Before vs After
The Client
B2B SaaS company building a full-stack customer experience platform. Think unified inbox, AI-powered ticket resolution, knowledge base, chatbots, analytics - everything a support team needs, rolled into one. Competing directly with Zendesk, Intercom, Freshdesk, and HubSpot Service Hub.
The key difference: AI isn't a feature bolted on top. It's the architectural foundation. The product doesn't suggest draft replies for agents to review - it reads the customer's email, understands intent, pulls context, and sends a complete resolution without a human touching it. Genuinely different product. Genuinely better in head-to-head performance. But the market couldn't tell.
What the Founder Came With
- Core: Not Enough Pipeline
Company grew through founder’s network for 22 months. That well was dry. Inbound sporadic, outbound generic, competitors grabbing share. Without a pipeline engine, stalling at ~$1M.
- Demo-to-Close Drop-Off
Prospects responded positively, then went dark. CRM had deals stuck in “evaluating” for months. Different follow-up approaches tried; nothing worked.
- Proof Gap
Every call: “Do you have case studies?” Zendesk had 5,000+ G2 reviews. Client had a handful. Chicken-and-egg: needed proof to close, needed deals to generate proof.
The Before (December 2025)
- ~$1.14M ARR, 27 customers, ~$95,000 MRR
- Founder had personally sold nearly every deal through his network for 22 months; that source was drying up
- Pipeline: ~$150K-$200K per 8-week cycle, almost all warm intros
- Outbound reply rate: 2.1%. Meetings from outbound: 1-2/month
- Blog: ~10,000 visits/month, 3-5 demo requests
- 45-minute demo walkthroughs; prospects loved them, then ghosted
- ~12 deals stuck in "evaluating" for 60+ days
- Churn: ~14.8% annualized