The Growth Catalyst
A go-to-market reset for sales-led software scaleups
Your software is solid. Customers who get it love it. But the market still treats you like just another option.
I find what makes you remarkable, build it into the foundation everything else runs on, and stay until your revenue proves it.
My fee is tied to your results
Your product isn’t the problem. But your win rate says otherwise
- Nobody in your company gives the same answer to “Why us?”
- Deals get stuck, dragged out, or lost to ‘good enough’ options
- You’re discounting more than you should
- Too often you’re not even invited to the shortlist
- Your forecast always feels like a stretch
So you hire more sellers, push harder, spend more on marketing. But growth stays flat.
Because it’s not sales, your product, or the market. It sits deeper than that — you have something remarkable. You’ve just never been able to make the right customers care about it.
What the Growth Catalyst actually fixes
Here’s what changes:
- Your team knows exactly who it’s for — and who it’s not.
No more chasing deals you were never going to win. - Everyone gives the same answer to “Why us?”
And it’s the answer that makes the right customers care. - Your sales team gains conviction.
They go after bigger deals, ask the hard questions early, and say no when the fit is wrong. - The right buyers finally get it.
You start showing up at the top of their shortlist.
How the Growth Catalyst works
Three phases, one for each lever from the book. Each one helps on its own. Together they do something bigger. One plus one plus one makes eleven.
1 / Value lever
We find what’s actually remarkable about your product, connect it to a problem the right customers will pay a premium to solve, and get clear on who this is for — and who it isn’t. That’s the foundation. Everything else runs on it.
2 / Volume lever
Your team stops pitching and starts diagnosing. They lead with insight, show customers what they can’t see themselves, and walk away from deals that aren’t a fit. Prospects stop negotiating price and start asking what it takes to work with you.
3 / Viability lever
With the foundation in place, we look for what else creates leverage — pricing, product strategy, expansion, ecosystem, growing the customers you already have. Each one gets easier once you know what you’re worth and who you’re worth it to.
What working together looks like
Phase 1 takes four to five weeks and has to be locked before Phase 2 begins. Phase 2 is where it meets real deals and the numbers start to move. If something doesn’t work in the field, we fix it there.
Phase 1: Value – Starts in week 1
Four weeks. Four workshops a week.
What you get:
- Deep differentiation you can defend
- Clarity on which customers become your biggest fans — and which never will
- Positioning that makes you a must-have for the right buyers
- A value proposition your team will use in real conversations
- An insight-led discovery framework your sales team leads with
Includes:
- 4 workshops per week
- 24/7 direct access to me
- Customer validation handled by me, personally
Phase 2: Volume – Starts in month 2
Weekly sales confidence lab with your team, working on live deals as they run.
What you get:
- A team that tells the buyer something he didn’t know about his own business
- Discovery that puts you in pole position — or ends the deal fast
- Demos that prove value instead of showing features
- Proposals that get signed without the discount request
- A forecast you can rely on
Includes:
- Weekly team workshops
- Direct feedback on live deals
- 1:1 mentoring with your reps
Phase 3: Viability – Starts in month 3
Now we pull the other levers:
What we look at:
- Pricing that reflects what you’re actually worth
- A product roadmap that strengthens what makes you different
- Guarantees that make you hard to compare
- Customers who stay longer, spend more, and bring you others
The goal: Real operating leverage: stronger gross margins and more ARR per employee.
Includes:
- Bi-weekly CEO mastermind (max 8 companies)
- Hot seats with peer CEOs when you need one
- 1:1 mentoring with you
- Private Slack access
See how this could work for your team
Who this is for
Most people who call me have already tried the obvious things. A new head of marketing. Some new reps. An agency, a rebrand, a workshop. And growth is still flat.
This isn’t for everyone. It’s built for CEOs of sales-led software companies who:
- Have found product-market fit — but the market still treats them like just another option
- Are doing €5M–€50M ARR — but growth has stalled, and a board or PE owner is expecting numbers they’re not on track to hit.
- Know their product is solid — but the win rates don’t show it.
