saas founder, advisor, non-exec, writer

DAVID HART

Hello. I've been a tech entrepreneur for about 20 years. To be clear, that doesn't mean just working for, or advising tech entrepreneurs, I've actually co-founded and scaled businesses myself. The last one is well on its way to $20m in ARR.Like many SaaS founders, I started off co-founding a creative agency. We soon realised that building products was way more exciting than building websites for other people and so we pivoted 100% to being a SaaS company.Having had first-hand experience of the pains and the joys of building a SaaS business, I realised that what I really love is the early-stage (sub $10m in ARR), where you need to be strategic, but you also need to be able to roll your sleeves up and get stuck in. As a consultant/advisor to SaaS startups, this is my approach. I don't like to just pontificate from the sidelines: I get deep into the issues and work with founders to solve them.

Agency Owners

How would you feel if you could switch your agency business for a SaaS business that would be generating at least $1m in ARR (and growing fast)?Selling your ideas rather than your time is something that a lot of agency owners dream of. I know because after over 10 years of running an agency me and my partners did just that. Having gone through that experience I know there is a lot to weigh up and the prospect can be pretty daunting.How do you know the product you want to launch has legs? What do you do with your existing clients? What about your staff? Can you sell your business even if you don’t go with it? How do you fund it? What would potential investors want to see? Can you make that transition pain-free?Going through this process was one of the toughest periods of my career. If you're thinking of doing something similar, we should talk. I can help you and your partners get onto the same page, make a plan for your existing and future businesses and successfully launch your SaaS.

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SaaS Founders

Getting to your first $1m in ARR is uniquely gnarly. Getting to $10m is about improving the things that you did to get you to $10m. Growing beyond $10m is about creating processes at scale. But that first million is the least sexy, glamorous and most brutal period. It’s also the most exhilarating.The first million dollars is a scrappy balance of finding product market fit, setting up systems and tools, hiring the right people for your stage of evolution, identifying, tracking and measuring your key metrics, raising funding and doing all of this while trying to grow the business. In short, there are so many moving parts that can and will go wrong.Having been on this journey myself, as well as helping others, I know first hand what it takes. I have developed a process for identifying and plugging the gaps. Working with me will help founders move faster and avoid costly mistakes.

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Current Projects

I only work with a few founders at any one time, with varying levels of involvement. I especially love working with founders looking to pivot from providing consultancy towards becoming a product company, or SaaS businesses where the founders have worked in an industry and recognise the potential for shaking things up.

The saas First $1m

My blog lives on Substack where I write about the things that I think will make SaaS Founders' lives better. Head on over to read some of them, or better yet, sign-up to never miss another post.

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