Transition Master

Portugal & International | Present

I help founders, leaders, and high-performing professionals break free from burnout, self-sabotage, and uncertainty so they can reconnect to clarity, energy, and purpose. Through 1:1 coaching and immersive 4-day retreats, I guide clients to transform old narratives, release emotional blocks, and build bold new visions for their life and business.

Rooted in my background as a creative director and corporate leader, my approach blends strategy, storytelling, emotional intelligence and embodied coaching techniques.

Founder & Coach | Freedom Path Coaching & Retreats

ECCO

Explored how human psychology, decision-making, and emotional drivers shape consumer behavior. Learned how inner narratives drive external choices - a principle I now apply in coaching leaders.

Global Digital Research & Development Lead

Supported leaders and teams with core energy coaching, cultural awareness, and conscious leadership practices. This role was a bridge: bringing my coaching methodology into a corporate setting.

People and Culture Coach

Worked on global UX and customer journey strategies. What stood out wasn’t the data, but the human stories behind the data - reinforcing my passion for helping people unlock clarity and purpose.

Online Consumer Experience Specialist - UX

ESSENZA HOME

Led creative strategy and brand storytelling for global lifestyle collections. Beyond trends and aesthetics, this role was about shaping vision, guiding teams, and inspiring emotional connection with audiences.

Highlights:
	•	Defined seasonal narratives & visual identity that resonated worldwide
	•	Managed external creative talent and multidisciplinary teams
	•	Oversaw storytelling from concept → campaign execution (photo, film, digital)

What I discovered: My greatest strength wasn’t just in producing campaigns - it was in helping people align with clarity, confidence, and purpose under pressure. This realisation became the foundation for my coaching work.

Creative Director – Marc O’Polo Home & Esprit 

Energy Leadership Coach | Leadership Trainer | R&D Expert

I believe success without soul will always leave you restless.

I learned that the hard way - burning out in a top-tier creative role, disconnected from my family, and trapped in a life that looked great on paper but felt hollow. At 3am one night, something cracked.

That rupture became a doorway. I walked away from my role as a Global UX Lead, left behind the cycle of overwork and self-sabotage, and began the real work: building a soul-rooted life in Portugal with my family.

Now, I guide founders, leaders, and professionals through that same threshold - the moment when outward success no longer matches the inner truth.

My clients are often intuitive men and women (35–50) in leadership or entrepreneurship who feel:

• Burnt out, restless, or stuck in cycles of overwork
• Successful on the outside, but disconnected inside
• Ready to step into a deeper way of leading and living

My Work: A Three-Part Journey

1. Foundation (Online Coaching)
We create structure and clarity - breaking patterns of self-sabotage, burnout, and victimhood.

2. Core (Deep 1:1 Containers)
We go beyond surface-level strategy into soul-level recalibration - releasing old identities so you can lead with clarity, courage, and self-trust.

3. Expansion (Immersive Retreats)
For those ready to go further, I co-lead exclusive 4-day retreats in Portugal - an accelerated environment where breakthroughs are embodied and new visions anchored.

Clients often tell me the shift begins with my voice - like something inside them finally unblocks. That’s because this isn’t therapy or quick-fix strategy. It’s deep identity work. Emotional reset. A return to your true power.

If you feel the pull, send me a DM with “UNMUTE” for my free 7-Day Voice Activation Series - designed to help you reclaim your voice, your truth, and the power you’ve been holding back.

Daniel Philip Wilcock

So here goes...I feel it's time to share something pretty vulnerable about my journey so far. 

Over a year ago, I chose to leave my life in Holland behind with 3 young daughters, a wife, and a vision to live simpler in Portugal surrounded by nature.

The first few months, everything was what we had hoped for. My wife and daughters were really enjoying the slow pace, open culture and nature, we even got chickens - ALOT (there's such a thing as chicken math, go check it out).

But the one thing that was the hardest for me was how I felt. I went from being a corporate leader to suddenly an entrepreneur, depending on my next client to survive.

Daily I was waking up with my head racing, mind full, tight chest, and a million things to do - but not seeing the effort reflecting back in my bank balance.

I was chasing that next strategy... squandering the resources I did have on the next smart business coach or smartest GPT strategy to save me.

It did not. (I'll go into 'why nots' in another post).

Instead, I ended up just losing the capital I did have, feeling more disappointed with myself.

so I let go.

Let go of the expectations that were in my 'corporate head' thinking I had to prove something, and instead decided to cut the noise fully and spend a few weeks off to simply FEEL into what my body was telling me... the doubt, the fear, the sadness, the weight I was holding.

And you know what?

When I finally sat with the sadness and let the tears fall, a lightness came.

A sense of relief, followed by a clarity.

In that moment I realised that my life and business can only feel amazing if my feelings and thoughts line up with my actions.

The choice to leave our safe life behind in Holland was a brave one and a move only few do, but I failed to realise in the process that I did not give myself the time or chance to regulate my nervous system. 

I was living in a dysregulated state for so long, I had no clue that it wasn't me.

I'm saying all this because I see SO many founders take the action, start the business, hoping to feel more alive and free - only to find themselves more stressed, working harder than ever, on the verge of burning out.

The game changer for me was when I learned to regulate my nervous system, so I could finally think, feel, and act in a more stable and clear way.

Enabling me to be present for my kids, have time for my wife, and actually feel like I enjoy the place I live in.

Now I'm more passionate than ever to help founders like me who are stuck in dysregulated patterns, not knowing how (or if it's even possible) to change it.

If this resonates with you, I've spent months developing a 5-minute nervous system assessment to help you identify where you are right now in your own life and business and will give you honest feedback directly as to what I recommend as a next step, based on my experience.

(link in the comments)

P.S. I sincerely hope you get your body and life back too, your family needs you.

Daniel Philips

Somatic Business Coach for HSP, ADHD & Neurodiverse Founders | Your sensitivity isn’t the problem - dysregulation is | I help you regulate and build without burning out | Free nervous system assessment

I moved to Portugal to escape burnout. Instead, I found a wake-up call.

A few years ago, my family and I left everything behind.

Sold the house. Packed the van. Drove south with three small kids, chasing mountains, freedom and a slower pace.

Within months, the fantasy crumbled, and the business that worked back home wasn't working anymore. 

The clarity I expected turned into uncertainty and financial pressure, and that familiar tightness in my chest was back.

I came to realise that you can't outrun a dysregulated nervous system.

The same patterns that drove me to burnout as a UX Strategy Lead at a global fashion brand followed me to the Portuguese mountains. 

The hyper-vigilance, the overworking, the inability to rest even when exhausted.

Portugal didn't fix me, instead it exposed what I hadn't yet dealt with, and that exposure became the most valuable education of my life.

I've now come to realise that entrepreneurship is a nervous system sport.

The uncertainty, the financial risk, the constant pivoting, the loneliness of building something from nothing while raising a family - it all demands regulation in a way most of us were never taught.

Most founders are operating in survival mode 80% of the time, making decisions from a reactive state rather than a strategic one. 

I was no different.

So I started treating my nervous system like an athlete treats their body. 

With daily maintenance, recognising my limits and building in recovery, as well as learning to make decisions from a grounded place.

Now I help other entrepreneurs change the internal patterns that keep our heads and bodies stuck in survival mode, even when we've built the life we dreamed of.

The mountain views are beautiful, but my real breakthrough was learning to look inward.

Sunday evenings in Portugal hit different vs my old life back in Holland.  

This morning we collected wild mushrooms in the mountains. 

now sitting next to the fire, preparing for the week ahead.

Three years ago, I was drowning in back-to-back meetings, 
checking emails at midnight, convincing myself that's what success looked like..

Today, success looks like knowing when my nervous system needs nature.
When it needs silence.
When it needs to move slower to think clearer.

Building a business around how you're actually wired 
instead of how you think you should be..

That shift has been incredibly important for me and my young family. 

They now have their father back, and I’ve saved my marriage. 

Here's to a week of working with your unique nervous system design, and a weekly rhythm that enriches your life - not goes against it 🙏🏻❤️

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11:47pm. Amsterdam. December 16th. 2019.


