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Software that runs contract renewals for tech vendors and their reseller channels (reminders, quotes, checkout), turned around from two customers and six code bases to nearly $6M ARR.
about 16–18 enterprise customers (VMware, Lenovo, HP, Cisco, Precisely) · 34 staff
Pricing purely on success (1–3% of each converted renewal) looked right after Afterpay, but renewals land 90–120 days out, so cash never arrived; Renewtrak kept the same 1–3% logic but split it into a subscription billed quarterly in advance plus a success fee.
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Renewtrak sells software that runs contract renewals for software support and subscriptions between tech vendors, their reseller channels and end customers, a process CEO Mathew Cagney calls completely broken: spreadsheets, email and people, which leaves customers and partners unaware that something is expiring. The founders started in 2014 by repurposing debt-collection workflow software to remind customers early and offer an online checkout, won two customers, then got stuck on channel data: each vendor needed its own ingestion code. When Cagney, an Australian fintech operator who had worked on the technology behind Afterpay, joined as CEO in 2020, there were six separate code bases, 95% of developer time went to firefighting, customers churned within about three months and angel investors were losing patience. He cut third-party sales channels and an offshore call center, brought in a CTO and product lead he trusted, rebuilt data ingestion, raised another year of runway and won Lenovo within six months. Today Renewtrak has 34 staff, about 16–18 customers including VMware, Lenovo, HP and Cisco, and is about to reach $6 million ARR.
Renewtrak's new customers after the turnaround came from the CEO's own outbound.
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Data credibility: CEO Mathew Cagney, who joined in 2020 (the company was founded in 2014), states the figures on SaaS Club: 34 staff, 'just about to hit 6 million ARR' and about 16–18 customers including VMware, Lenovo, HP, Cisco and Precisely. The 1–3% per converted renewal pricing and the early $3,500–$5,000 a month subscriptions are also his statements. The '29x ARR growth' in the episode title has no baseline or period in the conversation, so it is not used. No dashboard or financials are shown.
When Cagney arrived, the few paying customers were on small subscriptions of roughly $3,500 to $5,000 a month with overage hopes. Coming from Afterpay, he switched new deals to pure success pricing: 1–3% of each converted renewal.
Growth began compounding once Renewtrak stopped selling global programs. Coaching from Tidal pushed the team to narrow scope: one geography and one product line, prove value fast, then expand.
Renewtrak's no-feedback stretch was the first five or six years: two customers who did not grow, proofs of value that stalled at proposal or RFP stage, and an expanded sales team, reseller channels, a paid lead-generation firm and PR all burning cash without conversions.
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