Restructuring, M&A, and strategic alternatives for VC-backed companies.
Haven Commerce works with VC-backed SaaS companies between $2M and $20M ARR facing stalled growth, limited runway, or board pressure to evaluate strategic alternatives. We run a structured diagnostic, force a board-approved decision, and execute the outcome.
20-minute conversation. No pitch, just perspective.
The venture playbook stopped working.
Most VC-backed SaaS companies that raised capital between 2019 and 2022 are now facing a reckoning. Growth has slowed. The next round isn't coming at acceptable terms. The board is asking hard questions. And the standard advice — "just grow faster" or "cut costs and extend runway" — isn't a strategy.
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking. Every month of indecision burns cash, narrows options, and reduces the value of what you've built. The company that has 6 months of runway and four viable paths today has 4 months of runway and two viable paths in 60 days.
The companies that fare best aren't the ones that hope for a turnaround. They're the ones that face reality early enough to still have choices — and have someone who can execute on the path they choose.
Restructuring & strategic alternatives for SaaS companies.
We don't give opinions from the sidelines. We assess the situation, get board alignment, and execute the outcome.
M&A Advisory
Sell-side advisory for VC-backed SaaS companies between $2M and $20M ARR. We build the materials, run strategic buyer outreach, manage LOI negotiation, and coordinate diligence through close.
Restructuring & Recapitalization
Operational restructuring, cap table cleanup, and recapitalization strategy for companies that have a viable path forward but need significant structural changes to unlock it.
Orderly Wind-Down
When closure is the right answer, we manage it with professionalism and precision. We protect stakeholders, maximize creditor recovery, and handle the legal and operational complexity — coordinating with outside counsel and ABC processes where needed.
Fractional CFO for SaaS in Transition
For companies that need embedded financial leadership during periods of uncertainty — board reporting, cash management, covenant compliance, and strategic decision support. Some clients engage for financial leadership and the restructuring need surfaces during the engagement. Others need a CFO specifically to manage a transition period.
Book a call to discuss →Built for the people who carry the weight.
For Founders & CEOs
You raised capital and built something real. But growth stalled, the market shifted, and now you're fielding hard questions from your board without a clear plan.
You don't need another advisor who tells you what you already know. You need someone who will get in the trenches, help you see your options honestly, and do the work alongside you — through a process your board can approve and stand behind.
- ✓VC-backed SaaS company between $2M and $20M ARR
- ✓Growth has plateaued or declined for 2+ quarters
- ✓Unable to raise your next round on acceptable terms
- ✓Board has asked you to 'explore strategic alternatives'
- ✓6–12 months of runway with no clear resolution plan
For Investors & Boards
You have portfolio companies that aren't the winners and aren't yet written off. They're consuming partner time, carrying fiduciary risk, and drifting without a resolution. Every quarter of inaction burns through the option set.
Haven Commerce takes ownership of the process. We run the diagnostic, present the options with real numbers attached, get formal board approval, and execute. The result is a documented, defensible process that reduces drift, protects fiduciaries, and frees you to focus on the portfolio companies that are working.
- ✓Portfolio company consuming partner time with no resolution in sight
- ✓Board meetings that produce discussion but no decisions
- ✓Fiduciary concern about a company approaching insolvency
- ✓Need a structured process with clear accountability — one you don't have bandwidth to run yourself
- ✓Want the process documented and defensible for LPs and future scrutiny
Governance-grade execution, not open-ended consulting.
Haven Commerce operates through a structured mandate with clear authority, defined deliverables, and formal board accountability at every stage. This is a disciplined governance structure for messy situations — not a retainer relationship where an outside advisor offers opinions and departs.
Board-approved mandate before execution begins
Every engagement starts with a formal Board Resolution that documents the scope, authority, and objectives of the engagement. Execution doesn't begin until the board has reviewed the Situation Assessment and approved a direction. This is not a technicality — it's the structure that makes difficult decisions legitimate.
Clear authority, not sideline opinions
Haven operates with direct access to financials, legal documents, systems, and stakeholders — not filtered through management. We carry the day-to-day burden of running the process: stakeholder communications, transaction management, reporting. The board retains fiduciary oversight. Haven handles execution.
Defined timeline, not open-ended consulting
Every engagement has a structured phase schedule and a defined end point. We don't maintain indefinite retainer relationships. The diagnostic produces a recommendation. The recommendation produces a decision. The decision produces a resolution. The engagement closes with a Final Disposition Report.
Coordinated specialists, not a replacement for them
Haven coordinates the process and drives the decision. Legal counsel handles legal work. Restructuring trustees manage formal ABC processes where needed. Investment bank relationships support larger buyer processes when scale warrants it. The value is in having one experienced operator who can direct all of these moving parts toward a resolution.
A documented, defensible record
Every phase produces written deliverables: situation reports, path analyses, board resolutions, status memos, and a final disposition report. The process is built to withstand LP scrutiny, creditor review, and the questions that come later. Messy situations handled well leave a clean paper trail.
A decision and a plan within 30 days.
Every engagement follows a structured, time-boxed process with named deliverables at each phase. No open-ended consulting.
Rapid Diagnostic
Weeks 1–2We get full access to financials, legal documents, systems, and operations. No filtered reporting — direct access to the actual numbers. Within two weeks, we deliver a Situation Report with a clear-eyed assessment of solvency, liabilities, and asset value, including the exact date cash runs out.
