In this episode of Tales from the Pros, Michael Georgiou and Eric Lawrence sit down with Tim Condon, CRO at Clutch, to talk about how B2B buying is changing.

Tim shares what he has learned from growing products, working closely with product and revenue teams, and listening to what customers actually want. He also talks about why good products still need strong distribution and why data matters when teams disagree.

The conversation then shifts to AI. Tim explains how AI search and AI agents could change the way companies find and evaluate service providers. He also shares how Clutch is preparing for a future where buyers may start their search with AI instead of Google or a company website.

If you work in software, B2B services, sales, marketing, or product, this episode gives you a practical look at where buyer behavior may be heading and what businesses can do to stay visible and trusted.

🎯 Highlights You Won’t Want to Miss

• Why product and revenue teams need to stay closely aligned
• How data can help settle competing opinions and priorities
• Why even a great product still needs the right distribution
• How Clutch turned underused traffic into a meaningful revenue stream
• Why AI could reshape the entire B2B buying journey
• How AI agents may eventually help buyers scope projects and evaluate providers
• Why reviews and third-party trust signals matter for AI visibility
• What AI means for the future of software development and B2B services

🎧 Listen and Subscribe

Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6QkUtrcNllUkqtq1fjlwnZ

Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tales-from-the-pros/id1371067192

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@Imaginovation/podcasts

SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/talesfromthepros

💡 Key Takeaways

• Strong product and revenue alignment starts with trust, communication, and shared goals
• Customer feedback is more useful when teams understand which requests truly matter
• Data works best when teams agree on the right metrics before seeing the results
• Great products still need strong distribution to reach the right customers
• AI is making B2B buyers more informed before they ever speak with a provider
• Reviews, verification, and reputation are becoming important signals for AI recommendations
• B2B service companies are unlikely to disappear, but how they deliver and price their expertise may change
• Businesses need to actively build their reputation across the web, not just on their own websites

Tim also notes that Clutch sees a strong relationship between reviews, verification, and how frequently companies are surfaced in AI-driven results.

🗂 Topics We Cover

• Product, sales, and revenue alignment
• Customer feedback and data-driven decision-making
• Product growth and distribution
• B2B marketplaces and buyer behavior
• AI search and AI agents
• Reviews, reputation, and trust signals
• The future of B2B services
• AI and software development
• Outcome-based pricing
• Google, AI search, and the changing discovery landscape

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 — Why product and revenue teams drift apart
01:33 — Tim’s journey from The Washington Post to Homesnap and Clutch
03:42 — Building alignment between product and revenue
08:58 — Using data to make better product decisions
14:04 — Why great products still need distribution
17:49 — Joining Clutch and finding new growth opportunities
24:02 — Building a marketplace around buyer trust
26:01 — How revenue and product teams can work better together
30:03 — Clutch’s AI project brief and the future of B2B buying
35:36 — AI search, trust signals, and changing buyer behavior
40:47 — What AI means for software development companies
44:23 — How businesses can become more visible to AI
47:15 — Google, AI competition, and the future of search

In this episode of Tales from the Pros, host Eric Lawrence sits down with Draven McConville, entrepreneur and former CEO of Klipboard, to discuss his journey from homelessness at 18 to building and successfully exiting two technology businesses.

Draven shares how his early experiences shaped his resilience and approach to entrepreneurship, along with the lessons he learned building custom software before launching Klipboard, a field service management platform acquired in 2024.

The conversation explores how he validated the market, identified the biggest customer pain points, built an MVP without unnecessary features, raised capital, scaled the business, and ultimately prepared for an exit. Draven also shares his perspective on the future of SaaS, AI, and why understanding your customers may matter more than ever.

🎯 Highlights You Won't Want to Miss

● Draven's journey from homelessness to building and exiting successful tech companies
● How Klipboard was validated before the product was built
● Why focusing on core customer pain points beat building more features
● The product lesson Draven learned after ignoring customer feedback
● How Klipboard approached fundraising, growth, and its eventual exit
● Why SaaS isn't dead in the age of AI
● What Draven believes founders need to succeed

🎧 Listen and Subscribe

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6QkUtrcNllUkqtq1fjlwnZ

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tales-from-the-pros/id1371067192

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Imaginovation/podcasts

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/talesfromthepros

💡 Key Takeaways

● Validate the market and listen to customers before investing heavily in product development.

● Focus on solving the biggest pain points before adding more features.

● Founder ego can get in the way of product decisions. Sometimes the market is telling you exactly what to do.

● More features don't always create more value. Klipboard's earliest core features remained among its most heavily used.

● Building a SaaS company requires more than technology. Sales, support, infrastructure, talent, and customer trust all play a role.

● AI may change how software is built and delivered, but businesses will still need strong products, customer understanding, and execution.

🗂 Topics We Cover

● Building resilience as an entrepreneur
● B2B software and product development
● SaaS idea and market validation
● Customer feedback and feature prioritization
● Product-market fit
● SaaS growth and go-to-market strategy
● Raising capital and scaling a business
● Preparing for a SaaS exit
● The future of SaaS and AI
● Advice for founders

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 — Introduction to Draven McConville
01:15 — From Homelessness to Entrepreneurship
04:13 — Why Boring B2B Software Can Be Valuable
05:27 — From Software Agency to SaaS Founder
08:38 — Validating the Klipboard Opportunity
11:32 — Building the MVP and Avoiding Feature Bloat
14:46 — Customer Feedback and Founder Ego
20:01 — The Challenge of Turning Internal Tools Into SaaS
21:18 — Klipboard's Go-to-Market Strategy
27:54 — The Future of SaaS and AI
31:18 — Raising Capital and Scaling Klipboard
34:53 — The Klipboard Exit
35:25 — Life After Selling a Company
41:55 — Final Advice for Founders