I build the AI products that actually ship.
I took a governed multi-agent platform from a 22% to a 98% conversation pass rate, graded against gold datasets, then cut the delivery cycle from 90 days to 14. Both inside a company of about a thousand people, which is the part that was actually hard. 15 years as a VP of Product at Demandbase, Pendo, and Salesforce. CS degree. I still write code every day.
What I want next is the top product seat at a $30M to $100M company that's found its market and needs someone to own the AI transformation. I've run product at 10 times that size. I take a few advisory engagements too.
Marin, CAAdvisory Focus.
Advisory for teams missing PM DNA.
AI product feedback sessions.
Startup conversations & referrals.
Great fit if...
- You need practical, operator-level help — not a slide deck.
- There's a real product or AI initiative that's stuck, not just a vague ask.
- You want a candid, no-agenda outside read.
Not a fit if...
- You're looking for a full-time hire disguised as a consulting engagement.
- You want guarantees without a real conversation first.
- The ask is a sales pitch dressed up as a feedback session.
Principles.
AI pilots don't fail because of the tech. They fail because nobody owns the outcome. I own outcomes.
The best AI products aren't prompts with a UI. They're systems — agents, evals, orchestration, feedback loops. I build those.
Small-company speed is a choice, not a company size. I cut delivery cycles from 90 days to 14 inside a thousand-person enterprise, with the legacy surface area that comes with one. That's not hustle, it's architecture.
Zero to one isn't a stage I've read about. Pendo Adopt started with me as the only PM and one engineering team. It ended as the highest-ASP product in the company, at $36M+ ARR in three years.
The exec who can't read the code is a liability. I read the code. I write the code. Then I go talk to the board.
Impatient
Speed, intensity, bias toward action. AI lets you move faster than ever. I do.
Courageous
Hard problems, persistent solutions. I work on things that haven't been solved yet — because that's where the leverage is.
Lean
No politics. No committees. One person with full-stack judgment. You get impact, not process.
Skills & Expertise.
Public Record.
The evolution of Demandbase AI's architecture
My team published the architecture story for the platform I led, including why we removed the semantic layer and replaced our in-house orchestrator with an open-source agent loop. Its stated lesson: context quality is more important than the technologies you use.
Demandbase EngineeringThe AI Architecture We Deleted
AWS Summit New York. We spent months building a sophisticated multi-agent system, then deleted most of it after watching customers use it. What Bedrock made possible at both ends of the complexity spectrum, and what I'd tell any builder tempted to start with the ambitious version.
Forrester Wave Leader, Revenue Marketing Platforms for B2B
Demandbase named a Leader, with the highest score in the Strategy category among ten vendors evaluated.
Press releaseGartner Magic Quadrant Leader, ABM Platforms
Demandbase named a Leader for the fifth consecutive year, positioned furthest for Completeness of Vision among eight vendors. I led the product strategy behind the placement.
Press releaseUS Patent: Compliance with Data Policies
Granted on methods for enforcing data policy compliance inside a computing platform.
Case Studies.
What I owned, what it did, and the part I would do differently. The numbers are the ones I can defend in a room.
Taking a multi-agent platform from a 22% to a 98% conversation pass rate
Starting as the only PM and building a second product line to $36M+ ARR
A full AI SaaS running a real bakery, live in 12 days
Rebuilding a client's whole site, 972 photographs, in 4 days
Every zoo has a lion. The lion can't be tamed — they roar louder than the rest. You can't have a zoo without a lion, because that's what everyone goes there to see.
“I would be REMISS to not give a large bucket of kudos/thanks to Chad who introduced us to Forrester WAY back in the early stages of this deal. This was the first step toward the culmination of the entire team's efforts.”
— Sales Leader, Demandbase“You may be really changing this company fr fr!”
— Sales Leader, Demandbase“I just got back from summer break to catch up on work and I look at the open MRs and most have your name. It's great to see PMs and Designers contributing. So in this case crazy is good, keep coding!”
— Staff Engineer, DemandbaseWhat I'm Building.
Marin Cake Studio
ItsDeductible Replacement
Projects.
FreshBooks MCP Server
chadholdorf.com
From the Blog.
Every Company Needs an Agent OS Strategy
The agent runtime layer is becoming infrastructure — just like Linux and Kubernetes before it. Companies that don't build a strategy around it will be caught flat-footed.
We Hold Robots to a Standard We've Never Held Humans
Autonomous vehicles are held to an impossible standard while human drivers kill 40,000 people a year in the US — and that asymmetry is a policy failure, not a safety posture.
The One Tool Test
If you can't name the commercial AI tool you brought into your organization this month, that's the answer.
Contact
If you're hiring a product leader who ships AI products instead of just advising on them, let's talk. Also open to advisory calls, AI product feedback sessions, and referral conversations. Recruiters, founders, and other builders all welcome.