Fractional CTO Drives Turnaround and Growth for B2B SaaS Platform

A B2B SaaS company providing drapery workroom pricing, measurements, and project management solutions. While the founder and core team excelled in textiles and home furnishings, they lacked dedicated technical leadership. This resulted in delayed launches, frequent changes in engineering firms, and critical coding assets being held hostage. To address these challenges and ensure a smooth transition, the company engaged Keiboarder's Fractional CTO services.

The company faced several significant technical hurdles:

• Prepaid users were frustrated by launch delays of over a year.  
• The absence of unit tests jeopardized the accuracy of calculations.  
• The lack of test plans made it difficult to maintain application functionality across releases.  
• Outdated frameworks hindered necessary updates.  
• A complicated setup process led to user turnover.

Keiboarder's Fractional CTO focused on providing strategic guidance and hands-on support to stabilize the platform and drive growth. Key actions included:

• Growing the platform from 0 to 12 users by launch.  
• Collaborating with the internal team to overhaul onboarding processes, which improved user retention.  
• Partnering with the UX team to suggest design improvements, mitigating user frustration and providing time to re-engineer application flows.  
• Implementing tools to proactively monitor the production application for issues.  
• Establishing quarterly roadmap prioritization meetings based on user feedback.  
• Increasing unit test coverage to over 70%, stabilizing calculations, and reducing production issues and hotfixes.
• Collaborating with the QA team to create comprehensive test plan documentation for regression testing and knowledge preservation.  
• Developing an administrative portal for the internal team, providing valuable insights from customer usage data.  
• Partnering with the QA team to develop automated test plans, which freed up QA time and prevented regressions.  
• Identifying critical gaps in the team's structure and staffing.  

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Keiboarder's involvement delivered substantial improvements:

• The platform successfully launched and acquired its first 12 users.  
• Enhanced onboarding processes directly contributed to improved user retention.  
• Increased unit test coverage to over 70% significantly stabilized the application and reduced production issues.  
• The implementation of automated test plans streamlined QA processes.  
• The administrative portal empowered the internal team with data-driven insights.

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Keiboarder's Fractional CTO services directly contributed to significant business outcomes, including:

• Improved customer lifetime value through enhanced user experience and platform stability.
• Accelerated time to market, enabling the company to capture market share and generate revenue.
• Increased investor confidence by demonstrating technical stability and a clear path forward.
  

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This case study highlights several key lessons for technology leaders:

• Early Technical Leadership is Crucial: Even if a company's core strengths lie elsewhere, having dedicated technical leadership from the outset is essential to avoid costly delays and technical debt. ‍
• Strategic Intervention Can Rescue Projects: Fractional CTO services can provide the expertise and guidance needed to rescue struggling projects, stabilize development, and drive progress. ‍
• Focus on Fundamentals: Implementing robust testing practices, establishing clear documentation, and prioritizing user experience are fundamental to building a successful and scalable SaaS product. ‍
• Data-Driven Decisions: Leveraging customer usage data to inform product roadmaps and development priorities is crucial for long-term success.