Navigating AI and Enterprise Sales With Ryan Austin

Welcome to The SaaS CFO Podcast! In this episode, host Ben sits down with Ryan Austin, founder and CEO of Cognota. Ryan shares his journey from being an entrepreneur with a self-described unconventional academic background to building Cognota, a company pioneering the "LearnOps" category for enterprise learning and development teams.  

Together, they dive into the challenges of scaling in today’s market, discuss creative approaches to enterprise sales and pricing, and explore how AI is reshaping internal operations and competitive strategy. Whether you’re interested in SaaS growth, fundraising, or the evolving landscape of learning technology, this episode offers unique insights from Ryan's experience leading an agile team and navigating the fast-changing world of enterprise software. 

Show Notes: 

00:00 Integrating tech for better outcomes 

04:53 Managing Longer Sales Cycles 

07:20 Investing in leadership team 

11:26 Exploring outcome-based pricing models 

15:47 Discussing ARR and AI efficiencies 

18:32 Making tough business decisions 

20:19 Connecting on LinkedIn and LearnOps 

Links: 

SaaS Fundraising Stories: https://www.thesaasnews.com/news/cognota-raises-5-75-million-series-b 

Ryan Austin’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanaustin3/ 

Cognota’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cognotahq/ 

Cognota’s Website: https://cognota.com/ 

To learn more about Ben check out the links below: 

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Follow Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benrmurray