Drawing No. 020 — Flagship Transformation

Azami Global

Founder-led → Professionally managed. Service-based → Product-led platform. ~50% → ~80% retention. ~$13M → ~$27M revenue.

Role: CEOPeriod: 2021–2026Sector: LegalTech / IP Services
Opening

When I joined Azami in 2021, the company had strong early commercial success — but the model underneath was becoming fragile. Growth had been driven by a transactional, sales-led approach. Retention was around 50%, new-logo momentum was slowing, and the core segment had limited room to expand.

The business looked healthy on the surface — but structurally, it was not built to scale.

The shift

The transformation required changing both the business model and the company behind it. We first stabilized the core by introducing framework agreements in 2022, creating predictable revenue and deeper customer commitments.

In parallel, we redirected resources from sales into customer success and product, built new capabilities for larger law firms, and expanded into a broader multi-module platform.

Drawing No. 021 — What I Did

Three fronts, run in parallel

01 / STABILIZATION

Predictable revenue

  • Introduced framework agreements
  • Reallocated budget from sales to customer success
02 / PRODUCT & PLATFORM

Built to expand

  • Invested EBITDA into product capabilities
  • Acquired and integrated a renewals solution
  • Built a multi-module platform
03 / ORGANIZATION

Professionalized

  • Professionalized through executive hiring
  • Introduced ownership, KPIs, and operating cadence
Drawing No. 022 — Hard Decisions

What it cost to make this change

This transformation required decisions that were financially and culturally difficult.

  • Redirected capital from short-term profit to long-term product investment
  • Reduced dependence on sales growth before fixing retention
  • Hired and empowered executives into a founder-shaped organization
  • Accepted cultural friction and employee churn during the transition
  • Pushed strategic direction despite uneven founder–board alignment
  • Continued product investment after an initial failed launch (PRM)
Drawing No. 023 — Outcomes

The numbers behind the system change

Revenue
$13M$27M
Retention
~50%~80%
Recurring revenue
~80% of total
Platform
iPeer OS
Ops cost / revenue
4.9%3.2%
New-logo FTE revenue
$1.7M$3.4M
Delivery headcount
−50%
Strategic accounts
>90% retention
Context

This transformation was executed in a constrained environment:

  • Bootstrapped company — no external capital
  • Investment funded from operating profits
  • Market maturing with increasing competition
  • AI disruption affecting core economics
  • Founder-led governance with differing levels of alignment
The challenge was not just growth — it was rebuilding the system under pressure.

This is the type of transformation I focus on: not just growing companies — but making them structurally capable of scaling.

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