Value Inspiration

I work directly with Sales-led SaaS CEOs to fix the positioning that’s holding back their win rates.

Here’s what’s happened after we’ve worked together:

Sana Commerce – Before: Seen as “nice to have,” stalled deals, missed targets.
After: Win rates up, cycles shorter, +20% deal size.

Arrow Labs – Before: Noisy pipeline, no repeatability, weak forecasting.
After: Win rate 30% → 60%, cycles 3–4× faster, scalable GTM in <12 months.

SwipeGuide – Before: Hard to attract qualified leads, long cycles, high-friction deals.
After: 2× more deals closed, ideal buyers book demos, faster cycles.

Wolters Kluwer – Before: Ghosting, heavy discounting, losing to weaker vendors.
After: Win rate doubled YoY, +42% deal size, 30% shorter cycles.

What changed?

Not features. Not more reps.
We fixed the real bottleneck: SaaS product positioning that wasn’t doing its job.

And that’s exactly what we do in ⚙️ The Growth Catalyst – A 3-phase transformation for SaaS CEOs when growth stalls — but the product shouldn’t be the problem:

1️⃣ Value Foundation – Reposition your SaaS product as the only logical choice with a value proposition your team can use in sales conversations.
2️⃣ Volume Accelerator – Embed positioning into sales enablement, discovery calls, and closing so reps qualify faster, lead stronger conversations, and close with confidence.
3️⃣ Viability Multiplier – Align product, marketing, and sales so positioning drives predictable growth and long-term momentum.

💬 “Hands-on. Sharp. Outcome-focused. Ton doesn’t stop until it works.”
💬 “From 5% to 40% win rate. Doubled our revenue.”
💬 “We now get shortlisted — and close faster, with fewer discounts.”

Curious if this could work for your SaaS scaleup?
📩 DM me the word RESULTS or visit → valueinspiration.com/growthcatalyst

Founder

Seedstars

Mentor to founders of Sales-led SaaS scaleups in the Seedstars portfolio, helping them overcome growth stalls by diagnosing positioning gaps, clarifying ICP, and embedding go-to-market strategies that scale.

Mentor Seedstars

Techstars

Advise Techstars SaaS founders on positioning, market entry, and scaling sales-led go-to-market models — with a focus on increasing win rates and accelerating revenue growth.

Mentor Techstars

Palo Alto Strategy Group

Provide strategic advisory for portfolio companies, with a focus on differentiation, market positioning, and scaling revenue operations.

Executive Strategist

Unit4

Led strategic evangelism for Unit4’s enterprise solutions, shaping positioning and market perception across global markets.

Chief Evangelist

Directed global product marketing strategy, aligning GTM execution across 25+ countries.

Global Head of Product Marketing

Oversaw product strategy and marketing for a global ERP portfolio, driving competitive differentiation and market share growth.

VP Product & Product Marketing

Product Marketing Manager Agresso

Product Marketing Manager Multivers

Dealermanager

Positioning for Sales-Led SaaS companies | My clients win 6+ out of 10 deals, in 3x less time, at 40%+ higher value using my 4-week "Pressure Cooker" program.

Tired of losing to better-funded US competitors? 
Stuck at 20–30% win rates? 
I help Sales-led SaaS scaleups reach 60%+ — without new features or price cuts. Unlike consultants who deliver frameworks and disappear, I stay until your revenue proves it works

The symptoms I fix:
- Sales teams explain features, not why you're the only logical choice
- Losing to "do nothing" more than competitors
- Discounting because you can't create urgency

If you're closing less than 60% of qualified deals, we should talk.

Like Arrow Labs CEO Rami Darwish:

"My mind was stuck on the solution. Ton kept reframing me out of it by constantly asking 'who cares? Why is that important?'
It was annoying. It pissed me off several times. But that's exactly what I needed.
Win rates jumped from 30% to 60%, cycles were 3-4× faster. Now there are fewer competitors because we're his people, not just another option."

The root cause? 
Almost always the same: positioning confusion.

After 30 years in enterprise software, I've codified what separates remarkable companies from the rest in my book The Remarkable Effect.

From "just another option" → must-have choice for the right customers.

Not with decks. Not with theory.
With positioning your sales team wants to use — because they can confidently explain how you're different, why that matters, and close more deals.

I stay until your revenue proves it works. 
That's why my fees are tied to your actual growth, not just deliverables.
Because outcomes > input.

