Unlocking Latent Potential in Times of Growth.

1. The 'Growing Pain' (Situation)

I joined a SaaS company as the 5th employee, and we faced an immediate, existential threat. 90% of our revenue came from two massive enterprise clients, and both were at high risk of churning at their upcoming renewals. 'Lights out' was a very real possibility.

2. The 'Latent Potential' (My Insight)

I quickly diagnosed two root causes: 1) The product roadmap was focused entirely on acquiring future clients, ignoring the needs of the clients who paid our bills. 2) Key client relationships were strong, but there was a disconnect in translating their critical feedback into an actionable product roadmap.

3. The Action (My Solution)

I immediately triaged the problem by meeting with the clients, understanding their exact needs, and forcing the company to pivot and prioritize those items. This stabilized our revenue.

With that fire out, I focused on sustainable growth. We were bootstrapped, so I built a low-cost, high-talent internship pipeline with a local university's business school. This created a dedicated "sales and success layer," which was a crucial (and affordable) way to prevent future churn. I also refocused our product roadmap on core UX improvements to make the product easier to sell and use.

4. The Result (The Outcome)

This created a positive revenue cycle. Stabilizing our key accounts gave us the breathing room to build the internship pipeline. This pipeline, in turn, allowed us to create dedicated sales, services, and success teams, all while remaining bootstrapped. We broke the cycle of reactive firefighting and built a scalable, financially sustainable model for growth to 50 employees.

1. The 'Growing Pain' (Situation)

After helping my previous company scale, I saw a major opportunity in the booming Salesforce ecosystem. I had deep platform experience and strong relationships, but I saw a gap: most partners were focused on selling products for Salesforce, not on acting as true strategic advisors for their customers.

2. The 'Latent Potential' (My Insight)

I realized the standard partner model (relying on the platform-provider for leads) was flawed, creating misaligned incentives. My insight was to flip the model: be a client partner first and a platform partner second. This meant intentionally sourcing my own clients who valued strategic guidance, not just technical implementation.

3. The Action (My Solution)

I began by leveraging high-trust referrals from my former company, which provided warm introductions to clients who needed broader platform integration. I nurtured these relationships by providing honest, valuable insights and acting as a trusted advisor (e.g., "Do you really need this $100k product?") rather than a salesperson.

4. The Result (The Outcome)

This client-first strategy proved highly effective. While some projects were self-contained, I successfully converted the majority of engagements into long-term partnerships. This diligent execution built a stable, high-trust portfolio of 15 enterprise clients who viewed me as their strategic advisor. This portfolio became a key asset, ultimately leading to the successful acquisition of the business by a larger firm that needed to fill that exact Salesforce pillar.