On this episode of Scouting For Growth, Sabine VdL is joined by Georgiana “Gia” Laudi — strategic advisor, keynote speaker, and co-founder of Forget The Funnel — for a masterclass on one of the most underestimated growth levers in B2B SaaS: stop chasing leads… and start designing for the customers who actually stay. If your go-to-market strategy currently feels like “throw spaghetti at the wall and hope something sticks,” Gia delivers the cure: a truly customer-led approach that turns recurring revenue into something predictable (instead of panic-fuelled). Forget the funnel. Follow the customer. Gia explains why funnel-first thinking often traps teams in constant acquisition mode, while ignoring the real engine of sustainable growth: retention and expansion. Even if you’re not a pure recurring revenue business, the principle holds: existing customers are worth more, cost less to keep, and grow faster when the experience works. Or as Gia puts it perfectly: your relationship with the customer doesn’t end at purchase — it begins there. The 900% growth lesson: customer experience as an operating system One of the standout stories in the episode: after mapping the customer experience end-to-end through the customer’s lens, Gia’s company grew revenue by 900% over two years. Why? Because the map created something most teams don’t have: a shared language across departments. It aligned product, marketing, sales, and customer success around the same goal — making decisions faster, reducing internal friction, and operationalising around what customers actually need to succeed. Customer research doesn’t have to be painful (or expensive) Gia reframes “customer research” into something far more usable: customer insights. Instead of massive, slow projects that leave teams overwhelmed, she recommends targeted, intentional research using the Jobs To Be Done approach. The magic is in the pattern recognition: you can learn a shocking amount from just 10–12 conversations — enough to identify why customers seek you out, what triggers buying decisions, and what value they’re really hiring your product for. Not all customers are created equal Gia’s advice for scaling companies is refreshingly blunt: don’t try to serve everyone. Focus on your best-fit customers — the ones who: deeply care about the problem you solve have high willingness to pay understand your value quickly and would recommend you loudly Those are the customers worth building around. Early-stage? Nail one customer segment perfectly. Later-stage? Don’t flatten customers into one generic group — segment meaningfully so experiences still convert and resonate. Why this episode matters For founders, growth leaders, and enterprise innovators, this conversation is a blueprint for durable growth: orient operations around customer experience prioritise retention and expansion over constant acquisition use lightweight insight loops to drive clarity focus on the customers who value you most Because the fastest way to grow isn’t always more leads. It’s more customers who stay, succeed, and tell everyone else to follow.