What your peer CEOs say:
- "No BS. Outcome-obsessed."
- "Laser-sharp pipeline. Doubled our win rate."
- "Not just advice — Ton stays until it works."

I'm Ton — son of a Dutch tulip farmer who believes in funding freedom over funding desperation. Now based in sunny Jávea, Spain.
Host of the weekly Remarkable SaaS podcast and creator of the Growth Catalyst Program.

Start here → valueinspiration.com/growthcatalyst
Or DM me for a no-pitch sanity check.

Ton Dobbe 🔆

Pull up your CRM. Filter for "VIP" or "Priority" deals.
Now check: What made them VIP?

Deal size over $100K? 
Brand name recognition? 
Fast close timeline?

Average software companies mark deals VIP based on deal size.
Remarkable software companies mark deals VIP based on customer impact.

The difference shows up in your pipeline review:

"This is VIP because it's a $200K deal" vs "This is VIP because they have the exact problem we solve better than anyone."

Martin Balaam at Pimberly: "I'm just as excited about a small business because I know they're gonna grow and we're gonna grow with them."

Small customers with the right problem compound. 
Big customers with the wrong problem churn.

Want the full story? Link in first comment.

Your VIP filter reveals whether you're optimizing for bookings or lifetime value.

Positioning EU SaaS scaleups to beat better-funded competitors → 2x win rates, 3x faster sales, 40% higher deals

Two of your SaaS prospects hear the same price: $30,000.
One says: "That's expensive." 
One says: "That's a bargain."

Same product. Same price. Same demo.

The difference? What's already in their head before you say the number.

Average software companies think pricing is a number problem.
Remarkable software companies know pricing is a story problem.

When you've shown them what breaks if they don't solve this, 
the price becomes obvious.
When you've connected dots they couldn't see themselves, 
the price makes sense.
When you've revealed the cost of staying where they are, 
the price feels small.

Most SaaS companies lose deals on price because they never built the value story first.

They showed features. 
Proved capabilities. 
Compared to competitors.

But never made the prospect feel the gap.

Value is a story in the head of a customer.

Your job isn't justifying the price. 
It's making the price irrelevant.

Almost 8 o’clock here in Valencia.  #vds2025 is preparing for 2 very buzzy days. Just walked past all the booths and one thing surprised me

95% of the booths I had no idea what the vendors did. Just a logo

I found just a handful that added a one liner to position themselves. Better (right?)

However - if you do so - then at least communicate something that makes clear what you promise. 

Found only one that “got that” - HULO.ai 

The rest - still a mystery 🤣

Standing out in a crowded space is hard - I know

But sometimes things are so simple

Just pay attention to little details

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After 30 years in the software space, I can predict which founders survive their first success.

The ones who fail get high on their own supply. They start believing they're special. They confuse a lucky break with genius. They stop questioning and start preaching.

The remarkable ones do the opposite. 

Like David Villalon - CEO of Maisa, who told me: 

"Whenever you have success, everyone tells you how good you are. But if you act without ego, everything looks much better."

Here's how I know your ego is killing your company: 

- You spend more time defending your decisions than questioning them. 
- You explain failures as market problems, not vision problems. 
- You've stopped learning because you think you've arrived.

Companies with remarkable effects never arrive. They're always still climbing.


Wednesday I'm sharing my full conversation with David about choosing foundation over features.

Positioning SaaS scaleups to beat better-funded US competitors | Win rates 30%→60% | Author: The Remarkable Effect

For decades I've watched software companies make the same automation mistake:

Technical teams build automations for processes they've never done.
Developers who've never closed books build accounting automation. 
Engineers who've never run procurement build procurement workflows.

Six months later, they discover dozens of edge cases the people actually doing the work knew on day one.

But even that's not the real problem.

The real problem: Most AI companies don't understand what's critical to their customer's business.

They think banking needs faster AI. 
Banking needs traceable AI. 

They think manufacturing needs cheaper automation. 
Manufacturing needs automation they can verify. 

They think features matter. 
Trust matters.

David Villalon at Maisa made two flips everyone else missed:

Flip 1: 
Built trust infrastructure first. AI decides what code to execute, not what answer to give. Everything traceable. Now regulated industries can actually adopt.

Flip 2: 
Task-doers configure their own workers in natural language. The accountant who closes books builds the automation. No technical translation needed.

The compound effect:
Most software companies either can't enter regulated industries OR they're stuck in 6-month implementation cycles.

Maisa can both enter AND deploy fast.

