What if your product could handle your marketing for you?
That’s the question Tom Hunt has been chasing through 17 startup attempts, and it’s one he’s finally answered at Fame, the fully remote podcast marketing agency he leads today.
Tom Hunt isn’t just building tools; he’s building systems. Systems where the product is the marketing, where customer experience replaces ad spend, and where remote teams thrive through clarity, trust, and retention. At Fame, his podcast marketing agency, growth isn’t driven by noise; it’s engineered into the process.
In this episode of SaaS That App: Building B2B Web Applications, Tom joins Aaron and Justin to share why outbound marketing feels like “wasted energy,” how to build retention into your company’s DNA, and what it takes to build a SaaS product that sells itself.
From Chemistry to SaaS Startups
Tom didn’t start his career in tech. He has a master’s in medicinal chemistry. But after realizing he didn’t want to spend his life “mixing liquids around in a lab,” he tried two corporate stints before deciding to build something of his own. That led him to online marketing and eventually, to a decade-long journey through SaaS. “If you can't code and you like the Internet, then online marketing is probably the next best thing,” Tom shared.
By 2015, he’d launched his own outsourcing company, eventually hiring a team in the Philippines, a group that still forms the backbone of Fame today. Since then, he’s built and tested over a dozen startups. Some failed. Some were sold. But all taught him what to avoid next time.
Why Tom Only Builds Product-Led SaaS Now
For Tom, the key learning came down to energy. He realized that traditional outbound sales and advertising drain money, time, and attention from the business without compounding benefits.
“If you think of a business like a system, I think businesses spend a lot of money on outbound sales or advertising. I feel like that's wasted energy from the system.”
That led to a personal non-negotiable:
“The next time I build a SaaS app, one criterion of what I choose to build is if there's some kind of product-led growth in the product. And if I can't do that, then I'm not going to do it.”
At Fame, that philosophy shows up in their podcast tool. Instead of running cold outreach, they design features that generate backlinks, social shares, and word-of-mouth from actual usage, essentially marketing baked into the product.
How the Fame Flywheel Drives Product-Led Virality
For Tom Hunt, marketing starts inside the product. At Fame, their podcast service is designed to generate backlinks, shares, and referrals through use, not ads.
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'If in the process of using your tool, your users create something that they would be proud of, then we're robbing them of a good experience by not allowing them to share that.'
This is the core of Fame’s growth loop: build something people are proud to use, and they’ll naturally amplify it. Instead of leaking energy through outbound or cold outreach, the Fame Flywheel captures it, letting retention, referrals, and customer wins drive scale. No paid acquisition needed.
When Firing Clients Is the Right Call
One of the most surprising takeaways from the episode? Fame actively chooses to let go of clients when there’s a values mismatch.
“There’s this one client, we worked with them for a year… but they were treating our team with disrespect. And so we had to fire them, and that was a very good decision.”
It’s a cultural decision, not just a business one. And it reflects how seriously Tom takes team well-being. Many of Fame’s Filipino employees have been with the company since its first outsourcing venture, and he sees them as central to the company’s success.
The ROI of Podcasting and Long-Term Content Strategy
So what’s the long game?
For Tom, it’s all about content. Podcasts aren’t just content engines, they’re trust-building machines. But only if you’re willing to play the long game. “The clients where I’ve seen it not go so well haven’t understood that we have to gain people’s trust over time by not talking about our service. We do that by talking about things that interest them.” Tom says.
In other words, fame doesn’t come from shouting. It comes from showing up consistently, offering value, and being seen beside other trusted voices.
Why Company Values Matter
The episode wraps with a powerful moment: Tom recalling a conversation with a CEO who led entirely through values.
“Almost any question that was put to the CEO, he wouldn't answer. He would give the company value that it would relate to and push it back to someone else in their team. That was pretty impressive to me.”
It’s one more reminder that scalable companies don’t just run on strategy. They run on clarity and alignment from the inside out.
Final Thoughts
Tom Hunt’s story isn’t just about product-led growth; it’s about systems thinking, loyalty, and designing businesses that generate energy rather than deplete it.
Whether you’re a solo founder or building a 70-person team, this episode offers a rare look at what sustainable growth looks like.
Tom Hunt Background
Tom Hunt is the founder and CEO of Fame, a fully remote podcast marketing agency helping B2B brands create and scale shows that drive real business value. With 17 startup attempts under his belt and a deep background in content marketing, Tom has built Fame around a product-led philosophy: software and services that market themselves. He also hosts Confessions of a B2B Entrepreneur and is a strong advocate for building brands through trust, retention, and insanely good content..
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