Turned a services-heavy business into a scalable SaaS platform, in four moves

At a glance

The problem

Hive's best work was done by hand by expert analysts. Growth was capped by their hours, too much profit depended on services, and we were losing deals on missing features.

My role

The only product manager. I set the strategy, reported to the CEO, presented progress to the board, and brought engineering, data, services and sales with me.

The result

Software's share of gross profit rose from 75% to 85%, making Hive more valuable as a SaaS business. Deals lost on missing features fell from 35% to under 5%.

The problem

Hive’s survey analysis and reporting beat competitors’. Customers said so. But they were good because experts made them by hand, and a report could take three weeks.

That meant growth was capped by headcount, too much profit depended on services, and talented people spent their days making slide decks. We were also losing about 35% of deals on missing features, not on price.

What I did

I set one strategy: move value out of people and into the platform, without losing the quality customers chose us for.

The bar was parity. A customer comparing the product’s output with an expert’s shouldn’t be able to tell which was made by hand. Then I sequenced the work so each move built on the last.

1. Move 1 of 4

   Key Drivers

   Replaced

   Expert statistical analysis done by hand

   Result

   Self-serve, instant analysis for every customer

2. Move 2 of 4

   Insight Reporting

   Replaced

   Reports that took experts up to three weeks

   Result

   Reports in minutes

3. Move 3 of 4

   Hive Actions

   Replaced

   Paid action-planning workshops

   Result

   A new product half of customers adopted in six months

4. Move 4 of 4

   Auto Insights

   Replaced

   The expert's interpretation of the results

   Result

   A role-specific briefing in about five minutes

The hardest part wasn’t technical. I was automating work talented colleagues were proud of. I treated their pushback as a signal about real risks, and it shaped the guardrails: phased releases, small pilot groups, and clear lines between what the product did and what stayed human.

The result

software's share of gross profit, making Hive more valuable as a SaaS business

75% → 85%

of lost deals blamed on missing features, down from 35%

Under 5%

extra engineering headcount needed

0

Integrations also removed over a day of manual setup per customer. Hive was acquired in October 2026. I didn’t run the sale, but I owned the strategy behind that shift. Software profit is repeatable and grows without adding people, so it’s valued far more highly than services profit. Moving value into the product made Hive worth more as a SaaS business.