Growth is stagnating, targets are being missed, and pressure from investors is mounting. In many SaaS and LogTech companies, the reaction is reflexive: sales is not delivering, marketing is generating too few leads. But this blame game is a convenient simplification that obscures the real, systemic problems. The true causes lie deeper and are more uncomfortable than a simple sales metric.
In an interview with the “LogTech Podcast,” industry expert André Kaeber presents a series of provocative theories that can serve as early warning indicators for systemic problems in any SaaS company. He argues that many companies are trapped in silos, clinging to outdated models, and that the biggest hurdle to real progress is not budget, but their own mindset. This article distills seven of these uncomfortable truths that every executive should know.
1. Thesis: Your growth problem is not a sales problem, but a system error.
When the numbers aren’t right, the sales department is often the first to be blamed. Kaeber exposes this as dangerous short-sightedness. The problem is not weak sales, but a company that operates in silos. Sales, marketing, product, and management work in isolation instead of questioning the entire “target operating model.” Weak sales are rarely the cause, but usually only the symptom. The fatal consequence of this misdiagnosis: measures such as laying off the sales team only treat the symptom, waste valuable resources, and further distance the company from a real solution.
It is almost never just one issue or problem in one department! Often, it is not the “right” skills that are needed. I have frequently seen companies rely on people who have been successful in SaaS before, but who lack the basic tools to be successful. They are highly specialized, but not in the areas that the company currently needs!
For managers, this means that an honest audit does not begin with the sales dashboard, but rather with the organizational chart, existing skills, and lines of communication between departments.
2nd thesis: The great productivity lie – more systems, fewer results.
One of the most critical diagnoses is that productivity in many industries has stagnated or even declined over the past 20 years! And this despite the introduction of countless software solutions such as TMS, WMS, and MES. Kaeber calls this “apparent optimization.” This phenomenon reveals a massive misallocation of capital: enormous sums have been poured into technology that has not achieved any measurable increase in productivity. As an example, he cites a WMS/TMS solution whose implementation costs rose from 650 to 1,500 person-days, just to stay technologically up to date without improving core functionality. It is precisely this capital, which flowed into maintaining the status quo, that is now lacking for the disruptive innovations that threaten these companies today. We are increasingly dealing with a kind of swarm stupidity! Just because my CIO/CDO colleague at Company XYZ does it this way doesn’t mean it’s right!
Companies must therefore ask themselves whether their IT budgets are financing innovation or merely perpetuating the costs of a missed transformation. In the future, the specialist department will need to be involved much earlier on!
3rd thesis: Riding dead horses – The danger of technological ignorance.
Many SaaS companies are clinging to business models that are on the verge of obsolescence due to developments such as AI. They are “riding a dead horse,” according to Kaeber, trying to keep a fundamentally outdated system alive through incremental improvements. The key here is to realize that it’s not about optimizing existing processes, but having the courage to throw them completely overboard. This requires the radical honesty to admit that your own business model has an expiration date.
The strategic question is not how to improve the existing system, but whether we have the courage to shut it down before the market does.
4. Thesis: The biggest hurdle is not money, but mindset.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not a lack of capital that is the biggest obstacle to innovation, but rather a rigid mindset. According to Kaeber, in Germany in particular, a mentality characterized by security and safety prevents bold, forward-looking decisions. There is a lack of “future managers” – people who are not concerned with managing the status quo, but with the challenges of logistics in 2035. The technology for the next leap forward is often available, but the collective mindset prevents its implementation.
Technologically, we are ready for new developments in many areas, but our mindset does not allow it because our systems are characterized by security.
Managers must therefore first question their own risk tolerance and that of their organization before discussing technological roadmaps.
5. Thesis: The ego trap – Why founders are often their own worst enemies.
Das Ego des Gründers kann zur größten Wachstumsbremse werden. Kaeber analysiert dies nicht als persönliches Versagen, sondern als eine vorhersehbare und notwendige Evolution von Führungsrollen. Der visionäre Innovator und das “Spielkind” der Anfangsphase sind nicht zwangsläufig die richtigen Charaktere, um ein Unternehmen zu skalieren. In späteren Phasen ist oft eine “komplett neue Mannschaft” erforderlich, um die nächste Stufe zu erreichen. Erfolgreiche Gründer müssen lernen, Kontrolle abzugeben und die Sache über das eigene Ego zu stellen, indem sie rechtzeitig Kompetenzen für Finanzen oder Organisation holen, die besser sind als sie selbst.The maturity of a founder is not demonstrated by being able to do everything, but by recognizing when the company needs a different type of leadership than he himself can provide.
6. Thesis: Speed is the new currency – from months to weeks.
Long implementation times are a clear warning sign in the modern SaaS world. A provider who cannot demonstrate their solution within weeks rather than months is no longer competitive. Kaeber introduces the crucial but often overlooked concept of “redundancies”: How quickly can a customer switch from one service provider to another within the software? Today, this flexibility is more important than an endless list of features. The most important lever for software providers is not the development of the next feature, but the radical reduction of implementation time and the increase of interchangeability within the system.
The crucial question for every SaaS buyer is no longer “What can your software do?” but “How quickly can I achieve added value and, more importantly, how quickly can I switch if I need to?”
7. Thesis: Trust beats metrics – The underestimated power of the community.
In an uncertain and rapidly changing technological landscape, trust is one of the most important currencies. It cannot be generated in the short term through marketing metrics, but must grow organically over time. Building communities and thought leadership is therefore a valuable long-term strategy, but one that is often neglected in the German logtech scene. Genuine community building is based on personal contact and authentic give-and-take – in contrast to pure “popcorn cinema” formats, where consumption is purely passive.
In an era of AI-generated arbitrariness, an authentic community becomes the only competitive advantage that cannot be copied.
The message is clear: real progress does not come from the next software update or a new sales strategy, but requires a fundamental change in thinking, culture, and strategic direction. It’s about asking uncomfortable questions and honestly assessing whether current efforts are merely serving to keep alive a system that has already had its day.
So the crucial question is not whether you will adopt the next technology, but rather: Are you prepared to get off your dead horse before it’s too late?
