In Demand: How to Grow Your SaaS to $1M ARR and Beyond
67 episodes - English - Latest episode: 7 months ago -Growing a SaaS? Yeah, that's hard. Growing a SaaS without a clue what you're doing from a marketing and growth perspective? Pretty much impossible. Especially if you want to break the $1M ARR mark. Your host Asia Orangio (previously Asia Matos) breaks down the marketing and growth myths and lays the foundation for SaaS and startup founders to grow their businesses with strategies and tactics that actually work — no matter if you're bootstrapped or VC funded. Listen, learn, subscribe, and execute.
About your host: Asia Orangio is the CEO & Founder of DemandMaven. Asia helps founders of early-stage startups reach their growth goals through proven growth strategies across GTM, acquisition, activation, retention, and expansion. In early 2018, Asia founded DemandMaven — a consulting firm dedicated to helping bootstrapped and funded early-stage startups build revenue-generating marketing engines. Previously, Asia served in a number of marketing roles, but most notably as head of marketing at Hull where she helped the team 10.5x in growth, and #FlipMyFunnel / Terminus as demand generation manager. Asia also served on the board of Moz before its successful acquisition in 2021.
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Episodes
EP34: Don't Freak Out About Quantitative Results
December 13, 2023 16:25 - 30 minutes - 24.1 MBWhen 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 an...
EP33: Top Customer Research Mistakes
December 08, 2023 15:29 - 39 minutes - 31.7 MBCustomer research is a critical part of growth. However many teams and founders make big mistakes when they do their research. What are the mistakes you need to avoid? In this episode of the InDemand podcast, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, highlights the most common mistakes in conducting customer research and gives examples of how to avoid them. If you haven’t already, sign up for The Work, a weekly newsletter: https://demandmaven.substack.com/ TL;DL 1:03 - Mistake ...
EP32: What if We're Bad at Product Management?
November 29, 2023 08:34 - 33 minutes - 30.5 MBProduct management isn’t easy. And the reality is some founders just aren’t that good at it. In this episode, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, discusses the importance of effective product management in growth and why striving for 'quality of life improvements' - small tweaks to existing features - over 'value generators' - hurts growth. If you haven't seen it, check out The Work, a weekly newsletter: https://demandmaven.substack.com/ Timeline: 1:33 - Product management i...
EP31: Globalization and the Importance of Understanding Customer Behavior with Angeley Mullins
November 21, 2023 16:25 - 29 minutes - 27.2 MBIn this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, chats with Angeley Mullins live from SaaStock. Angeley is a seasoned commercial and operations executive ( E-Commerce & B2B SaaS) with leadership roles across the US, EMEA, & APAC including: Amazon, Intuit, and GoDaddy. She is currently Chief Commercial Officer at Resourcify. Angeley focuses on both growing scale- ups including Seed / Series A - Series C , as well as larger corporations and NGOs. They discuss Angeley's ...
EP30: Qualitative vs. Quantitative
November 14, 2023 14:00 - 21 minutes - 19.9 MBDescription: As we approach the end of the year, we rely on the information we have to make decisions and plans for future growth. In order to have a full picture, it is critical to have been capturing high-quality qualitative as well as quantitative information. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, breaks down why both types of information are important and examples of how to incorporate qualitative information to understand the ‘why’ behind your numbers. TL;DL...
EP29: Focusing vs. Niching
November 07, 2023 14:00 - 30 minutes - 24.2 MBWhen it comes to building a business there is a big difference between focusing and niching. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, breaks down how you can achieve focus by niching, but why you don't have niche to achieve focus. TL;DL: 2:00 - When we talk about focusing, it is a founder really dedicating for a period of time to a specific part of the market. Niching is going to market saying that you only serve a specific segment. An example of a niched product ...
EP28: The Top 5 Growth Drivers
October 31, 2023 13:00 - 21 minutes - 17.4 MBWhat are the best areas to focus on when you’re trying to drive growth in your company? In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, breaks down the top five growth drivers for SaaS businesses. Growing Awareness Growing Traffic Capturing More Leads Increasing Sales Increasing Business Capacity TL;DL 1:00 - What are the top 5 growth drivers? 1:55 - Growing awareness simply means more people knowing about your brand. This is tough to measure, but usually you can l...
