In this episode, we interview payments veteran Lindsay Walker about her thoughts around what it takes to build a global payment offering that players will love. Lindsay shares her thoughts on what good looks like, what really matters when it comes to local payment methods, and how you can think about your payment strategy based on the kinds of games you're making.

If direct payments outside of app stores or marketplaces is a new topic for you, and you're wondering how you'll take full advantage of the new trends in D2C, don't miss this episode of Growth Stage. Watch or listen now!

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance — enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

In this special live recording from GamesBeat Next, FastSpring CMO David Vogelpohl sits down with gaming veteran Mike DeLaet of Ares Interactive to break down the mechanics of steering. They discuss anonymized but real-world examples of in-game steering for games currently live in the app stores, offering a rare look at what other publishers are doing to successfully (and safely) leverage D2C strategies.

If you’re looking for actionable insights to inform your own steering strategy and drive more revenue to your web store, don’t miss this episode of Growth Stage. Watch / Listen now!

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance — enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

In this episode, we sit down with Rachel Harding, Senior Director of Tax at FastSpring, to demystify the complex world of digital goods taxation. Rachel breaks down exactly what developers need to know about selling skins, battle passes, and currencies globally—without needing a finance degree. Tune in to learn how to navigate the biggest compliance risks and keep your studio focused on what matters most: making great games.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance — enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

In this episode of Growth Stage, we interview Elina Arponen the CEO of Quicksave about her thoughts on why playable/interactive ads are so compelling, what makes them so hard to produce, how creative teams can accelerate production, and other insights into how WebGL is revolutionizing ad production, publisher websites, web stores, and beyond.

If you're wondering how you'll scale compelling player and user experiences across UA, your website, and your games or apps, don't miss this episode of Growth Stage. Watch / Listen now!

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance — enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

In this episode of Growth Stage, we interview Caleb Brown of X-Team, a provider of technology talent as a service for top game publishers, about his thoughts around the drivers behind the rise of web experiences in gaming, the key challenges of building an innovative web team from scratch, and how top game publishers & studios are approaching building out their own innovative web teams.

If you're wondering how you'll develop your own web strategy to take advantage of this historic opportunity, don't miss this episode of Growth Stage. Watch or listen now!

00:00 Introduction to the Rise of Web in Gaming
07:32 Understanding X-Team and Its Role
14:18 The Shift Towards Direct-to-Consumer Models
15:51 Building Innovative Web Teams
27:43 The Product vs. Marketing Dynamic

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance — enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

In this episode of Growth Stage we interview Chip Thurston, Head of Gaming at FastSpring and former monetization leader at Scopely and SciPlay, about his thoughts around how pricing and packaging strategies differ in-game vs. on a web store, what are the top considerations, the role of creators in driving web store value, and how to strike the right balance in rewarding players and increasing your profits.

If you're scratching your head wondering what the best pricing and packaging strategies are for your game and web store, don't miss this episode of Growth Stage. Watch or listen now!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

00:00 Introduction to Pricing and Packaging Strategies
05:12 Understanding Game Economy and Player Empathy
09:54 Direct-to-Consumer: Web Store vs. App Store
15:09 Balancing Player Choices and Monetization
20:13 The Role of Creators in Driving Web Store Traffic
25:07 Attribution and Incremental Purchases
30:04 Key Takeaways for Web Store Success

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance — enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

Email marketing is often hailed as the highest-ROI channel — especially for SaaS and digital product companies. But what happens when your emails don’t even make it to the inbox?

In this episode of Growth Stage, we speak with Hank Hoffmeier, email deliverability evangelist at Kickbox, about how authentication, verification, and deliverability impact your bottom line. Listen to learn:

• Why deliverability is no longer a “set it and forget it” process.
• How to fix common mistakes that are silently killing your campaigns.

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for SaaS and software, FastSpring lets you reduce your payments, subscriptions, entitlements, fulfillment, and tax management stack down to one. We manage all the hard parts of transacting globally, allowing you to focus on moving your business farther, faster.

