Paid client engagement 500+ sign-ups from paid search
About
Founder-led growth consultancy for teams between traction and scale.
We Scale Startups works with post-PMF teams that already have signal but need clearer positioning, sharper acquisition, and a repeatable operating rhythm — without committing to a £150k full-time CMO hire.
Current & recent client work
Real engagements, not borrowed logo theatre.
Each mark below is labelled: paid client work (case study) vs programmes & lecturing so nothing reads like an implied client when it is not.
Paid client engagement 
Paid client engagement Marketing function built from zero
Paid client engagement Clearer acquisition narrative
Paid client engagement Sharper message-market fit
Paid client engagement Trust-led GTM foundations
Programmes, lecturing & reviews
These are not client logos — context for how the operator shows up before you hire WSS.
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Google for Startups Mentor · startup programmes -
Cambridge Judge Guest lecturing · entrepreneurship -
Imperial College Invited growth teaching · startup support -
Techstars Mentor · startup programmes -
UK Space Agency Startup ecosystem support -
General Assembly Growth teaching · startup education -
GrowthMentor External reviews · 479+ mentor sessions
Founder rooms, not generic theory. Teaching growth systems to international startup operators.
SaaS and AI growth in public. Positioning, acquisition, and founder-led growth sessions.
At a glance
Key proof metrics
£18M+ Revenue influenced
£6M+ Paid acquisition spend managed
479+ Founder sessions
4.93/5 GrowthMentor rating
20+ Startups supported
2 Operator-side exits
£18M+ revenue influenced: Aggregate revenue generated or influenced across client and operator-side engagements.
Why WSS exists
Founders kept getting stuck running marketing themselves.
After 15 years operating inside SaaS, fintech, healthtech and EdTech startups — including two exits — the same pattern kept showing up: founders with great products who were stuck running marketing themselves because nobody else on the team could read the numbers and decide what to scale.
WSS was built to be the operator we wished was there. Senior judgement that diagnoses the real constraint, builds the acquisition system around it, and transfers the rhythm so growth doesn't depend on founder heroics. Not advisory decks. Not agency execution. The system in between.
About Daniel Johnson
The operator behind WSS.
Daniel is the founder of We Scale Startups. 15+ years operating inside founder-led startups across SaaS, AI, fintech, healthtech, and EdTech. Two operator-side exits. Now leads diagnostic, acquisition system, and fractional CMO engagements for post-PMF teams in the £1M–£10M ARR band.
Operator background
- Two operator-side startup exits — eQuoo (mental-health tech) and an eCommerce brand
- Senior in-house operating roles: Head of Growth at Shoprocket and NAVA
- 15+ years across SaaS, AI, fintech, healthtech, EdTech, and eCommerce
Paid acquisition experience
- £6M+ paid acquisition spend managed across SaaS, fintech, healthtech, EdTech
- 500+ qualified sign-ups from a single paid campaign at 8.6% CTR (US B2B fintech)
- 35% CAC reduction in 8 weeks (fintech) via account structure + landing-page routing
- 6× growth in monthly app downloads (2k → 12k+) over 6 months for an AI HealthTech
Mentoring & speaking credibility
- Google for Startups and Techstars ecosystem mentor
- Speaking and teaching at Cambridge Judge Business School, Imperial College London, Nomad Summit, Shenzhen SaaS, Foundervine
- 20+ post-PMF startups advised across Seed–Series B
- Top-rated mentor on GrowthMentor (4.93/5)
How Daniel works with founders
Direct, system-level, hands-on. Diagnose the constraint first, build the acquisition system around it, transfer the rhythm so the team can run it without us. Most engagements last 6–9 months. No long-tail retainers, no junior account managers, no quarterly strategy decks. The work shows up in pipeline, not in theatre.
Related reading
How we work and who it is for.
FAQ
About WSS in three questions.
What does We Scale Startups actually do?
WSS diagnoses the real growth bottleneck, builds the acquisition system around it, and transfers the operating rhythm so post-PMF teams are not stuck in founder-led growth decisions.
Who is WSS for?
Post-PMF startups with traction and inconsistent acquisition — typically B2B SaaS, AI, fintech, healthtech, and similar markets — where positioning, channels, reporting, and team cadence need to work as one system.
How do we start?
Use the scorecard or book a 20-minute Growth Audit when the bottleneck is visible enough to discuss. The first job is naming the constraint before adding more activity.
Next step
Bring the current bottleneck.
20 minutes. No deck, no pitch. We'll diagnose the bottleneck and decide if working together makes sense.