Welcome to episode sixty-six of the SaaS Backwards podcast, where we interview CEOs and CMOs of fast-growing SaaS firms to reveal what they are doing that's working, and lessons learned from things that didn't work as planned. 

You can listen to the full episode directly below via Spotify, or visit SaaS Backwards on Buzzsprout or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Working at Google’s mapping team, Steve Benson thought that field salespeople needed a lot more functionality to adequately plan their routes.

So, in 2012 founded Badger Maps and set out to build a tool where field sales teams could not only build routes, but also visualize their customers on a map on their mobile device that automatically connected with their CRM. 

To ensure product/market fit, Benson personally talked to hundreds of field salespeople to ensure that this was a problem worth paying for and not just a nice-to-have. 

Key takeaways from this episode: 

• When and what skills/background to look for when hiring the first salesperson. 
• The importance of founder involvement in early product management. 
• Debt vs. equity financing and how Badger Maps used debt most effectively.
• The role that thought leadership content played in building their reputation. 

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publish a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.

The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.

And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.