Why am I qualified to talk about the Agency-to-Saas journey?
Well, firstly, I have lived the Agency-to-SaaS journey myself. I co-founded an agency and switched to a SaaS model, creating a business with 8 figures in ARR (and a 9 figure valuation).
And secondly, for the last three years I’ve been working with agencies/consultancies and early stage SaaS businesses, helping them navigate their own journeys.
I believe agency owners have advantages over others when it comes to launching a product business, but also a couple of blind spots. I help owners take advantage of their super powers and avoid the traps that can set them off down a rabbit hole.
For reference, I’ve summarised my journey below.
“David has a deeply rooted understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities that come from transitioning a business from a traditional consultancy to a recurring revenue model. He has a knack for simplifying complex concepts and strategies, making them accessible and actionable.”
My own journey
2004
Along with two co-founders, I started a digital agency, Codegent.
Pretty much all of our work was project-based. Once we hit about $1.5m we struggled to scale.
It was fun to begin with. Until it wasn’t.
2014
After a few years of launching some successful side projects, we decided we'd had enough of the agency life and vowed that our future would be in product.
We didn’t quite know what that meant, but it was the beginning of a journey that changed everything for us.
To start with, we toyed with the idea of building a portfolio of products, but eventually we came to the conclusion that focus was something that would deliver the best results.
2016
We launched our SaaS business, ScreenCloud and began the process to sell our agency.
We raised investment firstly from angels, then from VCs.
ScreenCloud quickly grew and within 24 months had eclipsed the best years of revenue our agency ever achieved. The business ultimately grew to tens of millions in ARR and has created significant financial value for me and my co-founders on a scale that we could never have dreamt of achieving had we stuck with our agency.
2022
I stepped away from the day-to-day of running ScreenCloud to focus on helping agencies who want to spin out their own successful products.
I’ve since worked with dozens of agencies and early-stage SaaS companies and gained an insight into the shared challenges and opportunities that exist.
I’m also on several boards as a Non-Exec Director
2024
I published my book, ‘Productized: Stop Selling Time and Transition to Selling SaaS’.
I also produce a weekly newsletter by the same name.