EP27: Growth During an Economic Downturn
October 25, 2023 16:00 - 24 minutes - 19.3 MBIn this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, breaks down the strategies successful companies have used to survive and grow through downturns and how to apply it to your business. TL;DL: 1:00 - A lot of companies simply over-hired during the past couple years of growth and the layoffs now are correcting for that as opposed to a greater market downturn. 5:30 - In a true economic downturn, layoffs and cuts might not be your best strategy for future survival. 6:45 - Ther...
EP26: The SaaS Black Hole
April 18, 2023 13:00 - 30 minutes - 24.4 MBAre you building a SaaS product but have not yet got your first paying customers? You might be in or about to go into the SaaS Black Hole. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, breaks down the SaaS black hole and covers how to think about pivoting, building your team, and bringing in outside help when you’re in this phase of building your company. TL;DR: 3:40 - The SaaS black hole is the time when you are going from having trial users to charging for your produ...
EP25: Top 5 Areas for Growth
April 11, 2023 13:00 - 22 minutes - 18 MBAre you investing in marketing, but not seeing the growth you were aiming for? It might be because you’re overlooking another key growth area. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, breaks down the top five areas to look at first when it comes to growth. You’ll learn why marketing might not be the best lever to pull in your business right now and how focusing on operations, retention, and activation can drive your growth. TL;DR 0:45 - Putting more dollars into ...
EP24: Painkiller vs. Vitamin
April 04, 2023 13:00 - 20 minutes - 16.2 MBAre you building a painkiller or a vitamin? In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, breaks down the two categories of products and how you can use the concept in marketing your SAAS business. You’ll learn why most successful SAAS businesses are pain killers, examples of both types of business, and how your messaging and positioning should adapt to the product your building. TL;DR 0:48 - Breking down the concept of painkiller vs. vitamin as it applies to your pr...
EP23: The 8 Customer Yeses
March 28, 2023 13:00 - 24 minutes - 19.3 MBEvery long-term customer your business has went through a series of decision and said yes at each step along the way. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, breaks down the 8 customer yeses and how you can create an environment that makes it easier to get a yes each step of the way. TL;DR 2:30 - There is a series of 8 yeses that a prospect needs to go through to become and stay a customer. 3:10 - #1 Yes, I have a problem. A the start comes an initial recognitio...
EP22: Unaware Audiences
March 21, 2023 13:00 - 26 minutes - 21.3 MBYour business growth feels like it’s plateauing and so you’re thinking about focusing on a less aware audience is that a bad idea? In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, breaks down 5 levels of audience awareness and where it makes sense to place your marketing attention and budget. TL;DR 3:00 - Going after unaware audiences is the last thing you should plan to do when you're growing your company, but there are lots of marketing agencies that will recommend you ...
EP21: First marketing hire
March 14, 2023 13:00 - 26 minutes - 21.4 MBNow that you know the basics of how to get started with building out a marketing team it’s time to diving into how and when to hire your first marketing leader. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, breaks down types of marketers that makes since as a first hire, where to sources them from, and how to set them up for success in the first 90 days. TL;DR 1:36 - Who is the best type of marketing to hire? If you are in the software space, you should really only be...
EP20: Hiring a marketing team
March 07, 2023 14:00 - 30 minutes - 24.6 MBOne of the questions most founders have is, "How do I start building a marketing team?" In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, breaks down the options that exist for founders starting to build out their marketing teams and what is the best fit for companies depending on the budget and time constraints they are facing. TL;DR: 1:20 - The four options for building your marketing team are: Generalist or specialist contractors Agencies or consultancies Full-time or...
EP19: High performing CEO
February 28, 2023 14:00 - 42 minutes - 33.7 MBWhat are the four traits that separate the highest performing CEOs from their peers? In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, breaks down the decision-making and approaches great CEOs use to consistently generate results. Here’s the link to the article discussed in todays episode: https://hbr.org/2017/05/what-sets-successful-ceos-apart TL;DR: 2:24 - What set's successful CEOs apart from their counterparts? Deciding with speed and conviction Engaging for impact ...
