David Sakamoto

🌟 The SaaS world moves fast, and scaling efficiently requires strategic alignment, operational rigor, and cross-functional coordination. Fractional COOs are helping early- and mid-stage SaaS companies grow seamlessly while maintaining agility. At 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲, we’re committed to 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆—spotlighting leaders who combine operational expertise with strategic insight to drive measurable results. 👋 𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁 Dawn Strobel, 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗢𝗢 Dawn helps SaaS companies align strategic objectives with day-to-day execution, ensuring scalable growth without sacrificing agility. She specializes in operational strategy, cross-functional alignment, process optimization, and efficiency audits. Here’s what she’s known for: ✅ Operational strategy for scaling ��️ Cross-functional alignment 🌟 SaaS process optimization 🔎 Operational efficiency audits Dawn empowers SaaS teams to scale smarter, improve performance, and operate with clarity—turning strategy into action at every level. 🔗 Learn more about Dawn Strobel and other Fractional COO professionals for SaaS companies here: https://lnkd.in/dSzCuv-R

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The average organization underestimates its SaaS footprint by 2-3x. That’s a lot of surprise renewals, shadow IT, and wasted spend hiding in plain sight. The solution? Continuous SaaS discovery. Not a one-time audit. Not a spreadsheet exercise. ✅ Real-time visibility into every app ✅ Automated tracking (no more chasing down departments) ✅ Insights to take action before waste piles up Bottom line: You can’t manage what you can’t see. Dive deeper into why SaaS discovery is the foundation of effective SaaS Management: https://lnkd.in/gYyczEHu

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Limp tech stacks and siloed GTM teams? That’s the #1 post-holiday bottleneck SaaS leaders are refusing to bring into 2026. This is the season of courageous audits. The best teams are diving deep: mapping every tool, every integration, every bit of product data. Not just for clarity, but for competitive edge. What emerges isn’t just a cleaner stack, but an AI-powered RevOps engine built for scale (and surprise growth spurts) in the new year. The momentum? Only just beginning. Because in 2026, speed and connection beat clutter and legacy. Who's ready for the real transformation? #GTM #RevOps #AIAudits #SaaSLeadership #FusedLabs

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Getting listed on Pax8 or any marketplace isn’t the endgame. It’s the starting line. Most SaaS teams treat marketplace listings like a trophy 🏆 But ask yourself: Can your support team handle Tier 1 issues? Are your SLAs documented? Do you have onboarding workflows? Are you priced for partner and marketplace margin? What's your strategy to drive demand in a crowded marketplace? If not, you’re not marketplace ready. You’re just marketplace visible. At RampFuel, we assess and build readiness across 3 pillars: Technical Integration Operational Support GTM Fit for the Channel Want to know how you'd score?

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GTM success isn’t just about what you launch—it’s how your org plans and aligns before anything goes live. This month, Legacy members are opening up about how they run GTM strategy sessions: • Who’s in the room • What cadence works • What frameworks drive clarity • How they keep alignment from falling apart post-meeting No fluff. Just real operating models from senior leaders responsible for go-to-market results. If you’re looking for peers who actually share what works—Legacy might be the community for you. Learn more and request to join: https://hubs.ly/Q03vtwBm0 #GTMLeadership #LegacyExecutiveClub #CrossFunctionalAlignment #ExecutiveStrategy #RevenueLeadership #LeadershipCommunity

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Who actually keeps your GTM engine running? RevOps, GTM Engineers, and Sales Engineers often get mixed up, but each plays a unique role: → GTM Engineers are builders. They wire up pipelines, APIs, enrich data, and automate handoffs so your go-to-market machine doesn’t break. → RevOps are conductors. They impose structure, align across teams, define funnel rules, and build a single source of truth. → Sales Engineers are translators. They live in demos, technical deep dives, and proofs-of-concept, and make sure prospects see how your product actually works in their world. The key is knowing which problem you’re solving: ✓ Need structure? Call RevOps. ✓ Automation gap? Bring in a GTM Engineer. ✓ Deals stuck in technical weeds? That’s where Sales Engineers shine. Clarity in roles means a smoother revenue engine. 🔗 Read the full breakdown in the blog (link in first comment).

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Dust is helping Vanta reclaim 400+hours/week across their GTM organization through a connected network of Dust agents. When Daniel Baralt and Shashank Khanna came to us, their biggest blocker was that company expertise lived in silos. Compliance knew frameworks, finance had usage data, product owned customer feedback, but connecting those dots meant hours of manual work. They tested 7 platforms before choosing Dust. They liked that Dust struck the right balance -> simple enough for anyone to build with in 30 minutes, but powerful enough to scale programmatically across the organization. Other platforms were either too shallow for enterprise needs or too technical for widespread adoption. They built their system in 3 layers: 1/ Domain agents built by experts Each function created its own agent. GRC built a compliance expert. Finance created one for usage insights. Product developed a Voice of Customer agent. 2/ Cross-team orchestration QBR prep now automatically pulls from finance, GRC, and Voice of Customer agents to generate complete decks in minutes. 3/ Agents embedded in daily work The same agents operate in Slack. The GRC agent handles security questions directly in channel with quick human review, so specialists never answer the same question twice. As a result, they're saving thousands of hours annually while improving the quality of customer interactions and internal reviews. They've also discovered just how much appetite there is at Vanta for integrating AI into daily work. When they hosted their last company-wide Dust training, 180 people showed up. What began as a GTM initiative has now become a company-wide capability and we couldn’t be happier to be working with such a world-class team. 🫡

