How to Build Your First SaaS Product - Alan Zhao, Co-Founder of Warmly

Founder-Led Podcast

Today’s episode welcomes Alan Zhao, Co-Founder of Warmly - the first autonomous revenue orchestration platform purpose built for SMB sized revenue teams. The platform orchestrates metadata from sales enablement tools, B2B intent, and enrichment tools to identify, track, and connect with website visitors who are ready to convert.

Before starting Warmly, Alan spent 2 years in the finance world. He compares finance to startups in that both are very dynamic, although on the trading floor your planning matters most while execution is simple - which is the other way around when running a startup. The thing that drew him into founding Warmly was a lifelong dream to build something of his own.

Creating your first product is never easy. The first iteration of Warmly was created as a LinkedIn alternative to help entrepreneurs find their co-founding match, but they quickly realized that the world didn’t need another social media platform. From there, they built 3 different variants until they landed on the product that Warmly offers today.

In early 2022, the Warmly team saw an impending tech recession and knew their next iteration had to solve a big problem. Alan noticed that the number one problem in sales is timing, so they found a product that was solving for it and built the first iteration of Warmly based on their future competitor, which allowed them to quickly go to market.

Alan has worn many hats during the Warmly journey. He started off as an engineer, then moved on to the CTO role, then did sales, and in Warmly’s current iteration he serves as head of customer success, while also doing social media and content marketing. All of these roles were great learning experiences for Alan and enhanced his ability to solve big-picture startup problems - which is what any good founder should focus on.

Tune into the full episode to learn more on how to build your first SaaS product!

Connect with Alan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-j-zhao/
Connect with Collin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/collincmitchell/
Check out Collin's Newsletter - https://salestransformation.beehiiv.com/

• (02:34) - - Figuring out your first product
• (04:51) - - What makes a good product?
• (07:43) - - How to validate your product idea
• (11:14) - - What roles should a founder own?
• (15:15) - - Solving difficult problems as a startup
• (17:14) - - Alan’s vision for the future of Warmly
• (20:04) - - Advice for first time founders