- Want a partner who stays until the numbers move, not a document
And just as importantly – it’s not for:
- Teams that think a messaging refresh or positioning workshop will fix it
- Startups still figuring out what they want to be
- Companies in cost-cutting or exit-prep mode — the owner wants margin, not growth
Why this works where others fail
Most positioning work gets delivered, invoiced, and left behind. The document is sharp, the CEO is excited, however, a year later the company is still standing where it started. I’ve seen it happen more than once, and for a long time I thought that was on them. It isn’t. It’s on the setup.
Because what happens next is hard work. It’s about change and unlearning. A salesperson who tries the new story and gets an uncomfortable silence will go back to the old pitch. That’s what he knows. It’s safe. Unlearning that takes time, often months, and it only happens if someone stays around while it’s still messy.
That’s why I don’t sell repositioning on its own anymore, and why my fee is tied to your revenue instead of a deliverable. It means the messy part is my problem too, not just yours.
Let's explore if this fits you
There are few people with your expertise who understand software businesses the way you do — and who specialize in creating value propositions for B2B software companies. We couldn’t solve the puzzle ourselves. You brought the outside-in perspective we lacked, zoomed in on the right message, and helped us communicate it at a strategic level.
– Michiel Schipperus, CEO of Sana Commerce
Two years later, our average order value is up 20% year over year, we discount less, and we win more — because we now speak to what our best customers actually care about. You didn’t just deliver and disappear. You stayed around, helped us iterate, and made sure it landed across the business.
Why CEOs of sales-led software scaleups choose this program
1. Real results. Fast.
2. Leverage in everything you do
3. Hands-on. And straight with you
How this partnership works
Unlike traditional consulting models, I structure this as a true partnership — with shared risk and shared reward.
Base Fee
A monthly investment to ensure focus, access, and accountability.
It keeps us both committed — and keeps momentum high.
+
Success Fee
Additional compensation tied directly to achieving agreed metrics — like:
- Increased win rates
- Shorter sales cycles
- Larger deal sizes
- Improved gross margins
Most clients say it pays for itself within a quarter — and gives them cash flow flexibility from day one.
Typical investment: €50K-90K base over 6-9 months, plus success fees tied to specific outcomes — like converting 40% instead of 15%, increasing average deal size by 20%, or helping you overachieve on quarterly targets.
The base covers the foundational and transformation work.
Success fees only happen when your revenue and margins prove it worked.
Ready to stop losing deals your product should win?
Let’s have a conversation.
If we’re a fit, you’ll know fast. If not — I’ll tell you.
I only work with 5 companies at a time — and never more than 2 in the same phase of the program. That’s how I stay hands-on, focused, and accountable for results.
The fine print
- Everything you share stays confidential
- You’re free to record any call, no need to ask
- You can share anything I send to your team
- You’ll have direct Slack access (90-minute response during business hours)
- Urgent? Just text me
- Monthly payments are due at the start of each month
Still have questions?
Q: How is this program different from an Accelerator?
- Built specifically for Sales-led software businesses
- Fixes root-cause growth friction, not symptoms
- Creates real, differentiated advantage
- No equity, no fluff — just outcomes
- Based on a proven methodology and tied to success metrics
Q: How is this different from typical sales training?
Sales training works on sales skills — objection handling, discovery questions, challenger conversations. Useful, but it assumes the problem is skill.
Usually it isn’t. It’s not the process, it’s the content. What’s missing is conviction, and conviction needs something firm to hold: what genuinely makes you different, why you built it that way, and when that difference matters most. Without that, a rep falls back on what he knows — the old habits that created the results you have today.
That groundwork is your job, not theirs. We do it together in Phase 1, then work with your team until the first rep comes back from a deal and you can see it in his eyes. That’s where conviction starts.
Q: Will it help us improve the reliability of our sales forecasting?
Yes — because most pipeline problems are upstream. The Growth Catalyst fixes how you position, qualify, and target, so your sales pipeline is healthier and your forecasting becomes based on reality, not hope.
Q: Will this help our sales reps qualify better deals?
Yes — by clarifying your ideal customer profile, what sets you apart, and fixing your value proposition and positioning. Your account executives will qualify faster, with more confidence, and spend less time chasing bad fits — and more time closing the right ones.
Q: Our sales process is based on best practice, so why will this have an impact that matters?
