Ideal Client Profile

The B2B SaaS Founder Trapped and wants out

1. Demographics 1

2. Psychographics 1

3. Problem Perception 1

4. Beliefs, Behaviours & Blindspots 1

5. Decision-Making Style 2

6. Objections & Resistance 2

7. Triggers & Timing 2

8. Information Sources & Influences 2

9. Messaging That Resonates 2

10. Positioning Your Offer 2

11. Emotional Journey 2

12. Funnel Content Prompts 3

TOFU – Awareness & Attention 3

MOFU – Education & Belief-Shifting 3

BOFU – Trust & Conversion 4

1. Demographics

• Location: UK, US, EU tech hubs or tier-1 cities
• Industry/Job Title: Founder, CEO, or Board Member of a B2B SaaS business
• Income/Revenue: £750K–£10M ARR, often bootstrapped, lightly funded, or preparing for acquisition
• Identifiers: Smart, stretched, product-first founders now facing scale or exit pressure

2. Psychographics

• Values: Legacy, credibility, control, freedom, efficiency
• Priorities: Clean delivery, stable ops, reduced founder reliance, readiness for scale or sale
• Beliefs: “We should be further along by now” or “We’re close to exit—just need to clean up”
• Lifestyle: Founder still in the weeds, juggling strategy and day-to-day ops
• Identity Projection: “We’re a serious, scalable business”
• Wants to be seen as: A credible, investable leader• Never wants to be seen as: A flaky founder or bottleneck operator

3. Problem Perception

• Problem: Delivery and ops chaos is limiting scale and hurting exit valuation
• How they feel: Frustrated, ashamed, stressed, worried about growth or due diligence
• What they think is causing it: CRM issues, wrong hires, not enough features
• Real root cause: No repeatable ops model, founder dependency, no due diligence prep
• What they’re trying to fix: Hiring, patching systems, pressuring team, building features
• Emotions: Panic, shame, impostor syndrome
• Where it fits in their life: Daily firefighting — the mess is always lurking in the background

4. Beliefs, Behaviours & Blindspots

• Limiting beliefs: “A buyer will fix it”, “One good hire will solve this”
• Inner dialogue: “I built this thing…why is it still so fragile?”
• Tried solutions: Freelancers, consultants, PMs, new tooling
• Mistakes: Delegating without systems, treating ops as admin, cosmetic fixes for exit
• Blindspots: Thinking clean books = clean business, underestimating delivery scrutiny
• Strategic view: “We need stability and scalability”
• Surface-level view: “We just need to tighten up onboarding/support”

5. Decision-Making Style

• Style: Fast but anxious, influenced by timing, urgency, financial upside
• Influencers: Co-founders, advisors, investors, key hires
• Action triggers: Growth stall, due diligence, churn spike, buyer interest
• Trust messaging: Clear, ROI-driven, founder-to-founder, low-fluff

6. Objections & Resistance

• Objections: “We just hired someone”, “It’s too late”, “We can explain it”
• Fears: Wasting time/money, being exposed, losing control
• Bad messaging: Jargon, theory, vague promises
• Turn-offs: Corporate tone, junior delivery teams, frameworks with no follow-through

7. Triggers & Timing

• Triggers: Missed MRR goals, investor pressure, buyer questions, team burnout
• Tipping point: Realising everything still depends on them
• Late-night spiral: “What if this falls apart right before the finish line?”

8. Information Sources & Influences

• Who they listen to: SaaS peers, exit advisors, investor mentors, indie founder communities
• Where they go: LinkedIn, Twitter, SaaS podcasts, Built to Sell, SaaStr, Slack groups
• Tone they trust: Honest, practical, tactical, outcome-focused

9. Messaging That Resonates

• Topics they want: Exit-readiness, SaaS delivery stability, churn control, de-risking ops
• What makes them feel seen: “You don’t have a product problem. You have an execution problem.”
• Hidden desires: Time back, board respect, a clean exit, founder freedom
• Content validation: Before-and-after stories from founders who scaled or sold smoothly

10. Positioning Your Offer

• Obvious choice if: You install delivery and ops systems that boost valuation and reduce founder risk
• Framing: “I stabilise the messy middle so your SaaS becomes scale-ready—or exit-ready.”
• Emotional payoff: Confidence, freedom, pride, peace of mind
• Doubted transformation: That an external partner can fix what internal hires couldn’t

11. Emotional Journey

• Before: Trapped, stretched, frustrated, stuck between growth and exit
• During: Understood, supported, operational clarity returns
• After: Proud, free, scalable or saleable—and no longer the bottleneck

12. Funnel Content Prompts

TOFU – Awareness & Attention

Stuck at £1M ARR? It might be your delivery systems

Your business is valuable. But is it sellable?

Why ops debt is killing your exit dreams

What churn really means at £2M ARR

The SaaS chaos curve: when growth stalls and delivery breaks

You don’t need a COO. You need operating leverage

Why investors pass on founder-dependent companies

The hidden burnout of scaling SaaS founders

Your CRM isn’t your operating system

What founders get wrong about due diligence

Why “good enough” systems won’t survive growth

Behind the scenes: how SaaS delivery cracks under pressure

When your ops are the bottleneck (not your features)

What a failed exit looks like (and how to avoid it)

The exit tax of chaos: how mess reduces multiples

Why your roadmap isn’t the problem

The demo day panic most founders don’t talk about

The truth behind “we’ll fix it later” thinking

The investor lens on your delivery team

Scale or bail? The decision that haunts underprepared founders

MOFU – Education & Belief-Shifting

The 3 ops systems every SaaS business needs

A 90-day clean-up plan for SaaS founders preparing for scale or sale

How to stabilise delivery before Series A or exit

Why clean books aren’t enough for due diligence

The hidden ROI of onboarding and churn control

What a fractional ops partner really does (and when to bring one in)

The real cost of founder dependency

When to systemise vs. when to hire

The ops audit nobody talks about

Your NPS won’t save you—your delivery will

Why investors ask about churn and onboarding

The difference between founder-led and founder-dependent

How systems drive exit confidence

What delivery chaos looks like under a buyer microscope

Metrics that matter for mid-stage SaaS

A tale of two SaaS exits: clean vs chaotic

Why ops isn’t admin—it’s leverage

How to lead your team without being the bottleneck

How churn is linked to your onboarding—not your product

When to bring in fractional leadership and why it works

BOFU – Trust & Conversion

Case study: How I helped a SaaS founder reduce churn and prep for exit

What a typical 90-day engagement looks like

How to get investor-ready without full-time hires

When to stop doing it all yourself

Let’s get you out of the weeds—and on the path to scale or sale

Here’s what due diligence really checks

From stuck to scalable: a founder’s story

What buyers want that founders forget

FAQs about working with a fractional ops partner

The red flags I fix before due diligence

How we removed founder dependency in 6 weeks

Why I’m called in before exits (and after breakdowns)

The emotional payoff of operational clarity

How I support you without disrupting your team

Who I work best with (and who I don’t)

A week-by-week breakdown of the clean-up process

Before and after: delivery transformation visuals

Why one founder said “I wish I’d done this 6 months ago”

How I help founders reclaim their time before a big move

Let’s make your SaaS look as good inside as it does on the pitch deck