Dorian Mercer — Founder and Lead Tester

Dorian Mercer has spent more than a decade testing SaaS products for small businesses. Before founding RunSmartGuide.com, they worked at several major technology and software review publications, evaluating everything from accounting platforms and CRM systems to payroll tools, website builders, and project-management software.

Why RunSmart Guide Exists

Over the years, Dorian noticed that many product reviews were shaped by concerns that mattered most to large companies: extensive customization, complex compliance controls, enterprise integrations, and support for hundreds—or thousands—of employees. Those features could make a product look impressive on paper while doing little for a small-business owner who simply needed something affordable, dependable, and easy to operate.

Dorian created RunSmartGuide.com to offer a more practical kind of technology advice. Every product is tested from the perspective of a real small business, with particular attention paid to setup time, ease of use, true monthly cost, customer support, everyday limitations, and whether the software continues to provide value as a business grows.

How We Test

Every review on RunSmart Guide follows the same hands-on process. Dorian signs up for the product the same way any small-business owner would, configures it from scratch, and runs through the everyday tasks you'd actually perform—not a curated demo guided by a sales rep. The goal is to surface the friction, the hidden costs, and the limitations that show up only after you've already committed.

• Setup time: How long does it take to go from sign-up to a working configuration?
• Ease of use: Can a non-technical owner navigate the dashboard without calling support?
• True monthly cost: What do you actually pay once you add the features you need—not the teaser price on the pricing page?
• Customer support: When something breaks, how fast and how helpful is the response?
• Everyday limitations: What can't the product do, and does that matter for a small business?
• Scalability: Does the software still deliver value as your team and revenue grow?

Our Editorial Philosophy

Methodical, curious, and refreshingly skeptical of marketing claims, Dorian believes the best software is not necessarily the product with the most features. It is the product that solves the right problems without creating new ones. Through hands-on testing and plainspoken reviews, their goal is to help small-business owners spend less time comparing software—and feel more confident about the technology they choose.