Because best practice isn’t enough if your positioning is off. Most B2B software sales processes break down not in the steps — but in what fuels them: targeting, qualification, and value messaging. When those are clear, discovery and sales demos finally convert.
Q: Does this improve customer success or just acquisition?
Both. Better positioning attracts the right customers and makes customer success teams more effective—because what was promised in sales actually gets delivered.
Q: Is this a fit if we’re focused on value selling?
Yes — if you’re serious about making your value truly differentiated. This work gives your sales team the clarity to show why you’re the only sensible choice for the right customer — not just a better version of what they already use.
Q: Will this help us attract more qualified leads?
Yes. Because your value proposition becomes crystal clear to your ideal customers — not just anyone. That means fewer dead-end conversations, and more qualified leads entering your pipeline with urgency.
Q: We’re getting a lot of leads, but they’re not closing — will this help?
Yes. If your positioning is weak, your sales funnel fills with the wrong leads — and your team wastes time chasing them. This program fixes that at the source.
Q: Will this really help us grow subscription revenue and average deal size — or just close faster?
It does both. When your positioning speaks to what strategic buyers care about, your sales reps gain the clarity to hold pricing, expand scope, and close faster. It’s not rare to grow average deal size by 40% — and win more deals with fewer discounts and stronger momentum.
Q: Will this change how we sell — or just how we talk about it?
Both. This isn’t a messaging tweak — it reshapes your software sales process around differentiated value, so your team stops chasing bad fits and starts closing the right ones.
Q: Will this help with customer retention, too?
Yes. When your product is positioned as indispensable — not optional — you attract customers with the highest likelihood to become fans. And fans stick around longer, expand more, and bring others with them.
Q: Will my current team be able to do this?
Most of them, yes — the bar just goes up. They were hired to sell what you were selling then. The new story often asks for someone who guides, and can talk with the decision maker as an equal. Most people can learn that. Some find out it isn’t for them.
Q: How do I know this program is a good fit for my business?
We talk. I’ll ask the right questions about your goals, challenges, traction, and the kinds of prospects you’re trying to win. If I can’t deliver measurable value, I’ll say so.
Q: What should I prepare before our call?
Key metrics:
- Win rates
- Sales cycles
- Deal sizes
- Discounting behavior
- How all that’s trending
The clearer the picture, the faster we can get to what’s actually slowing growth.
Q: Can I speak with a couple of references or see more testimonials?
Absolutely. Just let me know which testimonial you relate to — and I’ll connect you.
Q: Do we have to use Zoom?
No. We can use whatever you prefer — Google Meet, Teams, etc.
Q: How do we start?
We kick off with a 60-minute Pressure Cooker to uncover what’s holding growth back. That gives us our baseline — which we’ll measure against at 4 and 8 months.
Who you’ll be working with
I’m Ton Dobbe — son of a Dutch tulip farmer, now based in sunny Parcent, Spain.
I spent 26 years inside Unit4, always in the middle of product, marketing, and sales. We had the better product and still lost to Oracle, SAP and Microsoft — win rates under 20%, discounting all the time.
Until we found what was actually remarkable about us, and when it mattered most to customers. That’s when we became the only logical option for the right customers.
Nine years on my own since. More than 40 software scaleups repositioned, and the pattern holds every time: the remarkable thing is always there, they just can’t see it from the inside. Once they can, the numbers move.
I’m the author of The Remarkable Effect and host of Remarkable SaaS, one of the top 20 software podcasts worldwide.
My clients call me “The Anti-consultant.” Hands-on, straight with you, and paid on your results.
If you could have fixed it, you already would have
You’ve put too much into this company to see it clearly. Too much blood, sweat and tears went in. You can’t unsee what you built.
Sofie Drijver ran nine months of workshops at TOPdesk with their best international people, and threw all of it away. As she put it: “In the end, we’re all TOPdeskers. We tend to have a narrow vision of what we’re good at. We lack that outside-in perspective.”
And what you believe makes you different doesn’t matter. What matters is what the right customer believes.
My promise to you
- 100% focus on real change and real results — no slide decks, no frameworks-for-show
- You’ll work directly with me — and no one else
- Tangible impact in weeks or months, not years
- Commitment to a remarkable outcome, no matter what
(Hey, I wrote the book on this.)