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Services-based startups are often dismissed as unscalable “body shops.” But agencies and consultancies are often where product ideas hatch. Yaw reveals his pro tips for how to identify *which* product ideas are worth building as an agency

Yaw is the cofounder & CEO of Malomo, a shipment tracking app for ecommerce retailers. Malomo helps retailers track millions of shipments around the world. Yaw has been featured as a commerce and customer experience expert in publications like TechCrunch, Business Insider, Forbes, Yahoo, Pitchbook, and others. 

Yaw is also the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pocket Tales. Previously, Yaw was an Orr Fellow and an analyst for investment bank City Securities. He also served with the TechPoint Foundation, whose aim is to increase literacy rates by infusing technology in youth education.

Yaw Aning

Cofounder and CEO of Malomo

Services-based startups are often dismissed as unscalable “body shops.” But agencies and consultancies are often where product ideas hatch. Yaw reveals his pro tips for how to identify *which* product ideas are worth building as an agency.


Yaw Aning (Malomo): Productizing Services

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It takes 3 ingredients to build a software startup in today’s wild market: people, product and growth. Easier said than done. BUILD is here to help by featuring conversations between venture capitalist Blake Bartlett and the smartest folks in software. OpenView is a VC firm that invests in amazing companies like Datadog, Expensify and Calendly. Visit ov.vc for more details.

BUILD with Blake Bartlett

Many SaaS startups are launched out of services companies. Yaw was running an agency building apps, and kept seeing a consistent pain point in his ecommerce clients’ workflows. So he built a SaaS product to address the need, and boom💥, his startup Malomo was born. This is a common founding story, but it’s often underappreciated as an entrepreneurial path. Hear Yaw’s story, and what other services founders can learn from his journey. Key Takeaways:[3:56] Best practices for building products that Yaw has learned as an agency founder and a SaaS founder[11:36] Yaw's path from building products for others to building something of his own[17:25] Validating a solution before building[20:36] A walled garden between Malomo's product and services teams[25:18] The role of services in a SaaS company Mentioned in this episode:<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/newsletter/#.YfRAM-rMIuU" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sign up for OpenView's weekly newsletter</a><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/yawaning/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Yaw Aning, Cofounder and CEO of Malomo</a><a href="https://gomalomo.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Malomo</a>Subscribe to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaVvQTEaCyt2bbkoAh7wPyg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Blake Bartlett on YouTube</a>.&nbsp;Podcast produced by&nbsp;<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView</a>.View our&nbsp;<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/blog" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">blog&nbsp;</a>for more context/inspiration.<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/openview-/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Linkedin</a><a href="https://twitter.com/openviewventure" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Twitter</a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/openviewventure/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Instagram</a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/OpenViewVenture/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Facebook</a>

Many SaaS startups are launched out of services companies. Yaw was running an agency building apps, and kept seeing a consistent pain point in his ecommerce clients’ workflows. So he built a SaaS product to address the need, and boom💥, his startup Malomo was born. This is a common founding story, but it’s often underappreciated as an entrepreneurial path. Hear Yaw’s story, and what other services founders can learn from his journey.


Yaw Aning (Malomo): Services Founder vs. SaaS Founder

Many SaaS startups are launched out of services companies. Yaw was running an agency building apps, and kept seeing a consistent pain point in his ecommerce clients’ workflows. So he built a SaaS product to address the need, and boom, his startup Malomo was born. This is a common founding story, but it’s often underappreciated as an entrepreneurial path. Hear Yaw’s story, and what other services founders can learn from his journey.


A company is only as good as its people. And if a company is growing fast, then it’s only as good as the last hire. CEOs should set the tone by striving to be the top performing recruiter at the company. Key Takeaways:[0:10] "People, culture is the top job for a CEO." Mentioned in this episode:<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/newsletter/#.YfRAM-rMIuU" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sign up for OpenView's weekly newsletter</a><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/pemckay/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Peter McKay, CEO of Snyk</a><a href="https://snyk.io/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Snyk</a>Follow&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakebartlett" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Blake Bartlett on Linkedin</a>.&nbsp;Podcast produced by&nbsp;<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView</a>.View our&nbsp;<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/blog" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">blog&nbsp;</a>for more context/inspiration.<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/openview-/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Linkedin</a><a href="https://twitter.com/openviewventure" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Twitter</a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/openviewventure/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Instagram</a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/OpenViewVenture/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Facebook</a>

As CEO of Snyk, I have the pleasure of leading a worldwide organization that is disrupting the security industry. I love what I do. This may not be something you often hear a CEO say, but it captures my feelings. I get to work with great people all around the world who bring their own skills and passion to their roles. I've been able to learn from them, work with them, and share in our mutual success. 


Peter McKay

CEO of Snyk

A company is only as good as its people. And if a company is growing fast, then it’s only as good as the last hire. CEOs should set the tone by striving to be the top performing recruiter at the company.