Laptop glow on the ceiling. My wife and daughter asleep. I'd just bought another "this will change everything" course.


Not because I needed it. Because I was buzzing. Restless. Looking for a hit to save me from sitting with my feelings...


Trying to outrun a life that looked noble and kinda perfect on the outside. But inside I was numb to everything that should have made me happy.

To compensate I was skipping from course to course. Opportunity to opportunity.

Always learning, always busy, always doing what the gurus told me to do.

It looked proactive. Honestly, it was a classic distraction strategy.

I was living a reactive life - led by "shoulds," stuck in my head, disconnected from my body's signals to rest. Stop. Breathe.

Slowly running myself and my marriage into the ground.

The cost showed up at home first. The "I'm too busy" snap every time my wife asked something. Presence replaced by productivity.

At the time I was a leader in a global church. Supposed to have it together.
Inside, I was a hell of a mess.

I often turned to p*rn to soothe a nervous system out of check. 
only compounding the guilt, shame and failure I felt inside.

11:47pm was the moment where I could no longer handle the double life I was living.

So I shouted to myself in the mirror that moment in frustration and tears.

How the hell can I support others if I can't even support myself?

The next morning, I chose to be honest with my wife. Asked her forgiveness and support.

That was the moment I finally took responsibility for my mind, my body, and the stories still keeping me stuck.

You’re surrounded by family this Christmas, and you've never felt more alone.

I know that feeling.

Sitting at the table in my own house (beautiful home, kids being kids, work going ok) watching my wife share goofy moments with her father, mum and brothers.

Everyone I loved was right there.
Yet I felt completely alone inside my own skin.

I remember thinking..

Maybe January will fix this.
New year. Fresh start. Better approach.

But I’d thought that before.
Multiple Januarys. Multiple fresh starts.

And every December, I ended up in the same shitty place.

Same nagging buzz in my head.
Same numbness in my bones.

That quiet 'off' feeling pulsing underneath the Christmas lights.

But back in Christmas 2019, it was different.

I decided to stop long enough to feel what I’d spent a lifetime outrunning.

I went back to the 6-year-old me on the floor.

Who was watching tennis on the TV.
Parents screaming in front of him.
Holding his knees. Bracing for impact.
Trying to disappear without leaving the room.

I sat with him and asked what he needed to say back then...
the thing no one let him say.

STOP YELLING. I FEEL SCARED.

Then I told him the things he needed to hear:

You’re not too much.
This isn’t your fault.
You don’t have to disappear to be safe.

Something loosened in my chest that day.
A tight grip I didn’t even know I’d been living with.

For the first time in years, I could take a full breath.

Because I finally stopped abandoning myself.
the same way I’d learned to do it for everyone else.

I was addicted to being the reliable one.
The man who always showed up.
The one holding it all together.
The father. The founder.

All while numbing the ache in my gut.
and quietly waiting to be exposed as incompetent.

An imposter. A fraud.

If you’re feeling that gap right now... 
between the 'christmas hype' and the loneliness inside.

this might not be a 'season' problem.
Or a planning problem.
Or a motivation problem.

It might be the cost of a childhood where no one came looking for you
when you went quiet.

I can't shut off.

That's what most burned out founders tell me in our first conversation.

"I'm always on edge." "I work all the time but nothing moves forward."

I get it. I lived it.

Some years ago, I was sitting in the Portuguese mountains, overlooking a view I'd dreamed about for years back in Holland.

The kids were running around with our collection of chickens, with the puppy chasing behind, living their best life.

Carefree.

Yet, all I could think about was: how do I stabilise my business this month?
My chest was tight, my mind racing.

Revenue was unstable, and I'd convinced myself that if I didn't spend every waking minute on my laptop, hustling...reaching out....chasing... I'd miss my numbers.

I was working 8am to 10pm most days.

Checking my phone at the dinner table, any moment possible... Snapping at my wife and kids like I was always in a rush to get somewhere.

Even though there was nowhere to go.

My body felt like it had to constantly run to and from something just to stay alive.

To provide. To survive.

What I didn't understand back then was that restlessness, and edginess I felt, that inability to switch off... it wasn't a discipline problem.

It was my nervous system stuck in survival mode.

You see, when you're constantly stressed, your body interprets every business challenge as a life-or-death threat.

A quiet inbox feels like danger. 
A dip in revenue triggers the same response as being chased by a predator.

Your nervous system doesn't know the difference between a missed sales call and a physical threat, so it keeps you in fight-or-flight.

All day. Every day.

The real problem wasn't about me working too much, with the idea that working 4 days instead of 7 would solve it.

It was because I was working from a dysregulated state and justifying it as normal, necessary 'entrepreneurial' behaviour.

No amount of productivity hacks would fix that.

Adding another system or GPT strategy is like focusing on installing a new update on your SatNav, whilst your car is running on fumes and about to break down any moment.

If this is hitting home for you, I built a quick assessment to help you see what's actually going on.

Takes 5 minutes, and shows you where your nervous system is stuck in survival mode, along with what to do about it.

DM me 'SYSTEMS' and I'll send you the link.

I was snapping at my kids while living in paradise....

Working 8am-10pm. Chest tight. Mind spinning.

The problem wasn't my business strategy or work ethic. 

It was my nervous system.

I just published a newsletter about why capable founders stay stuck + 
the 90-minute process that shifts it.

Read here.

I was working 8am-10pm in what people call paradise. Portugal. Mountains. Freedom. The reality: phone at dinner, snapping at my kids, chest constantly

Open article: The Regulation Gap (why smart Entrepreneurs often stay stuck) by Daniel Philips • 3 min read

The Regulation Gap (why smart Entrepreneurs often stay stuck)

Your overwhelm isn’t mental. It’s mechanical.

Founders tell me all the time:
“I know exactly what to do…I just can’t seem to do it.”

That's not discipline problem
Nor lack of willpower.
And won't be solved by finding another smart AI hack.

The problem is that your Nervous system is overloaded and does not know how to decompress. 

This week’s newsletter breaks down the moment a client realised he wasn’t inconsistent - he was dysregulated.

And what happened when we reset his system in real time.

If you’ve been feeling scattered, reactive, or stuck in loops…
Comment RESET and I’ll send you the information for the 1:1 90 min deep dive I'm doing with a few founders in January.

Most founders think the hardest part of growth is strategy. OR discipline. OR picking the right business guru who promises “10k months in 30 days.” Bu

Open article: Your overwhelm isn’t mental - it’s mechanical. by Daniel Philips • 3 min read

Your overwhelm isn’t mental - it’s mechanical.

As a Highly Sensitive Entrepreneur, I used to think I just needed better boundaries.

Turned out, I needed better regulation.

And after years of working with other founders, I see the same pattern emerging, they know what they should do....take breaks, set boundaries, work less.

But when they try.. their body won't let them.

When they sit down to rest, their chest tightens. 
When they close the laptop, anxiety floods in.

And that was me in Portugal... I had all the time in the world. Mountains. Freedom. Space.

But I couldn't access any of it, because my nervous system was still running on a scarcity operating system.

But after going through this season of rewiring myself, I now know that when your nervous system is dysregulated, rest used to feel dangerous, and when I slowed down triggered alarm bells.

Because my body used to interpret "not working" as "not surviving."

So I kept grinding, not because I wanted to, but because my nervous system wouldnt let me stop. I was wired.

And I certainly learnt one thing for sure, that you cannot think your way out of a dysregulated nervous system.

You have to train it.

Like an athlete trains their body, you have to teach your nervous system that it's safe to downregulate.

Making that quiet inbox, a welcome thing instead of a panic attack. 
So that you feel like rest is actually productive, not dangerous.

This is the work I do now with founders who are barely holding on.

I tell them to forget about time management hacks and productivity systems you were sold, none of it works until you regulate your nervous system first.

Instead, I help you recognise the difference between actual threats and normal business challenges.

So that you can build the capacity to stay grounded under pressure instead of reactive, and make strategic decisions from a state of calm, not panic.

