Two topics. Against the clock.James opens with something he sees constantly, deals that look live and aren't. He gets into why champions burn out mid-process, why buyers go dark on the people they like most, and what the research says is the single biggest factor in whether a deal closes or dies.Rich follows with a metric most businesses aren't tracking, even though it takes five minutes to measure and will tell you more about the health of your culture than any employee survey ever will.

New episodes every week with James Bissell and Rich Washington.Set the chicken. We're on the clock.Learn more @fieldnotespodcast Field Notes is sponsored by Tick Talent and The Revenue Enabler.If your sales team is missing quota and you're not sure why, The Revenue Enabler works with sales organisations to fix the fundamentals — from sales stage design through to seller capability. Find out more at therevenueenabler.comIf you're looking to hire exceptional sales and revenue talent across the tech sector, from your first AE hire through to VP level, get in touch with the team at tick-talent.com#FieldNotes #ChampionSales #SalesGhosting #ChampionBurnout #BusinessCase #CustomerConfidence #MEDDIC #ChallengerSale #SalesDiscovery #B2BSales #TechSales #SalesLeadership #CompanyCulture #InternalReferrals #EmployeeReferral #TalentAcquisition #SalesHiring #StartupCulture #ScaleUp #SalesEnablement #RevenueGrowth #GoToMarket #SalesTips #SalesCoaching #B2BPodcast #salespodcast

Startups think they’ve found product-market fit because the graph went up for a few quarters.

Mike Peroni explains why that false sense of PMF is exactly what causes so many SaaS companies to stall before $10M ARR.

- Messaging confusion.

- Founder-led growth.

- Feature creep.

- ICP drift.

the stuff that quietly kills scale.

when you know what the difference is, you're much more likely to have a system that can sail past $10M ARR.

In this episode of What Makes You Tick, Richard Washington sits down with Mike Peroni to unpack one of the biggest questions in SaaS growth:

How do you know if you really have product-market fit?

Together, they break down:

why so many SaaS companies plateau after early growth

the difference between traction and true product-market fit

why founder-led sales eventually stop scaling

how ICP drift quietly kills momentum

why adding more features can actually slow growth

what happens between $5M and $25M ARR when messaging becomes unclear

how scaling companies lose narrative clarity as products expand

If you’re a SaaS founder, CRO, VP Sales, GTM leader, or startup operator trying to scale from Series A to Series B, this conversation is packed with practical insight on:

SaaS growth strategy

scaling product-market fit

startup positioning

founder-led sales

go-to-market alignment

ICP strategy

SaaS messaging

scaling revenue teams

startup growth challenges

why SaaS growth stalls

Mike shares real-world lessons from working with scaling SaaS companies, including why many businesses mistake early momentum for sustainable repeatability — and how to diagnose the warning signs before growth plateaus.

This episode also explores:

why feature-led messaging creates confusion

how startups become “feature catalogues”

the hidden risks of expanding beyond your core ICP

why clarity is often the real competitive advantage

how the best SaaS companies scale without losing focus

In This Episode:

What product-market fit actually looks like

Why startups plateau between $5M and $25M ARR

How to know when your GTM motion is breaking

Why messaging complexity kills growth

How founder intuition must evolve into scalable systems

Why ICP clarity matters more as you scale

The biggest scaling mistakes SaaS founders make

Who This Episode Is For

SaaS founders

Startup CEOs

Revenue leaders

CROs and VP Sales

Series A and Series B companies

GTM and product leaders

Startup operators scaling revenue

Connect With Mike Peroni

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

Connect with Richard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richwash/

Read Growth Magnet newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7083793079794556928/

Subscribe to @whatmakesyoutick

Conversations with founders, operators, and revenue leaders exploring:

startup growth

hiring

scaling

leadership

GTM strategy

and what really makes high-performing companies tick

#ProductMarketFit #SaaSGrowth #StartupGrowth #FounderLedSales #SeriesA #SeriesB #GTMStrategy #SaaS #RevenueGrowth #StartupScaling

Two topics. Against the clock.

James opens with something he's seeing across almost every sales org he works with right now — pipelines that look healthy and aren't. He gets into why it keeps happening, and what needs to change before you spend another penny on training.

Rich follows with something two of the most elite EMEA Sales VPs he's ever interviewed both said, word for word, about how they ran their teams. One phrase. Two completely different companies. And a hiring insight that most sales leaders are missing entirely.

New episodes every week with James Bissell and Rich Washington.

Set the chicken. We're on the clock.

--

Field Notes is sponsored by Tick Talent and The Revenue Enabler.

If your sales team is missing quota and you're not sure why, The Revenue Enabler works with sales organisations to fix the fundamentals — from sales stage design through to seller capability. Find out more at therevenueenabler.com

If you're looking to hire exceptional sales and revenue talent across the tech sector, from your first AE hire through to VP level, get in touch with the team at tick-talent.com

USEFUL LINKS

James Bissell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bissell1/Rich Washington on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richwash/The Revenue Enabler: https://therevenueenabler.com/Tick Talent: https://www.tick-talent.com/

#FieldNotes #SalesPipeline #SalesLeadership #B2BSales #SalesEnablement #PipelineManagement #SalesHiring #QuotaAttainment #TechSales #GoToMarket #SalesProcess #CRMTips #SalesTraining #RevenueGrowth #SalesCoaching #StartupSales #SalesTips #DiscoveryCall #DealSlippage #SalesForecasting #VPofSales #SalesManagement #SDR #AccountExecutive #SalesPerformance #RevenueEnablement #B2BPodcast #SalesPodcast