Startup Advisory
I build Startups, Products, Marketplaces, and Go-to-Market Strategies that scale.
25 years experience, including 10 years in Silicon Valley: Former Head of Product @ Uber Developer Platform. Co-founder of the DataPortability Project. Worked with Facebook, Twitter, Google, Microsoft, CNN, Disney, and more.
Currently, helping startups operate efficiently and fast-forward to the best answers as quickly as possible through Books & Articles. The Startup Podcast and 1:1 Strategic Advisory.
Limited slots available. Offered on a best fit basis.
Unlock Explosive Growth: Minimize Waste, Maximize Impact with Silicon Valley-Proven Strategies & Tactics
Avoid wasting precious time and money
Hiring the wrong people
Stuck in endless debate and indecision
Building the wrong products & features
Taking too long to ship polished products & features
Building products that fail to convert, retain, and delight users
Suffering from constant misalignment between product, engineering, sales, marketing, etc
Stalled in long, painful sales cycles
Creating endless backlogs of customer feature requests and customers who are never fully satisfied
Wasting time pitching the wrong story to the wrong investors
In short: Don’t risk burning your precious capital while someone else builds your idea better and faster.
Fast-forward to the best high-growth answers
Source and hire the best people for the job
Quickly build conviction and consensus based on first principles, design-led thinking, good intuition, and experience
Rapidly build and ship the right products that delight and retain users released in thin, polished slices.
Drive and maintain strong alignment between all functions with clear planning and communication techniques
Slash long sales cycles and endless feature requests with strong sales enablement and self-serve onboarding and growth features (PLG)
Go beyond products to build platforms, marketplaces, and ecosystems
Tell compelling stories to the right investors that close meaningful funding rounds
In short: Efficiently build a silicon-valley-style tech startup that can change the world. The first to scale, wins.
Insights from some of the most important companies in the world.
25 years experience building Silicon Valley-style companies and working with some of the best companies in the world.
I’ve gone deep across a broad range of domains.
General Startups Dynamics
I have built, and run a series of great startups. Most as CEO, all as co-founder. See Linkedin. I work with founders to help them understand all the fundamental patterns and processes required to build a successful product-led, high-growth, venture-backed company.
Digital transformation
I’ve worked inside some of the most disruptive new companies, and with some of the largest legacy enterprises in the world. Combined, this experience gives me a unique insight into how to drive internal change that breaks down and rebuilds calcified cultures and reignites innovative thinking.
Angel and VC fundraising
I have both raised and invested money as a Startup founder and an angel investor. I’ve developed and read countless investor pitch decks. I apply that experience to create compelling stories that drive investor conviction.
Business Strategy
I’ve built business strategies across B2B, B2C, B2B2C, and Developer Platforms. Choosing the right model can mean the difference between middling success and break-out disruption. I help founders think outside the box to create models that power true disruption.
Org and culture design
I’ve helped many companies re-design their org chart, ways of working, cultural values, and product principles to minimize dysfunction and maximize efficient execution. I help execs organize the team for maximum autonomy and accountability at the edge while maintaining alignment with the core business strategy.
Product strategy
I’ve been involved in the conception of hundreds of products across a diverse range of industries and personas. Building great products involves a careful combination of art and science. I help founders translate their vision into elevated yet actionable product strategies.
Product management and design
I’ve managed the development of countless products and product teams. The only way to translate a business and product strategy into concrete outcomes is with intense focus and careful craft. I help accelerate the development of roadmaps, product designs, self-serve onboarding flows, retention strategies, viral loops, and more.
Developer platforms & ecosystems
Having built a platform from 0 to 85 Billion API calls a month (Echo) and served as the Head of Product for the Uber Developer Platform, I am one of the few product leaders who have built and run a developer platform at scale. I help supercharge traditional product and engineering teams to design products that developers love (APIs, SDKs, Dev Portals, Documentation etc). Read more.
