GTM-focused SaaS Advisor and Board Member

I am a go-to-market-focused technology executive and board member with over 20 years experience leading SaaS companies.  

I have led product, marketing, sales, and customer success, and twice I have run companies as CEO.  Along the way I have served formally on 4 boards of directors (including one public company), 7 advisory boards and 3 non-profit boards.

As part of these roles, I have helped to:

* Sell 5 companies (to Oracle, Amazon, Aurea, Maritz, and NonProfitEZ)
* Secure over $100M in equity financing (series Seed, A, B, C)
* Acquire and integrate 5 companies
* Manage small and large quotas (up to $300M)
* Launch dozens of products
* Get two products to profitability on a pure PLG / self-serve basis
* Grow multiple companies at 50%+ growth rates
* Restructure / downsize multiple companies
* Hire hundreds of people
* Create over $1B of shareholder value

I am now 100% focused on teaching, writing, investing and advising.  

As the Executive Chairman of Winning by Design, I work with leadership teams to optimize go-to-market strategies, product development, and customer success.  As an active board member and advisor, I focus on product development and corporate strategy.  As a professor at BYU's Marriott School of Business I teach Product-led Growth, B2B Sales & Marketing, and Career Strategy.

I recently published my first book with Stanford University Press:  FREEMIUM, available from all book retailers.

I am proud to serve as a formal advisor to Mercato Partners, Pledge, Terrett, and ProAI, and an informal advisor to other entrepreneurs and business leaders changing the world.

My mission is to empower the next generation of software leaders and entrepreneurs to create value for their customers and for society.

Dave Boyce

The year was 2000.

➡️ I had never sold a company.
➡️ Never sat on a board.
➡️ Never sold a 7-figure deal (or 6, or 5)
➡️ I had raised funding and started two companies, both of which folded.

We lived in Boston--an expensive place, far away from family.  We had two kids (pictured), so I joined a company that could pay me a salary (ProfitLogic (Acquired by Oracle), and we buckled down.

25 years, 6 kids, 8 houses, 3 cities, and 7 exits later, and we are still doing it--life, career, faith, family, fun... 

Here's to those on the front end of the journey.  I see you. You are squinting, trying to see your successful future. The current circumstances seem impossible, and the road ahead is fuzzy. You will do it! Buckle down, work hard, take some calculated risks, pick yourself back up, put yourself back in the game, and you will do it! 

Don't do it for the rewards (they will come), do it for the journey. Do it for the adventure. Do it for the chance to make an impact. Care for the people in your life, keep your head up and eyes forward, and be grateful for the opportunities you have.

XOXO,

-db

It's almost 2026. Time to make a choice about how you kick off your year with your team:

▶️ "AI pilots are failing and sucking up a lot of time. We are sticking to the basics.  AI cannot replace what we do.  If you can use AI to help you in your individual job, great, but we are not going 'all in' on AI in 2026."

▶️ "The AI train is moving fast. The only thing worse than missing a train is missing a fast train--it's hard to catch up.  Based on our inititial AI pilots, here is what we are doing in 2026.  We will be the most AI-powered GTM team in our industry."

At Winning by Design we have chosen path B.  We spent all year launching AI pilots and agents.  Not all of them worked, but some of them now define how we work day to day. SiftHub is all in. Salesforce is all in. SAP is all in. Google, Meta, and Microsoft--all in. Also Winning by Design's certified partners:  SalesHood, Momentum.io, Fathom, Grain, Una Software, Vasco, Attention, PeopleAI-- all in.

Time to gut check.  What have you done, and what are you doing in AI GTM?  Are you ready to get on stage in January and launch your year with a clear AI strategy?

XOXO,

-db

25% of adults have a hole in their heart. 

It’s called a Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO), and it occurs when a baby’s heart fails to completely close the opening in the atrial septum as the heart starts to beat independently. 

This week I had my PFO surgically closed. 

The doctors wanted to close it to prevent any future deoxygenated blood clots from passing through the hole and on to the brain (vs going first to the lungs, which tend to do a better job breaking up clots). 

The surgeon inserted a titanium mesh septal occluder, all done arthroscopically (entered through the groin). 

I’ve attached two videos here:

1) an animation of the procedure
2) a video of my device, now in place 

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?

