In this insightful episode of SaaS Fuel, host Jeff Mains welcomes Jimi Gibson, VP of Brand Communication at Thrive Internet Marketing Agency—and a former professional magician! Together, they unpack the art (and science) of connecting with B2B SaaS customers through authentic storytelling, brand strategy, and personal visibility. Jimi Gibson shares his powerful Five Finger Framework for brand building, why founders should put a face to their company, and actionable strategies to create lasting emotional ties and customer loyalty—even in an AI-driven, content-saturated world.

If you’re a SaaS founder tired of beige, forgettable marketing and want your brand to stand out for something meaningful, this conversation is a treasure trove of tactical wisdom and inspiration.

00:00 "Feature Ops & AI Strategies"

05:07 Magic, Marketing, and Connection

08:05 "The Stump Test Mystery"

12:13 SaaS Exits, Branding, and AI

16:49 "Magic, Frameworks, and Authenticity"

19:26 "Commitment Drives Long-Term Success"

22:07 "Name Your Villain Strategically"

24:52 Thumbs Up: Measuring Impact

28:16 Customer-Centric Solutions Matter Most

31:34 Building Long-Term Customer Relationships

36:44 Identifying Competitor Weaknesses Strategically

39:20 "Defining Your Target Market"

41:00 Maximizing AB Testing Value

46:01 AI Lacks Human Connection

47:50 "Building Authority Through Personal Branding"

51:47 Essential Brand Stories Framework

"Marketing, like magic, is about capturing attention and delivering the wow—the call to action." — Jimi Gibson

"Founders, your audience is not 'everybody.' It's one person. Speak directly to them." — Jimi Gibson

"A faceless brand is forgettable. People buy from people, not just companies." — Jeff Mains

"Declare your villain. If you don't stand for something—or against something—your brand stands for nothing." — Jimi Gibson

"The clearer you can be, the more likely your message will resonate with someone who needs your solution." — Jimi Gibson

"You can't out-robot the robots. Your experience, empathy, and story are your ultimate differentiators." — Jimi Gibson

Connect Authentically, Not Generically:

Strong SaaS leaders craft messaging as if speaking to one person—even in a large market.

Show Your Face:

Humanizing your brand increases trust and long-term retention. Don’t hide behind anonymity.

Stand for (and Against) Something:

Declaring a clear brand "villain" or enemy sets your tribe apart and ignites loyalty.

Long-Term Relationships > Short-Term Transactions:

Protect your customer “family,” listen deeply, and own up to mistakes for lasting affinity.

Measure the Impact You Leave:

Track not just revenue, but employee growth, industry disruption, customer transformation, and your unique “thumbprint.”

Be Visible in the AI Era:

Customer stories, bylined articles, and video increase your odds of being cited and found as the authority, not just another generic provider.

jimi@Thriveagency.com

https://thriveagency.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimi-gibson/

In this value-packed episode of SaaS Fuel, Jeff Mains welcomes Egil Østhus, co-founder and CEO of Unleash—the world’s leading open source feature management platform. Egil dives deep into the journey from thriving in corporate boardrooms to taking the entrepreneurial leap, co-founding Unleash with his brother, and scaling a business using open source and commercial strategies.

The conversation explores critical challenges of serving both community and enterprise needs, the next-generation concept of Feature Ops, the nuanced impact of AI in software development, and the essential synergy between engineering and business for SaaS growth. Whether you’re steering product strategy or deep in the code, this episode delivers actionable insights and leadership wisdom for founders navigating modern tech landscapes.

00:00 "Building Smarter: Growth Strategies"

03:22 "Entrepreneurship Realities & Tech Futures"

07:38 Enterprise Software Delivery Challenges

13:21 "Challenges of Co-Founding Family"

16:10 "Balancing Open Source and Enterprise"

17:45 Open Source vs. Paywall Decisions

23:28 "Building Enterprise Growth Processes"

24:24 "Start Early on Commercial Strategy"

30:08 "Unified Metrics for Long-Term Impact"

32:09 "DevOps: Feature Lifecycle & Governance"

36:26 AI's Impact on Developer Roles

39:55 "Business Context for Developers"

42:37 Culture Consistency Drives Success

46:49 "Magician Marketer & Scaling Stories"

