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#412 – How Martin Payne turned a flatlined company from $7M to $20M
Description
A story about what he kept, and what he cut.
For SaaS founders whose growth has stalled and who can't tell whether the problem is the company or the plan.
Most new CEOs tear down what they inherit.
Martin Payne, CEO of TextUs, took a different path. He replaced the founder CEO in April 2020. Growth had flatlined, cash was burning, and he laid off a third of the company in his first year.
The business is now at $20M. He'll tell you most of what got it there was already in the building.
And this inspired me to invite Martin to my podcast. We explore why a stalled company has more going for it than anyone inside can see. Martin shares what he found in his first months, the hardest call he had to make, and a culture his employees wrote. You'll discover the one thing he did twice, six years apart, for the same reason.
We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies:
- Master the art of curiosity
- Offer something valuable AND desirable
Martin's story proves that remarkable companies read the signs others stopped noticing.
Here's one of Martin's quotes that captures how he sized up what he inherited:
"I came into the company thinking this is not a turnaround situation. This is a fine-tune, refine situation. And so I just went in with the mindset of there's goodness here. Now let me understand more specifically where the goodness is. Let me understand where specifically things need to be removed or changed."
By listening to this episode, you'll learn:
- Why a stalled company rarely needs the rebuild everyone assumes
- What intellectual honesty looks like when you inherit someone else's company
- When retention tells you more about growth than new revenue does
- How to make culture stick
For more information about the guest from this week:
Guest: Martin Payne, CEO of TextUs
Website: textus.com
Nice surprise this week: Feedspot ranked The Remarkable SaaS Podcast 17th in their Top 70 Tech Startup Podcasts. Thanks for listening — that's the only reason it's there.