In this episode, Ryan interviews Eric Xiao, founder and CEO of Laxis, an AI assistant for revenue teams. They discuss Eric's journey from software engineer to investor to founder, and how he has grown Laxis to over 25,000 users and 3,000 organizations with almost no marketing budget. Eric explains his go-to-market strategy of partnerships, marketplaces, SEO, and referral programs. They also talk about trends in AI productivity tools, challenges in fundraising and hiring, and opportunities to eliminate repetitive and mundane tasks for revenue professionals with AI.

Join 2,500+ readers getting weekly practical guidance to scale themselves and their companies using Artificial Intelligence and Revenue Cheat Codes.  



Explore becoming Superhuman here: https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/

KEY TAKEAWAYS
Eric grew Laxis to 25k users with no marketing budget through partnerships, SEO, marketplaces, and referral programs.
Getting early exposure through Product Hunt led to a partnership with Cisco that gave significant credibility.
Free cloud credits from Google and Microsoft start-up programs enabled partnerships with AppSumo.
AI can save revenue teams 5+ hours per week by automating notetaking, data entry, and other repetitive tasks.
The future of productivity AI lies in specialized agents for outreach, coaching, research, scheduling, and more.
AI agents need to become more accessible before mass adoption can occur.
Leveraging AI thoughtfully can eliminate soul-sucking work and empower revenue teams.

BEST MOMENTS

"We have over 25,000 active users from over 3,000 organizations."

"At Cisco Live I was invited as a guest speaker. Our logo and Cisco's were together on a billboard on Highway 101."

"AI can easily save sales reps time taking notes and filling the CRM. That alone saves 5+ hours per week."

"I want to find the best people who believe AI can change things. Team building is my top focus right now.”

"The future is AI agents for recruiting, sales, coaching - automating tasks people spend money on today."

Ryan Staley

Founder and CEO

Whale Boss

ryan@whalesellingsystem.com

www.ryanstaley.io

In this episode, Ryan interviews Eric Xiao, founder and CEO of Laxis, an AI assistant for revenue teams. They discuss Eric's journey from software engineer to investor to founder, and how he has grown Laxis to over 25,000 users and 3,000 organizations with almost no marketing budget. Eric explains his go-to-market strategy of partnerships, marketplaces, SEO, and referral programs. They also talk about trends in AI productivity tools, challenges in fundraising and hiring, and opportunities to eliminate repetitive and mundane tasks for revenue professionals with AI.
Join 2,500+ readers getting weekly practical guidance to scale themselves and their companies using Artificial Intelligence and Revenue Cheat Codes.   
Explore becoming Superhuman here: <a href="https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/">https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/</a>
KEY TAKEAWAYS
<ul>
<li>Eric grew Laxis to 25k users with no marketing budget through partnerships, SEO, marketplaces, and referral programs.</li>
<li>Getting early exposure through Product Hunt led to a partnership with Cisco that gave significant credibility.</li>
<li>Free cloud credits from Google and Microsoft start-up programs enabled partnerships with AppSumo.</li>
<li>AI can save revenue teams 5+ hours per week by automating notetaking, data entry, and other repetitive tasks.</li>
<li>The future of productivity AI lies in specialized agents for outreach, coaching, research, scheduling, and more.</li>
<li>AI agents need to become more accessible before mass adoption can occur.</li>
<li>Leveraging AI thoughtfully can eliminate soul-sucking work and empower revenue teams.</li>
</ul>
BEST MOMENTS
"We have over 25,000 active users from over 3,000 organizations."
"At Cisco Live I was invited as a guest speaker. Our logo and Cisco's were together on a billboard on Highway 101."
"AI can easily save sales reps time taking notes and filling the CRM. That alone saves 5+ hours per week."
"I want to find the best people who believe AI can change things. Team building is my top focus right now.”
"The future is AI agents for recruiting, sales, coaching - automating tasks people spend money on today."
Ryan Staley
Founder and CEO
Whale Boss
ryan@whalesellingsystem.com
<a href="https://www.ryanstaley.io/">www.ryanstaley.io</a>

How do you grow like a VC-backed SAAS company without taking on investors? What are the secrets that SAAS CEOs have that the rest of us don't? Do you want to create a lifestyle business, a performance business, or an empire?  How do you scale to an exit without losing your freedom?


