At a fast-scaling Series B platform, a $75M annual SaaS and vendor portfolio had grown one credit card at a time, with no central view. I built and ran a vendor management function from 0 to 1 that put more than 100 vendors, their contract terms and their live usage in one place, and started every negotiation a quarter ahead of the notice period.
Growth one credit card at a time.
The result was missed notice periods, unmanaged shelfware and passive automatic renewals.
No one connected who bought each tool, who used it and who tracked its renewal window. Without dedicated governance, vendor spend drifted in six ways.
This case study covers how I managed the vendor relationships and contracts. The cost work those contracts supported is covered in the $100M avoided technology costs case study.
Active utilization and trajectory, reviewed a full quarter before every notice date.
Putting usage data next to contract terms gave leadership the visibility to right-size contracts, consolidate tools or renegotiate terms well before commitment deadlines passed.
The ALIGN™ framework applied to vendor management. Assess and Lead in Stage 1, Integrate and Grow in Stage 2, Normalize in Stage 3.
Single source of truth. I brought more than 100 vendors, from individual credit card subscriptions to multi-year enterprise agreements, into one live management system.
Metadata and ownership. Every contract got a named internal owner, a renewal date and an explicit notice period.
Procurement guardrails. Ad hoc credit card purchases moved into a managed intake process.
Usage-to-contract mapping. Live active-user metrics sat next to contract terms in the vendor tracker.
Proactive overage prevention. Tools moving from experiment to production got monthly usage-based forecasts, which caught overruns before invoices arrived.
Strategic right-sizing. Low-utilization tools were evaluated for right-sizing, consolidation or deprecation based on actual feature adoption rather than vendor claims.
The 90-day renewal cadence. Structured renewal reviews started 90 days before the notice date, not the contract end date, so internal owners came in with first-party usage data.
Comprehensive term strategy. Negotiations went beyond the discount rate to secure guaranteed overage caps, stronger support SLAs and access to vendor roadmap and partner programs.
Vendor-led training. I built training sessions with vendors to drive adoption across internal teams, so the capabilities the company paid for were actually used.
Function scale. I recruited and onboarded a dedicated technical program manager (TPM) to run procurement and vendor operations as a permanent capability.
The common pattern in each area and the remediation put in place. Figures and vendor names are withheld.
| Operational focus | Common portfolio pattern | Remediation implemented |
|---|---|---|
| Procurement | Unmonitored credit card software purchases | A single managed procurement intake process |
| Renewal timing | Auto-renewals triggering because notice dates were hidden | 90-day pre-notice renewal workflows driven by the tracker |
| Utilization | Provisioned seats far exceeding active usage | First-party usage tracking matched to terms before renewal |
| Forecasting | Production software running without usage ceilings | Monthly forecast-to-actual tracking to prevent overages |
| Relationship ownership | Vendor contracts with no internal lead | Named contract owners and quarterly business reviews (QBRs) |
| Commercial terms | A discount-only focus that left overages at vendor defaults | Contractually guaranteed overage rates, support and partner tiers |
| Capability adoption | Teams underusing high-value paid features | Vendor-partnered training sessions for internal users |
| Operational scalability | Vendor management dependent on a single person | A dedicated TPM hired to run procurement as a permanent function |
Five things that go directly into an operating review or a board meeting.
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