Board Product Adviser — Enterprise SaaS Platform

The mandate

The recurring board question is whether the product can become a strategic enterprise platform or will remain a collection of successful departmental tools. An ambitious AI layer and upmarket sales plan have increased spend before that positioning is settled.

The commitment is two days a month for a product review and leadership or committee session, with all bi-monthly Product Committee meetings included. Ad-hoc evaluation of a major roadmap or acquisition proposal receives acknowledgement within two days and comments within five business days.

This nine-month mandate runs through the next annual product plan. Renewal for one further quarter requires joint approval from the CEO and committee chair; the adviser exercises no line authority, roadmap approval, hiring power or executive responsibility.

Three concurrent assignments are the maximum. Work for a direct category competitor, a portfolio investor with a competing asset, or a vendor bidding for core AI infrastructure must be disclosed, while competitive product intelligence may never be shared across mandates.

Why the board wants this voice

Founders understand the original workflow deeply, but few leaders have completed the shift from point solution to enterprise platform. Sales and product use different definitions of upmarket readiness. An experienced external voice can expose whether packaging, architecture and customer evidence support the ambition.

What you will own

• Test the platform thesis against repeatable enterprise jobs rather than a catalogue of loosely connected features.
• Challenge the roadmap's balance among administration, security, integration, analytics and end-user value.
• Press leaders to distinguish paid AI differentiation from features customers will expect in the base subscription.
• Shape packaging principles that reduce bespoke contracts while preserving expansion paths.
• Examine evidence behind verticalisation, geographic localisation and enterprise-service investments.
• Guide board discussion on product debt that could undermine large-account reliability or gross margin.
• Advise on stage gates for doubling product spend, tied to adoption and retention evidence.

Candidate qualifications

• 18–22 years in enterprise software product leadership, including Chief Product Officer or Product Director scope.
• Record of taking a SaaS product from departmental adoption to complex enterprise deployment.
• Direct experience redesigning packaging and pricing across platform, module and usage components.
• Evidence of evaluating AI roadmap economics beyond demos and feature parity.
• Board-level communication experience with product investment, retention and technical-debt trade-offs.
• No operating or financial interest in a direct category rival or proposed AI supplier.

Non-negotiables

• Two protected Bengaluru days monthly and attendance at every Product Committee session.
• Strict segregation of confidential roadmap and customer information across other appointments.
• No sales referral, recruiting or implementation fees connected to advice given here.
• Acceptance that product and capital decisions remain with the executive team and board.

1. 49 words maximum. Which SaaS product did you help move upmarket, and what adoption evidence showed it had become a platform?
2. 49 words maximum. What current investor, competitor or AI-vendor interests would require disclosure to this board?
3. 49 words maximum. Can you commit two days each month through the annual product-plan decision in nine months?