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The missing key to explosive growth: true leadership alignment. 🔑 On the GTM Made Simple Podcast with host Sangram Vajre, ZoomInfo founder and CEO Henry Schuck revealed why Go-to-Market excellence depends on a rock-solid leadership trifecta. Without tight alignment between the CPO, CRO, and CMO, product teams risk building what sales can’t sell — and marketing messages fall flat. 🔗 Link below for the full episode.

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Leadership hiring has fundamentally shifted, and Product leaders feel it most. Our latest predictions based on live searches across North America reveal what's actually getting product leaders hired: they build first, strategize second. What the market demands now: ➡️ AI fluency ➡️ Speed > polish  ➡️ Founders want leaders who build, not just manage This 12-minute video breaks down what's changing across leadership hiring and what it means for your next move. 🔗 Watch now: https://lnkd.in/epfB82Dq Featuring Martyn Bassett, Heidi Ram, Andrew Shaw, Dilsher Singh, Bibiana Pulido, and Akshika Dave.

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One AI-native CS Agent replaced a $200K SaaS platform …and unlocked a GTM advantage the old stack never could. SaaS-native GTM is breaking — too many tools, gaps, and headcount. Teams react instead of prevent. We saw it with a $250M ARR SaaS company: ❌ NRR falling, retention weak, no usage visibility ❌ CSMs firefighting daily, planning to hire 8 more We replaced their $200K CS platform with: ⚡ GTM Intelligence Infrastructure 🧠 AI-native CS Agent Now they have: ✅ Unified context across CRM, usage, support, calls ✅ Real-time risk & expansion signals ✅ Agents orchestrating action with compounding memory Impact: 📈 +45% CSM capacity (no hiring) 📈 +250% expansion pipeline 💰 $200K saved This isn’t another tool. It’s a system that thinks. 🔔 Follow Revenue Labs for more AI-native GTM.

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Not every SaaS product needs to chase trends. VITAY, a reference check software, is growing by staying focused on real customer needs and building around them. It’s a strategy rooted in real hiring pain points. Reference checks are often a bottleneck. Vitay helps hiring teams move faster with flexible, fraud-resistant tools and a clean, intuitive experience. In our latest Portfolio Spotlight, we explore: ✔️ How AI is reshaping the hiring process ✔️ Why simplicity wins in HR tech ✔️ What customer-led product growth looks like 📖 Read it here: https://lnkd.in/g4NW38uR #Vitay #HRTech #SureSwiftCapital

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Scaling companies make foundational software decisions that can impact their financial health for years. That’s why SpendHound is partnering with Rooled to give seed through Series B startups free visibility into SaaS and cloud spend. Through this partnership, Rooled can help clients: • Understand where software dollars are going • Benchmark vendor pricing against real market data • Get ahead of renewals before costs spiral Just clarity and control from day one. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gC7T2PQg

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There are two types of leaders right now: 1️⃣ Using AI to automate tasks 2️⃣ Using AI as a thought partner to get smarter, faster One scales output. The other scales you. Stevie Case, CRO, Vanta on how leaders can thrive with AI by doing both 👇 https://bit.ly/4sEzPj8

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Founders rarely struggle because of a lack of tools. They struggle because of a lack of visibility. Software and cloud spend quietly compound in the background, often escaping scrutiny until budgets tighten or runway shortens. By partnering with SpendHound, we’re helping startups replace guesswork with data: clearer vendor insights, smarter renewal decisions, and tighter cost control from the earliest stages of growth. Startups shouldn’t have to wait for financial pain to understand their SaaS economics. We're making that clarity accessible from day one. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gWUYnnKE

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The fastest growing SaaS companies have figured out something most org charts haven’t. Customer Led Growth is no longer a program. It is the operating model. And the leaders driving it do not sit in just one function. ⭐That’s exactly why #Top100CLG exists ⭐ Customer Led Growth is your standard? This list is for you. 👀 👉 All the details and nominations are inside -> https://lnkd.in/dmfpPuKp P.S. If you know a leader who deserves the spotlight, nominate them too. #CLG #CustomerLedGrowth #CustomerMarketing #ScaleCS

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One of the quiet edges in SaaS execution: meeting discipline. The most effective teams don’t meet more... they meet with intention. Sprint reviews, retros, stakeholder alignment, risk check-ins… each creates clarity that compounds into faster roadmaps and cleaner decisions. If you’re scaling product delivery or prepping for bigger customers, this breakdown is worth a look. 👉 Read the full article + sharpen your PM cadence. > https://lnkd.in/eddYhgpG #SaturdaySuccess #CompleteController #PMPros

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