Ninety days to stabilise a Series-B SaaS burning 14 months of runway a year.
A cash-burn intervention that reset the operating cadence without a mass layoff and left a viable path to Series C.
Reduction in monthly burn
Months of runway restored
Product-team layoffs
The Challenge
Runway had shrunk to 11 months. The board's first ask was a 30% RIF; the founders knew that would break product velocity and were resisting. We were brought in as a third opinion.
The real burn driver was not headcount — it was three enterprise deployments that had turned into custom-development projects the company had absorbed for free.
Our Approach
We priced every hour of ongoing custom work against actual account contribution. Two of the three accounts were unprofitable at any realistic price; the third had a viable renewal path if scoped differently.
In parallel we mapped every workstream against ARR contribution over a rolling four-quarter horizon. Two projects representing 22% of engineering effort had no material revenue attached.
"The alternative was a layoff we would have spent two years recovering from. We didn't have two years."
— CEO, client company
The action plan: exit two enterprise accounts under structured terms, restructure the third, pause the two lowest-ARR workstreams, and hold headcount. Cash burn reduced by 34% in seventy days.
The Outcome
The engagement delivered 34% on reduction in monthly burn, 22 on months of runway restored, and 0 on product-team layoffs — measurable, defensible, and owned by the client team on day one after handover.
Let's find your next 12 months of growth
One conversation. No obligation. A clear point of view within a week.
Start a Conversation