The SaaS Podcast - Building SaaS in the AI Era
Omer Khan
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Pendo: From Two Failed Startups to $200M ARR SaaS Success
Todd Olson went from two failed startups to building Pendo, a SaaS platform now generating $200M ARR with 880 employees and nearly $500M raised. In this episode, early-stage B2B SaaS founders will learn how an obsession with product-market fit turned past failures into a unicorn. Todd reveals why he refused to hire salespeople until he validated the sales motion himself (at $500k ARR), how he used manual outreach instead of inbound to create a new category, and the controversial pricing decision—raising the minimum from $99 to $1,000 overnight—that changed the company's trajectory forever. In this episode, Todd also explains how building "Auto-Track" gave them an unfair advantage over competitors like Segment, why "Product-Led Growth" failed them early on, and the specific metrics he used to validate fit before scaling. This episode is brought to you by: 💖 Gearheart → Book a free strategy session + get 20% off select services 📫 Mailtrap → Get 20% off with code THESAASPODCAST 🔑 Key Lessons 💡 Finding Product-Market Fit: Why Todd refused to scale until he had undeniable fit, unlike his first two startups. 💰 The 10x Price Hike: How raising the minimum price from $99/mo to $1,000/mo filtered out bad customers and accelerated growth. 🤝 Founder-Led Sales: Why Todd personally sold the first $500k in ARR before hiring a single salesperson. 🏗️ Building the MVP: How Pendo launched with critical features (Auto-Track) that competitors like Segment ignored for years. 🚀 Category Creation: The challenge of selling a product nobody was searching for and why "Product-Led Growth" didn't work early on. 📖 Chapters Introduction & Favorite Quote What is Pendo? Product Overview Company Metrics Todd’s Early Coding Career First Startup Failure & Lessons Missing Product-Market Fit Inspiration for Pendo Building the First Product Landing First Customers First Paying Customer Pricing Evolution Hardest Challenges Scaling Lightning Round 💌 Get weekly 5-minute SaaS insights: https://saasclub.io/email SaaS Club Programs Join the SaaS Club founder community: https://saasclub.co/plus Build your $10K MRR SaaS: https://saasclub.io/launch Scale from 6-figures to $1M ARR Faster: https://saasclub.io/mastermind Resources Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/451 Subscribe to the podcast: https://saasclub.io/subscribe
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