Join the host Ryan Staley every Monday and Wednesday for conversations with the brightest and best SAAS Founders, CEOs, and Entrepreneurs to crack the code on repeatable revenue growth, leadership, lifestyle freedom and mindset.

This show has featured Startup and Billion Dollar Founders, Best Selling Authors, and the World’s Top Sales and Marketing Experts like Terry Jones (Founder of Travelocity and Chairman of Kayak), Gina Bianchini (Founder of Mighty Networks and prior Co-Founder with Marc Andreessen) and Harpaul Sambhi (Founder of Magical with a previous exit to Linkedin). This is where Scaling and Sales are made simple in 25 minutes or less.

Saas, Saas growth, Scale, Business Growth, B2b Saas, Saas Sales, Enterprise Saas, Sales, Business growth strategy, Founder, VP of Sales, CRO, Chief Revenue Officer, Technology, Leadership, CEO, Management, Hyper-Growth.

How do you grow like a VC-backed SAAS company without taking on investors? What are the secrets that SAAS CEOs have that the rest of us don't? Do you want to create a lifestyle business, a performance business, or an empire?  How do you scale to an exit without losing your freedom?
 Join the host Ryan Staley every Monday and Wednesday for conversations with the brightest and best SAAS Founders, CEOs, and Entrepreneurs to crack the code on repeatable revenue growth, leadership, lifestyle freedom and mindset.
This show has featured Startup and Billion Dollar Founders, Best Selling Authors, and the World’s Top Sales and Marketing Experts like Terry Jones (Founder of Travelocity and Chairman of Kayak), Gina Bianchini (Founder of Mighty Networks and prior Co-Founder with Marc Andreessen) and Harpaul Sambhi (Founder of Magical with a previous exit to Linkedin). This is where Scaling and Sales are made simple in 25 minutes or less.
Saas, Saas growth, Scale, Business Growth, B2b Saas, Saas Sales, Enterprise Saas, Sales, Business growth strategy, Founder, VP of Sales, CRO, Chief Revenue Officer, Technology, Leadership, CEO, Management, Hyper-Growth.

The Scale Up Show

How do you grow like a VC backed company without taking on investors? Do you want to create a lifestyle business, a performance business or an empire?  How do you scale to an exit without losing your freedom?
Join the host Ryan Staley every Monday and Wednesday for conversations with the brightest and best Founders, CEO’s and Entrepreneurs to crack the code on repeatable revenue growth, leadership, lifestyle freedom and mindset.
This show has featured Startup and Billion Dollar Founders, Best Selling Authors, and the World’s Top Sales and Marketing Experts like Terry Jones (Founder of Travelocity and Chairman of Kayak),  Andrew Gazdecki (Founder of Microacquire), Harpaul Sambhi (Founder of Magical with a previous exit to Linkedin) and many more
This is where Scaling and Sales are made simple in 25 minutes or less.

How do you grow like a VC backed company without taking on investors? Do you want to create a lifestyle business, a performance business or an empire? &nbsp;How do you scale to an exit without losing your freedom? Join the host Ryan Staley every Monday and Wednesday for conversations with the brightest and best Founders, CEO&rsquo;s and Entrepreneurs to crack the code on repeatable revenue growth, leadership, lifestyle freedom and mindset. This show has featured Startup and Billion Dollar Founders, Best Selling Authors, and the World&rsquo;s Top Sales and Marketing Experts like Terry Jones (Founder of Travelocity and Chairman of Kayak),&nbsp; Andrew Gazdecki (Founder of Microacquire), Harpaul Sambhi (Founder of Magical with a previous exit to Linkedin) and many more This is where Scaling and Sales are made simple in 25 minutes or less.

From 0 to 25k Users with $0 Marketing Budget with Eric Xiao Founder of Laxis

Ryan speaks to Brendan Kamm, the CEO of Thnks for the second time in this episode. Ryan and Brendan talk about his AI use cases as a CEO and discuss how Brendan leverages it to enhance his daily operations within the business and improve communication within his team. Brendan also talks about how to adapt and engage with AI to improve it and make it work for you and your business.