Average software businessess: Can't get past compliance OR can't deploy at speed.
Remarkable software companies: Trust infrastructure opens the door. Task-doer empowerment walks through it.

One flip gets you access. 
The other flip gets you deployed. 

Together? Leverage no competitor can match.

Want to hear the full story? Link in the 1st comment.

Heading to Valencia next week for #VDS2025 - and honestly, pretty excited about this one.

I'll be speaking about something that keeps most SaaS CEOs up at night: Constantly missing forecasts.
Spoiler: It's not a CRM problem. It's not a sales training problem. It's a culture problem.

Also moderating the Workshop Stage throughout the event.

If you're heading to VDS and want to connect - grab me between sessions. Always up for good conversations about what actually works (versus what we tell ourselves works).

See you at the City of Arts and Sciences.

Most software companies approach international expansion backwards.
They're successful at home and show up in a new country expecting it to continue.
Then they wonder why nobody cares.

In your home market, you're the incumbent. Market leader. Everyone knows you. "We're better" works because they have context.

In the new market, you're nobody. Zero customers. Zero references. "We're better" is just noise.

Better compared to what? Better for whom? Better is subjective without proof.

Average software companies: Export their home market pitch. Hope "better" translates.

Remarkable software companies: Use international expansion to force clarity on what makes them different.

Here's the pattern I've seen work:

Look at your biggest fans in your home market. The ones who became champions. Why did they choose you over alternatives?

Not because you were "better." Because you were different in ways that mattered to their specific problem.

That difference? Test if it travels.

If the same type of customer in the new market has the same unserved need, you've found your beachhead. High win rate. Fast momentum. Word spreads.

If it doesn't travel? 

You just learned your differentiation isn't clear enough—even at home.

Going international isn't a growth strategy.

It's a clarity test.

Most companies fail it.

Most SaaS companies build the easy stuff first.
The visible stuff. The tablestake stuff prospects ask for in demos. 
Chat interfaces. UI polish. The things competitors ship two weeks later.

Then they wonder why enterprise deals stall in POC hell.

David Villalon and his team at Maisa built trust infrastructure first.
While competitors shipped 200+ features, 
he spent a year on a reasoning engine that makes AI accountable.

The result isn't just faster deals. It's the remarkable effect:

Banking, energy, manufacturing - industries that couldn't automate their most critical processes with anyone else's AI - can now with Maisa.

One insight (trust infrastructure) created business-wide leverage without adding headcount.

Average software companies:
- Build chat interfaces, call them "AI agents"
- Add features competitors have as well
- Optimize for demo wow, hope production works

Remarkable software companies:
- Build the hard infrastructure first
- Solve problems competitors ignore
- Open markets others can't touch

David's not just winning deals. He's automating what couldn't be automated before.

Minimum viable products validate demand. 
Minimum remarkable products create pull from industries that had no other option.

Tomorrow: The full conversation with David on why remarkable companies bet on doing the hard things first.

I spent 60 minutes with Sid Masson, CEO of Wokelo AI.

He built for depth when everyone else built for speed—and enterprise customers paid premium prices for the difference.

Sid embodies Trait 3 from The Remarkable Effect: 
Aim to be different, not just better.

Here's what that actually looks like:

- Didn't try to beat competitors on speed—chose a completely different axis: depth over instant gratification
- Positioned thoughtful, decision-grade insights as the product while others chased faster answers
- Used early customer pushback to identify who valued accuracy over speed
- Stayed deliberately capital-constrained when VCs would fund faster growth—constraints forced better decisions about fundamentals

The pattern: While competitors try to beat ChatGPT at its own game, Sid plays a different game entirely.

Average software companies chase speed because everyone else does. Remarkable software companies create conditions to play their own game.

This is just one of 10 traits that create remarkable effects. 
The traits compound—CEOs who master multiple traits create value people keep talking about.

Want to hear the full story? Link in the 1st comment.

Want the full framework? Download my book. Link in 2nd comment.

"I already knew that."

When I tell SaaS CEOs they should focus, say no, be different not better, sell the idea not the product - this is what I hear.

That response? That's the problem.

Because "knowing" lets you stay comfortable. 
"Knowing" means you think you don't have to change anything. 
"Knowing" is the perfect excuse for not doing.

The teams that go from 20% to 80% win rates? They didn't know more. They stopped pretending knowledge equals action.

The difference between Rule of 40 (through cost cutting) and Rule of 60 (through revenue growth)? It's not what you know. It's whether you're willing to feel stupid implementing the obvious.

