LITTLETON, CO, February 11, 2026 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Few leaders are as qualified as Nicholas Mirisis to speak on what it actually takes to move from negative growth to sustainable EBITDA. With more than two decades of experience operating and scaling vertical SaaS companies across global markets, Mirisis has become a trusted voice in SaaS turnaround strategy, value creation, and disciplined execution.

As a Chief Executive Officer, operating partner, and board member, Mirisis has worked across nearly every capital environment a SaaS company can face, from venture-backed startups and founder-led businesses to private equity and growth equity portfolios. His track record spans EdTech, FinTech, GovTech, Healthcare, and Defense Tech, where he has repeatedly stepped into complex operating environments and delivered profitable growth where others struggled to stabilize.

According to Mirisis, the core issue facing many SaaS companies today is not a lack of ambition or product innovation, but a misalignment between growth strategy, operating discipline, and financial reality.

"Negative growth is rarely caused by one thing," Mirisis explains. "It's usually the result of years of small decisions that favored top-line optics over durable systems. The path back is not about chasing growth at any cost. It's about rebuilding the business around fundamentals that compound."

Rebuilding From the Inside Out
Mirisis points to his work as CEO and Board Member of a Series-A EdTech SaaS company based in Columbus, Ohio, as a clear example of how this philosophy translates into results. When he stepped into the role, the company was facing structural challenges common to many SaaS organizations: inconsistent go-to-market execution, underdeveloped retention strategies, and operating costs that outpaced sustainable growth.

Rather than applying surface-level fixes, Mirisis led a full operational reset. He rebuilt the go-to-market infrastructure, aligned sales, marketing, and customer success around shared performance metrics, and introduced disciplined forecasting and accountability frameworks. At the same time, he embedded AI and machine learning capabilities directly into the product roadmap to increase customer value and defensibility.

The result was a dramatic turnaround. Under his leadership, the company achieved greater than rule-of-35 performance and generated more than $11 million in EBITDA, transforming it from a capital-consuming business into a profitable, scalable enterprise.

"Sustainable EBITDA doesn't come from cost-cutting alone," Mirisis says. "It comes from clarity. When teams understand exactly who the customer is, why they buy, and how the business makes money at scale, margins follow."

The EBITDA Mindset Shift
One of Mirisis's most consistent themes is the need for SaaS leaders to shift how they think about growth itself. In the zero-interest-rate era, many companies optimized for ARR expansion without fully understanding unit economics or long-term margin impact. That approach, he argues, is no longer viable.

"Today's SaaS environment rewards operators, not storytellers," he notes. "Investors want to see repeatable systems, predictable cash flow, and leadership teams that can allocate capital responsibly."

For Mirisis, this means building a performance culture rooted in transparency and ownership. He emphasizes rigorous KPI tracking, clear incentives aligned with retention and expansion, and leadership teams that are comfortable making hard tradeoffs.

"EBITDA is not the enemy of innovation," he adds. "It's proof that innovation is actually working."

Lessons From Large-Scale Exits
Mirisis's credibility is reinforced by his experience leading companies through major acquisitions and enterprise-scale transformations. Earlier in his career, he held senior executive roles at SamCart, GoCanvas, and Dude Solutions, where he helped drive outcomes that culminated in significant exits.

At Dude Solutions, he was part of the leadership team that guided the company through its acquisition by Siemens for $1.57 billion. At GoCanvas, he played a key role in a transaction that resulted in Nemetschek acquiring the company at an 11.5x ARR multiple. In each case, Mirisis worked at the intersection of operations, finance, and strategy to ensure the business was positioned for long-term value creation, not just short-term growth spikes.

"Buyers pay for durability," Mirisis explains. "They want to see that growth is defensible, customers stay, and margins improve over time. EBITDA is one of the clearest signals of that durability."

M&A, Integration, and Retention
Beyond organic growth, Mirisis is widely recognized for his expertise in M&A integration, an area where many SaaS companies stumble. He emphasizes that acquisitions only create value when operational discipline and cultural alignment follow the deal.

"Integration is where EBITDA is either created or destroyed," he says. "If you don't align systems, incentives, and customer experience quickly, you lose the upside."

Equally important is customer retention, which Mirisis considers the foundation of any sustainable SaaS business. He advocates for embedding retention metrics into executive dashboards and treating churn as a strategic issue, not a support problem.

"You don't grow your way out of churn," he says. "You fix churn, and growth becomes easier."

A Fiduciary Approach to Leadership
At the core of Mirisis's approach is a deeply held belief in fiduciary responsibility. Whether leading venture-backed startups or private equity-owned platforms, he views the CEO role as one of stewardship, balancing growth, profitability, and long-term enterprise value.

His academic background reflects this mindset. Mirisis holds a Master's degree in Government from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from North Carolina State University, training that sharpened his ability to navigate complex stakeholder environments and make decisions with long-term consequences.

Today, in addition to serving as CEO and board member, Mirisis is a Partner at Fulcrum Venture Group and sits on multiple advisory boards. He remains an influential voice in SaaS growth strategy, leadership development, and value creation, frequently advising founders and investors navigating turbulent markets.

The Path Forward for SaaS Leaders
For SaaS companies facing negative growth or margin pressure, Mirisis offers a clear message: recovery is possible, but only with discipline, focus, and a willingness to rethink assumptions.

"Hope is not a strategy," he says. "The companies that win are the ones that slow down, rebuild the machine, and then scale with intention."

As markets continue to reward profitability and resilience over unchecked expansion, Nicholas Mirisis stands out as a leader who not only understands the shift, but has repeatedly delivered results on the other side of it.

Contact
Nicholas Mirisis
Partner, Fulcrum Venture Group
Littleton, CO
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholasmirisis/
Email: [email protected]

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