• (00:00) - Intro
• (03:07) - Recent major changes in email marketing
• (07:10) - Important email marketing terminology and tools
• (14:30) - Key times to reverify or reauthenticate your email settings and tools
• (16:28) - How open rate validity has changed
• (20:50) - List hygiene
• (24:47) - How mobile apps and AI are affecting opens
• (26:47) - Long-form content in emails
• (29:10) - Regulatory changes and “permission marketing”
• (34:26) - One thing Hank would fix for all SaaS and digital companies’ email programs
• (35:19) - Special offer from Kickbox for listeners

With 25+ years of experience spanning Comcast, Fiserv, and Digital River, Jeremy has seen it all — from brazen carding attacks to operationally overwhelming waves of chargebacks. In this discussion, he breaks down how fraudsters operate, the costly mistakes companies make, and what you can do to stay ahead.

Listen for the full insights into:

• Why carding and account takeover attacks remain the most common (and expensive) threats to payment systems.
• How overlooking small data anomalies — like approval rates by BIN — can cost companies hundreds of thousands in decline fees.
• Why payment fraud isn’t just about fines, but also reputational risk, operational overload, and long-term damage to approval rates.

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance — enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

Knowing what really makes a company succeed long term can be even harder.

That’s why it can be helpful to learn from companies that have stood the test of time.

In this episode of Growth Stage, we celebrate FastSpring’s 20th anniversary with insights from its first CEO, Dan Engel, and current CEO, David Nachman. They share:

• What has helped FastSpring thrive for two decades.
• What mistakes to avoid when building your own business.
• What it really takes to build something that lasts.

Whether you’re planning to exit in two years or fifty, take a moment to step back and think about the long term future of your business. Watch or listen now!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for SaaS and software, FastSpring lets you reduce your payments, subscriptions, entitlements, fulfillment, and tax management stack down to one. We manage all the hard parts of transacting globally, allowing you to focus on moving your business farther, faster.

Amber Hinds is the founder and CEO of Equalize Digital, a mission-driven agency focused on digital accessibility. As the creator of the Accessibility Checker plugin for WordPress and lead organizer of the WordPress Accessibility Meetup, Amber is at the forefront of helping companies make their websites and SaaS products usable for everyone — including people who are blind, deaf, or have mobility or cognitive impairments.

In this episode, Amber shares the real-world implications of accessibility, how it intersects with SEO and compliance, and what companies can do right now to improve usability for all.

To learn more about how accessibility impacts business growth, listen for the full insights into:

•  Why accessibility improvements often lead to better SEO, lower bounce rates, and higher conversions
•  What global regulations like the European Accessibility Act mean for SaaS and ecommerce companies
•  How to start testing your website or product today — using free tools, real users, or expert audits

To hear all this and more about making the web work for everyone, listen now!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

00:00 Introduction to Accessibility and Equalize Digital
03:05 Understanding Website Accessibility
05:58 The Importance of Accessibility
08:56 Legal Implications of Accessibility
11:45 Barriers to Implementing Accessibility
14:55 Human Testing vs. Machine Testing
17:48 User Testing and Accessibility Feedback
24:57 Effective User Testing for Accessibility
28:32 The Importance of Accessibility in Software Development
32:29 Examples of Accessibility Best Practices
38:42 Getting Started With Accessibility Improvements

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

Your personal brand is more than a polished LinkedIn profile — it’s how you stand out, connect with customers, and build long-term credibility as a founder or executive. But how do you create an authentic personal brand that actually works?

In this episode of Growth Stage, we talk with Rachel Gogos — Founder and CEO of brandiD — about her SOULiD framework and how digital business leaders can craft a brand that reflects who they truly are, while supporting their business goals.

Rachel shares:

• What makes up a strong personal brand (and why every founder already has one).
• How personal branding boosts clarity, confidence, and even company resilience.
• Practical ways SaaS leaders can uncover and express their unique identity.
• Mistakes to avoid (like overusing AI or oversharing on social media).
• Why consistency matters more than perfection.

