Independent Strategy & Product Advisor · Cologne
I advise leadership teams, boards and investors of SaaS and platform companies on product, portfolio and AI strategy. Backed by 25 years in subscription businesses – most recently as Senior Director at GoDaddy, owning a global $360M portfolio.
Services
Advisory
Interim
Leadership role
Career · 2001 to today
Host Europe GmbH
Ten years of growth in one company. The customer was at the centre from day one – and still shapes every product decision.
Host Europe GmbH
Built cloud hosting for the German market and reached the #1 position in virtual hosting.
Host Europe Group
Owned the cloud strategy across four brands and moved them onto one central VPS platform.
GoDaddy
After GoDaddy's acquisition, moved from European to global scope. Restructured virtual hosting: +24% YoY.
GoDaddy
Unified partner brands on one platform. Cut cost per customer by ~90%, renewals +7%, churn −14%.
GoDaddy
$250M portfolio and 10 product managers across regions. Around $10M in annual savings.
GoDaddy
Global ownership of a $360M subscription portfolio. SSL revenue +10% per year.
Self-employed · since 2025
5-year AI strategy for the CEO of a PE-backed SaaS group, AI commercialisation and MCP as a growth channel.
Selected results
Four examples of strategy turning into numbers – each with the situation, the approach and the outcome.
AI & today
I help companies turn AI from a feature into a product and a business model – from monetisation and new distribution channels to the organisation that carries it.
Recent engagement
5-year AI strategy (2026–2031) for the CEO of a PE-backed SaaS group: SKU structure and token pricing, MCP as a distribution channel and a target operating model for the new AI organisation. The CEO now uses it as input for the corporate strategy.
Monetisation
From use case to business model: SKU structures, token pricing, business cases.
Distribution
Model Context Protocol as a new distribution and growth channel for platforms.
Speed
Making ideas tangible in days, not months – with Claude, Miro and fast iterations.
Decisions
Strategy workshops with CEO, CPO and CTO, operating models, role definitions.
How I work
I started in support. Since then every product decision has to prove what it changes for the customer – right down to a user experience that truly works.
Data-driven prioritisation, solid business cases, well-founded pricing models and P&L ownership instead of gut feeling.
A strategy is only done when teams can execute it: clear roles, governance and operating models.
I lead across regions and coach product managers to take ownership themselves.
Expertise
Insights
Experience and perspective on product strategy, retention, pricing and AI – from 25 years in subscription businesses.
AI is becoming an expectation in software – and at the same time a cost that grows with every use. Leave it out and you fall behind. Price it wrong and you lose your margin.
Read articleIn subscription businesses, everyone watches renewal day. Yet the decision is often made in the first 30 days – when a customer never gets to experience the value of the product.
Read articleIn short
I'm Michael Mertens, an independent Strategy & Product Advisor based in Cologne, Germany. I advise leadership teams, boards and investors of SaaS and platform companies on product, portfolio and AI strategy. Before that I spent eight years at GoDaddy, most recently as Senior Director Product Management owning a $360M portfolio, and 16 years at Host Europe.
Through advisory engagements – such as AI strategy, portfolio and pricing analyses or operating models –, as interim head of product or, when the mission and the company fit, in a permanent leadership role as CPO or VP Product. I work from Cologne, remotely or on site.
Product and platform strategy, portfolio optimisation, pricing and packaging strategy, product-led growth and AI strategy, including token pricing and the Model Context Protocol. I work in a data-driven and customer-centric way: with solid business cases, KPI-based prioritisation, P&L ownership and an eye for UI/UX – backed by long experience leading global product teams.
At GoDaddy I owned a $360M annual subscription portfolio, cut the cost per customer in business hosting by around 90%, grew virtual hosting revenue by 24% YoY and delivered around $10M in annual savings. With a new metric for customer value in the first 30 days and a redesigned onboarding flow, I improved the first-time renewal rate by 10% (relative). At Host Europe we reached the #1 position in the German virtual hosting market.
The easiest way is the contact form on this page, by email at mm@mischa-mertens.de, by phone at +49 151 241 398 19, or via LinkedIn.
Contact
Or directly