“We in the Nordics are sort of naive—we don’t understand how difficult it really is. ‘How hard can it be to build this company?’” — Egil Østhus

“Always put community trust first. If you break it, that decision is irreversible.” — Egil Østhus

“If you have the best product that nobody knows about, it’s really hard to sell it.” — Egil Østhus

“Feature Ops bridges the gap between engineering and business—bringing real-time control and risk mitigation to software delivery.” — Egil Østhus

“Every developer should challenge themselves to understand how their work impacts the business and end users.” — Egil Østhus

“Culture is consistency. It’s the boring stuff you do every day that builds a scalable company.” — Egil Østhus

Customer Value First:

“It’s all about creating customer value. Bringing product out there and building a proper business model.” (Egil Østhus)

Get Outside Your Comfort Zone:

True growth happens when you jump into deep water and test if you really can build what you preach.

Respect and Resolve Tension (Especially in Family):

In co-founder relationships, never allow tension to build—address issues immediately, maintaining respect and professionalism.

Open Source Takes Discipline:

Develop clear guiding policies on what features are open and which are gated—never betray community trust with irreversible decisions.

Build Commercial Capacity Early:

Don’t wait for sales and marketing to “catch up”—grow those functions as soon as possible to accelerate learning and scale.

Engineers Need Business Context:

The best developers deeply understand the product’s business impact, continually interact with customers, and help shape business direction.

egil@getunleash.io

https://www.getunleash.io

In this episode of SaaS Fuel, host Jeff Mains sits down with Anthony Franco—serial entrepreneur, co-author of AI First Principles and the Wiser Method, and host of the How to Founder podcast—to talk about what it really takes to implement AI effectively in SaaS businesses. The conversation breaks past the usual hype, diving deep into the practical messiness of entrepreneurship, building tech that serves real humans (not just outputs), and how intentional iteration leads to successful outcomes.

Anthony Franco shares brutally honest stories of failure, the necessity of understanding end users, and the importance of starting with a noble cause before diving into AI adoption. If you’re a founder wanting actionable strategies to build a future-proof company in the age of AI, this is your episode.

00:00 "AI, Bias, and Holographic Futures"

03:44 "Future, Revenue Systems, and Strategy"

07:34 "Entrepreneurs Fuel Prosperity"

10:36 "Value Your Job, Avoid Mistakes"

15:02 "Earn the Right to Rebuild"

18:57 "User Experience Insights Revolution"

21:34 Necessary Complexity and Risk Management

25:49 "Leadership's Four Key Relationships"

28:23 "Wiser Method: AI Principles"

32:30 AI Missteps: Autonomy vs Collaboration

35:25 "Challenging Ideas and Biases"

38:03 "Readiness for Agentic Orchestration"

43:00 "Feature Flags & Brand Magic"

“Entrepreneurs are the pioneers of economic prosperity—the ones willing to look foolish bring prosperity to all.” —Anthony Franco

“If you automate broken things, you’re just scaling your problems.” —Anthony Franco

“Design for how the world is—not just how you wish it would be.” —Anthony Franco

“The reason you write software is to make someone’s life easier—not just your own.” —Anthony Franco

“Stop coding. Go talk to the person you’re coding for—not your manager, your end user.” —Anthony Franco

“If you win 10% of the time and fail 90%, you still win. Micro-failures fuel learning.” —Anthony Franco

Lead Arm-in-Arm, Not From Afar

Great leaders work alongside their teams, getting “calluses” from real work

Set Honest Expectations About Entrepreneurship

Don’t sell the dream—share failures and chaos as well as successes to guide founders realistically

Talk to End Users—Don’t Just Delegate Discovery

Leaders must become chief customer advocates; direct feedback is transformative

Don’t Automate for Automation’s Sake

Evaluate the root causes and bottlenecks before layering on tools

Embrace Necessary Complexity

Not all complexity is bad. Sometimes it’s a competitive advantage or required for regulatory compliance

Start Small—Iterate and Learn Before Scaling AI

Focus on incremental improvement, pilot adoption, and learning from failures

anthony@suitepea.com

aifirstprinciples.org

https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyfranco/

x.com/anthonyfranco

The Captain's Keys

Small Fish, Big Pond – https://smallfishbigpond.com/ Use the promo code ‘SaaSFuel’

Champion Leadership Group – https://championleadership.com/

Website -