Two-sided and on-demand marketplaces
Having worked at Uber and several on-demand marketplaces, I have extensive experience building two-sided marketplaces. I help product and ops teams solve the cold start problem, design self-reinforcing marketplace dynamics, build systems that manage reputation and trust, and more.
Generative AI
I’ve gone deep on classifying emerging AI tools and identifying white space for new AI-powered products. This work is embodied in the AI Classification Framework.
Enterprise BD, sales, strategy
I’ve driven sales motions into central product and IT groups at CNN, NASDQ, Disney, UMG, NBCU, Coke & more. I work with GTM teams to develop messaging, pitch decks, and other sales enablement tools to sell products to enterprise customers while minimizing costly feature requests.
Data Portability
I coined the phrase Data Portability. Invented Backplane & APML This field is particularly important now given the introduction of GDPR. I help companies design data collection and management systems based on user rights, open standards, and compliance.
I join your team, and I help.
Onboard: Performing initial deep-dive on existing plans and problems. This helps me onboard quickly.
Strategize: Drive strategic meetings to develop or refine an effective high-level action plan. This helps create a clear context for the collaboration.
Accelerate: Sketching out frameworks/rough drafts of key deliverables (E.g., PRDs, roadmaps, go-to-market strategy, product designs, etc.) in real-time with the team. This accelerates all work products.
Elevate: Reviewing team deliverables (including pre-release software) and making pointed and actionable suggestions for improvement. This elevates essential implementation details.
Operationalize: Joining weekly meetings to protect strategic alignment in all discussions and decisions. This mitigates thrash, wasted time, and inconsistent execution due to strategy drift.
Silicon Valley-style disruption demands an abundance mindset.
Ideal stage
I enjoy helping companies at all stages…
Seed Stage: I help with product market fit, hiring, and fundraising.
Series A and B: I help with organizing the team to scale, moving the product from point solution to platform, rotating the culture from sales-led to product-led, and/or coaching the CPO to develop an elevated and effective product strategy.
Enterprise: I help key teams break out of incrementalism to restore the capacity to make big, bold bets.
At all stages, I focus on saving wasted time and money to fast forward to the best high-growth outcomes as quickly as possible.
Ideal characteristics
I’m interested in companies with…
Potential to disrupt some fundamental aspect of the world
A founder with ambitious (global) goals
A coachable team eager to evolve and improve quickly
A “Chris-shaped hole” in the team where I can add a lot of value quickly
Limited slots available. Offered on a best fit basis.
My goal is to make a big impact, quickly.
“Wisdom and Passion”
“One of the top advisors you can find on this planet”
“Almost clairvoyant ability to see big opportunities”
“If you can get the chance to work with Chris, seize it with both hands. But be ready to bring your whole self to the adventure ... because if you do, you will get so much more back than you can possibly imagine. ”
“Someone to keep you focused on what really matters”
“A true legend with no ego just wisdom, knowledge, and the power to achieve great things.”
“I have had the good fortune to get to work alongside some incredible start-up mentors at YCombinator, Google Launchpad, The Family, and speaking at events like WebSummit, Techne Summit, and StartCon (to name a few). In my mind, Chris Saad stands out as one of the best.”
“We still use the frameworks that he gave us. He moves incredibly quickly, so we covered a lot of ground in each session … Chris helped us develop more clarity and confidence in our product roadmap, and was instrumental in a major product rework.”
“His coaching style ensured we retained full ownership of the strategy while developing it to be the best it could be … Chris consistently worked towards precision and clarity ... He diligently helped us de-conflate core aspects of our organization and product strategies … He not only helped us pave the way to become a product-led company but also taught us a lot along the way”
Let’s get to work
Limited slots available. Offered on a best fit basis.
My Startup content
Unfortunately, I don’t have time to work with everyone, so I regularly share generally applicable advice and content to support founders on their journey.
The Startup Podcast
A guide through the unique mindset and approach that drives Silicon Valley style disruption at scale.
