SaaS District

Hosted by Akeel Jabber | Horizen Capital

Business Investing MarketingInterviews guestsExplicit

Website RSS feed LinkedIn Instagram YouTube

Episodes

250

Latest episode

Aug 2026

Language

About the show

Top Startup and SaaS Podcast for Startup Founders, Entrepreneurs and Investors. Learn how to optimize your growth strategy a SaaS startup entrepreneur from beta all the way to exit. We cover topics such as raising capital, acquisitions, leadership, B2B sales, growth marketing, scaling, hiring, M&A, conversion optimization, productivity, bootstrapping, venture capital, private equity, and innovation. By sharing industry lead expertise, we want you to implement the best-proven tactics to help you scale your SaaS company. Top Podcast Industry Nominations: - 13 Best SaaS Marketing Podcasts | SaaS Marketer - Top SaaS Podcasts for 2021 | Beamer - Top 25 SaaS Podcasts You Must Follow in 2021 | Feedspot - Best 26 SaaS & Subscriptions Podcasts to Listen to in 2021 | 2Checkout - Best 26 SaaS & Subscriptions Podcasts to Listen to in 2021 | KlintMarketing

Listen to episodes

60 recent

August 14, 202651 min

Why Most New Investors Fail & How to Avoid the Common Traps with Keith Gillispie #250

Keith Gillispie is the founder of REI Automated, a platform that helps real estate investors build businesses powered by systems instead of constant chaos. He has helped hundreds of investors close more deals, generate millions in equity, and create true operational freedom through automation, using a practical, no-nonsense approach grounded in real-world experience. In this episode we cover: 00:00 - Intro 06:37 - Keith's Early Investing Lessons 15:58 - Why Most New Investors Fail 21:57 - When Chaos Starts Killing Momentum 24:54 - How to Find the First Deal 29:00 - The Mindset Traps Holding Investors Back 38:14 - Keith's Favorite Activity To Get Into a Flow State 40:32 - Keith's Piece Of Advice For His Younger Self 42:42 - Keith's Biggest Challenges at REI Automated 45:19 - Instrumental Resources For Keith's Success 47:50 - What Does Success Mean for Keith Today 49:50 - Get In Touch With Keith Get In Touch With Keith REI Automated Website Keith Gillespie on Facebook Books: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey Tag Us & Follow: Facebook LinkedIn Instagram More About Akeel: Twitter LinkedIn More SaaS Podcast Episodes SaaS Consultants How To Value Your SaaS Company

July 24, 202642 min

Why AI Recommends Your Competitor Instead of Your SaaS with Leo Poitevin #249

Leo Poitevin is the founder of Astrak, a SEO agency that helps ambitious companies build sustainable organic growth through SEO strategy, content production, and link-building. Working with businesses in competitive industries such as eCommerce, high-intent services, and complex SEO niches, he focuses on creating long-term visibility that translates into measurable business results. Before launching Astrak, Leo led SEO initiatives for international companies and helped brands improve their search visibility and organic performance. Leo also shares practical insights on SEO and link-building through his YouTube channel, where he helps marketers and founders better understand what drives sustainable search growth. In this episode we cover: 00:00 - Intro 02:01 - From SEO Expert to Agency Founder 05:00 - The Rise of AI Visibility and GEO 10:12 - Why AI Recommends Some Brands Over Others 17:50 - Adapting SaaS Growth for the AI Era 23:44 - Building Trust and Authority in an AI-First Internet 33:52 - Growing Organically Without Paid Ads 37:07 - Leo's Favorite Activity To Get Into a Flow State 37:30 - Leo's Piece Of Advice For His Younger Self 38:09 - Leo's Biggest Challenges at Astrak 39:08 - Instrumental Resources For Leo's Success 39:57 - What Does Success Mean for Leo Today 40:55 - Get In Touch With Leo Get In Touch With Leo: Leo LinkedIn Astrak Website Mentions: Alex Hormozi My First Million Podcast Books: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie Tag Us & Follow: Facebook LinkedIn Instagram More About Akeel: Twitter LinkedIn More SaaS Podcast Episodes SaaS Consultants How To Value Your SaaS Company

July 14, 202641 min

Scaling Employees From #2 to 140 People and all the Lessons in Between with Krzysztof Szymko #248

