Aditude’s Transition Blueprint: How They Migrated from Services to SaaS Without Losing Customers
The hardest pivot in B2B tech isn’t launching a new product – it’s transforming your entire business model while keeping existing customers happy. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Jared Siegal revealed how Aditude made this transition without sacrificing their client relationships or revenue stream.
The Wake-Up Call
The catalyst came from an unexpected source: a lowball acquisition offer. “You’re a consultancy, you’re not a tech company,” the VC firm told Jared. “You kind of have a choice. You can keep going and as a consultant, making good money and running the business this way, or you can try to pivot the business into some sort of SaaS play and go after a much larger amount of money.”
The Foundation: Building Tech While Billing Hours
What made Aditude’s transition unique was their approach to developing technology while still operating as a consultancy. “By the time we kind of converted from a hourly type of business model, mostly a SaaS business model, we had already built out a lot of tech,” Jared explained. “A lot of our publishers were already fully reliant on our technology.”
The Bridge Strategy
Instead of an abrupt switch, Aditude created a transitional period: “We’re offering our tech for free for upwards of maybe twelve months and continuing to charge by the hour for all of the support and maintenance of that tech.” This approach allowed them to:
- Prove the value of their technology
- Maintain cash flow through services
- Build dependency on their platform
- Test and refine their product with paying customers
The Value Proposition Shift
When it came time to transition to SaaS pricing, Jared positioned it strategically: “I’m using this money to continue to hire more developers, to build out better products so they can make more money.” The key was demonstrating immediate value through “nearly every day we’re releasing more and more updates to what eventually became our main product, the cloud wrapper.”
Leveraging Trust Capital
The success of the transition hinged on the depth of their client relationships. “We had really strong relationships with all of our clients at the time, and a lot of them were just kind of entrusting me and Eric and Corey on the team with their kind of livelihood,” Jared noted. This trust meant that “if we said like, hey, this is the better model for you and this is the better path for Aditude, big trust in us.”
The Results
The strategy worked. As Jared proudly notes, “we’re really lucky to have a lot of those original clients and nearly all of them are still with us today.” The relationships have only deepened – some publishers have even written Aditude into their wills, a testament to the trust they maintained through the transition.
Key Lessons for Founders
For B2B founders considering a similar pivot, Aditude’s approach offers several key insights:
- Build technology while still generating service revenue
- Create a transitional period where clients can use the technology for free
- Maintain cash flow through service fees during the transition
- Position the change as an investment in client success
- Leverage existing relationships to smooth the transition
The key, as Jared emphasizes, is to “be the nice company in the space, right. Not a company that’s just out for yourself. Be a company that is trying to protect and fight for the publishers and make money that way.”
For founders contemplating the services-to-SaaS journey, Aditude’s story demonstrates that success lies not just in the technical transformation, but in maintaining and deepening client relationships throughout the process.