The fundamentals of repeatable SaaS success with John Thompson

Today we bring you the first of our extended podcast episodes,
where Alex gets to ask the nitty-gritty details he usually
doesn’t have time for. These hour-long episodes offer a
well-rounded insight into the workings of some of the most
successful SaaS founders and their companies.


The guest this week is John Thompson, a Co-Founder and a CEO who
has taken 2 businesses from zero ARR through seed and A rounds.
His first company Commerce Decisions was an early SaaS exit back
in 2008. Today he is the Chairman of Wax and ProspectSoft - two
later stage PE-backed SaaS companies. He also works closely with
Forward Partners, a London-based seed stage VC fund advising
their B2B SaaS portfolio companies on sales and growth. As he
told me in the interview - he has 8-9 SaaS CEOs in his life every
week.


Listen on to learn:


The fundamentals of building a strong SaaS company, and the
most important elements for success,

What has made John a successful CEO

What was the wake-up call for him to start taking care of his
mental and physical health and how he goes about it.



Some of his beliefs may be seen as controversial but he
steadfastly believes in them because they all stem from his own
experience, in which with each good year, 3 or 4 bad ones came.


John has been at every SaaStock flagship conference to date and
will be joining us a fourth time this October in Dublin. Sign up
for the Insider Sale and be the first one to find out when we
release our 2-for-1 tickets in April. SaaStock is always better
with a Co-Founder or a colleague, so you can cover more ground
and learn at multiple tracks and bootcamps.


Let us know if you like this longer format by leaving a review
and a rating on Apple iTunes or wherever you get your podcast, or
by reaching out on twitter @SaaStock.


If you want to get in touch with John, you can email him
john@briggsassociates.co.uk


 


 


 


Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move
their business forward: 


SaaStock Europe: 14-15 October 2025 | Dublin, Ireland
Book you tickets: https://saastock-europe.com/tickets/


SaaStock USA 2025: April 2026 | Austin, Texas
Join the waitlist: https://saastock-usa.com/


SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS
founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and
helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/)


SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world,
bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the
most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home)