Peter McKay (Snyk): The CEO’s #1 Job

Hypergrowth is hard. Sustaining hypergrowth is even harder. Leaders need to constantly bring new talent into the organization to avoid plateaus. The tricky part? New talent almost always entails changing roles for existing team members. Peter says the answer is to embrace the pain of difficult conversations to maintain speed. Key Takeaways:[2:54] What makes hypergrowth hard for a startup leader?[5:48] Anticipating plateaus to guide company success, and answering "What could go wrong?"[9:42] The time to anticipate plateaus is when things are going really well.[13:56] Early indicators of problems, and staying ahead to scale talent with the organization] [17:07] Adding specialized talent rather than replacing people[20:02] How to approach tough conversations[24:51] Choosing the pain of difficult conversation, and the context of delivering bad news[27:32] Understand what you're good at and be proactive in finding talent who can do the things you don't like to do Mentioned in this episode:<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/newsletter/#.YfRAM-rMIuU" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sign up for OpenView's weekly newsletter</a><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/pemckay/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Peter McKay, CEO of Snyk</a><a href="https://snyk.io/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Snyk</a>Follow&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakebartlett" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Blake Bartlett on Linkedin</a>.&nbsp;Podcast produced by&nbsp;<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView</a>.View our&nbsp;<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/blog" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">blog&nbsp;</a>for more context/inspiration.<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/openview-/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Linkedin</a><a href="https://twitter.com/openviewventure" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Twitter</a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/openviewventure/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Instagram</a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/OpenViewVenture/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Facebook</a>

As CEO of Snyk, I have the pleasure of leading a worldwide organization that is disrupting the security industry. I love what I do. This may not be something you often hear a CEO say, but it captures my feelings. I get to work with great people all around the world who bring their own skills and passion to their roles. I've been able to learn from them, work with them, and share in our mutual success. 

There are three basic principles I follow as a leader: 
1. Lead by example. It is important for me to know that others can look to me with confidence that I will do my best across all endeavors. I expect others in my organization to lead by example as well. “Do as I say not as I do” does not cut it.
2. Always be learning and pushing myself. I try never to become complacent or too comfortable. I challenge all our employees to continually learn and seek to improve. 
 3. Take risks and push beyond your comfort levels. If you find yourself too comfortable in your role, and there is no longer any challenge, it’s time to move on. Raise your hand and ask for something new. 

Hypergrowth is hard. Sustaining hypergrowth is even harder. Leaders need to constantly bring new talent into the organization to avoid plateaus. The tricky part? New talent almost always entails changing roles for existing team members. Peter says the answer is to embrace the pain of difficult conversations to maintain speed.


Peter McKay (Snyk): Leading Through Hypergrowth

GPT-3 is a deep learning language model from OpenAI, and it has taken the developer world by storm. May Habib is the Co-Founder and CEO of Writer, an AI writing assistant for teams, and she unpacks what GPT-3 is and why it’s so promising for SaaS companies. Mentioned in this episode:<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/newsletter/#.YfRAM-rMIuU" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sign up for OpenView's weekly newsletter</a><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/may-habib/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Maya Habib, CEO at Writer</a><a href="https://writer.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Writer</a>Follow&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakebartlett" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Blake Bartlett on Linkedin</a>.Podcast produced by&nbsp;<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView</a>.View our&nbsp;<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/blog" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">blog&nbsp;</a>for more context/inspiration.<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/openview-/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Linkedin</a><a href="https://twitter.com/openviewventure" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Twitter</a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/openviewventure/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Instagram</a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/OpenViewVenture/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Facebook</a>

I am the co-founder and CEO of Writer. Before founding Writer, I was a vice president at one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, where I was the first employee on the technology investment team, building a portfolio now worth over $20B. I started my career in the New York office of Lehman Brothers, where I helped US software companies raise capital. I earned an AB degree in Economics and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University, where I was Associate Managing Editor of The Harvard Crimson. 

May Habib

Co-founder and CEO at Writer

GPT-3 is a deep learning language model from OpenAI, and it has taken the developer world by storm. May Habib is the Co-Founder and CEO of Writer, an AI writing assistant for teams, and she unpacks what GPT-3 is and why it’s so promising for SaaS companies.


