosophy26:15 — Support Model and Team Structure32:34 — Equity Ownership and Hiring Approach38:34 — Growth Strategies and SEO Evolution45:08 — Wins, Challenges, and Future FocusGeoff - https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffrobertsmarketing/Outseta - https://www.outseta.com/ Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies. In episode #50 of season 5, Anna Nadeina talks with Tim Schumacher, founder of saas.group, serial acquirer, buying profitable SaaS businesses to take them even further.----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:06 — Welcome & Podcast Introduction1:13 — What is SaaS Group? Business Model Explained4:45 — Life After Acquisition: Founder Experience7:05 — 2025 SaaS M&A Market Shifts & The Rise of AI10:00 — Recent Acquisitions: Surprises & Strategy14:47 — Experimenting Beyond B2B: Hardware & B2C Moves18:42 — AI’s Impact: Internal Changes & Hackathons23:45 — Adapting to AI: Change Management & Team Enablement28:36 — Go-To-Market Challenges & Why Most Deals Get Rejected34:16 — How SaaS Group Assesses Companies & Advice for Sellers41:06 — Investing vs. Acquiring: Different Approaches & Closing ThoughtsTim - https://www.linkedin.com/in/timschumacher/Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies. In episode #49 of season 5, Anna Nadeina talks with Mike, founder of Upvoty and CopyPaste Lab. ----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:00 — Introduction and Welcome1:17 — From High School Dropout to Agency Owner6:13 — Building Vindy: The First Million Dollar Product13:32 — Validating Upvote: From Landing Page to Product22:02 — The Role of AI in Solo Entrepreneurship32:26 — Building and Scaling with a Lean Team40:56 — The Solopreneur Mindset and Community49:50 — Copy Paste Lab: The Product Studio Strategy55:32 — Biggest Wins and Failures: Narrowing Your Audience1:01:34 — Growth Hacks: Slack Communities and Keyword MonitoringMike - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikestrives/Upvoty - https://upvoty.com/ Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies. In episode #48 of season 5, Anna Nadeina talks with Bernard, co-founder of Clearscope, an AI-driven SEO content optimization tool.----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:00 — Introduction and Welcome0:17 — Bernard's SEO Journey: From Growth Hacker to Clearscope Founder1:09 — The AI Revolution: How ChatGPT Changed Everything1:56 — AI-Generated Content: Should You Use It?3:32 — Reddit Manipulation and Modern SEO Tactics4:27 — Content Health: Why Fresh Content Matters for AI6:02 — Understanding AI Web Searches and Entity Analysis7:42 — Content Chunks: Optimizing for AI Understanding8:42 — Clear Scope's Rebrand: Becoming a Discoverability Platform10:03 — Actionable Framework: How to Rank in AI Search11:02 — Biggest Wins, Lessons Learned, and Future of SEOBernard - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernardjhuang/ Clearscope - https://www.clearscope.io/ Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796

aas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies.In episode #47 of season 5, Anna Nadeina talks with Vova, founder of Freemius, an all-in-one platform for payments, subscriptions, and taxes, helping you sell software globally while focusing on building great products.----------- Episode's Chapters -----------0:00 — Introduction to Freemium and Vova1:47 — Origin Story: From Side Project to Business4:40 — Early Customer Acquisition Challenges9:36 — Evolution of Pricing Strategy14:08 — Recent Pricing Changes and Growth Model22:12 — Building and Nurturing the Community31:01 — Hiring Strategy and Team Building39:29 — Expanding Beyond WordPress46:05 — Implementing AI in Business Operations57:27 — Biggest Wins and Lessons LearnedVova Feldman - https://www.linkedin.com/in/vovafeldman/Freemius - https://freemius.comSubscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies. In episode #45 of season 5, Anna Nadeina talks with Todd, founder of Prerender, one of the first brands we acquired at saas.group and now also a founder of LandingSite.ai, AI-Generated Websites For Every Industry.