Startup Series

 - Episode 36

The Smarter Path to SaaS Success

Lena Levine, CEO

Episode Summary: 

In this episode of BetterTech, we’re joined by Lena Levine, CEO of Forcoda, a software development agency that helps founders bring their SaaS success and SaaS ideas to life. Lena shares her journey from being a young coder in Russia to launching a thriving tech business in the U.S., and dives deep into the smarter path to SaaS success. She walks us through common mistakes non-technical founders make, from skipping customer research to building bloated MVPs, and offers tactical advice on product validation, iterative design, go-to-market strategy, and architecture planning. Whether you’re a startup founder or an enterprise innovator, this conversation is packed with practical insights.

Show Notes:

  1. Lena Levine shares her journey from software engineer to CEO of Forcoda and what led her to start her own agency.
  2. Discussion on mistakes early-stage SaaS founders make, especially when they skip customer research.
  3. Lena explains how clickable prototypes helped clients validate demand and secure early sales.
  4. Insights on balancing design, development, and technical architecture to build scalable SaaS products.
  5. Guest outlines the importance of structured go-to-market planning and sales funnel creation for SaaS success.

This episode is hosted by Jocelyn Houle, Host, BetterTech

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