Todd Hammington never really set out to build a SaaS startup. In fact, as a designer, he had no experience in business and no real aspirations to become a CEO.
Rather, he built New Zealand-based Chameleon Creator to solve a problem he was experiencing, and it turned out plenty of others in his community were experiencing it too.
Five years ago, Todd was lead designer at Inspire Group, a learning design agency in Melbourne, working on high-profile projects for major enterprises across Australia, New Zealand and Asia.
“We didn’t have a tool we could use to technically build digital learning content that we were proud of as an agency,” Todd explains.
“So, as opposed to just conforming to the tools that were available, we built our own framework that allowed us to express ourselves creatively at the time.”
The product worked, perhaps better than anyone had expected. The agency was delivering high-quality designs and experiences faster than ever before, and below budget.
Also, because these projects were for large enterprises, the tool had to factor in security and compliance.
“It was ticking all the boxes from an agency perspective, and it was getting a really good stress test,” Todd notes.
Soon, customers were asking to license the product themselves. Almost inadvertently, Todd had built an MVP, found product-market fit, and tested the product at scale.
He built the tool because he needed it. And he knew there was a market because, at the time, he was the market.
“We’re part of the community of what is now our ideal customer profile,” Todd explains.
“Parts of the community were very frustrated at the time, so it was really easy for us to build a product based on those pain points.”
In 2021, Todd launched Chameleon Creator as a standalone entity. Inspire remains a key stakeholder, but Todd took the reins, embarking on what would turn out to be a steep learning curve — and a steep growth trajectory.

How Chameleon Creator put Tractor to work
Over the next two years, Chameleon Creator bootstrapped its way to $1 million in annual recurring revenue and over 100 customers, all with a team of seven or eight people, including COO Lucy Luo.
Todd, and Chameleon, also relocated back to Aotearoa.
“Along that journey, we really learnt how to spend a dollar,” Todd says.
“That actually positioned us really well for how to deploy capital for growth.”
By 2023, it was time to bring some external capital into the business, while prioritising sustainable growth.
“We wanted to maintain that capital efficiency to be more resilient in the market, so we’re less affected by the peaks and troughs that come through.”
That’s where Tractor came into the equation.
Todd and Lucy put Tractor debt funding towards marketing, product development and customer experience; they invested in features that had been in the roadmap for some time, but never quite prioritised.
The biggest investment, however, has been in the team. Particularly, Chameleon’s first full-time customer service manager.
This would be a crucial role. But hiring in a small business is expensive, time-consuming and absolutely critical to get right.
This business is still only 11 people, so onboarding inevitably draws resources from other areas.
“We’re quite niche, so there’s quite a lot of learning involved, to ensure that they understand our product and understand our market,” Todd explains.
“We tried to build a layer of security around onboarding a new staff member, especially one that was quite critical to the business, and touched all functions of the business,” he adds.
“In hindsight, we did it quite well, and we couldn’t have done it without that little injection of capital.”

A steep learning curve
Todd is no serial entrepreneur or career business person. He didn’t even really build a startup on purpose.
So for him, the shift from being an employee (albeit a senior one) to being the boss has been significant.
“You’re stepping out of the weeds and looking at all your key business metrics,” he notes.
“It’s been a really steep learning curve.”
It’s been important for him to surround himself with “awesome people”, particularly COO Lucy, who has extensive experience in scaling tech companies, and who Todd credits for most of the processes that have set Chameleon up for success.
“I definitely can’t take the glory,” he adds.
“As cliche as it sounds, I’ve surrounded myself with good people who have helped me navigate through it all.”
If there is anything he’s learnt along the way, it’s to focus on the customer, always.
“Regardless of how we grow the business, if we’re growing for the right reasons, with a great product, and solving some really big problems, all the other stuff becomes a lot easier.”
Gearing up for growth
Today, Todd is looking to the future, and how to take Chameleon to the next level.
The model is validated, and the business is operating in a streamlined and capital-efficient way. The next step is to take it beyond the shores of Australia and New Zealand.
Todd hasn’t written off the idea of VC capital to amplify that growth when the time is right. But a sustainable model will always be part of Chameleon’s strategy.
After all, Todd hasn’t trodden the path of a stereotypical founder so far. Why would he start now?
“We got product market fit and gained revenue pretty quickly, and we feel a lot more comfortable looking at fundraising now, because we understand how to deploy capital in a much smarter way,” he explains.
“We’ve built an engine that’s working and proven, and we can highlight areas where we can inject money and get a return on investment in a pretty good, low-risk way.
“That’s a good position to be in.”