Case Study
Commercial Operations
Build & Revenue
Protection
Engagement Duration
2025–2026

Engagement Type
Interim Chief of Staff

Industry
PE-Backed SaaS · Loyalty Tech
Company
PE-Backed Loyalty SaaSEnterprise Loyalty Tech
Portfolio at Engagement
$7.5M ARR · 42+ accounts47 active client projects
Presenting Problem
Re-orientation, stabilization, & commercial calibration
01 The Situation

A PE-backed loyalty SaaS platform serving enterprise and mid-market brands across retail, CPG, and financial services. At engagement start, the business had 47 active client projects across 42+ accounts, ARR growing from $4.1M to $7.5M, and a renewal book ranging from $15K to $750K annually.

The company had recently come under PE ownership with no commercial infrastructure in place. No standard contracts, no renewal tracking, no ARR reporting, no delivery model. Client relationships were strained. The sponsor couldn't see their own business clearly enough to make decisions. I was brought in by the Interim CEO to build the operating model — and deliver against a structured 100-day plan.

02 What I Found
No Operating Plan

No 100-day plan, no accountability framework, no shared priorities. The business was reacting to the loudest problem in the room.

Fragmented Delivery

Bespoke builds, inconsistent handoffs, reactive firefighting. No escalation mechanism. Client relationships strained across multiple accounts.

No Commercial Governance

No MSA, Order Form, or SOW templates. Every deal negotiated from scratch. Contracts lapsed with no forcing function. Scope committed informally.

No PE-Grade Reporting

No ARR waterfall, no weighted pipeline, no NRR/GRR visibility. The sponsor couldn't see their own business clearly enough to make portfolio decisions.

No Renewal Visibility

Renewal dates scattered across CSM notes and email threads. No centralized view across a 47-project, 42-account, $7.5M ARR book.

Hidden Liabilities

$247K in accounts payable inherited from prior leadership — 15+ unpaid invoices, oldest 223 days past due — never escalated or disclosed.

"The job was to build a 100-day plan for a PE-backed company at an inflection point, execute against it, and hand off a business that was more governable, more commercially sound, and more legible to its investor than when I arrived."
03 What I Built

A structured 100-day operating agenda across commercial, client, delivery, finance, product, and engineering — presented directly to the PE sponsor in September 2025.

Commercial infrastructure: MSA, Order Form, and SOW templates built from scratch. Commercial gating process implemented. Centralized renewal tracker stood up across all 47 projects and 42 accounts. Full ARR waterfall and PE reporting framework delivered — Total ARR, NRR, GRR, logo retention, weighted pipeline, quarterly projections. First time the sponsor had reliable revenue visibility.

Client stabilization: Delivery commitments reset with at-risk accounts. BRD standards introduced. Account team model revamped for clearer ownership. Daily leadership escalation meeting stood up. Active contract negotiations managed across $750K, $516K, $410K, and $333K accounts simultaneously.

Liability and exposure: $247K AP liability surfaced, escalated to counsel, and resolved. Scope and overage exposure identified and commercially addressed across the client base.

04 Documented Impact
Outcome What It Means Value
0% churn · first 100 days
Multiple at-risk accounts stabilized · Q4 2025
Zero churn across all 18 clients despite fragmented delivery and active relationship strain — stabilization and infrastructure build happening in parallel. 0% churn
7 client deliveries in 100 days
Expansions · launches · new features
Delivery didn't stop while the operating model was being rebuilt. Seven client go-lives executed simultaneously with the infrastructure work. 7 deliveries · Q4 2025
$7.5M ARR instrumented
94% retention · 93% NRR · 85% GRR · 91% logo retention
First structured ARR waterfall and PE reporting framework delivered. Sponsor went from no visibility to a fully instrumented revenue base with forward projections to $8.2M+ through Q4 2026. $7.5M ARR governed
$7.6M renewal ARR managed
$750K · $516K · $410K · $333K accounts
Full renewal cycle owned across 47 projects and 42 accounts — tracking, forecasting, negotiation, redlines, and execution. Largest: European CPG at $750K, financial services loyalty program at $516K. $7.6M under management
$1M–$1.6M upsell pipeline surfaced
Footwear $300–400K · Nutrition $300–500K · Retail $100–200K
Identified and quantified expansion opportunities across existing accounts — global rollouts, new market entries, module expansions. Documented and presented in the 100-day readout to the PE sponsor. $1M–$1.6M pipeline
$247K liability contained
15+ unpaid invoices · oldest 223 days past due
AP exposure inherited from prior leadership — never escalated. Surfaced, coordinated with external counsel, and resolved before it became a contractual crisis. Liability contained
Commercial paper + margin protection
MSA · Order Form · SOW · scope framework
Full commercial template suite built from zero. Scope and overage exposure surfaced — including a 1.5M member cap breach and $11.5K in unrecouped infrastructure costs — and commercially addressed. Leakage stopped
Revenue under active management $7.5M ARR
The Real Job

PE-backed companies at inflection points don't need more analysis. They need someone who can walk in, diagnose what's broken, build a plan, and execute against it — while keeping clients, managing contracts, and giving the sponsor the visibility they need to make decisions.

This wasn't advisory work. A 100-day plan was designed, executed, and presented to the PE sponsor. Commercial infrastructure that didn't exist was built and handed off. A client base was stabilized with 0% churn while the operating model was being stood up in parallel. The work was done in the room.