May Habib (Writer): AI Primer on GPT-3

Founders often obsess over product, and for good reason. It’s hard to have a good business with a terrible product. May Habib argues that is only half the solution for founders. It’s equally important to obsess over product distribution. After all, it’s hard to achieve and maintain hypergrowth with terrible distribution. Mentioned in this episode:<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/newsletter/#.YfRAM-rMIuU" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sign up for OpenView's weekly newsletter</a><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/may-habib/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Maya Habib, CEO at Writer</a><a href="https://writer.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Writer</a>Follow&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakebartlett" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Blake Bartlett on Linkedin</a>.Podcast produced by&nbsp;<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView</a>.View our&nbsp;<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/blog" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">blog&nbsp;</a>for more context/inspiration.<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/openview-/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Linkedin</a><a href="https://twitter.com/openviewventure" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Twitter</a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/openviewventure/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Instagram</a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/OpenViewVenture/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Facebook</a>

Founders often obsess over product, and for good reason. It’s hard to have a good business with a terrible product. May Habib argues that is only half the solution for founders. It’s equally important to obsess over product distribution. After all, it’s hard to achieve and maintain hypergrowth with terrible distribution.


May Habib (Writer): Why Founders Should Focus on Distribution

PLG companies are raising larger rounds than ever, at higher prices than ever. Seeing this prompts two BIG questions. Why is this happening? What are these companies going to do with all that cash? Alex works directly with these companies and their GTM teams, and tells us what he has been seeing. To hear this interview and more like it, subscribe on&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-with-blake-bartlett/id1356321172" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/0sNdBa0Na1r675cHzhQJPz?si=b33bbdcf2c0744a2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, our&nbsp;<a href="https://podcast.openviewpartners.com/public/32/OV-%7C-BUILD-21cbd466" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">website</a>, or search for BUILD with Blake Bartlett in your favorite podcast player. Mentioned in this episode:<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/newsletter/#.YfRAM-rMIuU" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sign up for OpenView's weekly newsletter</a><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bilmes/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Alex Bilmes, Founder and CEO at Endgame</a><a href="https://www.endgame.io/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Endgame</a>Follow&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakebartlett" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Blake Bartlett on Linkedin</a>.Podcast produced by&nbsp;<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView</a>.View our&nbsp;<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/blog" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">blog&nbsp;</a>for more context/inspiration.<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/openview-/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Linkedin</a><a href="https://twitter.com/openviewventure" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Twitter</a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/openviewventure/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Instagram</a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/OpenViewVenture/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Facebook</a>

Alex Bilmes is the Founder and CEO of Endgame, a tool that lets you connect the dots between user behavior and sales opportunities, without expensive data scientists or engineers. He previously founded Reflect Technologies before it was acquired by Puppet, and has worked at Lucid Labs, Cloudability, and Cube Dev.

Alex Bilmes

Founder and CEO, Endgame

PLG companies are raising larger rounds than ever, at higher prices than ever. Seeing this prompts two BIG questions. Why is this happening? What are these companies going to do with all that cash? Alex works directly with these companies and their GTM teams, and tells us what he has been seeing.

To hear this interview and more like it, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, our website, or search for BUILD with Blake Bartlett in your favorite podcast player.


Alex Bilmes (Endgame): The PLG Funding Boom Explained

Product-led sales is selling to companies that already use your product. How hard can that be? Very hard, it turns out. PLG companies need to think about sales in a fundamentally different way in order to succeed. Alex has dedicated his career to solving this problem, and he shares his expertise with us. To hear this interview and more like it, subscribe on&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-with-blake-bartlett/id1356321172" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/0sNdBa0Na1r675cHzhQJPz?si=b33bbdcf2c0744a2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, our&nbsp;<a href="https://podcast.openviewpartners.com/public/32/OV-%7C-BUILD-21cbd466" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">website</a>, or search for BUILD with Blake Bartlett in your favorite podcast player. Mentioned in this episode:<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/newsletter/#.YfRAM-rMIuU" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sign up for OpenView's weekly newsletter</a><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bilmes/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Alex Bilmes, Founder and CEO at Endgame</a><a href="https://www.endgame.io" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Endgame</a>Follow&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakebartlett" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Blake Bartlett on Linkedin</a>.Podcast produced by&nbsp;<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView</a>.View our&nbsp;<a href="https://openviewpartners.com/blog" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">blog&nbsp;</a>for more context/inspiration.<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/openview-/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Linkedin</a><a href="https://twitter.com/openviewventure" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Twitter</a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/openviewventure/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Instagram</a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/OpenViewVenture/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OpenView on Facebook</a>

Product-led sales is selling to companies that already use your product. How hard can that be? Very hard, it turns out. PLG companies need to think about sales in a fundamentally different way in order to succeed. Alex has dedicated his career to solving this problem, and he shares his expertise with us. To hear this interview and more like it, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, our website, or search for BUILD with Blake Bartlett in your favorite podcast player.


Alex Bilmes (Endgame): Product-Led Sales

Product-led sales is selling to companies that already use your product. How hard can that be? Very hard, it turns out. PLG companies need to think about sales in a fundamentally different way in order to succeed. Alex has dedicated his career to solving this problem, and he shares his expertise with us.

To hear this interview and more like it, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, our website, or search for BUILD with Blake Bartlett in your favorite podcast player.


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