If you're a founder, executive, or thought leader looking to stand out and connect with the right audience — without turning into a personal branding cliché — this episode is for you. Listen now!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

If you're looking for one of the fastest ways to launch your D2C channel, you may be interested in hearing more about the incredibly easy-to-implement solution offered through a partnership with D2C payment platform FastSpring and creator program in a box provider Nexus.

In this episode of Growth Stage, we interview CEO of Nexus Justin Sacks about his thoughts on:

• The core challenges the partnership was established to address.
• How the integration works.
• Exactly how publishers can use FastSpring + Nexus to quickly launch a successful D2C channel.

If you're sitting on your hands worried that launching D2C has to be a massively disruptive project, you may be surprised what is possible for you and your players. Listen now!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

When the first oeksound plugin, Soothe, was created in 2016, creator Olli Keskinen and his friend Hannes Andersson were studying music technology to become recording engineers. And as Hannes puts it, they weren’t in the plugin industry or experienced with software ecommerce when Olli’s plugin quickly became popular, thanks to a simple post on a popular online audio forum. 

Today, oeksound is a global software company in the audio and video space, with their plugins used by some hugely recognizable names in the music industry.

To learn more about how they did it, listen for the full insights into:

• How oeksound’s pricing and trial options make their products more accessible to more users.
• Why the user experience and user feedback is so important for improving and marketing plugins.
• Why a frictionless purchase process is such a key focus for oeksound to continue expanding their sales.

To hear all this and more about oeksound’s experience with taking their plugin business global, listen now!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

If you're running a smaller digital business, you may find it challenging to hire great talent. Larger technology companies can pay more, offer more benefits, and provide a more marketable brand on a candidate's resume. So how are smaller companies supposed to compete with large brands for the best talent?

In this episode of Growth Stage, we interview Lizzie Mintus — Founder and CEO of Here's Waldo Recruiting and host of The Here’s Waldo Podcast — about her thoughts on:

• The most effective recruiting strategies for SMBs.
• How to leverage community involvement and content to punch above your weight.
• Insights on why the best candidates say “YES!” to working for smaller brands.

If you're facing challenges winning the best candidates for your roles, or if you have a small number of roles and every hire really matters, then don't miss this episode of Growth Stage. Listen now!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

If you own a SaaS or other digital product business — such as a Slack plugin, Chrome extension, online publishing business, mobile app, or even a blog — and you’re looking to exit, you may have a lot of questions about how best to go about it.

In this episode of Growth Stage, we interview Flippa CEO Blake Hutchison about how Flippa works, as well as insights on what you should know if you're a digital business owner looking to sell your business.

Listen for the full insights into:

• How Flippa.com works to connect for-sale businesses with buyers while managing the complexities of valuation and seller expectations.
• Advice on how SaaS or digital product company owners can prepare for a successful exit, including financial hygiene and knowing what the right time to sell looks like for themselves.
• How selling an investment business is very different from getting VC funding.

If it’s time to sell your SaaS, app, or other digital product business, listen to this episode of Growth Stage now!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

With changes to legislation in the EU and lawsuits in the U.S., the future of monetizing your game direct to consumer looks brighter than ever. That said, you might be wondering what strategies work within the confines of today's rules and if it's even possible to earn 50% or more of your game's revenue through D2C.

In this episode of Growth Stage, we interview gaming D2C and creator marketing expert Justin Sacks of Nexus about his thoughts on:

• What winning strategies AAA and AA publishers use for D2C in mobile.
• Why these strategies actually can result in >50% revenue coming from D2C.
• How you can pursue these strategies to drive more profitability for your games, while developing a more meaningful relationship with your players.

If you're wondering how to exponentially grow your profits and deliver a better experience for your players, listen to this episode of Growth Stage now!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

As you work to expand your SaaS, software, mobile games, or other digital product business worldwide, having the right payment methods available to global customers is key to ensuring they all feel comfortable purchasing. But just knowing which payment methods you need to offer in each region can get really complicated really quickly, let alone how to implement them. 

In this episode of Growth Stage, we interview Sudipto Manna of FastSpring about: 

• How to unlock global growth by leveraging payment methods.
• Some of the payment methods that are important for key geographies, and why those payment methods are so important to local shoppers.
• How FastSpring is supporting digital product and gaming companies with these methods.

