The System Behind Successful SaaS Product Launches

In this episode of Between Product and Partnerships, Cristina Flaschen speaks with Therese Stowell, VP of Product Launch at Anaplan, about what it takes to design scalable, repeatable product launch systems inside fast-moving SaaS organizations. Therese shares her nonlinear career journey, from Microsoft engineer, to artist, to product leader, and how that diverse background shaped her systems-driven, people-centric approach to orchestrating product launches across a complex enterprise.

A Systems Approach to Product Launch

Earlier in her career, Therese was asked to fix a recurring challenge familiar to many SaaS companies - products that didn’t generate meaningful revenue, features stuck in beta, and launches that left go-to-market teams scrambling. Working with a technical program manager, she developed an Alpha - Beta - GA framework that introduced clear milestones, stronger decision-making, and alignment across product, marketing, sales, enablement, support, and services.

That experience led her to Anaplan, where the sheer volume of innovation required a dedicated function to “tune the revenue engine.” As Therese describes it, product launch isn’t just about getting a feature out the door, it’s about coordinating every part of the organization so the product lands with clarity and customer value.

Cross-Functional Alignment and the Real Work of Launching

Therese outlines two parallel tracks that determine whether a launch succeeds:

• Go-to-market readiness. Translating product insights into pitch decks, messaging, and enablement
• Technical readiness. Ensuring presales, professional services, and support teams understand how the product works under the hood

Because these streams mature at different times, communication and cross-functional orchestration become essential. Therese also shares how introducing a new “production release” milestone (separate from GA) helped set better customer expectations and create a more reliable internal rhythm.

A Framework for Better Launches

Therese breaks down her repeatable approach to designing and improving launch processes:

• Discovery. Understand engineering’s release lifecycle and gather cross-functional requirements
• Design. Translate a long list of tasks into a coherent, sequenced plan with defined decision points
• Build & Iterate. Start small, gather feedback, and refine continuously instead of waiting for a perfect process

Scaling Launch at Anaplan

Anaplan’s rapid innovation pace required Therese to expand the product launch function, adopt proper project management tooling, and build reporting that helped each department manage its workload. With 30+ concurrent launches, her team introduced efficiency practices, such as agenda-based meeting participation, to reduce thrash and ensure alignment without unnecessary meetings.

Looking Ahead

Therese’s advice? While process and tooling matter, at least half of a successful launch comes down to people. Transparent communication, early involvement, collaboration, and guiding teams through behavioral change are what allow launch processes to take root and scale across an organization.

Connect with the Speakers

Connect with Cristina: www.linkedin.com/in/cristina-flaschen/

Connect with Therese: www.linkedin.com/in/theresestowell/

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To learn more about Anaplan and their product innovation, visit www.anaplan.com

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