You own the growth decision
A founder or CEO sponsors the work, with revenue and marketing leaders involved in the decisions.
B2B SaaS growth strategy and leadership
Understand what is holding back growth—and what to change first.
Not sure what is holding growth back or where to focus next? Depth & Direction helps B2B SaaS founders and CEOs understand the evidence, agree priorities and turn them into action—through a focused Growth Sprint or ongoing Fractional Marketing Leadership.
01 / THE SITUATION
Marketing activity should lead to customer growth.
Turn more of your marketing effort into paying customers who stay.
We examine who you target, how you explain your value and what happens as prospects become customers. Together, we agree where to focus and which activity to stop.
- 01 Revenue or pipeline is behind plan, and sales and marketing disagree about why.
- 02 Several customer segments or propositions compete for investment, with no clear priority.
- 03 Trials and new customers arrive, but too few reach value, convert or stay.
- 04 You need to decide where the next marketing investment will make the greatest difference.
- 05 The plan needs senior leadership to coordinate your team and delivery partners.
02 / WHO WE WORK BEST WITH
Paying customers. Growth below expectations.
You’re a leader in a B2B SaaS business with paying customers and an existing marketing effort. You need to understand what is holding back growth and decide what to change first.
There is a reason to act now
A missed target, investment decision or weak customer conversion or retention makes the problem urgent.
You can provide the evidence
Your team can share customer insight, sales evidence and performance data, including gaps and uncertainties.
Your team can act on the plan
You can assign owners and delivery capacity to the priorities agreed during the sprint.
03 / HOW WE HELP
Two ways to move from uncertainty to action
You do not need to arrive with the answer. Come with a defined growth question or simply know that performance is falling short. We help you find the priority, make the decision and move it forward.
01
Defined project · usually four weeks
Growth Sprint
A focused project to understand what is holding growth back, decide what deserves attention and create a practical course of action. If the priority is unclear, the sprint begins with Diagnose & Define: an evidence-led review of the commercial problem, customer reality and operating context. If the question is already clear, we focus the work around it.
You leave with
A clear diagnosis, one agreed priority, the activity to stop or defer, and a costed 90-day plan with owners, measures and initial tests. If the evidence changes the brief, we agree the next scope and decision before further work begins.
Fixed scope and fee agreed before work starts
02
Ongoing · 1–2 days per week
Fractional Marketing Leadership
For businesses that need senior marketing ownership over time—not just a plan. Steve can begin by diagnosing the situation, then set priorities, align the team and lead progress against the commercial goal.
You gain
Continuity from strategy through delivery: leadership alignment, clear priorities, an operating rhythm, coordinated teams and partners, and regular performance decisions as the evidence changes.
What we examine
- Target customers
- Positioning and value
- Conversion
- Onboarding and retention
04 / APPROACH
Diagnose. Decide. Plan.
Customer behaviour connects the commercial question to changes your team can make.
-
01
Diagnose
Uncover what’s really happening
We bring together leadership perspectives, customer evidence, commercial performance, sales insight and market context.
OutputA shared diagnosis of what is holding growth back.
-
02
Decide
Where should we focus?
We make the choice: market, ICP, proposition, demand model, customer behaviour or route to market.
OutputA clear direction and conscious trade-offs.
-
03
Plan
What happens next?
We turn the decision into priorities, owners, measures and a practical operating rhythm.
OutputA costed 90-day plan with owners, measures, initial tests and review points.
“A useful growth plan makes the priority clear, names who will act and shows how we will know whether the change is working.”
05 / SELECTED EXPERIENCE
Strategy connected to revenue
Selected results from Stephen’s work across global B2B SaaS and technology businesses.
AWS Skill Builder
7% to >35%
Trial-to-paid conversion
Rose from about 7% to more than 35% within roughly three months. Steve created goal-led onboarding journeys with data science and marketing automation teams for global individual learners.
QuickBooks APAC
65% to 77%
90-day paid retention across APAC
Rose from about 65% to 77% over roughly three months. Steve owned onboarding journeys, behavioural messaging, reporting and optimisation. Separately, 93% of new Australian customers reached five money-in or money-out transactions within 30 days.
These are results from Steve’s roles within Intuit and AWS, delivered with cross-functional teams. They demonstrate relevant experience; future results depend on the client’s context and implementation.
06 / FOUNDER
Commercial judgement grounded in customer behaviour.
Stephen Dodd
Founder and Fractional Marketing Leader
A growth advisor with more than 20 years of experience across SaaS, technology, financial services and advertising.
Steve has led APAC customer marketing for Intuit QuickBooks, AWS Training and Certification marketing in ANZ, and marketing for a SaaS startup. His career also includes 20 years in advertising agency strategy.
His strongest work connects targeting and positioning with onboarding, product adoption and retention. He combines commercial diagnosis with journey design, behavioural messaging and leadership of the teams delivering the work.
View Stephen on LinkedIn07 / COMMON QUESTIONS
Before we
begin.
A few practical answers about choosing the right engagement and how the work fits into your business.
What if we do not know what is blocking growth?
That is a valid place to start. The Growth Sprint begins with Diagnose & Define: we bring together leadership perspectives, customer evidence, commercial performance, sales insight and market context. We distinguish symptoms from likely causes, make evidence gaps explicit and agree where effort should go first.
What does Diagnose & Define deliver?
It is the opening phase of a Growth Sprint when the priority is unclear. It produces an evidence-backed diagnosis, ranked priorities, activity to stop or defer, and a costed 90-day plan with owners, measures and resource requirements. We then agree the next move before further work begins. Scope, access requirements and fee are agreed before starting.
Is implementation included?
The Growth Sprint covers the agreed diagnostic and strategic work. It does not include an unspecified implementation programme. Once the priority is clear, we can agree a focused follow-on project or move into Fractional Marketing Leadership. If you already know the problem, we validate it and define the sprint around that question.
Do we have to complete a sprint before fractional leadership?
No. If you need ongoing senior marketing leadership, we can begin there and include diagnosis and strategic prioritisation within the agreed remit. Steve then stays to align the team, guide delivery and adapt priorities as the evidence changes.
Will Steve work with our existing marketing and sales teams?
Yes. Steve works with leadership, marketing, sales, product and customer success to understand the evidence and agree the priority. He can coordinate existing agencies and specialist partners where included.
How much does an engagement cost?
We agree a fixed scope and fee for the Growth Sprint before starting. Fractional leadership is priced around the days, responsibilities and operating rhythm required. A first conversation establishes which route is the right fit.
Can you guarantee a revenue uplift?
We commit to the agreed diagnosis, decisions and plan. Revenue outcomes depend on the starting position, product, sales cycle and implementation. We agree measures against your baseline and review progress as the work develops.
08 / CONTACT
Discuss where growth is falling short.
You do not need to know the answer before we talk. In a 30-minute conversation, we’ll explore what is happening, what you have tried and whether a Growth Sprint or Fractional Marketing Leadership is the right fit.
Book a 30-minute conversationPrefer LinkedIn? Send Stephen a message.