Fuse Inventory Paused Sales, Risked Churn, and Rebuilt

Most SaaS founders wait too long to pivot. We stick with what's "working" — revenue’s steady, some customers love it, and investors aren’t panicking.

But for Rachel Liaw, co-founder of Fuse Inventory, the warning signs were clear: revenue was fragile, teams were churning, and being a planning tool in a downturn meant being cut first.

So she made the call: stop selling, risk churn, and rebuild the product.

Not iterate. Not tweak. Rebuild — from planning layer to full inventory backbone.

This is the story of what happens when a founder doesn’t wait for failure — and what you can learn if you're sitting on a product that’s slipping from must-have to expendable.

Key Takeaways

• Fuse paused growth to build deeper infrastructure when market needs shifted
• Revenue dropped — but they avoided onboarding users into the wrong product
• Saying no to sales let them build the version that customers now won’t let go of
• They learned you can lose PMF even if the product hasn’t changed
• Clarity, not code, is what saved the business

The Warning Signs Were Clear — and Costly

Fuse was built for operations teams. And ops teams were getting slashed. CFOs weren’t cutting contracts because they didn’t like the tool — they were cutting them because planning software looked optional when budgets tightened.

“It wasn’t a product issue. It was a positioning issue — we weren’t essential.”

Fuse was at risk of becoming a line item no one defended. And Rachel knew that if she kept selling into that narrative, it would only compound the churn.

The Hardest Call: Say No to Sales, and Fix the Foundation

While competitors fought for survival, Fuse paused.

They stopped selling.

They turned down new revenue.

They let some customers go.

“We had to rebuild — not just iterate — to become the core platform our best customers were asking for.”

Fuse went from planning tool to inventory engine. The features they built — unit-level costing, allocation, reconciliation — weren’t surface-level polish. They were systems of record features. Things that CFOs would fight to keep.

What They Got Right

• They didn’t overbuild for investors. They focused on what paying users truly needed.
• They admitted they were losing fit. Even when retention was “okay.”
• They rebuilt with the team they had. Lean, focused, and willing to bet on the long term.

What Other Founders Should Take From This

“It’s harder when you had product-market fit. You keep thinking it’s just a blip. But sometimes the market changes — and your product has to change with it.”

Rachel didn’t pivot out of panic. She pivoted out of honesty. She listened to the churn. She paused the growth playbook. She bet on trust over traction.

And it worked.

Final Word: Ask the Hard Question

“Would your customer defend your contract in a CFO meeting? If not — it’s time to rebuild.”

Book a Free AI Assessment if you’re staring down churn, market shifts, or slipping product-market fit — and want to explore how AI can help you rebuild smarter, sharpen your positioning, or make your product indispensable again.