Episode Summary:

Host Ben Reed welcomes Stuart Brent, founder of SaasyDB, to the NextGen Sales Leaders Podcast. Stuart shares his path from running a screen-printing shop in West Philly to building multiple startups and launching a niche SaaS company database. Together, they explore the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, hiring lessons, the power of niche data, and how to bootstrap SaaS without outside funding.

What You Will Learn:

1. How Stuart’s early ventures shaped his entrepreneurial mindset.
2. The importance of discernment and trust in partnerships and hiring.
3. Why “hire slow, fire fast” is one of the most important rules in scaling.
4. Insights into building niche databases and monetizing curated data.
5. Predictions on AI, low-code vulnerabilities, and the pushback for more human involvement in customer support.

Featured Guest: Stuart Brent: Founder of SaasyDB, the SaaS company database built for marketers and sales teams.

Host: Ben Reed, host of the Next Gen Sales Leaders Podcast.

Episode Highlights:

• 01:00 – From band T-shirts to screen printing business in West Philly
• 12:00 – How street smarts translate into entrepreneurship
• 14:00 – Red flags in partnerships & why discernment matters
• 17:00 – Hiring lessons: firing fast, the “mafia enforcer” candidate story
• 21:00 – Ben’s 3-day hiring challenge method & why most founders get hiring wrong
• 27:00 – VA challenges: when to cut ties quickly vs. retrain
• 31:00 – Managing people with clear systems: Ben’s PPTP framework
• 36:00 – Scaling agencies vs. building SaaS: lessons from RevyOps and SaasyDB
• 43:00 – Why lead generation agencies are brutally hard to scale
• 46:00 – Niching down for success and the power of specialized databases
• 50:00 – RevyOps’ vision of the “database of databases”
• 55:00 – What SaasyDB does and how Stuart pivoted into SaaS data
• 58:00 – Future of curated niche data sets vs. big providers
• 1:03:00 – Signal enrichment, tiered products & upsell opportunities
• 1:07:00 – Final thoughts, advice for entrepreneurs & AI predictions

Connect with Stuart:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartbrent/
• Website: https://www.saasydb.com/

Follow Ben on Social:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-aaron-reed/

Join our FREE Group "NextGen Sales Systems:"

https://tinyurl.com/next-gen-skool

Centralize & Analyze Your GTM Data: https://revyops.com

Episode Summary:

Join us as Austin Reed, CEO of Horizon Dev, shares his entrepreneurial journey from being a full-time musician and digital nomad to building a thriving development agency focused on low-code and no-code automation. Austin opens up about scaling Horizon Dev, landing dream clients like VRF, building a vibrant Skool community, and navigating the personal challenges of identity, resilience, and leadership along the way.

What You Will Learn:

• How Austin transitioned from music and freelancing to leading a global dev agency.
• The evolution of outbound prospecting and why branding often wins over cold outreach.
• Key no-code/low-code tools and their tradeoffs for businesses and developers.
• Insights into scaling a business with long-term client relationships and MRR stability.
• The mindset shifts and personal growth required to sustain entrepreneurial success.

Featured Guest: Austin Reed – CEO of Horizon Dev.

Host: Ben Reed, host of the Next Gen Sales Leaders Podcast.

Episode Highlights:

[00:01:00] Building Horizon Dev: From musician and nomad to tech CEO.

[00:03:30] Branding vs. Outbound: Why Austin shifted from cold outreach to long-term brand and content strategies.

[00:08:10] Skool Community: Teaching no-code/low-code automation to founders & devs.

[00:26:00] Martial Arts & Mindset: How Muay Thai and Jiu-Jitsu shaped resilience.

[00:32:00] The Automation Stack: N8N, Zapier, Make, and Lovable.

[00:44:00] Ecosystems & Psychology: Why some tools win despite better options.

[00:52:00] Identity & Burnout: Learning to let go and grow as a leader.

[01:14:00] Meditation & Surrender: Vipassana retreats and emotional awareness.

[01:23:00] Final Reflections: Empowering teams and clients to chase their dreams.

Connect with Austin:

• Website: https://horizon.dev
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@horizonsoftwaredev
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/automationsexpert/

Follow Ben on Social:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-aaron-reed/

Join our FREE Group "NextGen Sales Systems:"

https://tinyurl.com/next-gen-skool

Centralize & Analyze Your GTM Data: https://revyops.com

Episode Summary:

Join us as Dean Fiacco, founder of Scaled Mail (cold email infrastructure SaaS) and Beanstalk Consulting (cold outbound agency), shares his journey from tech sales to running two successful businesses. Dean breaks down the realities of cold email deliverability, why inbox infrastructure is critical, and how he’s balanced scaling an agency while building SaaS. From domain reputation to hiring strategies, this episode is packed with practical insights for agency owners, outbound teams, and aspiring founders.

What You Will Learn:

• Why scaling cold email requires more than Gmail/Microsoft accounts.
• How Scaled Mail grew out of Beanstalk’s inbox challenges.
• Best practices for domain reputation and inbox-to-domain ratios.
• The importance of simplifying agency operations and client selection.
• Hiring strategies that work: probationary periods, tests, and “hire fast, fire fast.”
• Why agencies often spin out SaaS products and how to approach it.

Featured Guest: Dean Fiacco – Founder of Beanstalk Consulting (cold email agency) and ScaledMail (cold email infrastructure SaaS).

Host: Ben Reed – RevyOps founder and host of the Next Gen Sales Leaders Podcast.

Episode Highlights:

• [00:00] Welcome & Intro: Dean introduces Beanstalk and Scaled Mail.
• [02:30] From pain point to SaaS: How inbox headaches became Scaled Mail.
• [04:06] Why not just Gmail?: ESP limits and deliverability challenges.
• [06:59] Domain reputation: Protecting your main domain with lookalikes.
• [10:04] Inbox ratios: Safe setups for Google, Microsoft, and SMTP.
• [12:23] Marketplace solution: Prebuilt packages to simplify scaling.
• [15:46] Redundancy matters: Avoiding provider lock-in and outages.
• [21:23] Running two businesses: Delegation, teams, and evolving roles.
• [25:58] Agency growth tips: Keep it simple, choose the right clients.
• [31:23] Hiring tests: Ben’s “three-day challenge” for new hires.
• [34:06] Hire fast, fire fast: Dean’s approach to evaluating talent.
• [40:33] From agency to SaaS: Why services spawn product ideas.
• [58:04] Sales as a founder skill: Why talking to customers matters.
• [01:08:12] Parting advice: Dean’s call to action—just start and sell.

Connect with Dean:

• ScaledMail: https://scaledmail.com
• Beanstalk Consulting: https://beanstalkconsulting.co
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanfiacco/

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Follow Ben on Social:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-aaron-reed/

Join our FREE Group "NextGen Sales Systems:"

• https://tinyurl.com/next-gen-skool

Solve your GTM Data Problems: https://revyops.com