EP55: DemandMaven 2025 Year in Review (and What's Next) / DemandMaven
•February 17, 2026
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Original Description
DemandMaven just turned 8. In this episode, Asia and Kim reflect on what 2025 looked like for the business, what nearly broke them in 2024, and how the consultancy evolved into a lean, flexible operation that feels more aligned. Asia gets honest about letting go of the pressure to scale, why she stopped setting goals, and what she's excited about heading into 2026.
Key Highlights
- Why Asia let go of the pressure to scale and what that freed up
- Streamlining qualitative research into one-week sprints
- Expanding beyond JTBD into UX, competitive intel, pricing, and win-loss research
- The podcast as the center of DemandMaven's content engine
- The shift from deliverable-focused to process-focused client work
- More repeat clients in 2025 than any previous year
- Why partnerships are the big focus for 2026
- Kim teasing Demand Recruiting as a new venture
Timestamps
0:00 Introduction and DemandMaven's 8-year anniversary
2:24 Letting go of the pressure to scale
5:26 Finding balance and alignment in 2025
6:54 Streamlining qualitative research into one-week sprints
8:35 Expanding beyond JTBD: UX, competitive intel, win-loss, and pricing
13:27 Figuring out a sustainable content engine with ADHD
15:30 The podcast as the center of DemandMaven's marketing
17:51 Using AI to support content creation without losing authenticity
18:41 Speaking highlights: Spark Together and Startup Mountain Summit
23:59 Embracing flexible, custom projects and full stack growth work
27:55 Challenges: new client acquisition and nurturing pipeline
31:58 The shift from deliverable-focused to process-focused client work
34:05 Why case studies are so hard to get (April Dunford conversation)
37:54 2024 broke goal-setting: why Asia stopped setting goals
39:30 Looking ahead to 2026: design-forward companies and product work
43:30 Partnerships as a growth channel for 2026
45:30 Kim teases Demand Recruiting
47:11 More podcast, Try With Me's, and lead magnet ideas
51:59 Website anxiety and AI search visibility
54:45 Personal plans: travel, Spanish lessons, and touching grass
1:01:25 Kim's plans: skiing, Florida, and a future Europe trip
Who Should Listen
- SaaS founders running lean teams who wonder if they should be scaling faster
- Consultants and agency owners questioning whether growth means more headcount
- Anyone who has struggled with content creation and wants an honest take on what works
- Services business owners thinking about partnerships as a growth channel
- Anyone who's had a terrible year in business and needs to hear things can turn around
Related Resources
- Book a discovery call with Asia: https://demandmaven.io/contact/
- DemandMaven: https://demandmaven.io
- The Work (newsletter): https://demandmaven.substack.com/
#SaaS #B2BSaaS #SaaSGrowth #GrowthConsulting #CustomerResearch #JTBD #BootstrappedSaaS #YearInReview
/ FOLLOW ME
twitter | https://twitter.com/AsiaOrangio
facebook | https://www.facebook.com/demandmaven/
instagram | https://www.instagram.com/asiaorangio/
linkedin | https://www.linkedin.com/in/asiaorangio/
website | https://demandmaven.io
/ HEY, GET ME IN YOUR INBOX
/ WORK WITH US
/ ABOUT ASIA
Asia Orangio helps SaaS founders and growth teams reach their growth goals through tried-and-true go-to-market strategy, customer research, positioning and messaging, and growth practices. Asia also previously served on the board of directors at Moz before it was successfully acquired in 2021. In early 2018, Asia founded DemandMaven — a growth consultancy that helps SaaS, software, and internet-based companies troubleshoot their growth, identify new growth opportunities, and successfully go-to-market. Previously, Asia served in a number of marketing roles, but most notably as head of marketing at Hull where she helped the team 10.5x in growth, and #FlipMyFunnel / Terminus as demand generation manager.
/ ABOUT DEMANDMAVEN
DemandMaven helps SaaS and internet-based companies find growth opportunities, troubleshoot their growth, and successfully GTM. We get founders and CEOs — both VC-funded and bootstrapped — to the next growth stage by helping them identify their biggest strategic growth blockers, focus their efforts on their best paying customers through customer research, and build growth engines that actually work for years, not weeks.
DemandMaven was founded in early 2018 by Asia Orangio — SaaS marketing and growth expert.
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