About

Work is Play is a brand and marketing firm for SaaS companies that are ready to scale

Why we started

We've spent the last decade inside SaaS companies — building marketing functions, running brand studios, launching products, and watching the same pattern repeat: a great product reaches product-market fit, raises a round, and then stalls because the brand and marketing haven't caught up.

The product works. The early customers love it. But the website undersells it, the positioning is fuzzy, and the marketing isn't generating the pipeline the business needs. We built a firm specifically for this moment: brand and marketing that turns product-market fit into market momentum.

Philosophy

SaaS is all we do

We work exclusively with SaaS companies around the Series A stage. That narrow focus means we've seen your exact situation before — the patterns, the pitfalls, the moves that actually work. Every engagement makes us sharper for the next one.

Start with proof, not opinions

Most agencies start with a mood board. We start with data. Our proprietary diagnostic benchmarks your brand and marketing against comparable SaaS companies — so every strategic decision is grounded in evidence, not just intuition.

Foundation first, then growth

Lead gen only works when the positioning is sharp, the identity is cohesive, and the website is built to convert. We build each layer in order, then activate it. That's what makes marketing compound.

About us

Founders

Sofya Leonova, Partner

Sofya is a marketing strategist who's spent a decade helping software companies position for growth. She led brand operations at Loom—acquired by Atlassian for $975M—and marketing at Liftoff through its Series A to $400M sale to Blackstone. She's worked with dozens of startups navigating the transition from founder-led sales to marketing-led growth. She founded Work is Play to help founders build brands that prove what their customers already know is true.

Sofya is a marketing strategist who's spent a decade inside SaaS companies figuring out what makes them grow. She led brand operations at Loom — acquired by Atlassian for $975M — and marketing at Liftoff through its Series A to $400M sale to Blackstone. She's worked with a dozen SaaS companies navigating the transition from founder-led sales to marketing-led growth. She founded Work is Play to give Series A SaaS companies the same caliber of brand and marketing strategy she built at Loom and Liftoff.

Dinesh Dave, Partner

A designer and creative director with 15 years experience at the intersection of brand and product. Dinesh led design at Meta, Apple, AKQA, and Wieden+Kennedy—building brands and digital experiences for the original Apple Watch, iMac Pro, Nike, Coca-Cola, Levi's, Red Bull, FIFA, Oreo, and Undefeated. He's mentored hundreds of designers on portfolio strategy and career navigation. At Work is Play, he brings the same rigor he applied at Apple and Meta to early-stage software companies building their first brand.

A designer and creative director with 15 years at the intersection of brand and product. Dinesh led design at Meta, Apple, AKQA, and Wieden+Kennedy — building brands and digital experiences for the original Apple Watch, iMac Pro, Nike, Coca-Cola, Levi’s, Red Bull, FIFA, Oreo, and Undefeated. He's mentored hundreds of designers on portfolio strategy and career navigation. At Work is Play, he brings the same rigor he applied at Apple and Meta to SaaS companies building the brand that earns them the market.

Services

Proof of Concept

Diagnostic that scores your brand + marketing relative to industry benchmarks and competitors, and tells you what to do about it.

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Proof Positive

We stay in your corner after the big project ships — monitoring performance, refreshing creative, and protecting the brand.

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Proof of Scale

Research, positioning, identity, website, and lead generation strategy — the complete build for SaaS companies ready to scale.

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Who we work with

SaaS companies at or around Series A. You've proven the product works. Now you need the brand and marketing to match the ambition.

Who we work with

SaaS companies at or around Series A. You've proven the product works. Now you need the brand and marketing to match the ambition.

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