If you want to offer more payment methods around the world, don’t miss this episode of Growth Stage. Listen now!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

If your business is based in the APAC region and you’re focused on expanding into new areas, there are a lot of common challenges to face and questions to ask about the best way to do that. 

On this episode of Growth Stage, we interview Jay Jia, FastSpring Senior Account Executive, about his insights into:

• Tips on expanding a digital goods company in Asia.
• Current market trends in Asia that can affect expansion and the challenges associated with those market trends.
• The payments landscape and how it affects businesses trying to grow in Asia.

If you’re not sure how to kickstart growth for your digital products or software business in Asia, listen now!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

Is your product marketing team struggling to coordinate marketing resources to support an endless stream of product launches, with vague release dates and a chorus of product managers demanding tons of marketing attention for each release? What if there were a better way?

In this episode of Growth Stage, we interview Braden Steel, Sr. Product Marketing Manager at FastSpring, to discuss his thoughts on what is wrong with traditional product marketing and how FastSpring is using quarterly thematic product launches to:

• Give the best best attention to all product releases.
• Tell an overarching product story where the whole is more valuable than the sum of its parts.
• Help marketing be planful and thoughtful so they can provide their best work for product releases.

If you’re running yourself ragged with over-active product roadmaps, endless “t-shirt” sizing for agile project estimations, slipping product release dates, or being worried about letting your product managers down, it may be time to consider thematic product releases. Learn how in this episode of Growth Stage. Listen now!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

With so many marketing channels to manage to promote your game, combined with the complexity of monetizing your games on multiple platforms, in PC marketplaces, or even D2C via your own webshop, your head might be spinning keeping up with where to focus your efforts.

In this episode of Growth Stage, we interview Adam Lieb of Gamesight about his thoughts on:

• Why video game marketing is so complex.
• What KPI can help you cut through the noise.
• Key strategies for interpreting your KPI over time.

If you're wondering how to focus your team where it matters the most, don't miss this episode of Growth Stage. Listen now!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

The most common examples of successful CRO tactics provided at many conferences tend to focus on B2C ecommerce, but what are the proven winning tactics you can use in your B2B CRO strategy?

In this episode of Growth Stage, we interview Sahil Patel of Spiralyze about his thoughts on: 

• Special considerations for B2B CRO.
• The best way to think about your B2B test data approach.
• Winning strategies Sahil has found helping clients like BambooHR, Okta, and Harvest with their B2B CRO. 

If you're scratching your head wondering what you'll test next with your B2B CRO strategy, don't miss this episode. Listen now!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

Affiliate marketing can be a great growth lever to scale your digital product business, but how can you drive meaningful growth with the right affiliates without losing out to fraud or shady attribution schemes?

In this episode of Growth Stage, we interview affiliate marketing veteran and attribution animal Adam Riemer of Adam Riemer Marketing about his thoughts on: 

• What proper affiliate marketing looks like.
• How to weed out fraudsters & shady attribution affiliates.
• How to go about recruiting the RIGHT affiliates to help drive meaningful growth in your business.

If you've set up an affiliate program and don't know what to do next, or you're looking for tips on how to tame your existing affiliate program, don't miss this episode of Growth Stage. Listen now!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

Traditional marketing playbooks are falling short in the SaaS world, but while many marketers privately acknowledge the ineffectiveness of these playbooks, they are still hesitant to discuss it publicly. Far too often, too much time is spent implementing copy-and-paste versions of existing marketing playbooks, and not enough time is spent on creating new playbooks that are unique to your company and fueled by research that makes you stand out.

• Analytics and attribution are becoming harder and harder.
• It’s easy to look at competition and do the same thing they’ve done, but then you’re always playing catchup.
• Large companies are eating up the majority of the consideration data set, with high intent, in traditional channels.
• The landscape is getting more and more crowded, and great marketing is really hard and takes time.