Krzysztof Szymko is the founder of Enterploy, a recruitment and talent partner that helps SaaS companies across the United States and Europe build and scale teams in Poland. Leveraging more than a decade of recruitment experience in the SaaS sector, Enterploy connects growing businesses with top talent across Tech, Engineering, Marketing, and Operations, helping companies access the expertise they need to scale efficiently. With a background in technical recruiting and over 12 years of experience in SaaS, Krzysztof has built Development, Sales, Marketing, and Operations teams from the ground up, along with the HR and recruitment processes required to support rapid growth. He works closely with founders and C-level executives to develop people and hiring strategies that align directly with business goals, ensuring every hiring decision contributes to long-term company success. In this episode we cover: 00:00 - Intro 01:42 - Building a Startup From the Ground Floor 09:17 - The First Hires That Shaped Ziflow 16:48 - Building at Startup Speed Without Breaking the Team 23:03 - The Hiring Mistakes That Come With Hypergrowth 27:21 - What Founders Get Wrong About Hiring in Poland 32:24 - The Hiring Advice Krzysztof Wishes He Had Earlier 35:07 - Krzysztof's Favorite Activity To Get Into a Flow State 35:32 - Krzysztof's Piece Of Advice For His Younger Self 37:13 - Krzysztof's Biggest Challenges at Enterploy 38:09 - Instrumental Resources For Krzysztof's Success 39:31 - What Does Success Mean for Krzysztof Today 40:36 - Get In Touch With Krzysztof Get In Touch With Krzysztof: Krzysztof's Email Krzysztof's LinkedIn Enterploy Website Mentions: Agnieszka Szydłowska Mat Atkinson Anthony Welgemoed Alex Hormozi Books: The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch Tag Us & Follow: Facebook LinkedIn Instagram More About Akeel: Twitter LinkedIn More SaaS Podcast Episodes SaaS Consultants How To Value Your SaaS Company

July 3, 202642 min

Turning Finance Teams Into Growth Drivers with AI with Julio Martínez #247

Julio Martínez is the Co-Founder and CEO of Abacum, an AI-native FP&A platform built to help finance teams drive efficient growth and deliver real business impact. With Abacum, he focuses on turning finance into a strategic function by giving teams real-time visibility into their KPIs, automating reporting, and enabling better forecasting, planning, and decision-making across the organization. Before founding Abacum, Julio spent over two decades across finance and technology, beginning his career in investment banking in New York, São Paulo, Zurich, and London. He later transitioned into tech, where he launched multiple fintech products and deepened his focus on building solutions for modern finance teams. Originally from Spain and now based in New York, Julio brings a global perspective and a practical, operator-driven mindset to helping companies scale with greater clarity and control. In this episode we cover: 00:00 - Intro 01:52 - From Investment Banking to SaaS Finance 05:36 - Why Abacum Was Built 10:07 - Turning Finance Into a Growth Driver 13:38 - AI Trends in the Office of the CFO 18:16 - How AI Is Changing Forecasting and Planning 23:20 - The Biggest Financial Planning Mistakes in SaaS 27:32 - Building a Strategic Finance Function 32:57 - Julio's Favorite Activity To Get Into a Flow State 33:29 - Julio's Piece Of Advice For His Younger Self 35:20 - Julio's Biggest Challenges at Abacum 36:22 - Instrumental Resources For Julio's Success 40:04 - What Does Success Mean for Julio Today 41:42 - Get In Touch With Julio Get In Touch With Julio: Julio's LinkedIn Abacum Website Books: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius Amp It Up by Frank Slootman The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh Tag Us & Follow: Facebook LinkedIn Instagram More About Akeel: Twitter LinkedIn More SaaS Podcast Episodes SaaS Consultants How To Value Your SaaS Company

June 26, 202629 min

How Customer Feedback Shapes Your Product and GTM Strategy with Janina Moza #246

Janina is the CMO of Flipsnack, where she leads marketing across product marketing, go-to-market strategy, content, sales enablement, and growth. She specializes in building scalable marketing systems that connect customer insights with business outcomes, ensuring marketing serves as a true growth driver rather than simply a support function. With a strong focus on clarity and execution, Janina helps align marketing, sales, and product teams around clear positioning, messaging, and customer value. Her work sits at the intersection of strategy and execution, translating how customers actually use products into effective go-to-market plans, stronger team alignment, and sustainable growth. In this episode we cover: 00:00 - Intro 01:40 - From Flipbooks to a Full Content Platform 03:45 - Finding the Right ICP 07:18 - When Customer Feedback Changes Positioning 10:25 - When Customer Requests Shape Your Product Roadmap 11:49 - Roadmap Decisions vs Messaging Decisions 14:09 - Winning Channels and Failed Experiments 17:30 - Prioritizing GTM Across Multiple Markets 21:30 - Janina's Favorite Activity To Get Into a Flow State 21:58 - Janina's Piece Of Advice For Her Younger Self 22:58 - Janina's Biggest Challenges at Flipsnack 24:14 - Instrumental Resources For Janina's Success 27:12 - What Does Success Mean for Janina Today 28:06 - Get In Touch With Janina Get In Touch With Janina: Janina's LinkedIn Flipsnack Website Mentions: April Dunford Emily Kramer Kieran Flanagan Books: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini Tag Us & Follow: Facebook LinkedIn Instagram More About Akeel: Twitter LinkedIn More SaaS Podcast Episodes SaaS Consultants How To Value Your SaaS Company

