SaaSy Talk Unfiltered | SaaSy Talk S01.42: From Silicon Valley to Freelancing: A Look at John's Remarkable Career

SaaSy Talk S01.42: From Silicon Valley to Freelancing: A Look at John's Remarkable Career

February 4, 2024 / 28:29/S1:E42

About The Guest(s): John is CTO at Exergenics which optimises the performance of chilled water plants for commercial buildings. With over 25 years of experience in digital product development and engineering, he leads the technology strategy and vision for Exergenics, delivering innovative solutions that reduce energy consumption and costs for clients worldwide.

John is also Technical Advisor to Fallback.ai which uses voice-cloning to help automate sales pipelines. John is also the owner of Yellow Utes, an automated Ute Hire service.

Prior to current engagements, John was the Global Head of Product and Engineering for CBRE Host, a B2B2C workplace mobile and SaaS platform for the commercial real-estate sector. He founded and scaled Host in under three years, deploying it in five continents, four languages, and hundreds of commercial towers globally.

John holds multiple certifications in agile project management, scrum, and cloud computing, and has co-authored a publication on commodity trading. He is passionate about building amazing teams and impactful digital products that solve real-world problems and drive business value.Summary: In this episode, John shares his remarkable career journey, from starting in sales during the dot com boom in Silicon Valley to founding his own startup and leading product development at CBRE. He discusses the challenges and successes he encountered along the way, including the importance of pivoting business models, building a product culture within a traditional company, and bridging the gap between sales and engineering teams. John also provides insights into the future of product development, including the role of AI and natural language interfaces.Key Takeaways:

John's career journey highlights the importance of being adaptable and willing to pivot in the face of changing circumstances.
Building a product culture within a traditional company like CBRE requires collaboration and buy-in from sales and operations teams.
Prioritising product development requires a quantifiable framework that considers the value to the business and avoids becoming solely driven by short-term sales.
The future of product development lies in natural language interfaces and agent-driven development, where products seamlessly integrate with AI systems to fulfill user needs.
Balancing go-to-market efforts with product development is crucial to avoid burning out the sales team and prevent the product from becoming fragmented or outdated.

Notable Quotes:

"The first year or two was pivoting on the business model... being okay to pivot. It's not the end of the world." - John
"Your product releases get slower, your product degrades over time... putting your margin at risk." - John

Chapters 00:05 John's Career Journey and Early Experiences

00:42 Transition to Freelancing and Founding TopStocks

01:10 Lessons from TopStocks and Move to CBRE

02:04 Success and Challenges at CBRE

03:50 Venturing into Startups Again: Exergenics and Fallback AI

04:58 Reflecting on Past Startup Experiences

06:13 Navigating the Challenges between Product and Sales

08:21 Balancing Customer Needs and Product Roadmap

19:34 The Future of Product Development

23:54 John's Personal Reflections and Future Aspirations

Subscribe on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZVkJ12FIqD39oqgj7Kcjq