The challenge
VIIZR was a Silicon Valley startup building job management software for trades and field service businesses. It had something most startups only dream of: $60 million of backing from two of the biggest names in American business, Ford Motor Company and Salesforce.
Backing on that scale brings its own pressure. Corporate investors expect a venture to behave like a startup, moving fast and finding product-market fit, while reporting like a division of a global company. Every decision about the product and the market is watched by executives who are used to scale, and every quarter needs a story that shows traction.
The market itself was hard to crack. Trades businesses are busy, often small, and sceptical of software that promises to change how they run jobs. Most are still managing quotes, scheduling and invoices through a mix of paper, spreadsheets and text messages. Winning them over needs sharp positioning, efficient acquisition and a product that earns its place on the first day it's used.
VIIZR needed senior leadership that could connect all of this: a growth engine that brought the right customers in, a product roadmap grounded in what tradespeople actually needed, and the ability to present both credibly to Ford's leadership.
Our approach
Own growth and product as one problem
Our team led growth and product strategy together, working directly with the CEO. Treating them as one problem meant acquisition insights shaped the roadmap, and the roadmap shaped what marketing promised.
Build a working growth engine
We set up paid acquisition across Facebook and Google, ran the marketing site on Webflow and automated the handoffs between channels and the Salesforce pipeline with Zapier. That gave the team a measurable path from first click to qualified opportunity.
Earn executive confidence
Corporate-backed ventures live or die on stakeholder trust. Our team presented strategy and progress to Ford Motor Company's executive team, translating startup metrics into the language of a global manufacturer.
The results
The engagement gave VIIZR a connected growth and product function. Acquisition, the marketing site, the CRM pipeline and the product roadmap were all tied to the same view of the customer, and the leadership team had a clear, data-backed story to take to its investors.
The work also earned a strong endorsement from the top. The CEO recorded a video testimonial for Lightning Ventures and later joined us as a guest on our podcast to talk about the engagement. In the CEO's words, our speed to market is "second to none".
For Lightning Ventures, VIIZR remains one of the clearest examples of the level we operate at. Few Australian agencies have led product and growth inside a venture with $60 million of corporate backing, reported to the executive team of one of the world's largest car makers, and worked alongside a founder who had a direct line to Salesforce's leadership.
That experience now informs how we work with Australian mid-market and enterprise teams running their own innovation programs. We know what corporate sponsors need to see, how quickly startup-style teams can move when the guardrails are right, and where the friction between the two usually appears.
“The Lightning team are real hustlers with lived startup experience. They helped us get up and running quickly across sales and growth. I'd recommend them to anyone looking to set up their early-stage growth plans.”
“What's amazing about Lightning Products is that you guys bring an entire team of experts in so many different fields. The speed to market is second to none. I look to Lightning Products first to get me off the ground before anyone else.”
What this means for your business
If you're running an innovation program inside a larger organisation, or you're a venture with serious corporate backing, the hardest part is rarely the technology. It's moving at startup speed while keeping executive stakeholders confident in the direction.
We bring senior product and growth leadership that has done exactly that in Silicon Valley. We can help you set a growth engine that measures what matters, shape a roadmap around real customer evidence, and present progress in a way your board and sponsors trust. If your venture needs to show traction this year, a discovery session is the place to start.