Because the fastest way to burn out isn't working too hard.
It's working from a dysregulated state and never coming back down.

So you're recognising yourself in this, I built a free 5-minute assessment to show you exactly where your nervous system needs support.

DM me 'REGULATE' and I'll send it over.

Some neurodiverse founders are not held back by strategy…they’re held back by something much more covert.

It’s the real reason so many brilliant, neurodiverse founders keep saying:

“I don’t have time.”
“I should be able to do this myself.”
“What if I can’t follow through?”
“I’m too overwhelmed to think about this.”

Most founders treat these as 'mindset issues.'

They’re not.
They’re nervous system signals....

And unless you know how to read them, they’ll keep you stuck in the exact same January → February → March loop you’re trying to escape.

In today’s newsletter, I break down:

• why these objections show up
• what they actually mean in your body
• and how to finally create capacity instead of pushing harder

Read the full article below.

If you’re hesitating, read this. Most founders don’t hesitate because they’re unsure. They hesitate because their nervous system is unsure. And the ob

Open article: There’s a version of you your current nervous system can’t access yet. by Daniel Philips • 2 min read

There’s a version of you your current nervous system can’t access yet.

“Why do I crave free time… but shut down the moment I get it?”

This was one of the most confronting things I uncovered in a recent founder reset session.

Not procrastination.
Not laziness.
Not a motivation problem.

A nervous system caught in volatility - trained to survive in chaos, and panic when he was at rest.

His brain said: “I want spaciousness.”
His body said: “But… what if it’s not safe?”

Todays newsletter breaks it down:

- Why you can’t switch off even when you want to
- The hidden pattern behind overwhelm cycles
- And the exact somatic shift to bring brings clarity back online

Let me tell you about a neurodiverse client who, on the outside, looked capable and calm… but inside, everything was running too fast. Brilliant mind.

Open article: Why your system can’t follow through (even when you want it to) by Daniel Philips • 4 min read

Why your system can’t follow through (even when you want it to)

Not all excitement is created equal.

I learned this in a session with a client last week.

He was a creative founder describing two different moments in his life:

Moment 1: Going from 2K to 100K in crypto. The rush. The high. "I'm finally escaping."

Moment 2: On a film set in Europe with an amazing team. He was in pure flow. Time was disappearing.

Both gave him goosebumps.

But when I asked him to feel into the difference?

He said something that stopped me:

"The crypto goosebumps were short. like a spike...On the film set, goosebumps were long, deep, more intense. That one felt like a deeper satisfaction. This felt like... myself."

The Crypto journey for him showed volatility ie
Manic highs..crushing lows...adrenaline-fuelled... isolated and short-lived.

The Film set with friends showed radiance ie
Grounded aliveness. Sustainable. Fills you up. Connected. Present.

Most burned-out founders are addicted to the volatility because their nervous system learned that volatility = normal.

So they keep recreating it:
 → Revenue swings that wreck them
 → Overworking then crashing
 → Chasing the next strategy to "save" them
 → Saying yes to everything, then collapsing

It can 'feel alive' for a moment, but it's not sustainable.

Radiance is different.

The founder described moments of real connection for himself:

A dinner with friends where he felt fully himself, a men's gathering where he spoke his truth, coaching sessions where his chest opened and his shoulders dropped.

His body responded differently.

Here he experienced 'no quick rush'

Stating: "Everything just feels safe. I don't need to have all the answers. I am at peace."

For him, it wasn't about choosing 'to hustle' or 'to rest'
It was actually about choosing between volatility and radiance.

With volatility feeling like:
 → Tight chest, racing mind
 → Checking numbers obsessively
 → Trying to control the uncontrollable
 → Shaky legs, panic, 'I need to turn back time'

Radiance feeling like:
 → Chest open, throat relaxed
 → Time disappearing
 → Being fully present
 → 'I can just be myself here'

Because your nervous system will ALWAYS pull you towards what feels familiar.

If volatility is familar, you'll keep recreating boom-bust cycles.
If radiance is familiar, you'll build sustainably.

So which pattern are you feeding?

The i've created a Founder Regulation Assessment shows you in 5 minutes.

You can take it here → https://lnkd.in/ePrZAVNX

Your body already knows the difference, the question is whether you're listening.

- Dan

The day after I told my wife I'd been using p*rn, I went looking for answers.

Cacao ceremonies. 
Church events. 
Men's circles. 
Breathwork. 
Journaling. 
Therapy.

I read the books. Did the courses. Showed up in all the right rooms.
And sure, some of it helped. Temporarily.

But the noise never stopped.

A low, constant weird hum in my body... like something was always 'off' in me, even when my life looked 'right.'

Even when I was leading a global church. 
Even when I was standing on stage, being praised for how wise and spiritual I seemed. 
Even when I had a beautiful wife and a newborn in my arms.

Especially then.

Because I couldn't fully feel the joy of my first child being born. 

Couldn't look my wife in the eyes for too long without wanting to look away.

The shame sat between us like a third presence in the room.

I thought I had a discipline or habit problem.

What I didn't understand yet was that I wasn't trying to solve a man's problem.
I was still functioning like the 6-year-old version of myself.

Why? well I grew up with an alcoholic mum and a dad who didn't know how to father.

I still remember sitting on the floor, tennis on the TV, while they threw things and screamed at each other in front of me.

I discovered something magical that day.

If I could pretend I was inside the program (if I could disappear into it) I couldn't be harmed.

That became my superpower.

At school, I was the kid who felt too much. Got bullied. Picked apart with words.
So I learned to hide... Numb... ...Accept what was happening and escape later.

Bedroom. TV. Video games. Eventually p*rn.

Because my nervous system didn't know any other way to feel safe.


Fast forward 30 years.
Same pattern with a different packaging.

Still escaping. Still numbing. Still dissociating - just now with a title, a platform, and spiritual language that made it look holy.

And no amount of clever thinking was going to fix that. No men's circle. No ceremony. No 'performance of authenticity.'

Because you CANNOT smart your way out of a childhood wound.

You have to go back and meet the kid who learned that disappearing was safer than being seen.

So I went back to that place, to finally stay long enough to feel what I'd spent my whole life outrunning.

You don't recognise yourself anymore.

The goals that used to drive you feel hollow. 
The strategies that always worked... don't. 
The version of you everyone knows feels like a costume you can't take off.

Nothing's technically broken.

But something inside you just stopped.

This is an identity death.
And it's the most terrifying (and sacred) threshold you'll ever cross.

The next article I wrote dives deep into this - are you ready?

There's a specific moment in transformation that no one warns you about. It's not the decision to change. It's not the moment you know something needs

Open article: The sacred collapse - when your old identity stops.  by Daniel Philips • 6 min read

The sacred collapse - when your old identity stops.

I watched a founder go from 2K to 100K in crypto.

Then back to 10K. Then 3K.

They were lying awake at night thinking: "I need to turn back time."

But the real problem wasn't the crypto.

It was their nervous system recreating the exact volatility pattern it learned in childhood.

Boom. Everything's great..... Bust.....Everything's collapsing. Repeat.

This is called the boom-bust trap.

And most burned-out founders don't even realise they're stuck in it.

They think it's about:

- Bad timing
- Wrong strategy
- Not disciplined enough

But it's none of them. 

It was about your nervous system being addicted to volatility.

Because your were raised to think that the volatility feels familiar,
and your nervous system always chooses familiar over safe.

I wrote about why this happens - and how to actually break it.

It's based on real client work, it's vulnerable, and it might explain why you keep ending up in the same place.

Read it in the latest article below.

Note: for confidentiality reasons the character in the story will have a fictional name) I had a client recently who couldn't understand why he kept e

Open article: The boom-bust trap: why burned-out Founders keep recreating the same pattern by Daniel Philips • 4 min read

The boom-bust trap: why burned-out Founders keep recreating the same pattern

"I'm not sure if I really want to do this, or if I just love the idea of wanting to do it."

A founder said this to me last week.


It was completely recognisable, because I've experienced the same split myself.

The one where you can't tell the difference between what your body is pulling you toward and what you think you 'should' want.