Average software companies: Collect insights.
Remarkable software companies: Implement the uncomfortable ones.

"I already knew that" is the most expensive sentence in SaaS.


What would your win rate be if you were actually doing what you 'already know'?

_______________

This is from my daily reflections on building remarkable software companies. Want this in your inbox each morning? Link in comments.

Count your customers or count your fans.
The choice determines how you scale.

Average software companies optimize for volume:
- Sign as many deals as possible
- Hand implementation to partners
- Hope customers stick
- Call retention "good enough" at 85%

Remarkable software companies optimize for fans:
- Sign only customers they can create incomparable value for
- Keep the entire relationship in-house
- Turn customers into advocates
- Measure success by who refers you unprompted

Martin Balaam's mantra at Pimberly: "We don't lose customers."

Not "we have good retention." 
Not "our churn is industry average."

We don't lose customers.

That obsession creates advantages his competitors can't replicate.

Every customer becomes a reference. 
Small customers grow into big customers. 
Referrals bring more ideal customers.

You can't create fans at scale. 
You can create scale from fans.

Positioning EU SaaS scaleups to beat better-funded competitors | Win rates 30%→60% | Author: The Remarkable Effect

“Why do serial entrepreneurs measure success by how many employees want to work with them again?”

This was one of the key questions I explored with Joshua Summers serial entrepreneur who’s built and sold multiple companies including clypd (acquired by AT&T) and WHERE (acquired by PayPal).

Here are some of the highlights:

1 - Build in the open, not in stealth: I
f you’re not embarrassed by your first release, you waited too long. Failure is the most incredible thing to learn from

2 - Discovery without agenda beats hypothesis:
The best insights come when you’re not trying to sell anything. Joshua spent months just asking after SVB collapsed

3 - Share board decks with everyone: 
 When your entire team sees investor concerns and financials, they make decisions like owners, not employees

4 - Raise more despite dilution:
The difference at exit between more dilution now vs. less is a wash. Running out of money kills companies

5 - Never outsource early sales:
Founder-led sales teaches you things no hire ever could. You lose critical learning when you delegate too soon

6 - Fail completely, then tell everyone: 
When EnFi’s accuracy failed, Joshua told his team and investors exactly what broke. No spin. Trust grew

7 - Track employee returns, not retention: 
The ultimate metric—do people from your past ventures choose to work with you again?

Want to hear the full story? Link in the 1st comment.

And curious: What would your past employees say if you asked them to join your next venture?

Average software companies use their ICP to find customers.
Remarkable software companies use their ICP to reject customers.

Average companies end discovery calls with "Let me send you a proposal" or "I'll loop in our solutions engineer." 

Every call becomes next steps. 
Their CRM shows 78 active opportunities. 
Win rate: 18%.

Remarkable companies end 30% of discovery calls with "Based on what you've described, you'd be better served by [Competitor X]." 

Their CRM shows 32 active opportunities. 
Win rate: 67%.

Discovery calls reveal everything. 

Average companies treat prospects like potential revenue. 
Remarkable companies treat prospects like auditions they're judging.

If you haven't recommended a competitor in your last 10 calls, your ICP isn't a standard. 

It's a suggestion you ignore when the pipeline looks thin.

SaaS sales teams obsess over two qualification questions
Will they buy? 
Will they buy now?

But they ignore the only question that determines margin: 
Will they buy from us?

Not "from us if we discount 20%." 
Not "from us if we match the competitor's price."

From us because we're the only logical option.

The behavior shows up in discovery.

Average software companies ask: "When can you sign?"
Remarkable software companies ask: "What's truly at stake if nothing changes?"

If prospects can't answer with business consequences that matter, they're shopping. Not buying.

Eager buyers without high stakes become discount seekers.

Martin Balaam at Pimberly walks away from willing buyers when he can't see the value equation. His team's mantra: "We don't lose customers."

That discipline starts in qualification.

Most SaaS pipelines are full of deals asking "will they buy?"
The remarkable ones are full of deals answering "why us at full price?"

Your pipeline value looks lower. 
Your discount rate IS lower. 
Your win rates multiply. 
Your margin is best in class.

Ask any SaaS company if they're clear. They'll say yes.

Just ask three questions:

"Why do you exist?" → "We help companies be more efficient." 
"Who's it for?" → "Mid-market B2B in financial services." 
"How are you different?" → "Better UX, faster implementation, lower cost."

