# Brian de Haaff

> Brian de Haaff is the co-founder and CEO of Aha!, a self-funded product development software company founded with Chris Waters in 2013. He is the author of Lovability and The Startup Adventure newsletter, advocates for customer value and sustainable growth, and writes about product leadership, remote work, and the changing role of product managers in the AI era.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at Aha!
- **Organizations:** Aha!, Paglo, Citrix, Network Chemistry
- **Education:** B.A., Interdisciplinary Studies; graduated with honors, University of California, Berkeley, M.S., Marketing; graduated with honors, Northwestern University
- **Known for:** Led Aha! beyond $100 million in annual recurring revenue without venture funding., Co-founded a software company now serving more than one million product builders worldwide., Introduced the Minimum Lovable Product concept and developed the Complete Product Experience approach.

## Career timeline

- **2007** — After the sale of Network Chemistry’s wireless security business to Aruba Networks, co-founded Paglo with Chris Waters.
- **2010** — Paglo was acquired by Citrix; de Haaff, Waters, and their staff joined Citrix Online.
- **2013** — Co-founded Aha! with Chris Waters in Menlo Park, choosing self-funding and remote work.
- **2014** — Aha! formalized The Responsive Method in July; its early-access beta ended in the fall.
- **2017** — Published Lovability in April.
- **2022** — Announced Aha! had surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue and championed the Bootstrap Movement.
- **2023** — Launched The Startup Adventure newsletter.
- **2025** — Received the Gold Stevie Award for Thought Leader of the Year in Business Products.
- **2026** — Announced the general availability of Aha! Builder on April 29.

## Achievements

- Led Aha! beyond $100 million in annual recurring revenue without venture funding.
- Co-founded a software company now serving more than one million product builders worldwide.
- Introduced the Minimum Lovable Product concept and developed the Complete Product Experience approach.
- Author of Lovability, published in 2017.
- Gold Stevie Award, Thought Leader of the Year in Business Products, 2025.
- Aha! ranked #143 on the 2018 Inc. 5000 and #50 on Deloitte’s 2018 Technology Fast 500.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — On September 17, appeared with Chris Waters and Sarah Moisan-Thomas in Teresa Torres’s Just Now Possible interview about developing Aha! Builder.
- **2026-09** — Published an essay defending entrepreneurship and acknowledging that his own ability to self-fund reflected resources unavailable to some founders.
- **2026-08** — Wrote about becoming a product development bottleneck as AI accelerates engineering and outlined ten changes to product management practice.
- **2026-06** — Published The ROI of kindness at work, explaining the vendor encounter behind his emphasis on kindness.
- **2026-04** — Announced Aha! Builder general availability on April 29.

## Links

- Website: https://www.aha.io/company/about-brian-de-haaff
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bdehaaff
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/bdehaaff

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/brian-de-haaff
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-11