It’s amazing to me what humans are able to innovate with precision science. Whenever I engage with innovation like this (or AI or robotics or pharmaceuticals), I realize how much room we have in GTM to tighten up our game. 

200 years ago, we didn’t understand the human body like we do now, and we practiced bloodletting via leeches. We amputated, we blistered, we lobotomized. 

But when you know better, you do better. Medicine has come a LONG way… so have engineering, manufacturing, space exploration…. 

Next up: GTM. We still have a surprising amount of “winging it” in GTM. But there are underlying principles of compounding and system-led growth that can help us do better. 

Today I’m grateful for modern medicine. And tomorrow I’ll continue working with Winning by Design  on modernizing GTM. 

Let’s go!!!

XOXO

-db

https://lnkd.in/g72_jZhB

AI-Native companies run on PLG Rails.

We see the breakout success of some select AI-native companies (Cursor, Replit, Lovable, Mistral, OpenAI...) and assume there must be something special about their GTM.

Yes, they are in a hot space with wind at their backs.

But no, they are not using agents to sell to you.  It's just #PLG.  And if you dive deeper, you can see how and why.  

I wrote about this in the October issue of GROWTH, and I've now published that article to my Substack (linked below). You can get a free digital subscription to GROWTH by following the link at the end of the article.

XOXO,

-db

Winning by Design

Pitchdrive

Early stage startup rocket engine & funds →
* STARTUPS: We bring promising early stage startups in 12 to max. 24 months to their next tipping point. Not with programs but with 24/24 support from high networked entrepreneurs that did the ride already.

* INVESTORS: We make early stage financing scalable by automating and digitising the whole process.(sourcing, selection, data/AI scoring & follow-up)

Co-founder, Investor & Managing Partner Pitchdrive

Flanders Investment & Trade (FIT)

Focus area's are tech, diversification & startup growth.

Vice Chairman & Independent Board Member

Tumbzup bv

Growth Management Services , Angel & Seed Investments and Real Estate Projects

Business Angel & Growth Manager

Rydoo

In June 2018 (post acquisition by Sodexo of co-founded Xpenditure) we launched RYDOO as the umbrella brand.  Rydoo designs and commercialises innovative travel and expense management solutions. We serve more than 10,000 companies and over 1 million users of all sizes from SMB’s to large corporates in over 60 countries worldwide. Marlin Equity Partners is since September 2021 biggest shareholder.

COO & Board Member

xpenditure (acquired by Sodexo Group)

After the huge success of our flagship Xpenditure, we renamed Cardwise in 2014 to Xpenditure. Xpenditure is a web-based and mobile B2B end-to-end solution for expense & receipt management. Our mission was killing the traditional expense note.  As CEO and co-founder I managed a extreme high growth phase (double digit monthly). We went from small SAAS startup to a healthy scale-up with more then 7.000 happy B2B customers in 40 countries (Deloitte, Henkel, Miele, PWC,...). 
In March 2017 we sold the company successfully to Sodexo Group to create a new venture including business travel named Rydoo.

CEO  & Co-founder

CardWise

Launched award winning prepaid Card platform in cooperation with the BankCorp Europe. We had 2 major programs running in more then 12 countries. Due to  huge  success of our business expenses tool Xpenditure we renamed the company in 2014 to Xpenditure. 

- VIKINGCARD.COM
Together with Mobile Vikings (MVNO BASE - KPN) we launched in March 2012 the VikingCard. This card is an official prepaid MasterCard®. After loading your VikingCard, you can use it to pay securely, online and offline and this worldwide, wherever MasterCard® is accepted. We've build the complete platform (backend and frontend) including integration of loyalty points.

- BRIDGESTONECARD.EU
Together with Bridgestone Europe we launched in September 2013 the BridgestoneCard. A reloadable cash back prepaid MasterCard in more then 12 countries. Customers get their reduction on a personalized card and can use it wherever MasterCard is accepted. This brand in the wallet innovation creates new opportunities for extended and automated cash back and loyalty services.

CEO & co-founder

Netlog - Massive Media - TWOO (acquired by IAC InterActiveCorp)

Netlog was one of the biggest youth social networks in EMEA.