Plus, while many marketing leaders have the career stability and influencer clout to try risky things without risking their jobs, the people at the bottom who are actually doing the work don’t have that advantage — and they’re the ones who are often held responsible for metrics and success numbers. So how do marketers break out of the cycle of always sticking to the safest playbooks when if they aren’t working as well as they used to?

In this episode of Growth Stage, Fred Linfjärd interviews Podia Senior Growth Marketer Marc Thomas about:

• Why not enough marketers are talking about the failure of the same old playbooks.
• Why it’s become so hard to market (and measure marketing efforts) for software and SaaS products.
• Marc’s RINse and Repeat framework that helps marketers Relate to customers, Ideate novel and innovative marketing strategies, and Narrate the impact of their marketing to leadership.
• Examples of innovative, unique marketing strategies that Marc and his team have had success with. 
• And so much more!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

If you're selling your software, plugin, add-on, or other digital product for a one-time fee, you’re likely thinking about switching to a recurring subscription model. While the financial reasons are strong to switch to subscriptions, your path to roll out this massive change to your business is filled with peril. Will your existing users revolt to the change and switch to a new product? Will your subscriptions renew at a high enough rate to counteract a reduction in one-time sales? How do you even roll this out?

In this episode of Growth Stage, we interview Fred Linfjärd of Planday about his experiences switching from a one-time billing model to subscriptions. Fred shares his thoughts on: 

• Why digital product companies should embrace subscriptions.
• How to justify the switch to your customer base.
• Avoiding the worst of community blowback.
• Must-do tactics for your rollout plan.

As a bonus, our host David Vogelpohl also has experience moving massively popular digital products from one-time fees to subscriptions, so this interview is full of hard-learned insights you can use to find success in your own rollout of subscriptions.

Whether you're considering switching to subscriptions or are in the middle of switching, don't miss this chance to learn insider tips on how to make this transition successful for your business. Listen or watch now!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

In this episode of Growth Stage, we interview John Eitel of Demandbase about his adventures solving exponential growth puzzles within organizations like Canva and others using both PLG and sales-led growth motions. John shares his thoughts on: 

• The financial benefit of focusing on both.
• The common struggles organizations face when pursuing both PLG and sales led growth.
• What success looks like for using both together.
• Specific tactics you can use to drive value out of both sides of your growth funnel.

If you're struggling with how to use PLG and sales led growth together, don't miss this episode of Growth Stage. Listen now!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

In this episode of Growth Stage, we interview Todd Harris of Skillshot and Ghost Gaming fame about his thoughts on:

• Why marketplaces can be a difficult way to attract new players.
• How to cost effectively leverage video game influencers in order to get access to existing player audiences.
• Clever ways to approach digital advertising in your game marketing.
• How to use live events and live-streaming to attract huge audiences of new players.

If you're wondering how you'll reach a critical mass of new players for your game, or if you're looking to grow your existing community in new and creative ways, don't miss this episode of Growth Stage. Listen now!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

In this episode of Growth Stage, host David Vogelpohl interviews Jake Dipple, Head of Customer Success at Sideways6, about his thoughts on:

• What Customer Success is at a high level.
• How CS impacts your ARR, product value, and marketing.
• And much more!  

Jake also shares unconventional tips for driving customer success that can boost the LOVE your customers have for your product and your company.

If your CS strategy starts and stops with good support, it's time to think about how full funnel Customer Success can help you move your business forward faster. Listen now!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

As you build out your software, SaaS, or digital product business, you may be wondering what form your eventual exit might take. One potential exit is that your company is acquired by a competitor or brand with complimentary technology in your space — but what do brands look for with these types of acquisitions, and how might that affect how you operate, grow, and set the direction of innovation within your business?

In this episode of Growth Stage, co-host David Vogelpohl interviews Carl Hargreaves of WP Engine’s corporate development and strategic partnerships team about his experience running acquisitions of SMB software businesses, including:

• His thoughts on what makes a software company a good target for an acquisition by a brand.
• What factors beyond financials makes a target even more valuable.
• Common operational pitfalls founders should avoid that can make acquisitions more difficult.
• How you should think about building a sellable business.

