Ep40—Steve Subar—Business Model First, Product Second: Thirty Years of Building Smarter

Today in the Sky Lounge, we are joined by Steve Subar, a COO/CEO with 30+ years of building and exiting companies who's now tackling an altogether different problem with his new company MatFresher: dirty yoga mats.Steve shares how he validated his latest venture, not by building a machine first, but by setting up a folding table at yoga studios with rubber gloves and antiseptic spray. Would anyone actually pay two bucks to clean their mat? (Hint: yes, they would)We explore his journey from founding Open Kernel Labs (which ended up in 1.6 billion phones before its acquisition by General Dynamics) to consulting for tech companies, where he witnessed founders make the same expensive mistakes over and over. Steve breaks down why ""information plus experience equals wisdom,"" why he'll never do B2B sales friction again, and how the NSA's paranoia became his go-to-market strategy.Plus: why he once flew Sydney to San Francisco for a meeting that didn't result in funding—but changed everything anyway.ABOUT OUR GUEST: Steve Subar is an experienced technology leader with 20+ years of success launching and scaling high-growth tech companies from inception to IPO or Fortune 500 acquisition. He is known for novel product and business model innovation, focusing on enterprise applications, B2B, and SaaS.As a founder, CEO, investor, and board member, Steve builds clever strategies, winning teams, accelerates growth, fosters strong customer relationships, and creates superior shareholder value.His investment and exit scorecard includes raising $150m+ in capital, 5 acquisitions, and 1 IPO. He holds dual American and German citizenship with extensive knowledge of EU and APAC operations.At TechCXO, Steve partners with CEOs, boards, and private equity firms for early and mid-stage technology companies.He is chairman of the Cyber Threat Intelligence Network and on the advisory board for Northwestern University’s Farley Center for Innovation. He holds a BS in Marketing with a concentration in Computer and Information Technology from Miami University.CONTACT:https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevesubar/What is THE SKY LOUNGE?Tales from the Sky Lounge takes you on a journey through business, consulting, and venture investing, hearing stories from the entrepreneurs, consultants, and investors shaping these industries.ABOUT OUR HOST:Todd Merrill is an experienced software executive who typically assists clients as a fractional or interim CTO and CiSO as a partner at TechCXO.He has served in a series of companies as a C-Level executive focused on leveraging the Cloud to bring SaaS offerings to market. As an entrepreneur, turn-around expert, technology and product leader, and mentor, Todd has held full corporate P&L and product development responsibilities and directed diverse international teams of Engineering Managers, Mobile Architects, Developers, Dev Ops, QA, and Customer Success professionals.Subscribe and turn on notifications to listen to new episodes as they launch!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfeCS-Varb4gu2uCwyRTXWWEdP676Huh6Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6jz6ubcaUZ20Xh8TXhwzENApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tales-from-the-sky-lounge/id1730134658Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4ba289a5-0d33-4589-95c7-83416731a864/tales-from-the-sky-loungeFollow Tales From The SkyLounge on Social MediaX/Twitter: https://x.com/TFTSkyLoungeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/tftskylounge/Learn more about TechCXO: https://www.techcxo.com/Production/Design: James LiebmanMusic: Soundstripe/Cody Martin-Sunrise