The Story Behind Prefactor: Built by Founders Who Lived the Problem

In the fast-evolving world of SaaS, where user management and authentication are make-or-break for product adoption, Prefactor was born from the complementary experiences of its founders: Matt Doughty and Simon Russell.

Their journey, as industry veterans and passionate builders, drives the vision behind Prefactor: to empower developers and businesses to take back control of their user management without sacrificing speed, security, or agility.

Matt Doughty: The Customer Advocate Turned Builder

With over 15 years spent in sales and customer success at global SaaS leaders like Procore Technologies and PatSnap, Matt developed a keen understanding of the pain points hindering growing companies. He consistently saw how cumbersome, enterprise-focused user management systems became a significant drag on start-ups and scale-ups, diverting critical development resources and negatively impacting user satisfaction.

Matt’s career has been characterized by a commitment to enabling the success of others. His extensive experience helping businesses implement complex software revealed a recurring obstacle: user management wasn't a secondary concern; it was a fundamental impediment to growth. This direct exposure to the problem fueled his drive to co-found Prefactor: a platform designed to eliminate these roadblocks and provide growing companies with the secure and adaptable user infrastructure enjoyed by large enterprises, but without the prohibitive costs or complexities.

"Why should only large organizations have access to seamless, scalable, and secure user management? The reality is that start-ups and scale-ups deserve the same level of power, tailored to their specific needs. This conviction is what motivates me to make Prefactor the new standard." — Matt Doughty

Simon Russell: The Engineer Focused on Practicality and Scale

Simon contributes over 25 years of deep engineering expertise, having a strong track record of building and scaling infrastructure at rapidly growing SaaS companies. He possesses a comprehensive understanding of the intricacies of modern authentication and authorization systems, ranging from outdated legacy solutions to cutting-edge API-driven approaches.

His primary motivation is to simplify complex engineering challenges. Simon has witnessed firsthand the significant amount of time and effort engineering teams waste struggling with fragile and difficult-to-maintain user management systems – time that could be far better utilized on innovating their core product. He believes developers deserve a more effective solution: a platform that is not only robust but also intuitive, empowering them to build quickly and securely without getting bogged down in endless configuration.

"I’ve seen too many teams spend valuable months building user management from scratch, often resulting in insecure and inefficient outcomes. Prefactor is here to change that paradigm. We aim to give developers back their time and transform user management into a strategic asset, not a liability." — Simon Russell

What Drives Us

For Matt and Simon, Prefactor represents more than just a product; it’s a shared mission driven by the belief that effective user management should be a fundamental capability accessible to all companies fueling innovation, regardless of their financial resources or engineering team size. Prefactor is specifically designed to bring enterprise-grade control, security, and flexibility to the start-ups and scale-ups that are driving global progress.

Every feature, every design decision, and every line of code is intentionally crafted to serve this purpose: empowering teams to accelerate their development, scale seamlessly, and maintain robust security – without any compromises.

👉 Ready to discover how Prefactor can empower your growth? Join our Beta today.