Robert IrwinVillage Wellth
Shaking up an outdated industry, and what it takes to sell into one that resists change.
Read the interviewSonan Insights
Conversations with the people building and running revenue teams.
I talk to AI tool founders and revenue leaders about what they are actually doing with AI: what they built, what they abandoned, and what changed in how their team works. Fewer predictions, more specifics from people who have already tried it.
Why this exists
I implement these systems, so I ask people who are further along.
Most writing about AI in revenue teams is written by people selling something. I sell implementation, so I have the same problem. The interviews are how I keep it honest: I ask founders and revenue leaders what they actually run, what broke, and what they would not do again.
Every conversation is published in full as a written interview, so you can read it rather than watch it. Where the video recording survives, it sits at the top of the interview.
Season One · 2021 to 2022
Eight founders, before any of this was obvious.
The original Founder Focus run. Eight SaaS founders on the problem they set out to solve, how they positioned against incumbents, and how they were selling. A full written interview for all eight. Video is embedded where the recording survives.
Amy TangFolio
Raising capital as a first-time founder, and why selling to investors is a different skill than selling to customers.
Read the interviewUyi AbrahamVonza
Growing a first customer base without a budget, and the case for fewer tools.
Read the interviewHanan ShpunginChartd
Why small business owners avoid financial planning, and what makes them act.
Read the interviewVed RasicLeadDelta
Treating your network as an asset, and how people actually create value from it.
Read the interviewGene KamenezUxcel
Skills development for designers, and the gap between what teams need and what training provides.
Read the interviewBrett ColvinGoodlawyer
Why founders avoid lawyers, and how a $400 bill becomes a business risk.
Read the interviewSusan KabaniUgenie
Community building as a revenue and retention lever, and what community leaders need to run one.
Read the interviewAlso in the archive. Between 2021 and 2022 this site published 42 articles on B2B SaaS marketing, content and websites, plus an eleven part video guide. That work is kept online because people still find it useful, not because it describes what Sonan does now. Read the archive.
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