He said he wanted to dedicate Saturday mornings to walking in nature - just him, his feet on the ground, and no agenda.

But he kept not doing it....

There was always something 'more important.'
So I asked him to go back to a time when he really wanted something.
When he last felt the urge for it.

He remembered back when he was young, when he collected stones with his brother to break them open and find crystals inside.

When he described this moment, his whole energy shifted.

"It was like a pulling force," he said. "I felt it in my belly, almost magnetic."

That's what real desire feels like.

It's not in your head.

You feel it in your body.

Like a pull, a magnetism, an urge you just can't ignore.

But most burned-out founders have lost access to that feeling.

Because their nervous system is so dysregulated, they can't feel what they actually want anymore.

Instead, they find themselves stuck in:
"I should want to rest."
"I should want to meditate."
"I should want to work on my business."

But when the moment finally comes...
They freeze....numb out....scroll..... default to work.

And it makes sense, because they've been overriding their body for so long, they don't know how to feel their own urges anymore.

This founder said something that made my heart break for him:
"I crave free time, but when I have it, I have no idea what I want to do, so I just waste it."

That's a classic sign of dysregulation.

When your nervous system is stuck in survival mode, you lose access to:
- What truly excites you
- What lights your life up
- What your body is actually pulling you toward

All you can feel is...
'What's useful for my business?'
'What's productive today?'
'What should I be doing so I look busy?'

The only way out of this is to regulate your body.

So your nervous system feels safe, giving you permission to access your urges again.

That magnetic pull in your belly to smash open rocks and find crystals.
The thing you'd set an alarm for on a Saturday morning.
The desire that doesn't need to be rationalised - it just is.

If you've lost touch with what you actually want, your nervous system is stuck in survival mode.

The 'Founder Regulation Assessment' I created shows you where - and what to do about it.

It takes 5 minutes, is completely private, and no email is required unless you want the full breakdown.

Link in comments

Be honest - will you be starting January regulated or overwhelmed?

Because from every call I’m having with HSP, ADHD and neurodiverse founders, I’m seeing the same pattern over and over again:

You look like you have everything together on the outside -
 smart, perceptive, high-achieving…

…but inside, your mind is chaotic, reactive and constantly spiralling.

And December has made that even louder - extra activities, tighter budgets, more commitments, more emotional load.

The result?

Exhaustion....
Watching others move ahead with ease...

And the quiet fear:
“Maybe I don’t have what it takes to be successful.”

You definitely don’t want to start another year overwhelmed, masking competence, and privately melting down while trying to outrun your own nervous system.

But you know what happens if you don’t reset now:

January feels hopeful.
February feels familiar.
March… back in the same loops that drained you last year.

And nope - discipline isn’t the issue. (If it was, you’d have solved it by now.)

The issue is that your mind and body aren’t working together.

Your head is overloaded.
Your body is signalling distress.
And your shoulders probably feel it more than anything.

After being there myself, here’s what actually creates the shift:

I’m opening 5 spots for a New Year Founder Regulation Reset - a 90-minute personalised session designed to take you from chaotic + reactive 
→ self-led + focused.

Here’s what we do inside:
1. Uncover the real pattern driving your overwhelm
2. Regulate your system so your mind finally quiets
3. Rebuild inner leadership so you trust yourself again
4. Create a simple weekly plan you can actually follow

A founder from last years deep dive told me:
“I finally did the thing I’d been avoiding for years… because my brain and body finally felt steady enough to handle it.”

That shift happened within a week.

If you want to enter January clear, calm, and able to follow through:

Comment “RESET” and I’ll send the details.
5 spots. €347.

 Once they’re gone, this closes.
- Dan

There’s a moment I’ve never shared publicly.

A small, ordinary moment at the dinner table in Portugal a few years back, that  revealed the real reason I was overwhelmed in my business.

From the outside, everything looked beautiful.
Inside my body....nothing was.

My phone would buzz and my whole system would jolt.
Chest tight. Breath shallow. Shoulders heavy...

A feeling that one message could decide whether I was safe or not.
I thought I had a business problem.

Turns out… I had a nervous system problem.

This week I’m opening up about what actually shifted everything for me, the moment I stopped surviving my business and finally started building it from a regulated place.

I wrote the full story in myt latest newsletter, it’s vulnerable and honest, in the hope that it will help others to reflect before heading into 2026. 

You’ll feel it in your chest if you’ve ever been stuck in that loop of hustling harder while feeling more disconnected from yourself.

There’s a moment from Portugal I still think about more than I want to admit. Dinner table. Candles. Mountains in the distance. My wife talking softly

Open article: The moment I realised I wasn’t actually free
 by Daniel Philips • 2 min read

The moment I realised I wasn’t actually free

Liberate Labs

In my role as CEO at Liberate Labs, I lead a team of expert product engineers to use a Product-Led Growth (PLG) strategy at Liberate Labs, addressing the unique challenges and opportunities of startups. 

We prioritize metrics that reflect the real health and future trajectory of these businesses. Our approach aims to reduce Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) and enhance engagement and retention.

By tracking natural growth rate, activated sign-ups, and the balance between new ARR and cash burned, we offer startups a clear, data-driven view of their product's market impact and reach.

Our commitment goes beyond just delivering software; we aim to produce quantifiable results for startups through top-tier product development and strategy.

Specialties: Strategic and Tactical Leadership, Stakeholder Management and Communications, Program Management, Customer UX Design, SCRUM, Agile, SDLC, DevOps, System Design, Data Analysis.

Chief Executive Officer

Superessence

Fractional Chief Technology and Product Officer

StudyBuds

Acreage

Bullseye for Schools

As the fractional Chief Technology and Product Officer at Bullseye Education Solutions, I'm a key contributor to the evolution of our instructional support system that's currently transforming teacher coaching and student outcomes in over 500 schools, engaging more than 2,000 daily active users.

Our collective endeavors have led to a significant upswing in student standardized test scores by up to 51%.

My role is highly collaborative, working across business, engineering, and design teams to rapidly iterate on our product development. My focus is on delivering a world-class user experience that is both intuitive and effective.

Currently, I'm steering the platform towards its next generation. This includes leveraging AI capabilities and reshaping the platform for a product-led growth strategy. These initiatives aim to solidify Bullseye's standing in the ed-tech industry.

Amazon

•	Coordinated rollout of 100+ software deliverables across 500 stores driving improvements in food safety and compliance across multiple departments, teams, and business functions

•	Managed 5+ cross-functional teams to improve recipe data consistency across multiple data catalogs by 30%

•	Spearheaded green-field Traceability program to enable WFM supply chain tracking to achieve newly formed U.S. FSMA 204 compliance standards: justified headcount, defined program charter, and established high-level technical vision

•	Lead deprecation of legacy systems costing 10M+/year and hundreds of labor hours in inefficiencies across 5 WFM domains and 10+ engineering and business teams

Senior Technical Program Manager

•	Investigated and coordinated optimization exercise to reduce scan orchestration duration by 48%

•	Automated vulnerability remediation to reduce time-to-remediate critical OS vulnerabilities by 42% 

•	Managed platform stabilization project which reduced database load by 70%

•	Launching service redesign planned to increase automated vulnerability remediation throughput by 350%

•	Launching tool to extend vulnerability scan coverage for 20 subsidiaries containing >100K hosts

•	Launching Amazon-wide platform to standardize and increase accuracy of remediation priority across the company

•	Conducted architecture reviews into technical systems, proposed solutions, and managed/launched optimizations 

•	Managed stakeholder communications via monthly reporting, quarterly reports, and weekly syncs up to VP of InfoSec

•	Streamlined feature delivery pipeline to meetings by 66% while increasing burndown of tasks by ~30%

Technical Program Manager II

•	Collaborated to implement internal Amazon vulnerability ticketing script to notify 12K+ teams of critical vulnerabilities

•	Implemented feature to auto-assign appropriate ticket severity for emergent third-party vulnerabilities

•	Root-caused platform issues and proposed solutions to address throttling, database deadlocks, and platform instability

Software Engineer II

•	Designed and implemented feature to auto-classify 300k+ customer accounts improving automated process accuracy by 3%

•	Conducted customer research to implement work distribution tool enhancement reducing manual work by 455 hours/month

•	Expanded service alarms and metrics collection to improve diagnosis, resolution, and prioritization of service issues

•	Mentored and coached multiple interns to successfully receive return offers and new hires through knowledge transfers

•	Led strategic initiatives to improve team code quality standards, testing, and culture through documentation and event planning

Software Engineer

Georgia-Pacific LLC

•	Created new help page using JavaScript, HTML, and CSS for GP Packing Order Account Management Website

•	Worked closely with customers and product owners to plan and deliver solution to reduce frequency of support tickets from corrugated plants

Software Development Engineer

•	Planned and implemented 12-week project to improve the efficiency of internal Amazon business process

•	Creating API for Remote Procedure Call framework to pull data from relational database 

•	Utilizing React and worked with internal users to create front-end component to be utilized by internal agents

Graph House LLC.

