Ashish Saxena is a former executive at Lucent-Alcatel, Nokia and General Electric, an investor, mentors business owners across multiple markets. This is his second appearance on Notes From The Executive.
What I Asked Ashish
Why is a $13M business with a 2% margin more dangerous than a $1M business at 25%
Why is revenue the metric quietly killing most NZ businesses
How do I sell something before I have even built it
Episode Sponsors
AcademyEx Get ahead with AI https://discover.academyex.com/mina
Pwrfully Get Your Free Podcast List https://www.pwrfully.com
Follow Me
Mina on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@NotesFromTheExecutivePodcast
Mina on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4QgZGJdrnfjZ1sEm6MeGcp?si=c12e08e33f604916
Mina on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/notes-from-the-executive-podcast/id1586953812
Mina on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/minaamso/
Mina on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/minaamso
Follow Ashish
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashishrameshsaxena/
Watch on YouTube
https://youtu.be/txiSrqSo7o8
Time Stamps
0:00 – Intro
4:13 – Revenue vs Margin: The #1 Mistake Business Owners Make
6:40 – Why Net Profit Margin Matters More Than Hitting $1M–$10M Revenue
8:01 – Stalled Growth? Start by Rethinking the REAL Problem
9:47 – Marketing & Branding vs Just Having a “Great Product”
10:20 – Business Goals: Profit, Margin, and Building a Real Asset
12:28 – Premium Customers, Luxury Brands & the 80/20 Rule Explained
13:24 – What a Business Really Is: Daily Transactions, Not Busyness
15:25 – If You Had No Transactions Today, You Didn’t Do Business
16:22 – Two Core Questions: How to Increase Transactions and Margin per Sale
17:09 – Example: Media & Airline Businesses, Oil Prices, and Squeezed Margins
20:17 – Risk vs Uncertainty: What Smart Business Owners Actually Manage
21:56 – Why Ashish Starts With the Market, Not the Business
23:29 – Are You in a Growing Trend? How to Read Market Signals
25:35 – The “Sell Before You Build” Strategy: Validating Offers Upfront
27:29 – 3 Pillars: Trend, Money in the Trend, and Your Experience
29:48 – Ad Break
30:16 – Case Study: Selling an Online Course Before Creating It
31:44 – Pricing Strategy: Why You Should Price High, Then Discount
33:14 – Established Businesses: Innovating Offers When Margins Stall
34:17 – Clarifying the Pre-Sale Strategy: Content, Trust, and Timing
35:11 – Attention vs Credibility: From Attention Economy to Trust Economy
36:50 – How Much Content Someone Should Consume Before Buying ($1k Offer Rule)
37:59 – Applying 80/20 to Content: Who Actually Becomes a Buyer?
39:50 – From One-Off Transactions to Long-Term Customer Relationships
40:07 – How Long-Term Clients Increase Your Profit Margins
41:44 – Apple’s Ecosystem: iPhone, iCloud, AirPods & Recurring Revenue
42:47 – Why Some Clients Leave Programs—and What That Reveals About ROI
44:19 – Are You in a Collaborative Business Model or a One-Sided One?
45:42 – Summary: Why You’re Stalled While 38% of Businesses Still Grow
47:55 – Think Market First: Is the Market Growing While You’re Not?
51:22 – Shiny Object Syndrome: Chasing AI and New Trends vs Staying the Course
52:10 – Long-Term vs Short-Term Trends: What Coca-Cola and Toyota Teach Us
54:23 – Business Models with Built-In Repeat Demand: Supermarkets, Cybersecurity
55:16 – “I Want to Be in Demand” vs “What Is in Demand?” – A Critical Mindset Shift
57:15 – If Your Market Isn’t Hot Anymore—Do You Leave or Adapt?
58:34 – Same Product, New Markets: How Apple Expanded into GPS and Torch
1:00:05 – Why Apple Launched the Watch & AirPods: Following the Trend + Revenue
1:01:48 – How Apple Uses Acquisitions (Beats) to Shortcut Experience
1:03:01 – Final 3 Takeaways: Thinking, Transactions, and Trend–Revenue–Experience
1:04:26 – How to Connect with Ashish Saxena (LinkedIn)
1:04:48 – Closing: Applying These Ideas to Your Own Business Growth
New Zealand