EP18: Founder to CEO
February 21, 2023 14:00 - 28 minutes - 22.7 MBAs a founder it can be hard to pull back and step into the role of CEO, but usually that is the most important move you need to make for the long term success of your company. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, breaks down how to think about making the transition from being a great founder to being a great CEO! Timestamps for TLDR: 0:35 - Welcome back to the In Demand podcast! 1:25 - The focus for this upcoming season of the show is on being and becoming a be...
Hey! It's been a while...
June 28, 2022 15:20 - 13 minutes - 23.7 MBQuick update from Asia + where this podcast is going next.
Hey! It's been a while...
June 28, 2022 15:20 - 13 minutes - 23.7 MBQuick update from Asia + where this podcast is going next.
EP. 18: Attribution Part I: How to think about attribution and analytics
April 16, 2021 14:50 - 47 minutes - 43.8 MBWhen it comes to marketing, you can’t improve the things you’re not measuring. That is why understanding and knowing how to use and measure your marketing efforts is so important as a founder. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, starts a three part series on analytics and attribution. We start by overviewing the different types of analytics that a SAAS startup is likely to work with (and should be focused on), and then discuss the five key principles to keep i...
EP18: Attribution Part I: How to think about attribution and analytics
April 16, 2021 14:50 - 47 minutes - 43.8 MBWhen it comes to marketing, you can’t improve the things you’re not measuring. That is why understanding and knowing how to use and measure your marketing efforts is so important as a founder. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, starts a three part series on analytics and attribution. We start by overviewing the different types of analytics that a SAAS startup is likely to work with (and should be focused on), and then discuss the five key principles to keep i...
EP. 18: Attribution Part I: How to think about attribution and analytics
April 16, 2021 14:50 - 47 minutes - 43.8 MBWhen it comes to marketing, you can’t improve the things you’re not measuring. That is why understanding and knowing how to use and measure your marketing efforts is so important as a founder. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, starts a three part series on analytics and attribution. We start by overviewing the different types of analytics that a SAAS startup is likely to work with (and should be focused on), and then discuss the five key pri...
EP18: Attribution Part I: How to think about attribution and analytics
April 16, 2021 14:50 - 47 minutes - 43.8 MBWhen it comes to marketing, you can’t improve the things you’re not measuring. That is why understanding and knowing how to use and measure your marketing efforts is so important as a founder. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, starts a three part series on analytics and attribution. We start by overviewing the different types of analytics that a SAAS startup is likely to work with (and should be focused on), and then discuss the five key pri...
EP17: The 3 stages of marketing
March 10, 2021 08:18 - 28 minutes - 23.2 MBIs your marketing great, good, or non-existent? No matter where it is today, it’s important to recognize where you are and what your next steps should be. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, breaks down the three stages of marketing, how to know which stage you're in, and what to do to level up from one stage to the next! The three stages of marketing are: From No Marketing to Some Marketing From Some (or bad) Marketing to Good Marketing From Good Marketin...
EP17: The 3 stages of marketing
March 10, 2021 08:18 - 28 minutes - 23.2 MBIs your marketing great, good, or non-existent? No matter where it is today, it’s important to recognize where you are and what your next steps should be. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, breaks down the three stages of marketing, how to know which stage you're in, and what to do to level up from one stage to the next! The three stages of marketing are: From No Marketing to Some Marketing From Some (or bad) Marketing to Good Marketing F...
EP. 17: The 3 stages of marketing
March 10, 2021 08:00 - 28 minutes - 23.2 MBIs your marketing great, good, or non-existent? No matter where it is today, it’s important to recognize where you are and what your next steps should be. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, breaks down the three stages of marketing, how to know which stage you're in, and what to do to level up from one stage to the next! The three stages of marketing are: From No Marketing to Some Marketing From Some (or bad) Marketing to Good Marketing F...
EP. 17: The 3 stages of marketing
March 10, 2021 08:00 - 28 minutes - 23.2 MBIs your marketing great, good, or non-existent? No matter where it is today, it’s important to recognize where you are and what your next steps should be. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, breaks down the three stages of marketing, how to know which stage you're in, and what to do to level up from one stage to the next! The three stages of marketing are: From No Marketing to Some Marketing From Some (or bad) Marketing to Good Marketing From Good Marketin...