Join 2,500+ readers getting weekly practical guidance to scale themselves and their companies using Artificial Intelligence and Revenue Cheat Codes.  



Explore becoming Superhuman here: https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/

KEY TAKEAWAYS
Brendan uses AI to improve his writing, ensuring it aligns with his brand values, and engages in conversational interactions with AI models to generate ideas and gather feedback.
AI can significantly reduce time spent on non-customer-related activities, allowing salespeople to focus more on building relationships.
Creating custom AI models for your brand can help ensure consistency in communication and improve team members' ability to provide clear, detailed instructions.
Leveraging AI for sales research, such as analyzing 10K reports and industry trends, can help representatives be more prepared and in tune with their prospects' concerns and goals.
Experimenting with different AI tools and prompts can lead to more effective outputs and a deeper understanding of how to utilize these technologies for various tasks.
Uploading multiple sources to AI models like Notebook LLM allows for a comprehensive analysis of an industry, providing valuable insights for sales and strategy.
Brendan has found one of the biggest challenges in growing a business, is instilling the same level of passion and care in team members as the CEO has.

BEST MOMENTS

"I've created sort of custom bots that reflect our sort of brand values, and that's been really helpful, and I can just run it through and say, Hey, am I, you know, am I on target?" 

"If I can take all my non human interactions and make that less time consuming and less focused on the operational and the sort of behind the scenes things, I have more time to spend building relationships." 

"I'll also tell you I use a lot of explain to me like I'm five, explain to me like I'm 12. Like I'll go through the whole progression just to make sure I understand something." 

"I think you need to instill that level of care and confidence. And like, Hey, man, we're all on the same team headed in the same direction."

Ryan Staley

Founder and CEO

Whale Boss

ryan@whalesellingsystem.com

www.ryanstaley.io

Ryan speaks to Brendan Kamm, the CEO of Thnks for the second time in this episode. Ryan and Brendan talk about his AI use cases as a CEO and discuss how Brendan leverages it to enhance his daily operations within the business and improve communication within his team. Brendan also talks about how to adapt and engage with AI to improve it and make it work for you and your business.
 
Join 2,500+ readers getting weekly practical guidance to scale themselves and their companies using Artificial Intelligence and Revenue Cheat Codes.   
Explore becoming Superhuman here: <a href="https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/">https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/</a>
KEY TAKEAWAYS
<ul>
<li>Brendan uses AI to improve his writing, ensuring it aligns with his brand values, and engages in conversational interactions with AI models to generate ideas and gather feedback.</li>
<li>AI can significantly reduce time spent on non-customer-related activities, allowing salespeople to focus more on building relationships.</li>
<li>Creating custom AI models for your brand can help ensure consistency in communication and improve team members' ability to provide clear, detailed instructions.</li>
<li>Leveraging AI for sales research, such as analyzing 10K reports and industry trends, can help representatives be more prepared and in tune with their prospects' concerns and goals.</li>
<li>Experimenting with different AI tools and prompts can lead to more effective outputs and a deeper understanding of how to utilize these technologies for various tasks.</li>
<li>Uploading multiple sources to AI models like Notebook LLM allows for a comprehensive analysis of an industry, providing valuable insights for sales and strategy.</li>
<li>Brendan has found one of the biggest challenges in growing a business, is instilling the same level of passion and care in team members as the CEO has.</li>
</ul>
BEST MOMENTS
"I've created sort of custom bots that reflect our sort of brand values, and that's been really helpful, and I can just run it through and say, Hey, am I, you know, am I on target?" 
"If I can take all my non human interactions and make that less time consuming and less focused on the operational and the sort of behind the scenes things, I have more time to spend building relationships." 
"I'll also tell you I use a lot of explain to me like I'm five, explain to me like I'm 12. Like I'll go through the whole progression just to make sure I understand something." 
"I think you need to instill that level of care and confidence. And like, Hey, man, we're all on the same team headed in the same direction."
Ryan Staley
Founder and CEO
Whale Boss
ryan@whalesellingsystem.com
<a href="https://www.ryanstaley.io/">www.ryanstaley.io</a>

The Best AI Use Cases as a CEO |  Part 2 with Brendan Kamm CEO of Thnks

Join Ryan for part 1 of 2 as he speaks with Brendan Kamm, founder and CEO of Thnks. Kamm shares insights on leveraging gratitude in business, discussing his company's innovative platform for expressing appreciation in professional contexts. The conversation explores the human element in sales, revealing top use cases for connecting with people authentically. Kamm's approach to scaling a business without losing sight of personal relationships offers valuable tips for closing revenue and building successful companies.

