Katherine Zhang – CEO of OPEXEngine by Bain & Company – has her finger on the pulse of the SaaS industry. She is joined by finance leaders, technology experts, investors, operations professionals, and more for conversations about metrics, benchmarking, and the state of SaaS.
Scaling in the AI Era: What Creates Value, and What Doesn't?
Host Hank Chen interviews industry experts Isabela Peralta, Kunal Agarwal, and Katherine Zhang on how AI reshapes value creation and scaling strategies in software businesses.
26 Mar 2026TRANSCRIPT
SaaS Data in 2026: What's Changed and Why It's Never Mattered More
Host Katherine Zhang interviews Dan Palay, CEO of KPI Sense, about how AI and increased scrutiny are fundamentally changing SaaS data interpretation and measurement in 2026.
19 Mar 2026TRANSCRIPT
Webinar: Benchmarking That Drives Decisions
Katherine Zhang (CEO, OPEXEngine) and Josh McClanahan (CEO, AccountAim) interview each other on using benchmarking to drive strategic decisions for RevOps, finance, and GTM leaders.
20 Jan 2026TRANSCRIPT
Retention as Capital Credibility in SaaS
Host Katherine Zhang interviews Ellie Wu, founder of CSuiteCX, exploring how SaaS retention now signals board-level credibility and capital risk, offering insights into leadership judgment under scrutiny.
24 Oct 2025TRANSCRIPT
SaaS Palooza 2025: What Makes an "A" Asset? Inside Tech PE
Jennifer Smith (Partner, Bain & Company) and Katherine Zhang (CEO, OPEXEngine) discuss what defines a top-tier SaaS asset for tech private equity investors.
17 Jun 2025
Annual Planning in SaaS: Using Benchmarks to Drive Better Decision-Making
Tori Danforth, Senior Director of FP&A at Relativity, discusses annual planning in SaaS, focusing on using benchmarks to drive better decision-making and strengthen cross-functional alignment in this interview.
31 Mar 2025
Maximizing GTM Success with RevOps in 2025
Host Katherine Zhang, CEO and General Manager of OPEXEngine by Bain & Company, interviews industry experts on maximizing go-to-market success through strategic RevOps resource allocation and scalable growth.
15 Jan 2025
R&D ROI With Jellyfish
Andy Rooks interviews Ryan Kuchova, Head of Customer Strategy and Operations at Jellyfish, about optimizing R&D ROI and aligning finance and engineering in SaaS.
20 Nov 2024
SaaS Metrics Palooza '24: Benchmark-Enabled Decision Making
Ray Rike interviews Lauren Kelley, Founder and CEO of OPEXEngine by Bain & Company, about using SaaS benchmarks to drive growth and operational excellence.
6 Nov 2024
Software Value Creation With DealEdge
Host Lauren Kelley, CEO of OPEXEngine, interviews Dania Shaheen Gutterson, General Manager at DealEdge, on how SaaS companies optimize operations and metrics for maximum exit success and value creation.
27 Aug 2024
Improving SaaS EBITDA
Lauren Kelley, CEO and Founder of OPEXEngine by Bain & Company, shares strategies for SaaS companies to improve EBITDA by optimizing cost management and growth efficiency in a challenging market.
18 Apr 2024
Technology Due Diligence
Lauren Kelley interviews Hank Chen about technology due diligence frameworks investors use to evaluate SaaS companies in 2024.
9 Feb 2024
Leadership and Diversity in Tech
In today’s conversation, we cover leadership and diversity in the tech space. Lauren answers a round of questions about the founding of OPEXEngine, her decision to pursue SaaS benchmarking, leadership, and diversity in SaaS.
Speaker: Lauren Kelley (Founder and CEO of OPEXEngine by Bain & Company)
14 Dec 2023
Pre-IPO SaaS: Using Benchmarks to Prepare
What’s the operational playbook when a SaaS company is preparing for an IPO?
In today’s conversation, Lauren speaks with two experts about key considerations and best practices before proceeding with an IPO. They discuss the common challenges faced, having standardized metrics and efficient systems in place, creating a unified company narrative, and setting up for success beyond. They also touch on key operational metrics, team alignment, and the cultural shift a company goes through when transitioning from private to public.
