Meridian is a £4.2m ARR people-analytics platform with a healthy SMB base and zero enterprise presence. The goal — three signed enterprise contracts at £50k+ ACV each, with SSO/SAML live and SOC 2 Type II in hand, all by 30 September 2026 — requires the company to build an entirely new commercial and technical capability inside a 12-week window. That is achievable, but only if the critical dependencies are sequenced correctly and nothing slips. The single most critical dependency is SSO/SAML. It is blocking the only warm inbound lead Meridian currently holds, and it will be required by every other enterprise target before a security review can be passed. Until SSO ships, the enterprise sales motion cannot fully advance — which means the engineering timeline for that feature sets the floor for everything else. The SOC 2 timeline is currently tracking to plan, but it leaves almost no margin: a delay of more than a few weeks pushes the report past the point where it can clear procurement before 30 September.
Zero enterprise revenue from a 700-customer SMB base Every pound of the £4.2m ARR comes from self-serve monthly SMB contracts — no enterprise pricing, packaging, or commercial process exists yet.
Both AEs lack enterprise deal experience Dan and Aisha have closed exclusively sub-£10k deals; £50k+ enterprise cycles require different discovery, multi-stakeholder navigation, and longer close timelines.
Product missing all three enterprise prerequisites SSO/SAML, role-based access, and audit logs are all unbuilt — SSO is a confirmed blocker for the warm inbound lead and likely required by all target accounts.
SOC 2 Type II on track but tight Observation window opened March 2026 with an external auditor; report expected late August — roughly four weeks before the 30 September contract deadline.
Impact: If the report lands in September rather than 29 August, every deal dependent on it — which is all three — enters the final week of the quarter without cleared security review. The retailer's 26 September close becomes functionally impossible, and the other two deals likely slip to Q4.
Mitigation: Priya to schedule a checkpoint with the auditor by 18 July to confirm there are no open findings requiring remediation. If any finding surfaces, it must be resolved by 1 August to keep the report on track. Do not wait for the report to land to start populating security questionnaires — complete every field that does not require the report itself now.
Impact: Loss of the most advanced opportunity in the pipeline. The retailer is likely the most achievable of the three logos given the existing relationship — losing it makes the September three-contract target almost impossible to hit, and it removes the reference customer Meridian needs to build the enterprise motion.
Mitigation: Treat 26 September as the internal close deadline, not 30 September. The founder runs the deal until the AE is in seat on 1 August. Map the retailer's procurement process explicitly — identify every internal approver and their sign-off requirement — by 20 July. Do not assume a smooth process; assume it takes longer than expected and build that in.
Impact: Without an experienced enterprise AE by 1 August, the founder must run all three deal cycles simultaneously alongside the rest of the business. That is a concentration risk — any slip in the founder's availability directly threatens close rates. A bad hire compounds the problem by consuming onboarding time without delivering pipeline output.
Mitigation: Brief goes live in Foundation phase (by 20 July). Prioritise candidates with direct experience of enterprise procurement cycles and security questionnaires — HR tech background is secondary. Run a parallel track: identify a fractional or interim enterprise AE who could cover from 1 August if the permanent hire is delayed. Do not treat the hire as confirmed until a written offer is accepted.
What this is. This Execution Plan was built through a guided conversation between Demo and Ren.
How it was built. All analysis reflects your own thinking — structured using established frameworks, sharpened, and presented clearly.
This report was produced by Ren, an AI advisor built by Renatus. It is based on information you provided during the conversation and established frameworks. It is intended to support — not replace — your own judgement. All conclusions should be reviewed before acting on them.
Renatus applies the underlying principles of established methods and credits their origin where relevant. Named frameworks, methods, and instruments are the property of their respective owners. Reference to them does not imply endorsement or affiliation.
4 frameworks were used to structure your thinking:
