No Rocketships

#norocketships is all about tech gossip and the current/next challenge in vendor/customer relationships. We love the market competition that new challengers bring, and Kibo's arrival in Europe is starting to reinvigorate that scrap

A fascinating insight from a very honest Tom McKenna who talks about the rocketship mentality, the challenges of building a business when the ground underneath you is shifting so much, and how customer success is changing in the AI-first platform world.

A man of clear thinking Tomas debates the AI impact inside SaaS, we talk about the MACH journey and why it has both let us down and lifted us up, then we talk D2C, unpredictability and Jamie shows off - Tomas does not :)

Ellis Brigham are a 94yr old Retail business with tons of experience across many formats.  They run the North Face UK stores, Outsiders stores, their own distribution business and (of course) the Ellis Brigham shops across the UK. Chris chats about the transformation the business is on, how customers are changing (or how they aren't any different at all really). Great chat

You can feel the energy and passion in their voices, and personally after all the ego of tech i find it incredibly refreshing to chat with people who love their work, embrace the hard graft and keep coming back for more. Remember that Astrid & Miyu is growing fast, profitably and is a true omnichannel business with Shops now leading their expansion strategy.

Leah has grit, determination and charm. Nowadays is that enough in SaaS? We have a full and frank chat about life as the CEO of a SaaS business and whether momentum can be earned.

In a time of dramatic change in SaaS, fuelled by the opportunity and threat of AI - Michaela offers a thoughtful opinion on the next few stages of change, commerce's place in that world, and what customers actually want.

Tony sold Javelin to Accenture in 2015, but for 9 yrs prior was on a growth journey (where we helped a little). Always seen as a hugely successful and seamless exit, I wanted Tony to talk about the struggles and truths of creating "critical mass" within an advisory business.

Kat is co-founder of HoP who talks about being almost forced to start a business, coping with life amongst the pressures of family and agency, and finding the joy in winning little things :)

Meghan and Jamie chat about ABM, Computer Associates, today's tech marketing and the emergence of better demand gen whilst skills change and some we love are lost.