The SaaSiest Podcast18 Syys 2025

193. Barbara Matthews, Chief People Officer, Remote - Goodbye 6-Week Reviews. Hello 48 Hours. The Playbook for Modern Performance Reviews: Fast, Fair, and Scalable

In this episode, we’re joined by Barbara Matthews, Chief People Officer at Remote, the Series C company with 1800 employees across 85 countries building an end-to-end global HR platform. Barbara shares how her team compressed a 6–8 week performance cycle into 48 hours using monthly manager “trend” nudges, lightweight pre-calibration, and AI-generated self/manager summaries, while scaling a transparent, high-performance culture in a fully async org.

We spoke with Barbara about designing performance to be continuous, objective, and fast, and how you can align leaders on what “good” vs. “great” looks like, avoid surprises for employees, and turn HR from a slow ritual into a real-time operating system.

Here are some of the key questions we address:

How do you build a high-performance culture (with transparency) across 85 countries without burning people out?
What does it take to shrink performance reviews to 48 hours, and what’s the exact sequence from self-assessments to calibrations, promos, and comp?
How do monthly nudges and a simple 5-point trend score improve alignment and reduce end-of-cycle thrash?
Where does AI add the most value in performance, and where should humans stay firmly in the loop?
What is pre-calibration, and how do you align managers on role expectations so ratings are fair and consistent?
How do you keep feedback truly continuous in an async environment - training managers, closing loops, and avoiding “annual surprise” syndrome?
When promotions aren’t available, what retention levers can be used to keep top talent engaged and growing?

🎧 Tune in to hear how Barbara re-engineered performance for speed and clarity, proving that modern people ops is a product you design, not a form you fill.

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Jaksot(214)

214. Daniel Thulfaut, Head of Product at saas.group - Why AI Is Killing Traditional Product Management

In this episode, we sit down with Daniel Thulfaut, Head of Product at saas.group, one of Europe's most active SaaS acquirers. With 24 companies in the portfolio and more than €100M in ARR, Daniel has ...

9 Kesä 59min

213. Artti Aurasmaa, CEO of Staria - Why the CFO Is Becoming the Most Strategic Role in SaaS

In this episode we sit down with Artti Aurasmaa, CEO of Staria, to discuss how the CFO role is evolving from financial reporting to strategic leadership. Artti has spent more than 25 years helping com...

4 Kesä 47min

212. George Storm, CRO at N.rich - Why your SaaS Forecasting Is Broken & Inaccurate

In this episode, we’re joined by George Storm, CRO at N.rich, for a conversation about why traditional B2B SaaS forecasting is no longer good enough in today’s market. George shares how N.rich, the Eu...

28 Touko 58min

211. Massimo Arrigoni, CEO of Beefree - The SaaS Apocalypse? Massimo Arrigoni Says No

In this episode, we’re joined by Massimo Arrigoni, CEO of Beefree, the content creation platform behind thousands of SaaS products and one of the companies with a uniquely broad view of what’s actuall...

17 Huhti 56min

210. Jens Levin, Founder & CEO of Sitoo - No Overnight Success: 22 Years of Focus, Teamwork, and Playing the Long Game

In this episode, we’re joined by Jens Levin, Founder & CEO of Sitoo, the retail SaaS platform powering in-store experiences for leading brands across the world. Today, Sitoo has 20M Euro in ARR, 40%+ ...

1 Huhti 50min

209. Elena Verna, Growth at Lovable - How to Grow When Everyone Can Copy Your Product

In this episode, we’re joined by Elena Verna, growth expert and currently leading growth at Lovable, one of the fastest-growing companies in tech. Elena shares why the old growth playbooks are breakin...

26 Maalis 1h 2min

208. Lisen Zethraeus, CMO at Stratsys - How to Make Your Experts the Face of Your Brand

In this episode, we’re joined by Lisen Zethraeus, CMO at Stratsys, to talk about how B2B SaaS companies can turn internal expertise into thought leadership that builds trust and creates demand. Strats...

19 Maalis 50min

207. Adam Dorrell, CEO & Co-Founder of CustomerGaige - Founder-Led Sales vs Scaling: The Hard Transition Nobody Talks About

In this episode, we’re joined by Adam Dorrell, CEO & Co-Founder of CustomerGaige, for a candid conversation about one of the hardest founder transitions: when, and how, to step out of the sales seat w...

5 Maalis 52min