Fractional CPO · COO · Chief of Staff

I help teams turn ideas into outcomes

I embed directly with founding teams — from Pre-Seed through Series A — to fundraise with intention, find product-market fit, and build go-to-market strategies that actually work.

Grand Rapids, Michigan · Remote
Kyle Saari

Three ways I help founders move faster

Fundraise with Intention

Pitch polishing, milestone planning, and investor narrative development. I help you sharpen your story and build the roadmap investors want to see.

Product-Market Fit

Customer discovery, prioritization frameworks, and product strategy. I help you figure out what to build, for whom, and in what order.

Go-to-Market Strategy

Positioning, channel identification, and launch planning. I help you take what you've built and get it into the hands of the right customers.

I've built, operated, audited,
coded, pitched, and shipped.

I bring 15+ years across product, operations, strategy, and engineering into the room with your founding team. I'm not a consultant who sends a deck and disappears — I embed with you and do the work.

Most recently, I founded Materia Chemistries — an AI-powered materials discovery startup building advanced alloys for nuclear fusion and fission. We were accepted into Berkeley SkyDeck and Climate Collective (~2% acceptance rate), built a team of PhDs and MBAs, and took materials R&D from decades to months.

Before that, I was Senior Product Manager at SkySpecs, a growth-stage renewable energy SaaS company, where I led the overhaul of their flagship product and then built predictive maintenance algorithms for early wind turbine blade failure detection.

And before that, 12 years at Amway spanning software engineering, internal audit, information security, data science, and global strategy. That's where the operational depth comes from.

MBA — Western Michigan University BS CIS — Ferris State University
Kyle Saari at Crusoe Office Kyle Saari speaking at SF Climate Week

Speaking at SF Climate Week 2025

Materia Chemistries — The Founder's Journey

I founded an AI-powered materials discovery startup for nuclear energy. Read the full timeline — from Berkeley SkyDeck to SF Climate Week.

Read the full story
Berkeley SkyDeck Climate Collective Climatebase SkySpecs Amway

"Kyle brought structure and clarity to our fundraising process when we were spinning our wheels. He didn't just help us build a deck — he helped us think like investors."

— Founder Testimonial (Placeholder)

"Having someone who's actually built a startup sit beside you and help navigate the chaos is invaluable. Kyle gets it because he's lived it."

— Founder Testimonial (Placeholder)

I think in public.

My Knowledge Garden is a living collection of notes on product strategy, startup operations, climate tech, leadership, and building in public — all interconnected. Explore the ideas I'm actively developing.

Explore the Garden

Fundraising for Deep Tech

Product Strategy · Fundraising

The Operator's GTM Playbook

Go-to-Market · Operations

Building in Climate Tech

Climate Tech · Building in Public

Fractional Leadership Models

Leadership · Startup Ops

Let's figure out
your next move.

It usually starts with a conversation — no pitch, no pressure. We'll talk about where you are, where you're trying to go, and whether I can help you get there faster.

Book a Call

Or send a message