Join 2,500+ readers getting weekly practical guidance to scale themselves and their companies using Artificial Intelligence and Revenue Cheat Codes.  



Explore becoming Superhuman here: https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/

KEY TAKEAWAYS
Thnks is a gratitude expression platform targeting large distributed sales teams, allowing for easy sending of small appreciation gestures.
The company has grown to $30-40 million in ARR since 2016, with a team of about 50 people and under $15 million in total funding.
Thnks relies heavily on network effects and product-led growth, with recent expansion into paid advertising and enterprise-level deals.
Brendan emphasizes the importance of authenticity and relationship-building in sales, moving beyond mere tactics to focus on long-term connections.
The company has observed measurable business outcomes from gratitude gestures, such as faster rescheduling of cancelled meetings.
Brendan suggests focusing on thoughtful, personalized gestures rather than relying solely on traditional gifting occasions like birthdays or holidays.
Ryan and Brendan highlight the balance between leveraging technology and maintaining human connection in modern business relationships.

BEST MOMENTS

"We call it a gratitude expression platform. Basically, it's a way to send a small gesture of appreciation in a business context.”

"Our philosophy is people like to do business with people they like. I think that's always been the case and everyone likes someone who appreciates them." 

"It's easy to fall a little bit into the trap of tactics, right? And it's not that you write, you need tactics and you need to get your numbers, but it's, it's too easy to kind of let go of the end result, what you're really looking for." 

"We want to focus on that sort of authenticity and that idea that these things take time. It's not just, I sent a thing. Did I get what I want back? It's gotta be less transactional than that over time."

"You can have hard business outcomes and track how these things affect even not in something as simple as that." 

Ryan Staley

Founder and CEO

Whale Boss

ryan@whalesellingsystem.com

www.ryanstaley.io

Join Ryan for part 1 of 2 as he speaks with Brendan Kamm, founder and CEO of Thnks. Kamm shares insights on leveraging gratitude in business, discussing his company's innovative platform for expressing appreciation in professional contexts. The conversation explores the human element in sales, revealing top use cases for connecting with people authentically. Kamm's approach to scaling a business without losing sight of personal relationships offers valuable tips for closing revenue and building successful companies.
Join 2,500+ readers getting weekly practical guidance to scale themselves and their companies using Artificial Intelligence and Revenue Cheat Codes.   
Explore becoming Superhuman here: <a href="https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/">https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/</a>
KEY TAKEAWAYS
<ul>
<li>Thnks is a gratitude expression platform targeting large distributed sales teams, allowing for easy sending of small appreciation gestures.</li>
<li>The company has grown to $30-40 million in ARR since 2016, with a team of about 50 people and under $15 million in total funding.</li>
<li>Thnks relies heavily on network effects and product-led growth, with recent expansion into paid advertising and enterprise-level deals.</li>
<li>Brendan emphasizes the importance of authenticity and relationship-building in sales, moving beyond mere tactics to focus on long-term connections.</li>
<li>The company has observed measurable business outcomes from gratitude gestures, such as faster rescheduling of cancelled meetings.</li>
<li>Brendan suggests focusing on thoughtful, personalized gestures rather than relying solely on traditional gifting occasions like birthdays or holidays.</li>
<li>Ryan and Brendan highlight the balance between leveraging technology and maintaining human connection in modern business relationships.</li>
</ul>
BEST MOMENTS
"We call it a gratitude expression platform. Basically, it's a way to send a small gesture of appreciation in a business context.”
"Our philosophy is people like to do business with people they like. I think that's always been the case and everyone likes someone who appreciates them." 
"It's easy to fall a little bit into the trap of tactics, right? And it's not that you write, you need tactics and you need to get your numbers, but it's, it's too easy to kind of let go of the end result, what you're really looking for." 
"We want to focus on that sort of authenticity and that idea that these things take time. It's not just, I sent a thing. Did I get what I want back? It's gotta be less transactional than that over time."
"You can have hard business outcomes and track how these things affect even not in something as simple as that." 
Ryan Staley
Founder and CEO
Whale Boss
ryan@whalesellingsystem.com
<a href="https://www.ryanstaley.io/">www.ryanstaley.io</a>