EP16: The 3 stages of growth
March 03, 2021 08:18 - 22 minutes - 21 MBIs your growth strategy working? There are few questions as important. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, walks through the three stages of growth, and the key actions for assessing and planning for improvement from each stage. Understanding where we are at when it comes to growth will help you know where to focus and what next steps make the most sense on your growth journey.
EP16: The 3 stages of growth
March 03, 2021 08:18 - 22 minutes - 21 MBIs your growth strategy working? There are few questions as important. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, walks through the three stages of growth, and the key actions for assessing and planning for improvement from each stage. Understanding where we are at when it comes to growth will help you know where to focus and what next steps make the most sense on your growth journey.
EP. 16: The 3 stages of growth
March 03, 2021 08:00 - 22 minutes - 21 MBIs your growth strategy working? There are few questions as important. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, walks through the three stages of growth, and the key actions for assessing and planning for improvement from each stage. Understanding where we are at when it comes to growth will help you know where to focus and what next steps make the most sense on your growth journey.
EP. 16: The 3 stages of growth
March 03, 2021 08:00 - 22 minutes - 21 MBIs your growth strategy working? There are few questions as important. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, walks through the three stages of growth, and the key actions for assessing and planning for improvement from each stage. Understanding where we are at when it comes to growth will help you know where to focus and what next steps make the most sense on your growth journey.
EP15: How to prioritize your growth ideas
February 24, 2021 08:03 - 28 minutes - 25.9 MBAs a founder, you probably think of new growth ideas everyday. But how many of the ideas do you follow through on? Deciding how to prioritize your growth ideas is the critical first step to implementing them. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, walks through the different frameworks you can use to evaluate your growth ideas and decide which you will prioritize.
EP15: How to prioritize your growth ideas
February 24, 2021 08:03 - 28 minutes - 25.9 MBAs a founder, you probably think of new growth ideas everyday. But how many of the ideas do you follow through on? Deciding how to prioritize your growth ideas is the critical first step to implementing them. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, walks through the different frameworks you can use to evaluate your growth ideas and decide which you will prioritize.
EP. 15: How to prioritize your growth ideas
February 24, 2021 08:03 - 28 minutes - 25.9 MBAs a founder, you probably think of new growth ideas everyday. But how many of the ideas do you follow through on? Deciding how to prioritize your growth ideas is the critical first step to implementing them. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, walks through the different frameworks you can use to evaluate your growth ideas and decide which you will prioritize.
EP. 15: How to prioritize your growth ideas
February 24, 2021 08:03 - 28 minutes - 25.9 MBAs a founder, you probably think of new growth ideas everyday. But how many of the ideas do you follow through on? Deciding how to prioritize your growth ideas is the critical first step to implementing them. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, walks through the different frameworks you can use to evaluate your growth ideas and decide which you will prioritize.
EP14: Can you measure product-market fit?
February 17, 2021 08:10 - 24 minutes - 22.7 MBHow do you know if you have product-market fit? You measure it! In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, breaks down the different ways to think about measuring product-market fit and how to apply it in your SaaS business.
Ep. 14: Can you measure product-market fit?
February 17, 2021 08:10 - 24 minutes - 22.7 MBHow do you know if you have product-market fit? You measure it! In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, breaks down the different ways to think about measuring product-market fit and how to apply it in your SaaS business.
EP14: Can you measure product-market fit?
February 17, 2021 08:10 - 24 minutes - 22.7 MBHow do you know if you have product-market fit? You measure it! In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, breaks down the different ways to think about measuring product-market fit and how to apply it in your SaaS business.
Ep. 14: Can you measure product-market fit?
February 17, 2021 08:10 - 24 minutes - 22.7 MBHow do you know if you have product-market fit? You measure it! In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, breaks down the different ways to think about measuring product-market fit and how to apply it in your SaaS business.