•	Founded creative agency to deliver affordable marketing solutions to startups in the Atlanta area

•	Negotiated multiple partnerships between Georgia Tech Academic departments and organizations, and assisted with the acquisition of clients

•	Acquired and coordinated all business communications with all clients to deliver quality and efficient services

Co-Founder, CEO

Acuity Brands

•	Writing scripts in SQL to update Acuity Brands product information within the Product Data Management portal

•	Developing webpage using Kendo UI framework to update and view Acuity Brands product log

Product Management

Fractional CTO for B2B SaaS | 2× Feature Velocity in 90 Days—Guaranteed | Ex-Amazon | CEO, Liberate Labs

Most SaaS founders hit a wall between $1M-$5M ARR. 
Growth stalls. Churn climbs. The next funding round feels impossible.

I've been there. As a former Amazon engineer, 
I've seen what separates companies that scale from those that struggle.

Here's what I've learned: 
It's not about hiring more people. 
It's about building better systems.

Today, I serve as Fractional CTO for 12+ SaaS companies and run Liberate Labs, 
where we've helped founders achieve:

→ 25-50% revenue growth in 6 months
→ 30% churn reduction through funnel optimization
→ $2M+ in unlocked expansion revenue
→ 3x revenue growth in 24 months (Series A client)

My approach is different: 
I don't just give advice, I build and implement the systems myself. 

1. Customer Journey Funnels. 
2. Product roadmaps. 
3. Engineering execution. 
4. Marketing automation. 

All designed to turn your growth plateau into predictable, scalable revenue.

What makes this work:
✓ Engineering-led methodology (not marketing fluff)
✓ Focus on measurable outcomes, not vanity metrics
✓ 60-day implementation sprints (no endless consulting)
✓ Money-back guarantee if you don't see results

I've packaged everything that works into proven systems. If you're a B2B SaaS founder ready to break through your growth ceiling without burning cash on expensive hires, let's talk.

Dm me on LinkedIn (I stay super active) or email me at: jihad@liberate-labs.com

Jihad Iqbal

HubSpot gives away their AI for free. And makes 3x more money. Here's the playbook most SaaS founders miss:

The "With vs. For" Framework
AI Working With You ✅ Bundled Free

- Summarizing emails
- Drafting follow-ups
- Assisting your workflow

Removes friction. Drives massive adoption.

AI Working For You 💰 Consumes Credits

- Auto-resolving support tickets
- Running full account research
- Replacing hours of manual work

Charges when value is massive and measurable.

Three questions to find your model:

1. What's your cost to serve?
Minimal compute → Bundle it.
Significant variable costs → Use credits.

2. What's the value to customers?
Replaces headcount or meaningful work → Charge for it.

3. What's the competition doing?
Everyone bundling → Play defense.
No clear standard → Be bold. Set the price.

The 3 deadly mistakes:

❌ Seat-based pricing when AI reduces seats
Your product succeeds → Teams shrink → Revenue dies.

❌ Complexity overload
Tokens + queries + compute = Customers flee.

❌ Gating AI agent features
A crippled agent can't do its job. Instant churn.

Your 4-step action plan (execute this week):

1. Audit exact AI costs per interaction
You cannot price what you don't measure.

2. Talk to your 5 power users
Find what they value most. That's your signal.

3. Model 3 scenarios:
- Bundle everything
- Charge for everything
- Hybrid approach

The winner becomes obvious.

4. Ship it. Iterate.
Perfect is the enemy of profitable.

Simple, transparent pricing where costs align with value.
That's how non-tech founders win the AI monetization game.

What's your AI pricing challenge right now?

♻️ Repost to your network
Follow Jihad Iqbal for more.

I Build and Grow B2B SaaS | Product + Tech Adviser @ 47+ SaaS Businesses | Ex-Amazon | CEO at Liberate Labs

AI Monetization Strategy for Non-tech SaaS Founders

🎉🎉 INCREDIBLE News to announce: Proud to announce podcast with Anish Bhatt. He is a certified legend (Inventor of Apple Cash, multiple exits, product savant, list goes on). Excited to bring our expertise working in the trenches with 50+ startups to combat some of the slop that’s out there. Already have a few episodes ready to come out shortly 👀

VP Product @ Jeeves | Inventor of Apple Pay Cash | Built products at Apple, Google & Square | Georgia Tech 40 Under 40

After launching 100+ products at Apple & Square, and scaling SaaS to $6M ARR, my co-host Jihad Iqbal and I kept seeing the same problem: too much "AI slop" and recycled frameworks. Not enough real talk about the brutal trade-offs, pivots, and hard decisions that actually separate products that scale from those that stall.

So we built the resource we wish we had.

Announcing The Product Lab Podcast

The no-BS playbook for SaaS founders and builders who want to cut through the noise and learn from builders who've actually been in the trenches.

What we're doing differently:

🔹 Founder Spotlights - 
Million-dollar breakthroughs AND mistakes (the ones people usually hide)

🔹 Deep Case Studies - 
How companies actually found PMF and scaled ARR (not the sanitized version)

🔹 Systems & Frameworks - 
Actionable playbooks you can implement Monday morning

🔹 AI & SaaS Trends - 
How AI is rewriting product growth (minus the hype cycle)

Who we are:
🎤 Anish Bhatt (VP Product @ Jeeves, Ex-Apple Pay Cash, Ex-Square Payroll)
🎤 Jihad Iqbal (CEO @ Liberate Labs, Ex-Amazon, Product + Tech Adviser @ 47+ SaaS)

This isn't a theory. This is the unfiltered truth about building software that grows.

🎬 Subscribe to the Youtube Channel: 
https://lnkd.in/gqhrGPkW : 

📰 Subscribe to our newsletter: theproductlab.beehiiv.com 

👥 Follow for weekly episodes starting soon

Built for founders, by founders. Let's get into it.

#ProductManagement #SaaS #StartupGrowth #TheProductLab #LiberateLabs #FounderStories

You are not “bad at marketing”.
You’re running a Level 3 GTM on a Level 1 product.

Two SaaS founders at 1M ARR.

Both feel stuck.
Both think “We need to get serious about GTM.”

Founder A hires SDRs, buys tools, spins up 5 channels.
Founder B does something far less glamorous.

Guess which one hits 5M ARR first?

Here’s the difference.

Level 1 – Validation GTM (0–1M ARR)

Founder B stays here until the basics are boring.

They:

	•	Sell directly to one segment
	•	Talk to 50–100 ideal customers
	•	Refine one clear problem narrative
	•	Pull from one or two high intent channels

Revenue is still lumpy. But the pattern is real.
If you can’t predict who closes and why, you’re not done with this level.

Level 2 – Repeatable GTM (1–3M ARR)

Now the goal shifts from “does this work?” to “can others do it?”

They:

	•	Turn discovery + demo into a simple script
	•	Standardize follow up and handoffs
	•	Add basic product analytics and simple PLG hooks
	•	Run a few paid experiments and actually track payback

If a new rep can ramp and hit quota without your magic touch, 
you graduate from this level.

Level 3 – Scale GTM (3–10M ARR)

Only then do they stack on volume.