Decision
Weeks 3–4We evaluate three paths using a probability-weighted expected value model that removes emotion from the decision. All three paths get equal analytical rigor. We make a specific recommendation and get formal board approval before any execution begins.
We present the analysis for all three paths, make a specific recommendation, and get explicit board approval via a formal Board Resolution before proceeding to execution.
Execution
Month 2+We switch from diagnostic to operator and run the chosen path. If it's a sale, we build the CIM, run buyer outreach, negotiate the LOI, and manage diligence. If it's a wind-down, we manage every step of the process. If it's a restructuring, we implement the plan. We coordinate legal, financial, and operational workstreams and stay until it's done.
Resolution & Hand-back
At completionClean closure. A defined end point — not a trailing consulting relationship. The engagement closes with full financial reconciliation, liability confirmation, and LP-ready summary materials.
Want to start smaller? Our diagnostic-only engagement delivers the Situation Report and Cash-Zero Forecast as a standalone deliverable ($5,000–$10,000). You decide what comes next — there is no commitment to proceed.
Book a Diagnostic Call →Representative engagements.
Haven Commerce has worked across restructuring, sell-side M&A, corporate development, and embedded finance leadership. These representative situations reflect the range of that work.
Market Check & ABC Resolution
VC-backed SaaS company with approximately 6 months of runway and no viable path to raise.
Ran a full market check across 50+ strategic buyers. Sold company assets. Completed resolution through a partner trustee in an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors.
Fractional CFO — Late-Stage SaaS
Embedded financial leadership engagement at a $20M+ ARR SaaS company navigating a period of operational and strategic transition.
Served as fractional CFO: board reporting, cash management, strategic decision support, and financial infrastructure during transition.
Buyside Support — Roll-Up Strategy
Buyside corporate development support for a strategic acquirer executing a SaaS roll-up.
Provided target identification, financial modeling, diligence coordination, and deal structuring support across multiple acquisition targets.
Full Sell-Side Process
Sell-side advisory for a VC-backed SaaS company seeking a strategic exit.
Ran a full sell-side process with 70+ strategic buyers engaged. Managed outreach, buyer qualification, LOI negotiation, and diligence through close.
Not your typical advisory firm.
SaaS-Native
We exclusively work with VC-backed SaaS companies. We understand the business model, the metrics, the cap table dynamics, the buyer landscape, and the specific challenges of recurring-revenue businesses in transition. This isn't a generalist practice.
Full-Stack Execution
We don't hand you a strategy deck and walk away. We build the CIM, negotiate the LOI, manage the wind-down, restructure the cap table, coordinate legal and financial workstreams. We do the work — not a junior analyst team working under a partner who shows up for meetings.
Right-Sized for This Market
Investment banks won't touch deals under $50M. Turnaround firms charge $500K minimums. We bring the same analytical rigor and process discipline at a scale that makes sense for VC-backed SaaS companies between $2M and $20M ARR — the companies that most advisory firms won't take seriously.
Governance-Grade Process
Board resolutions, formal situation reports, fiduciary documentation, liability protection, structured timelines. Every engagement is designed to withstand scrutiny from LPs, creditors, and legal counsel — and to protect everyone at the table.
Technical Fluency
The founder is a former software developer. We evaluate technology assets, code quality, infrastructure costs, and technical debt firsthand — not just from the financials. That matters for pricing an asset sale, evaluating a buyer's diligence claim, or assessing what a product is actually worth without its surrounding team.
The advisory gap for <$20M ARR SaaS companies.
Most advisory options don't fit companies at your stage. Here's how we're different.
Founder, operator, dealmaker.
Haven Commerce was founded by Erik Morton. Erik spent over two decades inside the ecommerce software industry — first as a software developer, then as a founder, and ultimately as a senior executive running corporate development and strategy at Rithum (f/k/a CommerceHub), a major ecommerce SaaS platform. At CommerceHub, Erik was a member of the executive committee and led the company's M&A program for nearly a decade, including sourcing and closing acquisitions, managing complex divestitures, and serving on the deal team for the company's $1.1 billion sale to GTCR and Sycamore Partners. Earlier, he founded Initiate Commerce, a SaaS company he built from scratch and ultimately sold to CommerceHub.
That background — building software, running a company, and executing transactions from the inside — is what makes Haven Commerce different. Erik evaluates technology assets the way a developer would, financial structures the way a CFO would, and deal dynamics the way someone who's sat on both sides of the table would. When you engage Haven Commerce, you work directly with Erik. No junior analysts, no delegation to a team you never met. One experienced operator who has done this work at every level.
Five guides on diagnosing and resolving stuck companies.
Long-form frameworks for GPs, founders, and boards navigating VC-backed SaaS companies between $2M and $20M ARR that have real revenue and no clear path forward.
Specialists we work with on engagements.
Haven Commerce coordinates with a select group of firms whose expertise directly supports the outcomes we execute for clients.
Not sure what comes next? Let's figure it out together.
Book a 20-minute conversation. We'll talk through your situation honestly and whether Haven Commerce is the right fit. No pitch, no pressure — just a clear-eyed look at your options.
Prefer email? Reach out at info@havencommercellc.com