That's not clarity. That could be anyone.

Everyone has answers to these questions. 
Few have answers that create leverage.

Remarkable software companies answer differently:

Why: What change do customers desperately need that they can't get anywhere else? 
Who: Who's prepared to pay a premium for this (and who not)? 
How: What makes your approach incomparable, not just better?

Real clarity makes every decision obvious:
- Prospect wants features you don't have? Your "how" tells you if you should build them. 
- Customer doesn't fit your ICP? Your "who" lets you walk away. 
- Competitor drops their price? Your "why" explains why you don't need to match.

Most companies can describe what they sell.
Few can describe the change they create, who's prepared to pay a premium for it, and why their approach is the only one that works.

It's the clarity that does the magic.
It becomes your compass, your North Star.

P.S. Want to dive deeper into building clarity that creates leverage? 
My book "The Remarkable Effect" walks through all 10 traits of remarkable software companies. 

Available free at valueinspiration.com/book - because, honestly, the world needs more remarkable software companies.

Average software companies accept 20% win rates and ask for 5x pipeline coverage.
Remarkable software companies won't tolerate win rates below 50%.

Here's what that means:

When you accept that your team wins 20% of deals, you're telling them losing 80% is normal. Expected. Fine.

And they give you exactly what you asked for. Pipelines full of maybes. Hopefuls. Deals that look good in Friday's review but everyone knows won't close.

Remarkable companies say: We only work deals we're built to win.

Simple standard. Clear message. Different behavior.

Ask for 5x coverage, get hope. Ask for 50%+ win rates, get conviction.

Your forecast accuracy doesn't start with better dashboards or fancier CRM fields.

It starts when you decide what losing percentage you'll accept.

Most SaaS companies miss targets because they've made peace with losing.

Some software companies close deals in weeks 
while their competitors chase the same prospects for months.
Same market. Similar functionality. Different results.

Here's what I keep noticing:

The fast closers figure out if their approach fits before they explain anything. Within 15 minutes, they know prospects have the situation where their approach rules or doesn't.

The slow closers listen for any sign that they possibly have a function for. Demos turn into harbor tours. Every prospect gets the same 23-screen walkthrough whether they need it or not.

One qualifies based on approach match. 
The other qualifies based on prospects not saying 'no' yet.

Almost every software company has similar functionality to its competitors. 

The ones who win faster compete on the choices they made to build it - choices competitors can see but can't replicate without rebuilding from scratch.

The question isn't "Do we have the features they ask for?" 
It's "Do they have context where our product becomes a must-have?"

Fast closers know most prospects won't be a fit. 
Slow closers treat every conversation like potential revenue.

Your product team keeps saying they need more engineers.
Your sales team keeps saying they need more features to close deals.
Your CEO keeps asking why velocity is slowing down.

Here's what nobody's saying:

That "quick feature" you added for the €1M deal last quarter? 
It now takes 5% of your engineering capacity just to maintain it.

The integration you built for one customer? 2% of capacity.

The custom workflow for that Fortune 500 prospect? 
3% of capacity.

It all adds up.

So you're not hiring too slow. 
You're saying yes too fast.

Remember Steve Jobs: 
"I'm more proud of the things we didn't do than the things we did."

Every feature is a permanent tax on your engineering team.

Average software companies keep adding until they can't move. 
Remarkable software companies say no so they can move faster.

Heading to Valencia for #VDS2025 that starts tomorrow.

MC'ing the Workshop Stage throughout the event. 29 sessions over two days. 
Topics ranging from cultural leadership to AI implementation to forecast reliability.

Also running a masterclass on what actually makes pipelines predictable.

The prep work is done. Now comes the best part - the conversations between sessions. That's where the real insights always surface.

See you at the City of Arts and Sciences.

João Marques became Portugal's market leader in home services in 2 years with OSCAR. 

He started with €70K.

How? By focusing on the essence.

Every employee at OSCAR checks one number daily: GMV.
Not CAC. Not conversion rates. Not any of the 25 KPIs his competitors track.

Just GMV.

Here's what João told me that creates:

"Focus. One thing, one goal, one metric. Put all the energy there."

No departmental KPIs fighting for priority. 
No dashboard paralysis. 
No confusion about what winning looks like.

Everyone knows before lunch if they're on track.

Average software companies track everything. 
Remarkable software companies track what matters.

Focusing on the essence is one of 10 traits essential for building a remarkable software company.

taplio