They:

	•	Layer targeted account-based plays on top of what already works
	•	Add partner channels and marketplaces to reach bigger accounts
	•	Build expansion motions so existing customers grow every quarter
	•	Use automation to remove manual busywork, not to hide broken basics

Founder A tried to start here.
Same tools. Same spend. No foundation.

If your GTM feels “busy but not working”, 
don’t start with a new campaign.

Start with this:

👉 Which level am I honestly in today?
👉 What would it look like to over-finish that level before moving up?

AI features should be free. 
AI outcomes should be expensive.

Gong warns against traditional pricing. 
The SaaS pricing playbook just got rewritten.
 
Pricing AI like seat licenses is a mistake. When usage drives marginal costs sharply upward, the unit economics break.
 
I've seen founders:
 
- Launch AI features that cost them more than they make
- Over-price and kill adoption (6 months of dev wasted)
- Under-price and blow up their AWS bill
 
The companies acing it such as HubSpot, Gong, others at scale -
they use a hybrid pricing model that most founders don't know exists.
 
In this breakdown with, I reveal:
🔸 Why traditional SaaS math breaks with AI (the marginal cost problem)
🔸 HubSpot's $0 AI strategy and why it's brilliant
🔸 3 questions to decide if you should bundle or charge
🔸 Credit-based pricing that aligns cost with value
🔸 Market benchmarks from real companies (not theory)
🔸 Gong's pricing warning every founder should hear
🔸 4-step action plan you can implement this week
 
This is the framework I use with clients adding $300K+ ARR in 90 days.
 
Watch it here 👇
https://lnkd.in/eC5XuSBt
 
Built for non-technical SaaS founders scaling from $1M-$3M ARR.

If I had to grow a SaaS from $0 to $5M and I could track only one website metric…

I’d pick activation rate.

Because activation is the doorway to everything else:

- Better retention
- Higher expansion
- Stronger referrals
- Lower acquisition cost

Here’s how I’d use it as the main compass:

1. Define the activation moment

“One user from the account completes X, Y, and Z.”
Keep it concrete. Keep it tied to real value.

2. Design the homepage for that moment

Every section answers one thing:
“Does this help the right person reach that moment faster?”

3. Remove anything that doesn’t serve it

Features, sections, videos, social proof.
If it doesn’t pull people toward activation, it goes.

4. Watch NRR as the second layer

Activation gets you paying customers.
High NRR tells you you’re attracting the right ones.

High traffic with weak activation is vanity.
Strong activation and NRR is the business.

If you want, reply with your current activation rate (or your best guess).
I’ll send a few ideas to raise it. 

Follow Jihad Iqbal for more SaaS Growth tips.

Non-technical founder? Your first MVP is not an app.
It's proof one buyer cares enough to use it.

Autohub is the project that showed me this.

The founder came to us and said:

"I want an MVP for auto shops. Customer app, shop dashboard, reports, full Shopmonkey link. It should feel like a finished tool from day one."

On the slide, it sounded fine.

In real life, it was 18 months of work hiding inside a 3-month plan.

So we did the thing that made everyone a bit tense.

We started cutting.

We:

- Dropped most of the "must have" features
- Pushed reports to "later"
- Scoped Shopmonkey to what one real shop needed
- Picked one test shop instead of "the whole market"

The founder was not technical.

So I asked him one simple question:

"If this fails, what do you want to have learned in 90 days?"

He did not say, "that our tech scales."

He said, "that shop owners want this enough to use it every week."

That became the MVP.

Not "all the things Autohub could be."

Just enough for one real shop to run its day inside the product:

- Customer books
- Shop updates the job
- Invoice and history in one place
- Owner sees enough numbers to feel the difference

We built that in a few hundred hours.

Got it running in one shop.

Then we watched what they did, not what we hoped they would do.

Here is what we saw:

- Some "must have" features never came up again
- A few "nice ideas" from the mechanics became key parts of the product plan
- The founder finally saw a real day in his product, not only in Figma

Now when I talk to non-technical SaaS founders,
I see the same traps again and again:

- Treating "MVP" as a cheap version of the final product
- Designing for "all future customers" instead of one real user with a name
- Starting with dashboards and admin pages "because we'll need them anyway"
- Talking about tools and tech before asking, "What do we need to learn in 90 days?"

The founders who get it right flip that.

They:

- Pick one narrow user and one clear use case
- Write down the one scary question they want answered
- Build only the steps needed to answer that question in real life
- Let the next version be shaped by real use, not imagination

Autohub's first version was not "everything we dreamed."

It was a small but very real slice of the future product, 
used every week by one shop that cared.

From there, the brand, the dashboards, 
and the advanced reports all made sense.

Because they were tied to real behavior and money coming in, not a deck.

If you are a non-technical founder working on your MVP, 
start with the same question we used with Autohub:

"If this fails in 90 days, what do I want to have learned?"

Build only what you need to get that answer.

Everything else can wait.

Every week I meet another founder who quietly burned $50K building the wrong thing. Don’t be the next one.

They all tell me the same story.
The idea felt exciting.
They hired devs. Built for months. Shipped.

Silence.

No line of customers.
No angry mob.
Just… nothing.

I did the same at my first startup.
We spent 8 months crafting a project management tool with 47 features.
Clean UI, smooth UX, all the buzzwords.

Month one after launch?
3 paying customers.

Not because we were lazy.
Because we never spoke to a single potential customer while building it.

Here’s the real problem:
Founders fall in love with the idea.
Customers only care about their pain.

That’s the shift we made at Liberate Labs.

Now, when a founder comes to us with a SaaS idea, 
we run a very different play:

Week 1 → Talk to 20 people who should be your customers

Week 2 → Pull out their top 3–5 painful problems in their own words

Week 3 → Sketch the smallest thing that actually fixes one of those problems

Then, and only then, do we write code

One founder came in with a 6-month feature roadmap and a big dev budget.

We stripped it down to what customers actually cared about, 
cut ~ $80K of waste, and they hit their first $100K ARR in half the time.

The winners aren’t the ones with the fanciest product.
They’re the ones obsessed with a specific problem, 
for a specific person, and they keep solving it better.

If you haven’t talked to at least 20 potential customers yet, 
don’t open your code editor. Open your calendar.

And if you’re sitting on a SaaS idea and want help running this process before you burn that first $50K, comment “PROCESS” or DM me.

Your first engineering hire can quietly kill your startup.
Not with bad code but with perfect code.

Here’s how the story usually goes:

- You finally raise a little money
- You hunt for a “10+ years experience” senior dev
- They want equity, ownership, and time to “do it right”

Three months later you’ve got:
A beautiful codebase.
A flawless architecture.
And no paying customers.

I’ve watched founders burn their entire pre-seed on that one hire.
Masterpiece product.
Zero usage.

At Liberate Labs, our first build was the opposite.

Our MVP was shipped by a junior dev.
Hungry. Scrappy. Zero ego.

We agreed on one rule:
Ship fast and ugly or don’t ship at all.

We launched in 3 weeks, not 3 months.
That speed is what gave us signal.
Signal is what justified bringing in senior engineers later.

Senior engineers are amazing.
Today, I work with some of the best.

But they shine once you have:

- Paying customers
- Clear pain points
- Real constraints

Your first dev?
You don’t need prestige.

You need someone who thinks like a founder:

- Talks to customers
- Cuts features without crying
- Cares more about validation than elegance

Startups don’t die because the architecture was messy.
They die because nobody wanted what they built.

Hire hungry first.
Hire fancy later.

If you want to kill your SaaS in 2026,
just keep doing these 5 things.

Most startups don’t die because of “market conditions.”
They die because the founder accidentally steers it into the ground.

Here’s the playbook:

1. Treat sales like a dirty word.

Keep telling yourself the product will “sell itself.”
Delay building any kind of sales motion.
Then underprice it because you’re scared no one will pay.

Now you’re stuck:
Too expensive for the bottom, too half-baked for the top.

2. Run your startup on vibes.

No co-founder agreement. 
No vesting. Just handshakes.

