#048 How a Non-Techie Built a 17-Year SaaS Business | Carmel Peinke's Story
From Solid Gold Podcasts #BeHeard by Solid Gold Podcasts #BeHeard
April 28, 2026 · 39 min
About this episode
Carmel Peinke shares her journey of building a successful SaaS business without technical skills, focusing on leadership and confidence in a male-dominated industry.
The confidence gaps, pivotal mentors, and leadership lessons behind a 17-year tech business. Carmel Peinke built a business intelligence platform from scratch without ever writing a line of code. This episode is for women in mid-to-senior leadership who are weighing up a leap into the C-suite or entrepreneurship and want an honest, practical account of what that actually takes. Carmel traces the full arc: a chance entry into the FMCG sector, launching Lipton Iced Tea in South Africa for Smolin, spotting a data gap that no one was solving, and persuading a tech partner to build what became E-Route to Market - a real-time analytics and route-to-market platform now 17 years in market. She opens up on the self-doubt that nearly stopped her going after big clients, the moment she nearly lost herself to masculine leadership expectations, and the structured morning self-talk routine she uses to stay focused and move forward. Key topics include: how to lead a technical team without technical skills; building a business in a male-dominated industry; why relationships and trust are the real growth engine in B2B sales; how to network with genuine curiosity rather than a sales pitch; the…
People in this episode
Guest: Carmel Peinke
Topics covered
- leadership lessons
- women in business
- entrepreneurship
- data science
- business intelligence
- B2B sales
Keywords
- SaaS
- business intelligence
- leadership
- women in tech
- entrepreneurship
- data analytics
- B2B sales
- self-doubt
- networking
- authentic leadership
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Lipton, E-Route to Market, Smolin
Places: South Africa, FMCG
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