Raising a Seed round is an exciting time because an investor is taking a bet on you. But it’s also a time for maturity and evolution. Janet Bannister, founder and Managing Partner of Staircase Ventures, has seen around this corner many times as an investor for over a decade. Speaking with SAAS NORTH, Janet explained the four things founders will need to put in place immediately after raising a Seed round.

Evolving from a scrappy bootstrapped startup to a VC-funded business requires a lot of change. Kaylee Lieffers, founder of private labelling beauty SaaS platform Blanka, knows this well after raising a $2.7 million Seed round in 2023. Speaking with SAAS NORTH, Kaylee shared three key ways the business has matured since the raise.

Growing with marketing is something every founder will tell you they want, but few actually accomplish. Shiv Narayanan is on a mission to change this with his company How to SaaS. Speaking with SAAS NORTH, Shiv shared his framework for how he helps companies scale revenues with marketing.

Growing a business to tens of millions in revenue is incredibly difficult. Doing it with novel (and sometimes unproven) technology like GenAI is even harder. But that’s what Glean—an AI assistant for enterprises—has done in just a few short years. Speaking with INNOVATEwest, Dan Fergusson, Glean’s Head of International Business, explained more about the company’s journey from MVP to $40+ million in revenue.

Building a global company can be messy, and sometimes the things you have to do take you off track from the things you want to do. But that doesn’t mean you can’t leverage those circumstances for your benefit; just ask Andrew McLeod, co-founder and CEO of identity verification provider Certn. Speaking with INNOVATEwest, Andrew shared more about how he approached go-to-market in the early days with fierce practicality—and how he’s bringing the company vision into the future.

Few entrepreneurs have built a personal brand like Neil Patel. He’s one of the foremost voices in SEO and content-led growth—a voice and brand he’s turned into a multimillion dollar company with agency services, various SaaS tools, and more. Speaking with SAAS NORTH ahead of his keynote address at the 2024 conference, Neil shared four growth tips for SaaS founders.

Product-market fit is the first major business milestone in an early startup’s journey. But it’s also a unique moment for every company, making it hard to specifically define. Speaking with SAAS NORTH, serial entrepreneur turned venture capitalist Pablo Srugo explained how to spot when you’ve got product-market fit and how to accelerate your startup’s journey toward it.

Great ideas are wonderful—but they only become businesses if someone wants what you’re building and is willing to pay. That’s why validation is so crucial; many amazing ideas in theory don’t work out to strong business concepts. Speaking with SAAS NORTH, Dallas Price—an idea validation expert through his role managing idea validation at Forum Venture Studio—shared the framework he uses that any idea-stage founder can leverage.

A startup’s primary advantage over enterprise incumbents is speed. You can be far more nimble and get things done more quickly—but only if you have a high-performing team. Speaking with SAAS NORTH, Michelle Brooks, Chief People & Culture Officer at Security Compass, explained her business-first framework for building teams that get sh*t done.