The Humanity in Transactions | Part 1 with Brendan Kamm of Thnks

Join Ryan for part 2 with Thomas Hansen, COO of Amplitude Analytics. Thomas talks with Ryan about the steps he took to uniquely climb the corporate ladder and how anyone can do the same. Ryan and Thomas also talk about how to leverage AI in your career and how AI is creating a new opportunity that has never before been possible!

Join 2,500+ readers getting weekly practical guidance to scale themselves and their companies using Artificial Intelligence and Revenue Cheat Codes.  



Explore becoming Superhuman here: https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/

KEY TAKEAWAYS
Even as COO, Thomas still has an SDR role.
Thomas built out his knowledge and skillset, allowing himself to create a diverse portfolio, enabling him to climb the corporate ladder.
You have to know your strength and your superpower, then apply that. Thomas encourages everyone to get diversity in their career early on to discover this but also to teach you how to spot new ways of creatively doing things.
Saying yes and working towards things that may not be seen as the obvious or linear option, has created the most value for Thomas in his career.
Look for AI roles that might not be in your comfort zone, to gain experience and exposure. Or become the internal champion in your existing role and company.
Industry after industry will be revolutionized by AI, including VC, particularly in entry level positions.

BEST MOMENTS

“You’ve got to know yourself, you’ve got to figure out what is your one superpower”

“I just think that early in your career, doing stuff that’s not the linear boring path, that’s not so obvious, it teaches you to be scrappy, tenacity, to open up your eyes to different ways of doing things”

“One of the things that has created the most value in my career has been taking on the non-linear and the non-obvious choices”

“Think about what you can embrace in the current role you’re in, in terms of being the internal champion for use case and how you’re leveraging internally for your own business in AI”

Ryan Staley

Founder and CEO

Whale Boss

ryan@whalesellingsystem.com

www.ryanstaley.io

Join Ryan for part 2 with Thomas Hansen, COO of Amplitude Analytics. Thomas talks with Ryan about the steps he took to uniquely climb the corporate ladder and how anyone can do the same. Ryan and Thomas also talk about how to leverage AI in your career and how AI is creating a new opportunity that has never before been possible!
Join 2,500+ readers getting weekly practical guidance to scale themselves and their companies using Artificial Intelligence and Revenue Cheat Codes.   
Explore becoming Superhuman here: <a href="https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/">https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/</a>
KEY TAKEAWAYS
<ul>
<li>Even as COO, Thomas still has an SDR role.</li>
<li>Thomas built out his knowledge and skillset, allowing himself to create a diverse portfolio, enabling him to climb the corporate ladder.</li>
<li>You have to know your strength and your superpower, then apply that. Thomas encourages everyone to get diversity in their career early on to discover this but also to teach you how to spot new ways of creatively doing things.</li>
<li>Saying yes and working towards things that may not be seen as the obvious or linear option, has created the most value for Thomas in his career.</li>
<li>Look for AI roles that might not be in your comfort zone, to gain experience and exposure. Or become the internal champion in your existing role and company.</li>
<li>Industry after industry will be revolutionized by AI, including VC, particularly in entry level positions.</li>
</ul>
BEST MOMENTS
“You’ve got to know yourself, you’ve got to figure out what is your one superpower”
“I just think that early in your career, doing stuff that’s not the linear boring path, that’s not so obvious, it teaches you to be scrappy, tenacity, to open up your eyes to different ways of doing things”
“One of the things that has created the most value in my career has been taking on the non-linear and the non-obvious choices”
“Think about what you can embrace in the current role you’re in, in terms of being the internal champion for use case and how you’re leveraging internally for your own business in AI”
Ryan Staley
Founder and CEO
Whale Boss
ryan@whalesellingsystem.com
<a href="https://www.ryanstaley.io/">www.ryanstaley.io</a>

From 0 to 25k Users with $0 Marketing Budget with Eric Xiao Founder of Laxis

The Scale Up Show

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