EP13: How product-market fit ACTUALLY works
February 10, 2021 08:18 - 21 minutes - 19.3 MBDoes your business have product-market fit? Are you sure? There can be a lot of grey area when it comes to understanding your business's product-market fit, but with a bit of examination, we can bring clarity to the topic and plot a course for strengthening your products fit with the market. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, breaks down product-market fit and how to think about measuring and improving your own product-market fit as you brin...
EP13: How product-market fit ACTUALLY works
February 10, 2021 08:18 - 21 minutes - 19.3 MBDoes your business have product-market fit? Are you sure? There can be a lot of grey area when it comes to understanding your business's product-market fit, but with a bit of examination, we can bring clarity to the topic and plot a course for strengthening your products fit with the market. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, breaks down product-market fit and how to think about measuring and improving your own product-market fit as you bring to market and g...
Ep. 13: How product-market fit ACTUALLY works
February 10, 2021 08:00 - 21 minutes - 19.3 MBDoes your business have product-market fit? Are you sure? There can be a lot of grey area when it comes to understanding your business's product-market fit, but with a bit of examination, we can bring clarity to the topic and plot a course for strengthening your products fit with the market. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, breaks down product-market fit and how to think about measuring and improving your own product-market fit as you brin...
Ep. 13: How product-market fit ACTUALLY works
February 10, 2021 08:00 - 21 minutes - 19.3 MBDoes your business have product-market fit? Are you sure? There can be a lot of grey area when it comes to understanding your business's product-market fit, but with a bit of examination, we can bring clarity to the topic and plot a course for strengthening your products fit with the market. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, breaks down product-market fit and how to think about measuring and improving your own product-market fit as you bring to market and g...
EP12: How Long Does it Take to See Marketing Results
February 03, 2021 07:00 - 56 minutes - 87.6 MBWhen it comes to measuring marketing nuance is key. For every market, product, and business, the results of marketing have their own specific context. To understand when you should be expecting results from your marketing efforts, you need to understand the context of that work.
EP12: How Long Does it Take to See Marketing Results
February 03, 2021 07:00 - 56 minutes - 87.6 MBWhen it comes to measuring marketing nuance is key. For every market, product, and business, the results of marketing have their own specific context. To understand when you should be expecting results from your marketing efforts, you need to understand the context of that work.
EP11: Why Every Founder Needs a Market Vision
October 26, 2020 15:10 - 27 minutes - 52.9 MBWe all start our businesses for different reasons. For some, it is a personal pain point--a problem that we want to solve for ourselves. For others, it is a person or group that we want to help. No matter how you start as a founder, it is crucial that you find the big why for your business--the reason your business exists.
EP11: Why Every Founder Needs a Market Vision
October 26, 2020 15:10 - 27 minutes - 52.9 MBWe all start our businesses for different reasons. For some, it is a personal pain point--a problem that we want to solve for ourselves. For others, it is a person or group that we want to help. No matter how you start as a founder, it is crucial that you find the big why for your business--the reason your business exists.
EP10: How to Compete in an Overcrowded Market
July 15, 2020 12:35 - 28 minutes - 23 MBIn this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, shares the principles for growing a SaaS company when you are competing in an overcrowded market. At DemandMaven, we just wrapped up a project for a client that was in one of the most competitive markets. While we had some incredible wins, we also had many lessons learned. We distilled those lessons into 6 principles for founders to apply when they are entering a highly competitive market. Dive deeper by reading the fu...
EP10: How to Compete in an Overcrowded Market
July 15, 2020 12:35 - 28 minutes - 23 MBIn this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, shares the principles for growing a SaaS company when you are competing in an overcrowded market. At DemandMaven, we just wrapped up a project for a client that was in one of the most competitive markets. While we had some incredible wins, we also had many lessons learned. We distilled those lessons into 6 principles for founders to apply when they are entering a highly competitive market. Dive deeper ...
EP9: How to Know You Have Product-Market Fit
June 25, 2020 12:01 - 30 minutes - 59.2 MBProduct market fit is often talked about like it is a specific destination. A place you arrive at once and know that you’ve arrived. But the reality of growing a SaaS company is that you may not know if you have product-market fit or if you have it, you may not know how good the fit really is. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio of DemandMaven shares the seven best indicators for when you’ve found product-market fit and how to take action if you haven’t reached them ...