S9E3 - Cracking Early-Stage SaaS Growth ft. Jacob Bank, CEO of Relay.app

In this episode of the SaaS Sessions podcast, Jacob Bank, founder of Relay.app, shares his journey from academia to startup founder, discussing the challenges of building a product in the AI space. He emphasizes the importance of validating ideas, finding early customers, and experimenting with various marketing channels. Jacob also highlights the significance of cohort retention as a measure of product-market fit and the need to balance innovation with competition in a rapidly evolving market. Key Takeaways – 1. You’re not failing - your distribution is Building is easy; getting customers is the battlefield. Early channels (Reddit, network, cold email) only take you so far. Most startup advice is outdated or irrelevant to your context - test everything yourself. 2. Validate with precision, not ego The Mom Test changed how Jacob gathered honest feedback. 10 well-run interviews can kill or greenlight an idea. Getting “likes” is not validation - retention and willingness to pay are. 3. Every growth stage needs a new motion 0 → 10: Scrappy hustle (Reddit, LinkedIn DMs, direct outreach). 10 → 100: Partner marketing, SEO, and high-intent blog content. 100 → 1000: Viral LinkedIn content + YouTube for education + community-led growth. 4. PMF isn’t hype - it’s cohort retention Retention is the only true sign of product-market fit. Competitive pressure is a forcing function to build better products. Don’t be afraid to pick a fight in a crowded space - just know your edge. Connect with Jacob Bank: 🔗 Jacob Bank - 📅 Join his Build an AI Agent with Me sessions - 🌐 Try Relay.app for free: Relay.app is an AI agent builder that connects your tools into smart workflows. Designed to bring humans into the loop where automation fails, Relay combines intuitive UX with AI-native capabilities, enabling teams to move faster without drowning in manual ops. Chapters: 00:10 – Introduction 00:50 – Jacob’s journey from academia to Google to Relay 02:14 – The pain of early go-to-market and what didn’t work 06:09 – Using The Mom Test to validate early MVPs 07:59 – Breaking through with traction experiments 10:52 – Reddit, Product Hunt, and the weak links in early GTM 13:49 – From 10 to 100: What channels actually scaled 15:18 – Facing the 100 → 1000 wall 16:37 – Cracking virality with LinkedIn 21:29 – Mid-funnel levers: YouTube and email 27:13 – Competing in a mature category and why it’s a good thing 33:15 – Defining and validating PMF the hard way 38:27 – Retention is king—no tricks, just product 40:28 – Lightning round 42:41 – Final thoughts + how to join Jacob’s live AI agent sessions Visit our website - Connect with me on LinkedIn -

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S9E3 - Cracking Early-Stage SaaS Growth ft. Jacob Bank, CEO of Relay.app is an episode from SaaS Sessions by Sunil Neurgaonkar.

This episode is 43:22 long.

This episode was published on Apr 2, 2025.

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