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Brian de Haaff
Co-founder and CEO at Aha!
Brian de Haaff is the co-founder and CEO of Aha!, a cloud-based software company that provides product development tools.12 He has been in this role since April 2013, leading the company to become a successful enterprise software provider with over 700,000 users.12
Aha! offers a suite of products including Aha! Roadmaps, Aha! Ideas, Aha! Whiteboards, Aha! Knowledge, and Aha! Develop, which are designed to support product managers, engineers, and product development teams in their innovation and product management processes.24
Prior to founding Aha!, Brian had extensive experience in the tech industry:
- VP of Product Line at Citrix (Online Services Division)
- Co-founder and CEO of Paglo (acquired by Citrix)
- CEO of Network Chemistry (acquired by Aruba Networks)
- VP of Product Management and Marketing at Network Chemistry
- Senior roles at Netli, RouteScience, and Concentric Network1
Brian holds an M.S. in Marketing from Northwestern University and a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from U.C. Berkeley, where he graduated cum laude.1
Under Brian's leadership, Aha! has grown to be a profitable, self-funded company with a fully remote workforce. The company is recognized for its unique approach to business, championing the Bootstrap Movement and contributing to charitable causes through Aha! Cares.13
Brian is also an author, having written the bestselling book "Lovability" about product and company growth.3 He is known for his commitment to building a company culture that prioritizes sustainable happiness and work-life integration rather than traditional work-life balance.3
Highlights
I often worried that I did not have a technical degree.
That passed over time as I realized my value was understanding what customers needed and being able to position it in market in a differentiated way.
And now I can actually build applications. Who would have guessed? Strange times – especially for all the kids who got a liberal arts degree and their parents wondered what they would do with their life. We are doing just fine, thank you
We started Aha! almost 13 years ago.
And every day now feels more like those early days than ever before. Customer enthusiasm for our vision of the future of product development assisted by AI is energizing. I was just on two calls where customers are already making their business cases to use Aha! Builder.
We are bootstrapped and profitable. And remote-first. No VC pressure. No drama. We build to create value for customers and the team.
It is an exciting time. We are hiring across product, engineering, customer success, and marketing: https://t.co/zgTbWpF9bg

