Business type
RetailTech SaaS
Solution type
Permanent
Size of commercial team
3
Company stage
Seed
Harper Concierge helps retailers deliver the in-store experience to online shoppers through its elevated Try Before You Buy service.
Founded by Liam Young, Harper has grown from an MVP into a trusted partner for major retailers by refining its product and customer experience. Now a 30-strong team, Harper recently closed a funding round to fuel its next stage of growth.
Harper Need
From the beginning, Harper’s sales function was entirely founder-led. Liam drove growth directly, juggling sales with the demands of being CEO. While this worked in the early days, it quickly became unsustainable as the company scaled.
Liam recognised the need to step back from day-to-day selling and build a proper sales function. But he also knew the risks: investors had warned him that the Head of Sales role is one of the most critical (and most frequently mishired) positions in a scaling business.
The ideal candidate would need a rare blend of FinTech and SaaS experience, the ability to manage a complex sales process, and the skill to build structure and scale the team from scratch. Getting this hire right was mission-critical.
The ScaleWise Approach
That’s where ScaleWise came in.
We worked closely with Liam to sharpen the brief, define what success would look like, and launch a targeted headhunt for top-tier talent.
That search led us to Poppy Van Der Vorm – a proven commercial leader from a FinTech scale-up with deep experience in launching new markets and building early-stage sales teams. Though not actively job-hunting, Poppy was drawn to Harper’s mission and the strong alignment with the team’s values and ambition.
To set her up for success, ScaleWise also included founder coaching from Tom Glason during Poppy’s probation. This external sounding board accelerated her transition, helping her hit the ground running.
Results & Impact
Poppy’s impact was immediate:
- Within weeks: She was driving new business meetings and building pipeline.
- Within months: She owned the full sales process, introducing structure, process, and discipline.
- Within six months: She landed two landmark contracts – one in a brand-new category and another long-sought account – together representing over half her annual target.
By taking ownership of sales, Poppy freed Liam from being the bottleneck to growth. Harper now has a scalable sales engine, is preparing for a Series A, and is laying the groundwork for US expansion.
Liam describes the outcome as transformational: Harper secured a top-tier sales leader who wasn’t even on the market, and Poppy is thriving in a role that positions the company for its next chapter.
Liam Young
Founder & CEO, Harper Concierge
“The reason I’d recommend ScaleWise to other founders is because getting the sales team right is one of the most important things you can do for a scaling business, but it’s also one of the things that’s most frequently gotten wrong. If there’s one role where working with experts is worth the investment, it’s this one. ScaleWise helped us find someone in the top 5% of talent, and it paid for itself very, very quickly.”
Poppy Van Der Vorm
Head of Sales, Harper Concierge
“ScaleWise made the whole process feel really human. I’ve had other recruiters push roles for the sake of a placement fee, but this was completely different. They genuinely listened to what I was looking for and helped me weigh up the opportunity. That gave me trust, and ultimately, it worked out perfectly!”