Until things get hard and they will and suddenly
you’re arguing over who owns what… and who’s in charge.

3. Make yourself the bottleneck.

You touch every decision. 
Every screen. Every line of copy.

Your team can’t move unless you say “go.”
And eventually, they stop asking.

4. Write code for your resume.

Pick tech stacks that look cool on Hacker News.
Refactor features no one uses.
Ignore your CAC payback until it hits 12+ months.

But hey, at least it’s “technically elegant.”

5. Pivot the moment you get bored.

Call it “experimentation.”
Truth is, you just can’t stand the part where things get repetitive.

You don’t need a new strategy.
You need to sit with the one that’s already working.

None of this feels urgent. 
Until you’re 3 years in, stuck at $80k MRR, and too tired to care.

That’s the real danger.

Which of these 5 do you see the most in founders? 👇

Your $50K MVP is probably testing the wrong thing. I've launched 12+ SaaS products. Here's what I see killing most MVPs:

Founders build for the user they WISH they had, 
not the user they can ACTUALLY get.

The advice you're following? It's from 2011.
The bar for "viable" has completely changed.

Here's the 3-step framework that works:

1. Identify your riskiest assumption

Not your biggest feature. 
The ONE thing that, if wrong, kills the business.

Example: For AI contract software, it's not "lawyers want faster reviews."
It's "will lawyers TRUST AI for legal work?"

2. Design the minimum test

What's the cheapest way to test it?
For contract software: Manually review 10 contracts. 

Present results to lawyers. See if they trust it.
That's a $500 MVP vs $50K MVP.

3. Define success criteria BEFORE building

"We're right if 7/10 lawyers use our recommendations"
"We're wrong if fewer than 4 say yes"
"We need 20 lawyers to trust the data"

Not "let's see what happens."

Real example:

Client wanted to build automated onboarding for B2B SaaS.
Their MVP: NO automation. 
Manually onboarded 5 customers at $2K each.

All 5 paid. All 5 wanted the software.
THEN they built it.

Cost: $0 dev, 2 weeks.
That's how you validate.

Take 30 minutes today: Write down your riskiest assumption.

Can't identify it? 
You're not ready to build. Simple.

AI gives us the "liberty to ship" at warp speed. 
But the best builders are doing something counterintuitive:

They're using that speed to spend MORE time with customers!

Anish Bhatt (inventor of Apple Pay Cash) 
break down how AI is rewriting the product playbook.

His contrarian take? 

The moat isn't AI. I
t's what you do with the time it buys you.

Here's the framework:

→ Your AI "team" learns your empathy

Tools for writing, design, and code become extensions of your voice. 
But only if you train them with real customer insight.

→ Replace research cycles with a feedback LLM 
Anish built a custom LLM that consumes NPS data, support logs, and sales calls. It surfaces patterns in hours, not months.

Result: Features ship within a week of identifying problems.

→ The PR/FAQ is your single source of truth

This Amazon-born doc isn't static. It's living infrastructure that keeps your entire company aligned during weekly shipping sprints.

→ Empathy can't be automated

AI can write your PRDs and tickets. But..

It can't watch mouse movements, Catch dead clicks, or 
Sit in the silence between what users say vs. what they actually mean.

→ Pinpointed personas > massive TAM

Stop building for generic demographics. 
Pick ONE persona. Become their partner. 
Tie your success directly to theirs.

Most teams will use AI to ship faster and burn out chasing metrics.
The smart ones will use it to reclaim 10 hours a week
and spend all 10 with customers.

Now ask yourself this:
Where are you reinvesting your AI-freed time?

📹 Watch the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/eHnb8mwF 
♻️ Repost for SaaS founders who need to hear this

Build Products People Love 10x Faster with AI

I burned $47k learning why your dev team is lying to you.
Not on purpose. But they are.

2021. My SaaS was stuck at $1.8M ARR. 

I hired 3 contractors to "speed things up."

Then 2 more when we fell behind. Then a PM to "coordinate better."

The result? 

Our velocity dropped 40%. 
Features took 6 weeks instead of 3.

Here's what I learned at 2am reviewing Jira tickets:

The problem wasn't my team's skill.
It was that nobody owned the outcome.

- Developer A built what the strategy doc said. 
- Developer B built what the PM interpreted. 

The PM built what they thought I meant.

Meanwhile, my churn climbed to 7.3%,
Because the feature we shipped didn't fix the actual user pain point.

Cost breakdown of my mistake: 

→ $47k in contractor fees 
→ $23k in lost MRR (6 weeks of delayed fixes) 
→ $8k in my time managing chaos

Total damage: $78k

At Amazon, we avoided this with "single-threaded owners" - 
one team owns strategy + build + measurement.

Now at Liberate Labs, we do the same for SaaS founders:

✓ One team owns your growth outcome (not 3 vendors) 
✓ Strategy, development, and analytics in sync 
✓ 60-day sprints with guaranteed MRR impact

Result for clients: 

→ Launch features 2.3x faster 
→ Revenue impact is predictable (not guesswork) 
→ Zero cost of vendor handoffs

If you're stuck at $2-5M ARR with a dev team, 
that ships but doesn't move metrics, you're not alone.

Comment "VELOCITY" - 

I'll DM you the exact framework I use to diagnose where your execution is breaking down (takes 10 minutes, saved one founder $94k last quarter).

Your Dev team is Lying to You

The question is not “Should I start an agency or a SaaS”. The real question is “What’s the cheapest way to buy the data my future SaaS will run on”.

People overcomplicate this.

They draw Venn diagrams.
They binge YouTube gurus.
They wait for some grand moment of clarity.

Meanwhile, the answer is sitting in front of them.

Start a productized service.

Because a productized service isn’t a “business model”.
It’s a data engine.

You get to watch the mess in real time.

- You see the weird edge cases.
- You hear the raw objections people won’t type into a form.
- You notice what clients try before you step in.
- You notice what they try after your workflow ends.
- You feel where the process collapses because you’re the one fixing it.

That’s market intelligence you can’t scrape.

And it’s exactly how you figure out what your SaaS should automate first.

This is the same lens we use inside Liberate Labs.

Before we build anything, we treat service work like reconnaissance. 
Every call, every request, every broken workflow that needs work.

That’s how our clients uncovered the need for specialized AI agents, Growth Engine, real feature priorities instead of chasing shiny ideas.

None of that comes from guesswork.
It comes from paid exposure to the truth.

So don’t ask, “Agency or SaaS?” Ask, “What’s the fastest way to see the real problems my future product has to solve?”

Start there.
Build smarter.
Spend less.

And when you’re ready to turn that data into a Product Growth Engine — 
that’s where we step in. Dm me 'Growth' for a free growth blueprint.

Non-technical, want to launch a SaaS in 2026? Here’s the 30-day plan I’d give you if we were on a Zoom together right now:

I'm a CTO, I've worked with dozen of SaaS 
Mostly non-tech founders like you...and honestly

You don’t need to speak “dev”.
You need a clear operating plan.

No branding.
No logo.
No “MVP” yet.

Just 30 days of work that actually matters.

📌 Week 1 – problem + people**

Your job this week is simple: prove the problem is real and painful.

- Make a list of 30 people in your target market
- Book 10 honest conversations (short DM, clear ask, no fluff)
- Ask about their workflow, current tools, and what they’ve already tried
- Listen for the exact phrases they use when they complain
- Write those phrases down word for word

End of week 1, you have:
A 1-page doc with your problem statement + the 10 strongest quotes from the market.

📌Week 2 – offer + pricing**

Now we test whether people care enough to pay.

-Turn what you heard into 2–3 clear offer concepts
-Write a simple one-pager: who it’s for, what it solves, what changes for them
- Float 3 pricing options in conversations
- Watch reactions more than the words “yeah that sounds fair”
- Capture every objection and tighten your offer daily

End of week 2, you have:
Offer v1, early price points, objection list.

📌Week 3 – product shape**

Only now do we start talking about “the app”.