If you're looking for insights on how to get the most of your eventual exit, don't miss this episode of Growth Stage. Listen now!

Transcript available on the FastSpring blog.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

Listen for the full insights into:

• Why SaaS and subscription businesses especially need to consider the entire customer relationship when optimizing the sales funnel.
• Two key research and testing techniques that can capture valuable info quickly.
• Why it’s worth taking some of the harder steps to optimize your sales funnel, because it can get the biggest results.

Transcript available here.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

• Why partnerships are key for building out your positioning.
• Why launching with a robust offering won out over launching early with only a few features.
• Why it's important to prioritize some users' feedback over others.

Transcript available here.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

• Why metrics often don’t add up.
• What happens when there’s not a single source of truth.
• Why you should be skeptical about internal data.
• When you need a data scientist to help you (and when you don’t).

Transcript available here.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

EJ spoke to Richard Grisham, past COO of Out of the Park and current Director of Business Development at Com2Us — a Korean development company that acquired Out of the Park in 2020.

Stream their conversation below for insights into:

• How to successfully roll out a localized version of a game
• Running “micro-campaigns” for better ROI on your global marketing efforts
• Cultivating brand ambassadors and future employees from your user base.

Full transcript available here.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

Ryan and his team noticed so many inefficiencies across the L&D workflows. “It got us thinking: Why is there no purpose-built operating system for corporate learning and development teams, when their jobs are so strategic to the business, and they're managing massive budgets, but they can’t track things like ROI?”

Ryan called it a light bulb moment out of which the idea for Cognota was born. Founded in 2019, Cognota is the first and only LearnOps platform for corporate learning and development teams. There are now over 150 enterprise companies using the platform.

EJ spoke to Ryan about how Ryan and his team created a new enterprise ops category: LearnOps. He also shares insights about how Cognota is maintaining ownership over the category they created while encouraging dialogue and collaboration in the market.

Full transcript available here.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

Andrew is the founder and CEO of AdPipe, a SaaS platform that repurposes and repackages your existing videos into custom bite-sized content for any channel. 

EJ spoke to Andrew about what he calls the “great underutilization of content” and how it’s connected to his company. Listen for Andrew’s advice on portraying a company’s value and culture through video, reusing pre-existing content, and what trends he’s seeing in the world of video marketing.

Transcript for this episode is available here.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

This perspective is why at least four employees have been with the company since the beginning.

In 2006, founded iOSXpert — now the largest partner of the Mac-based CRM and project management software Daylite. And for the past 17 years, Alf has grown the company without any external funding and maintained a strong employee retention rate.

Our former Director of Content and Community spoke to Alf about managing a happy team, how he’s grown his company without external funding, the history of developing in the Mac ecosystem, and running a consulting and software business.

Transcript for this episode is available here.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

And she often saw deals fall apart.

“I kid you not, nine times out of 10, when a SaaS acquisition fell apart, it was a sales tax issue,” she told me.

Tax non-compliance can unravel an acquisition or result in million-dollar price adjustments.

Another time tax non-compliance can cause major issues? When you’re preparing an IPO. “That stuff will get picked up 100% on due diligence, so you want to clean it up now.”

This episode contains insights into VAT, GST, and sales tax compliance for SaaS companies, including:

• Five countries that recently passed tax regulations that impact SaaS companies.
• How tax liabilities can vary for B2B and B2C purchases in different areas of the world.
• How the statute of limitations works differently in each state in the US — and how that could affect your business financially.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

Needless to say, Michael knows a thing or two about helping software and big tech manage their global marketing presence. EJ interviewed Michael about successful global marketing strategies.

Full transcript for this episode.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

They covered:

• An iterative approach to localizing marketing efforts
• A step-by-step guide to looking for regional growth opportunities
• How to use insights from our 2022 Emerging Customer Markets report
• Finding regional marketing and localization partners

Transcript for this episode.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

Transcript of this episode.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

He discusses the difference between voluntary and involuntary churn, how to build and scale an automated churn reduction engine, and more.

Transcript for this episode.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.

Transcript for this episode.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.