The SaaS Podcast - AI, Growth & Product-Market Fit for SaaS Founders

SaaS Distribution Channel: Partner Deals to $100M ARR

9 snips

Mar 12, 2026

Zhong Xu, co-founder of Deliverect who scaled integrations to tens of thousands of restaurants and nearly $100M ARR. He explains launching with a Wizard of Oz MVP, turning integrations into a distribution channel, convincing competitors to distribute his product, opening many offices fast to block incumbents, and why AI could commoditize connectivity unless you own the intelligence layer.

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ANECDOTE

Prior Exit Gave Domain Access And Credibility

Zhong previously built an early iPad point-of-sale and merged that company with Lightspeed, which IPO'd in 2019.
That background gave him domain expertise and direct access to POS CEOs when launching Deliverect.

ADVICE

Validate Demand With A Manual Wizard Of Oz MVP

Do launch with a Wizard of Oz MVP and manually service early customers to validate demand before building product.
Zhong signed 50–100 restaurants and processed orders by hand, then scripted and coded only after proving need.

ADVICE

Validate Problem By Rapid Customer Conversations

Talk to hundreds of customers quickly to validate the problem across markets before building features.
Zhong spoke to ~200–300 restaurants in three months to confirm the pain was global and necessary.

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100 restaurants. Every order processed manually. Zero lines of code. Zhong Xu built Deliverect by turning integration partners into a SaaS distribution channel that scaled his product 10x faster than direct sales. Here's how he reached 80,000 restaurants and nearly $100M ARR through partnerships instead of cold outreach.

Zhong shares why he launched with a Wizard of Oz MVP, how he convinced competing software companies to distribute his product, and why he opened 10 offices in a single quarter during COVID to block local incumbents before they could form.

Plus: Zhong's take on why AI might turn his platform into commodity infrastructure - and his strategy to stay ahead.

Deliverect connects delivery platforms like Uber Eats and DoorDash to restaurant systems across 50 countries. Zhong previously co-founded a restaurant software company that merged with Lightspeed, which IPO'd in 2019.

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🔑 Key Lessons

🚀 Build a SaaS distribution channel through integration partnerships: Zhong partnered with 10+ software companies who each brought 100 restaurants monthly, reaching 80,000 locations across 50 countries faster than any direct sales team could.
🛠️ Launch with a Wizard of Oz MVP before writing code: Deliverect signed up 100 restaurants and manually processed every order before building anything, proving demand without wasting months on unvalidated features.
🤝 Attribute leads to distribution partners to avoid conflict: Zhong always credited partners for deals regardless of how customers arrived, eliminating the channel conflict that destroys most partnership-driven growth programs.
⚡ Enter every market before local incumbents emerge: Deliverect opened 10 offices in one quarter during COVID, betting that being number 1 or 2 early was cheaper than displacing entrenched local competitors later.
💰 Always charge early customers - free users give less feedback: Zhong found that non-paying customers feel guilty requesting help and stay silent, while even $50/month customers actively engage and provide honest product feedback.
🧠 Deep domain expertise creates unfair SaaS distribution advantages: Zhong's 12+ years in restaurant tech meant he had every partner CEO's phone number at launch, turning cold outreach into warm partnership conversations.
🎯 Build the intelligence layer before you become commodity infrastructure: Deliverect is racing to add AI-powered menu optimization and agent commerce because connectivity alone is replicable, but owning the restaurant intelligence layer is a defensible moat.

Chapters

Introduction
What Deliverect does and how it works
80,000 restaurants and approaching $100M ARR
How Zhong's father inspired his entrepreneurial journey
Building one of the first tablet-based restaurant platforms
Where the idea for Deliverect came from
Why four co-founders and why distribution beats product
The Wizard of Oz MVP - manual orders for 100 restaurants

Resources

Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/474
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