--------------Episode's Chapters----------------0:00 — Welcome to Sauce and Bound Podcast0:46 — Todd's Background and Early Career2:52 — The Birth of Pre-Render5:24 — Growing Pre-Render as a Solo Founder7:33 — The SaaS Group Acquisition9:56 — Transitioning to Landing Site.ai21:35 — Working with AI and Code Generation41:24 — Landing Site's Growth and Success44:45 — Bootstrapping an AI Company49:20 — Startup Psychology and Growth HacksTodd - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tohooper/ Langing Site - https://www.landingsite.ai/ Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies. In episode #46 of season 5, Anna Nadeina talks with Alex, CEO and Founder of Competera, a pricing platform helping retailers increase their revenue. ----------- Episode's Chapters ----------- 00:00 - Meet Alex: From Medical Engineering to AI 02:33 - The Birth of Compra: Early Challenges and Innovations 07:47 - Navigating Enterprise Sales and AI Integration 10:13 - Overcoming API Roadblocks and Pivoting Strategies 15:18 - AI in Enterprise: Adoption and Challenges 30:02 - Discussing Pricing Strategies for Enterprise Customers 31:25 - Understanding Customer Acquisition Costs 32:51 - The Importance of Customer Feedback and Pricing Adjustments 37:26 - Challenges and Learnings in Enterprise Sales 39:40 - The Role of M&A Advisors and Strategic Partnerships 43:54 - Balancing Work and Life as a Founder Alex - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhalkin/ Competera - https://competera.ai/ Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-group Stay up to date: Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_group LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies.In episode #44 of season 5, Anna Nadeina talks with Adam, founder of UXpilot, Building New Era of Product Design.--------------Episode's Chapters----------------0:00—Introduction & Welcome1:08—Adam's Background in Product Design1:54—Origins of UX Pilot4:00—Early Development Challenges5:20—Current Features & Product Focus8:37—AI's Impact on Design Jobs12:01—Competition & Market Differentiation14:58—Marketing Strategy & Brand Awareness19:49—Team Structure & Growth23:16—Working with AI Technology26:50—Biggest Wins & Lessons LearnedAdam - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamfard/Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies. In episode #43 of season 5, Anna Nadeina talks with Juan Ignacio, the founder of L40, M&A advisory for founders, and Pavel, Head of M&A from saas.group, covering both buyer and seller sides of the deal.--------------Episode's Chapters----------------0:00—Introductions & Backgrounds5:37—Journey to M&A and SaaS Group13:29—Common Founder Questions21:05—Valuation and Buyer Types32:49—Approaching Buyers & Offers43:59—Deal Structures & Exit Planning56:17—Preparation for Sale1:03:18—Red Flags & Buyer/Seller Fit1:14:09—Due Diligence Deep Dive1:29:56—AI, Valuations, and Market Trends1:41:57—Final Advice & How to ConnectJuan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jigarciab/ Pavel - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavelprokofiev/ Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies. In episode #42 of season 5, Anna Nadeina talks with Matt, CEO of Qwist, a full-stack Open Finance platform, connecting third-party providers with financial data and services.--------------Episode's Chapters----------------0:00—Introduction to Bound Podcast1:14—Background and Journey to Quest2:34—Initial Skepticism of Open Banking3:46—Merging Two Businesses: The Car Analogy4:36—Technical Complexity in Banking Integration5:48—Transforming the Business Model7:01—Simplifying Customer Solutions8:19—Moving Beyond Technical Excellence10:00—Managing Post-Merger Integration50:42—The Importance of Commercial TeamsMatt - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattcolebourne/Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies. In episode #41 of season 5, Anna Nadeina talks with Mike Hill, bootstrapper and serial entrepreneur, co-founder of products like Curator.io, Frill.co, Juuno.co, Flook.co, and Anycamp.--------------Episode's Chapters----------------0:00—Introduction and background1:59—Building stuff and starting micro startups4:01—Limitations of managing multiple businesses5:27—Discussion on AI and its limitations7:04—The future of SaaS and bootstrapping8:33—Team composition and hiring approach10:26—Product strategy and market selection45:16—Biggest wins and failures51:37—Growth hacks and final adviceMike - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mymatemike/ Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date:Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_groupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796