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Selling the CloudAuthor: Mark Petruzzi, KK Anderson, Paul Melchiorre
Selling the Cloud delves into the stories of C-suite veterans in Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, and RevOps, revealing the secrets behind building successful SaaS empires. Each episode features seasoned leaders who walk through their career journeys, sharing the wins and lessons learned along the way. From mastering customer acquisition to leveraging AI-powered marketing and sales strategies, our guests provide actionable insights for driving growth and business success in the B2B SaaS space.Guided by a powerhouse team of co-hosts, including Mark Petruzzi, Paul Melchiorre, and Kristin "KK" Anderson, Selling the Cloud offers a front-row seat to the evolving world of Go-To-Market strategies. This podcast extends the insights from the best-selling books "Selling the Cloud" and "Data and Diagnosis-driven Selling", co-authored by Mark Petruzzi and Paul Melchiorre, making it your go-to source for the latest trends and practical tips in SaaS excellence. Language: en Genres: Business, Management, Technology Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Ep. 108 - Scaling the Right Way: Product Market Fit, Retention, and Go to Market Readiness with Mark Roberge - Part 1
Episode 108
Tuesday, 6 January, 2026
In this episode of Selling the Cloud, Mark Petruzzi and KK Anderson sit down with Mark Roberge, founding CRO at HubSpot and author of The Sales Acceleration Formula, to unpack why most companies scale at the wrong time and with the wrong signals. Mark introduces a stage-specific, data-driven framework for moving from product market fit to go to market fit, and explains why managing to readiness and retention beats chasing top-line revenue alone.Mark breaks down how founders and boards get trapped copying outdated playbooks, why product market fit is often misunderstood, and how to define it through value realization, not just revenue. He also shares a practical approach for finding a leading indicator of retention, then translating unit economics into clear operating KPIs that make scaling repeatable, profitable, and measurable.What You’ll Learn:Why scaling “scientifically” requires managing to readiness and retention, not just revenue growth.The difference between market-message fit and true product market fit.How to define product market fit using retention and value realization.How to build a leading indicator of retention using a simple “P percent do event every T time” framework.Why startups should delay scalable processes until product market fit is proven.What go to market fit actually means and how unit economics define it.How to translate LTV:CAC targets into practical KPIs like quota, close rates, and meeting volume.How to diagnose pipeline problems as readiness issues vs volume issues using conversion patterns across reps.Key Topics:The danger of copying borrowed playbooks from past unicornsReadiness pacing vs hiring based on fundraising timelinesProduct market fit as value creation, not revenue milestonesLeading indicators of retention and early customer success signalsGo to market fit and unit economics as the profitability testTurning unit economics into a repeatable go to market formulaQuick tests for pipeline issues: lead quality vs sales executionWhy small funnel improvements compound faster than single big swingsGuest Spotlight: Mark RobergeMark Roberge is the founding CRO at HubSpot, where he helped scale the company from zero to IPO. He is co-founder and managing partner at Stage 2 Capital, a Harvard Business School senior lecturer focused on sales and go-to-market strategy, and the best-selling author of The Sales Acceleration Formula. His newest book, The Science of Scaling, distills decades of research into a stage-specific roadmap for scaling with measurable readiness.Resources & Mentions:Book: The Science of Scaling (pre-order available)Book: The Sales Acceleration FormulaConcept: Product Market Fit vs Go to Market Fit vs Growth and MoatFramework: “P percent of customers do event every T time”Example: Slack’s activation benchmark (high-volume team messaging)SaaS Metrics: Retention, Leading Indicator of Retention, LTV:CAC, Payback PeriodReference: Winning by Design and compounding funnel improvement🎧 Follow Selling the Cloud for more episodes on building durable GTM systems, improving sales execution, and scaling revenue with confidence.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