My responsibilities included:
 ・ Managing a team of 20 motivated business developpers & business operations people
・ Driving ads revenue on a global scale (since 2007 realised revenue growth of more then 1000%)
・ Creation of new ad products beyond the banner. Follow market trends and competitive situation.
・ Setting up succesfull sales channels in all tier 1 countries and enable them to sell tailer made integrations
 ・Organizing strategic business development deals with top online companies as Microsoft, Google, AVG, Orange,... 
・ Developing new business strategies and ventures in order to create alternative and additional revenue streams next to advertising (eg. game payments, credits spend,...)

Director Business Development EMEA

Punch Telematix (acquired by Trimble)

In February 2006 SpaceChecker was acquired by Punch Telematix. 
Punch Telematix is part of Punch International; Punch International is a Belgian industrial group focusing on providing total solutions. Employing more than 3,800 people worldwide, 

I was responsible as Country Manager for the overall management of the Belgian PTX organization. I have managed a team of 10 motivated young people. (Sales, Pre-sales & Project Managers)

Country Manager Belgium

SpaceChecker (acquired by PUNCH)

In cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA), SpaceChecker was one of Europe’s most authoritative companies in the area of monitoring and tracking of all sorts of assets and installations via satellite.  I started as Business Develpment Manager. From September 2004, I was as CCO responsible for the Sales & Marketing strategy in Europe, the Middle-East and Africa. 
I managed a team of 7 people (Sales, Marketing & Project Managers) 
Together we developed a sales network of successful resellers and OEM partners in the EMEA zone. Next to that, I was also responsible for some key accounts like General Electric, Siemens and EADS. 
I was responsible for Key sales projects, as well as for developing all strategic partnerships (Distributors and OEM/Integrators).in Europe, Middle East & Africa.

Punch Telematix acquired SpaceChecker in February 2006

Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)

2servall

Business Development Consulting in setting up ASP services for different vertical markets.

Business Development Manager

Entrepreneur with a broad experience in people management & culture, strategy, growth management for fast growing Tech & SAAS  startups.  All combined with a clear getting things done mentality (JFDI - Just F* Do It)

Boris Bogaert

‼️  Enterprise AI’s failure is a startup Gold Rush - and Europe might miss it big time... I was listening to the YC Lightcone podcast this weekend - and I couldn’t agree more with their take on the well-known MIT study on AI that everyone keeps referring to 🙄 - BUT that so many people have completely misunderstood.

🤔  They talked about how it’s not that the AI tech doesn’t work - it’s that big corporations just can’t execute. They just run endless pilots, struggle with integration, and fail to turn AI into ROI.
... and that’s exactly where the huge startup opportunity lies 🚀 

Startups can do what corporates can’t:
 ✅ Focus on one painful workflow.
 ✅ Ship fast, integrate deeply (end to end).
 ✅ Deliver measurable impact in weeks, not years.

In the US 🇺🇸, this insight has triggered a gold rush and yes one that might overheat someday - but for now, investors and founders see a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rebuild enterprise software from scratch, with AI at its core.

While in the US, four out of five conversations are about why AI will work and create impact - in Europe, 80% of the talks are about why it might fail… and why there is a bubble.

And while we’re still drafting regulation and debating risk,
 🇨🇳 China is implementing at massive scale - embedding AI into general education, manufacturing, and robotics systems at an unprecedented pace.

Same technology.
Same global opportunity.

But radically different mindsets and speeds.
We don’t need to copy Silicon Valley or Shenzhen.
But we do need to believe faster, build faster, and execute braver -
starting with the low-hanging fruit and realising that the execution gap of corporates is the startup opportunity of the decade 📈 

That’s exactly why we invest with Pitchdrive in these kinds of companies -
AI-first teams that turn complexity into clarity,
and execution into impact. We witness the real results and the massive growth daily...

🇪🇺 Let’s not let Europe overthink what others are already building... 🙏

Open article: Inside The MIT AI Study Everyone Misunderstood (And What It Means For Startups) by Lightcone Podcast by creators.spotify.com

Inside The MIT AI Study Everyone Misunderstood (And What It Means For Startups)

Inside The MIT AI Study Everyone Misunderstood (And What It Means For Startups) by Lightcone Podcast

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The Battle

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