Who we are

Our founder, James Colgan, brings to you over fifteen years of experience building world-class products, organizations, and businesses at startups and industry icons that include Microsoft, Slack, Spendesk, Lepaya, and Envoy.

We don’t just advise—we execute. At Beyond the Build, we apply battle-tested strategies, playbooks, and frameworks to help your startup achieve rapid, scalable, and sustainable growth. Our track record speaks for itself:

  • 100M+ MAU: Scaled Outlook Mobile through product execution and PLG.

  • 85% Enterprise Penetration: Beat Google and Apple through product innovation and PLS.

  • 2x active users: Doubled Slack engagement via product innovation and platform integrations.

  • 4x ARR: Powered Spendesk’s growth through product strategy and R&D transformation.

  • 4x R&D velocity: Drove operational excellence at Envoy and Spendesk for faster execution.

We partner with startups to refine their product strategy, transform their operating model, accelerate their GTM motion, and drive unit economics—ensuring they’re not just building, but scaling with confidence.

Whether you're searching for product-market fit, scaling a freemium model, preparing for funding, or optimizing for enterprise sales, we bring customized expertise, playbooks and frameworks to turn vision into velocity.

Let’s build smarter, scale faster, and grow profitably—Beyond the Build.

James Colgan Portrait