June 19, 202635 min

The Difference Between Scaling Revenue and Scaling Profit with Cem Atik #245

Cem Atik is the Co-Founder and CMO of Harucon Ventures, where he works with fast-growing eCommerce brands that are becoming harder to run as they scale. His focus is on helping companies navigate the stage where revenue increases but margins tighten, decisions slow down, and operational pressure starts to build. At Harucon Ventures, Cem helps rebuild the systems behind these businesses so growth becomes efficient, scalable, and controllable. His work centers on turning complex, high-growth environments into structured operations that are better positioned for long-term scale and eventual exit. In this episode we cover: 00:00 - Intro 01:39 - When Revenue Growth Becomes a Problem 06:48 - Scaling Revenue vs Scaling Profit 10:00 - Why Margins Shrink as Brands Grow 13:40 - The Warning Signs of Inefficient Scaling 15:57 - Turning Growth Into Profitability 20:46 - How AI Is Reshaping Acquisitions and Operational Efficiency 24:07 - Shifting From Chasing Revenue to Building a Scalable Business 27:07 - Cem's Favorite Activity To Get Into a Flow State 28:03 - Cem's Piece Of Advice For His Younger Self 28:48 - Cem's Biggest Challenges at Harucon Ventures 30:31 - Instrumental Resources For Cem's Success 32:32 - What Does Success Mean for Cem Today 33:34 - Get In Touch With Cem Get In Touch With Cem: Cem's LinkedIn Harucon Ventures Website Books: Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff Tag Us & Follow: Facebook LinkedIn Instagram More About Akeel: Twitter LinkedIn More SaaS Podcast Episodes SaaS Consultants How To Value Your SaaS Company

June 12, 202637 min

How AI Is Changing Growth, Teams, and Startup Strategy with Jon Mest #244

Jon Mest is the CEO of ChatRank and JustReachOut, where he operates at the intersection of data, growth, and marketing. Throughout his career, he has worked across companies like Thomas Weisel Partners, 1010data, and Sika Health, building a strong foundation in using data to drive scalable growth strategies. At ChatRank, Jon is focused on helping businesses win in the era of AI-driven search, where relevance and quality matter more than ad spend. He also leads JustReachOut, a PR platform that enables companies to secure media coverage through targeted outreach, analytics, and proven frameworks. With a background in applied mathematics from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from Wharton School, Jon brings a data-driven perspective to helping businesses amplify their visibility and compete more effectively in evolving digital landscapes. In this episode we cover: 00:00 - Intro 01:24 - Jon's Journey Through Data, Growth, and Startups 03:16 - Building ChatRank and JustReachOut 05:21 - How AI Is Reshaping Startup Teams 07:55 - Why Jon Chose Bootstrapping Over Venture Capital 10:51 - Building the Product You Actually Need 14:35 - How AI Search Is Changing Brand Discovery 16:56 - The New Rules for Startup Growth in 2026 21:38 - Building an AI-First Startup Team 26:26 - Jon's Favorite Activity To Get Into a Flow State 27:23 - Jon's Piece Of Advice For His Younger Self 28:55 - Jon's Biggest Challenges at ChatRank and JustReachOut 31:03 - Instrumental Resources For Jon's Success 33:46 - What Does Success Mean for Jon Today 35:37 - Get In Touch With Jon Get In Touch With Jon: Jon's Email ChatRank Website Mentions: Joe Delgado Yelp G2 Trustpilot Healthgrades Tag Us & Follow: Facebook LinkedIn Instagram More About Akeel: Twitter LinkedIn More SaaS Podcast Episodes SaaS Consultants How To Value Your SaaS Company

June 5, 202626 min

How Are we Rethinking B2B in Beauty Through Marketplace and Experience with Anthony Saniger #243

