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.

Under the mantle of impact entrepreneurship is the fire of passionate individuals. However, passion alone is not enough; the greatest impact businesses are also financially healthy and leverage traditional go-to-market strategies where appropriate. Speaking with SAAS NORTH, co-founder of impact investment fund Spring, Keith Ippel, shared his view of how impact entrepreneurship can build better businesses.

Studies routinely show that women build amazing companies that deliver for customers and shareholders. Yet women receive a tiny portion of VC funding. Groups like The Firehood aim to solve that problem by investing in women-led companies and helping build stronger connections for up-and-coming founders.

Bringing on new leadership is a tough choice for any startup. But that new leader is also in a tough spot—do they come in guns blazing to overhaul the organization or take a different approach? For Vince Kadar, the decision was to work a little more slowly. Speaking with SAAS NORTH, Vince explained more about his “micro-pivot” strategy and how it helped Polymath turn from almost zero revenue to more profitable growth.