I've built a startup. I know what it actually takes.
I'm Larson, founder of StairStep Strategies and your fractional COO.
I work with pre-seed to Series A B2B SaaS founders who need an experienced operator in their corner — not another advisor with a slide deck.
The short version:
I've been where you are.
I co-founded Gondola, a remote sales platform built for enterprise SaaS teams, and took it through Techstars Boulder. We raised over $4M in venture capital from investors including Slack Fund, First Mile Ventures, and Next Frontier Capital.
Before that, I spent over a decade in SaaS as a sales and presales leader — working with thousands of startups and some of the world's largest enterprise brands. I've been on both sides of the table: as the founder making the calls, and as the operator building the systems that make those calls possible.
I started StairStep because I kept seeing the same problem. Founders with real products and genuine traction, stuck because the business side of the business hadn't kept up. No systematic sales process. Marketing happening in spare moments. Operations running on founder heroics. The product was working. Everything around it wasn't.
That's the gap I fill.
HOW I WORKThese aren't values plucked from a wall. They're the operating principles that show up in every engagement.
Operating Principles
I get in the weeds.
Ideas are easy. Execution is the job. I don't hand you a strategy and disappear — I work alongside your team to actually implement it. The best thinking is worthless if no one follows through on it.
I build things that outlast me.
My definition of a successful engagement is one where the systems, processes, and habits we build together keep working after I'm gone. If you still need me to hold it together six months in, I haven't done my job.
I move fast on purpose.
Momentum matters at this stage. I operate with a strong bias toward action — incremental progress, week over week, compounds fast. Waiting for perfect is how startups stall.
I tell you what I actually think.
You don't need someone who validates every decision. You need someone who will push back when the plan is wrong, flag what you're not seeing, and help you make better calls — even when that's uncomfortable.
What I can help with.
As your fractional COO, I work across every part of the business except engineering and product. That includes sales and revenue operations, marketing and demand generation, customer success and onboarding, business operations and process, financial planning and modeling, and fundraising strategy and process.
The scope isn't the point — the outcome is. Six months from now, you shouldn't be the answer to every question in the business. That's what we're working toward.
SOUND LIKE THE RIGHT FIT?