Anthony Saniger is a board member at Beauty Rep and a consumer-focused brand builder with over 17 years of experience across the beauty, fashion, and wellness industries. He brings a strong blend of strategic vision and creative execution, helping brands grow by building meaningful connections with their audiences and positioning themselves effectively in competitive markets. Anthony actively invests in and advises brands across CPG, beauty, and hospitality, using his entrepreneurial perspective to drive growth, innovation, and long-term brand value. In this episode we cover: 00:00 - Intro 01:27 - From Consumer Brands to Beauty Rep 03:57 - Fixing Inefficiencies in Traditional B2B 07:07 - Centralizing Vendor Management and Timing 09:14 - The Challenge of Building a Two-Sided Marketplace 11:23 - Designing B2B Products That Drive Revenue 13:09 - What Companies Still Get Wrong About Marketplaces 15:34 - Entering Niche Industries and Uncovering Inefficiencies 17:27 - Exploring Potential in Aesthetic and Longevity Industries 18:56 - Anthony's Favorite Activity To Get Into a Flow State 19:30 - Anthony's Piece Of Advice For His Younger Self 20:25 - Anthony's Biggest Challenges at Beauty Rep 22:00 - Instrumental Resources For Anthony's Success 23:26 - What Does Success Mean for Anthony Today 25:40 - Get In Touch With Anthony Get in touch with Anthony: Beauty Rep Website Anthony's LinkedIn Mentions: Keri Concannon Olivia Schmid Brené Brown ZO Skin Health, Inc. Books: "Delivering Happiness" by Tony Hsieh Tag Us & Follow: Facebook LinkedIn Instagram More About Akeel: Twitter LinkedIn More SaaS Podcast Episodes SaaS Consultants How To Value Your SaaS Company

May 29, 202637 min

What Top 1% CSMs Know About Revenue and Relationships with Carl Lenocker #242

Carl Lenocker is the Chief Unicorn at Rockstar Unicorn Consulting and a top-tier Customer Success executive with over 20 years of experience operating in high-stakes, revenue-critical environments. He has built his career managing and protecting multi-million dollar relationships, focusing on executive-level conversations where outcomes matter more than optics and where revenue is either secured or quietly lost. Known for his no-fluff, field-tested approach, Carl teaches Customer Success professionals to think and act like revenue owners, not support teams. He is also the author of Success Plan for Life, where he applies the same principles used to protect enterprise accounts to career growth, wealth building, and long-term leverage, helping leaders earn trust, de-risk renewals, and break through professional ceilings. In this episode we cover: 00:00 - Intro 03:08 - Carl's Journey in Customer Success 06:16 - Mindset Shift From Support to Revenue Ownership 09:11 - Building Relationships and Overcoming Fears 12:18 - Navigating Remote Interactions and Building Trust 15:05 - The Impact of AI on Customer Success Roles 18:17 - Lessons Beyond Business and Success Plan for Life 21:09 - The Power of Planning for Success 24:19 - Wealth Accumulation and Legacy Thinking 26:18 - Personal Growth and Life Goals 27:04 - Choosing the Right Partner 29:00 - Navigating Career Growth and Challenges 31:07 - Influential Resources for Success 33:26 - Defining Success at Midlife Get in touch with Carl: Carl's LinkedIn Rockstar Unicorn Consulting Books: "Success Plan for Life" by Carl Lenocker "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki "Awaken the Giant Within" by Tony Robbins "Power Questions" by Andrew Sobel Tag Us & Follow: Facebook LinkedIn Instagram More About Akeel: Twitter LinkedIn More SaaS Podcast Episodes SaaS Consultants How To Value Your SaaS Company

May 19, 202632 min

Lesson from Scaling Codecademy from $10M to $50M ARR with Daniel Layfield #241

Daniel Layfield is the Founder of Subscription Index, a consulting and advisory firm that helps subscription and SaaS businesses monetize more effectively. He brings deep experience in growth and product management, having driven more than $100M in business growth with a strong focus on self-service revenue. Previously, he led the growth team at Codecademy, scaling ARR from $10M to $55M prior to its $525M acquisition in 2022. He later served as a product manager at Uber Eats, leading Homefeed ranking, and now works with startups to improve subscription revenue and build sustainable growth models. In this episode we cover: 00:00 - A Journey from $10M to $50M 05:06 - Key Decisions and Strategies for Growth 13:24 - Finding the Right Model Fremium or Trial 20:49 - Connecting Product Roadmap to Business Impact 24:26 - Lessons Learned and Overlooked Strategies 26:14 - Personal Insights and Rapid Fire Questions Get in Touch with Daniel: Subscription Index Daniel's LinkedIn Mentions: Brian Balfour Reforge Diligent Bumble Tag Us & Follow: Facebook LinkedIn Instagram More About Akeel: Twitter LinkedIn More SaaS Podcast Episodes SaaS Consultants How To Value Your SaaS Company