- Map 2–3 key user flows on paper or in a simple whiteboard tool
- Strip steps until a dev could build version one in 6–8 weeks
- Record a Loom walking through those flows in plain language
- Shortlist 3 technical partners based on products they’ve shipped, not buzzwords
- Share the Loom and ask for rough time + cost ranges

End of week 3, you have:
Clear user flows and a shortlist of people who can actually build version one.

📌 Week 4 – numbers

If the math fails, the product doesn’t matter.

- Build a simple sheet: visitors → leads → trials → paying → churn
- Set a first-year target: number of customers, average revenue per customer, runway
- Choose 3–5 OKRs for the next quarter
- Sketch a lean hiring plan: who you bring in after the first 10–20 customers
- Stress-test the model with worse conversion and higher churn

End of week 4, you have:
A basic financial model, early OKRs, and a clear first hire.

You don’t need to code to start a serious SaaS in 2026.
You need sharp problems, real people, and honest numbers.

If you want me to pressure-test your idea against this 30-day plan, 
DM me “30 days” and I’ll walk you through it.

Non-tech Founder's 30-day SaaS Launch Plan

One founder spent $80,000 and 6 months building a login page.
His product still doesn't sell itself. Here's why:

He built what he should have bought.
Most non-tech SaaS CEOs make this exact mistake.

They let their dev team build "impressive" things.
While the things that actually drive PLG collect dust.

BUILD: Your Core Value Delivery

This is what makes you unique.
- Your proprietary algorithm
- Your unique workflow logic
- Your secret sauce data processing

If you don't build this, you have no business.

BUY: Everything That Gets Users There

This is infrastructure. Not differentiators.
- Authentication (Auth0, Clerk)
- Payments (Stripe, Paddle)
- Onboarding tours (Appcues, Userflow)
- Email automation (Customer.io)

Your users don't care who built your login.
They care if they can experience value in 5 minutes.

The PLG litmus test:

If losing this feature makes users switch → BUILD IT.
If they'd never notice → BUY IT.
The $10M+ ARR PLG companies?

They invest 80% of product budget in their unique value.
Not infrastructure.

Your product becomes your best salesperson -
When every dollar sharpens what makes you different.

Not when you have the prettiest billing page.
Check your budget.

You might be building a $80,000 login page.
Where's your money actually going?

One founder spent $80,000 and 6 months building a login page. His product still doesn't sell itself. Because he built what he should have bought.

The Adobe–Semrush deal isn’t about SEO.
It’s about something bigger:

The death of the homepage.

We’re headed toward a world where:

Customers ask AI what product to buy.

AI finds the answer.

AI makes the recommendation.

The first touchpoint is not your website…
…it’s an AI agent.

If that’s the future, then visibility becomes the new battlefield.

Adobe just paid $1.9B to prepare.

The question is: Are you?

Most “MVPs” either cost too much or they don’t teach you anything.  If you’re a SaaS founder, here’s where it usually goes wrong: 

1. You treat MVP as v1.0

You’re trying to ship a baby version of the vision, not a test of the risk.
You spend 6 months building what you could have validated in 2 weeks.

2. You build for a demo, not for learning

The goal quietly becomes “impress investors” 
instead of “reduce uncertainty.” Nice UI, shallow insight.

3. You start from features, not from a bet

An MVP should answer a sharp question:
“Will people do X this way?”

If your team can’t state the bet in one sentence, 
you’re not testing, you’re just building.

4. You ignore manual + hacked solutions

You jump straight to code.
But the cheapest MVP is often:

Google Sheet + email + a human behind the scenes.
If that doesn’t work, software won’t rescue it.

5. You don’t define “what we’re measuring”

No success criteria.
No guardrails.

So every result becomes “interesting” and nothing becomes decisive.
Write the win/lose conditions before you build.

6. You overfit to early feedback

First 5 users say “Can you also add…?”
You turn the MVP into a Christmas tree.

Keep a parking lot. 
Ship only what directly tests the core bet.

7. You stop the experiment too early

You launch, get a few lukewarm responses, and quietly kill it.
Most MVPs don’t fail rather they die from silence and zero follow-up.

Talk to users. Watch them use it. 
Ask uncomfortable questions.

If you’re planning an MVP right now, try this:

- One sharp bet.
- One core action to test.
- One simple way to measure it.

Everything else is decoration.

You don’t need a CFO to understand if your SaaS is healthy.
You need 5 numbers you can check every month:

- New ARR added
- ARR lost (churn + downgrades)
- Cash spent on acquiring new customers
- Number of new customers
- Gross margin %

From that, you can already see:

Net new ARR = new − lost
CAC = acquisition spend ÷ new customers
Payback period = CAC ÷ (annual gross margin per account)

Open a fresh tab in Google Sheets.
Put those 5 inputs at the top.
Make the formulas once. Never touch them again.

Now, any time someone asks
“Can we hire 3 more reps?”
you don’t rely on vibes.

You look at the sheet and say:

Our payback is 10 months? 
Great, we can press the gas.

Our payback is 28 months? 
Slow down. Something in the model is broken.

Non-technical doesn’t mean “bad with numbers.”
It just means nobody gave you the right ones to stare at.

"I was being stretched impossibly thin acting as both CEO and de facto CTO." One founder's exact words. Here's how we fixed it in 90 days:

His EdTech platform was dying.
7 years without a refresh.

Features shipping 70% slower than competitors.
Customers churning.

And he was reviewing pull requests at midnight.
He'd hired developers.

Not leadership.
So we ran a 90-day sprint.
Three parallel tracks. Zero downtime.

Track 1: AI-Powered Automation

Built a custom AI framework generator.

Before: 60 minutes per workflow
After: 10 minutes
Result: 83% efficiency gain

Track 2: Engineering Infrastructure

Modernized deployment pipelines.

Deployments: weeks → days
Feature delivery: 70% faster
Platform stability: 99.9%

Track 3: Fractional CTO Leadership

Provided strategic guidance he didn't have.

Freed him from technical firefighting.
Gave back 20 hours/week for actual CEO work.

The results:
✅ $500K in new revenue
✅ 82% user retention (up from 55%)
✅ 40,000+ active users
✅ Ryan stopped reviewing code at midnight

Here's the lesson:

Your engineering team doesn't need more managers.
You need product leadership that aligns tech with business outcomes.

Most CEOs try to hire their way out.
Add more developers.

More complexity.
More meetings.

We did the opposite.
Strategic leadership + AI automation + 90-day execution.

The platform that almost bankrupted him?
Now it's his competitive moat.

So I'll ask you:
Where's your time actually going?
Scaling revenue or reading GitHub commits

♻️ Repost if you can relate
Follow Jihad Iqbal for more.

I've watched 47 product teams waste months on decisions they could test and kill in 72 hours. You're overthinking your roadmap.

I learned this framework while building product at Amazon. It’s now how I make million-dollar decisions at my SaaS in minutes, not months.

The concept: Two-way door vs. one-way door decisions.

- Two-way doors: 
Reversible choices you can walk back from easily.

- One-way doors: 
Permanent decisions that are expensive to undo.

Most founders treat every decision like it’s permanent.

They spend 3 weeks debating button colors.
They hold 12 meetings about landing page copy.
They overthink pricing experiments for months.

Meanwhile, their runway burns and competitors ship.

How I apply this at Liberate Labs:

Two-way door decisions (make them fast):

- Feature experiments
- Messaging tests
- Pricing trials
- Marketing channels

One-way door decisions (think them through):

- Technical architecture
- Co-founder equity
- Enterprise contracts
- Team hiring plans

The biggest unlock:
90% of product decisions are actually two-way doors.

That AI feature your team wants to build for 8 weeks? Two-way door.
Ship an MVP in 2 weeks, test it, kill it if it doesn’t convert.

That enterprise sales motion you’re scared to try? Two-way door.
Run it for 90 days, measure pipeline quality, pivot if needed.

Last month, we helped a client test 3 different onboarding flows in 2 weeks instead of building the “perfect” one in 3 months.

It resulted in 23% improvement in activation rates.

The mental shift changes everything.

Stop asking “What if this fails?”
Start asking “Can I reverse this quickly?”

Most decisions aren’t as permanent as you think.

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