In this episode of In Demand, Asia and Kim take a deep dive into one of the most overlooked revenue levers in SaaS: activation.

They walk through their activation playbook, breaking down how to define activation for your product and sharing tactical strategies for improving onboarding experiences.

Whether you're PLG or sales-assisted, this episode offers clear steps to uncover where users get stuck and how to fix it.

Got a question you’d like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here.

Links:

• DemandMaven
• UserInterviews.com
• Respondent.io
• Product-Led Onboarding by Ramli John
• Samuel Hulick
• UserOnboard
• Reforge

• (00:00:55) - Why most founders overlook activation, and why that’s a huge mistake.
• (00:02:25) - What activation actually means and how to define it for your SaaS.
• (00:03:30) - Trial-to-paid is not the only way to think about activation, and may be missing a big part of the story.
• (00:06:15) - How to discover activation metrics using a new user retention report.
• (00:12:30) - Why session recordings fall short and what to use instead.
• (00:14:35) - The power of UX interviews and how to run them properly.
• (00:23:00) - What to watch for in interviews: pauses, furrowed brows, and “it was easy” lies.
• (00:25:55) - Looking for friction and where people get stuck.
• (00:27:30) - How to map your onboarding flow and prioritize product fixes once you've done UX interviews.
• (00:30:30) - Why valuable activation work can fail in organizations where there isn't a clear decision maker (avoiding the problems of compromise land)
• (00:33:45) - How does activation change in product led vs. sales led organizations?
• (00:38:15) - Onboarding for high complexity products.
• (00:43:45) - Book and other recommendations for mastering activation.
• (00:51:30) - A final reminder about survivor bias. Remember that just because your customers made it, does not mean that your onboarding activation is perfect.

One of the biggest pain points for first-time founders is a lack of structure within their business. One of the most popular frameworks for quickly creating structure is the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), but does it really live up to the hype?

In this episode of In Demand, Asia and Kim do a deep dive into EOS. They break down its key components, where it works (and where it doesn’t), and why most founders should treat it more like a toolbox than a strict rulebook.

Got a question you’d like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here.

Links:

• DemandMaven
• EOS Worldwide
• Traction by Gino Wickman - the book introducing EOS

• (00:00:25) - Rediscovering campaign anxiety.
• (00:06:00) - EOS overview: what it is and why a client recently reached out asking about it.
• (00:11:00) - “Right person, right seat” explained.
• (00:15:45) - Issues tracking.
• (00:20:00) - Where EOS can fall apart for small teams.
• (00:29:30) - The parts of EOS that Asia likes and uses.
• (00:32:00) - Rocks vs. OKRs: what’s the difference and when does it matter?
• (00:39:15) - SOPs vs. “The Way”: document your processes, whatever you call them.
• (00:42:15) - When are core values useful and when are they just performative?
• (00:52:00) - Picking and choosing from EOS: take what works, leave the rest.

Most SaaS companies know customer research matters, but too often, it becomes a one-off project or gets pushed down the list.

In this episode of In Demand, Asia and Kim break down how to make customer research a core part of your growth process. They share how their own approach to research sprints has evolved, what mistakes they made early on, and what they do now to consistently uncover insights that drive real decisions.

You’ll also learn how to structure a fast, effective sprint, when to run different types of interviews (from churn to win-loss), and how to turn interviews into strategy and not just documentation.

Got a question you’d like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here.

Links:

• DemandMaven
• Bob Moesta
• User Interviews
• Respondent.io
• Wynter

• (00:01:00) - What Asia and Kim have changed about their original research interviews.
• (00:04:09) - How offering small incentives improved response rates and interview quality.
• (00:06:30) - Why letting clients watch live calls builds buy-in and alignment.
• (00:11:30) - Debriefing after every interview to map the four forces and pull insights from interviews.
• (00:15:15) - Going beyond the Jobs To Be Done research interview format to do UX interviews, churn interviews, and more.
• (00:18:55) - When does it make sense to use tools like userinterviews.com for interview candidates instead of going directly to your customers?
• (00:24:45) - Why gathering qualitative information is so important, especially for bootstrapped founders.
• (00:25:30) - What you can learn from churn interviews that you're missing with only a cancellation survey.
• (00:29:30) - Why win–loss and competitive intelligence interviews are underused growth tools.
• (00:34:10) - Budget-friendly recruiting tools to help you get started.