Moderator: Lauren Kelley (Founder and CEO of OPEXEngine by Bain & Company)
Guest Speakers: Jonathan Neitzell (Founder and Managing Partner at Anduril Partners) and Eric Mersch (Partner at FLG Partners)
14 Dec 2023
SaaS Palooza 2023: How to Actually Get Value from Benchmarks
Learn how to get the most value from benchmarks in this recording of Lauren’s presentation at SaaS Metrics Palooza ‘23.
In today’s conversation, Lauren discusses the importance of standardizing metrics, the changing dynamics of the SaaS, and the industry shift from growth at all costs to profitable growth. Throughout the presentation, Lauren references a set of infographics, which are available on our website via the on-demand video recording of her presentation: www.opexengine.com (http://www.opexengine.com).
Speaker: Lauren Kelley (Founder and CEO of OPEXEngine by Bain & Company)
Moderator: Ray Rike (Benchmarkit)
14 Dec 2023
Meet the Benchmarking Experts
Listen to an expert session about how benchmarking can help improve your go-to-market strategy.
In today’s conversation, Lauren is joined by a seasoned go-to-market operator. They discuss the importance of benchmarking KPIs in the SaaS sector and the benefits of benchmarking as an investor. They speak to benchmarking as a means of measuring growth and cost issues, aligning internal and external stakeholders, and inspiring investor confidence, as well as identifying opportunities for improvement in go-to-market strategies.
Moderator: Lauren Kelley (Founder and CEO of OPEXEngine by Bain & Company)
Guest Speaker: Kunal Mehta (Partner at Bain & Company)
14 Dec 2023
SaaS Metrics-Based Planning
An expert take on the significance of data quality, transparency, and operationalizing metrics to drive efficient growth.
In today’s conversation, we’ll cover metrics-based planning. Lauren and two experts discuss a range of key topics: how to measure the effectiveness of operations like sales and marketing, what investors are looking for, the key SaaS metrics to track, and how companies can operationalize these metrics to drive efficient growth. They also speak to this idea of keeping a “North Star” to guide decision-making and strategic thinking.
Moderator: Lauren Kelley (Founder and CEO of OPEXEngine by Bain & Company)
Guest Speakers: Alok Goel (CEO of Drivetrain) and Amit Sharma (Senior Finance Director at Whatfix)
14 Dec 2023
Best of 2023
Lauren Kelley – Founder and CEO of OPEXEngine by Bain & Company – has her finger on the pulse of the SaaS industry. Over the past year, she has hosted finance leaders, technology experts, investors, operations professionals, and more for conversations about metrics, benchmarking, and the state of SaaS. In the inaugural episode of SaaS Conversations, we are looking back at some audio highlights from 2023.
14 Dec 2023
Dynamic Planning for SaaS Finance Leaders
Learn how to execute a planning process during times of organizational change.
In today’s conversation, Lauren speaks to two CFOs about the ever-changing landscape of SaaS finance, current operating plans, how to use benchmarking to reduce risk, and the latest on the role of AI in finance. The speakers discuss managing organizational change, balancing between evolving priorities, financial consistency, and go-to-market efficiency.
Moderator: Lauren Kelley (Founder and CEO of OPEXEngine by Bain & Company)
Guest Speakers: Evan Meagher (CFO of CoreWeave) and Brian Weisberg ( CFO of Tidelift)
Inside a recent episode
Scaling in the AI Era: What Creates Value, and What Doesn't?
Published 17 Aug 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] I'm talking about the feedback loops that actually improve your product with each customer interaction. Second, I think it's whether you are truly the system of record or a system of action. How embedded are you into the workflows of the day-to-day customers? Third being access to distribution across your installed base. And fourth, just being trust and compliance. I might be a little bit biased because I basically grew up in healthcare. But I wasn't surprised to actually see that Viva was one of the few companies that got a mode upgrade when looking at it through an AI lens because their data is actually tied to regulatory requirements and mission-critical workflows. […]
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