Code Story: Insights from Startup Tech Leaders

Founder Chats - Max Denevich

Mar 2, 2026

Max Denevich, Co-founder and CRO at LoyaltyPlant, who builds B2B SaaS for quick-service restaurants and scales via partner-led strategies. He discusses choosing traditional industries over consumer apps. He explains why foodtech and QSR have deep structural issues. He recounts the turnaround that made him a founder and how partner distribution and new go-to-market tactics drove global scale.

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ANECDOTE

Joining LoyaltyPlant Because The Core Idea Felt Right

Max joined LoyaltyPlant because the product combined B2B SaaS with a consumer-facing app he liked and the foundation felt solid despite missing features.
He saw potential in the core idea even though the early product lacked online ordering and gamification.

ANECDOTE

Staying Through Near-Death Rebuilt The Company

LoyaltyPlant nearly ran out of cash six months after Max joined; he turned down a higher-paying competitor role and stayed to rebuild.
He and the team refocused product and go-to-market, which led investors to provide one more tranche and a rebirth of the company.

ADVICE

Make Partners Your Primary Growth Engine

Do prioritize partner-led distribution over hiring lots of direct sales when runway is short.
LoyaltyPlant turned partners into advocates and closed enterprise deals (e.g., Papa John's UAE) via partner introductions and shared upfronts.

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Today, we are dropping another episode in our "chats" series, but expanding the audience set to include more folks. This episode is Founder Chats - hearing from those scaling the companies themselves.

In this episode, we are talking with Max Denevich, Co-founder and CRO of LoyaltyPlant. Max is going to share with us to road he travelled, entering into this industry, his go to market strategies, scaling across geographic region - and much, much more.

Questions

Before we talk about products and scale, tell us a bit about your path to this point. What experiences shaped the way you think about business and leadership before LoyaltyPlant?
At what point did you realise you wanted to work with complex, traditional industries rather than consumer apps or “easy” tech?
Why foodtech, and specifically Quick Service Restaurants? What made you believe this industry had deep structural problems worth solving with technology?
What made you decide to join LoyaltyPlant, and what potential did you see that others might have missed?
You’re often referred to as a co-founder today. How did the transition happen from an executive role to shaping the company’s future at that level?
LoyaltyPlant was close to running out of investment at one point. What were the first decisions that fundamentally changed the company’s trajectory?
What were the key milestones that turned LoyaltyPlant from a struggling company into a global enterprise business, from the first major client to scaling across 30 countries?
You’ve worked across the US, UK, MENA, Europe, and CIS. What did you learn about scaling the same product across very different markets, and what absolutely doesn’t translate?
You built new go-to-market strategies that now generate over 90% of new sales. What did you change compared to a classic SaaS sales playbook, and why did it work in enterprise QSR?
Margins are shrinking, aggregators dominate, and costs are rising. What’s actually happening on the ground right now in QSR and foodtech, and how should companies adapt?
Tell us about a decision you got wrong. What did it cost the business, and what did it teach you as a leader?
What advice would you give founders building B2B products for traditional industries today, especially around scale, partnerships, and staying relevant?

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