Alexander Theuma

Founder and Editor-in-chief

BackFuture

Having built the largest SaaS Community in Europe and expanding into US and beyond with SaaStock I've made the move into Venture Capital to add further value to the early stage B2B SaaS founders with capital and pay it forward LPs, enabling the future of SaaS.

General Partner

SaaStock

Our mission is to accelerate the growth of AI & SaaS companies by helping them connect, adapt, and thrive in the AI-powered future of software.

SaaStock is the Community/Conference where SaaS founders and their teams master the shift to AI-native growth.
In an era defined by automation, velocity, and complexity, we bring clarity through world-class conferences, strategic content, and high-intent connections that drive real business outcomes.
Whether you’re building your first AI feature or rearchitecting your go-to-market, SaaStock gives you the frameworks, relationships, and energy to scale with confidence.

Founder

SaaStock Founder Membership (SFM)

A Private Members Organisation of SaaS Founders , on the journey to $100MM ARR, helping each other scale faster together through supportive peer groups, network and workshops

The SaaS Revolution Show

The SaaS Revolution Show is a weekly podcast for SaaS Founders who are on their journey to $10MM ARR+ We interview those that are doing it or have done it to share their lessons and advice.

Podcast Host

SaaScribe

SaaScribe is an online publication for the SaaS Startup Community by the SaaS Startup Community. The vision is to provide a forest of awesome content around B2B SaaS that will help those within the SaaS Startup community learn every day in the hope that we all become SaaS experts.

I also host a weekly podcast, The SaaS Revolution Show, talking SaaS with the leading lights of the SaaS Industry.

SaaScribe organises local SaaS Meetups and a larger event is in the works. Watch this space

Odin

Odin (Formerly Parallels Service Provider Business) is a worldwide leader in hosting and cloud service enablement. Odin enables service providers to rapidly launch and efficiently deliver the most profitable Cloud services by automating the delivery of the broadest set of solutions demanded by small businesses.

I was the Sales lead for our Odin Service Provider Automation platform, focusing on new strategic opportunities, within Northern Europe.

Key Account Manager - Strategic Accounts - EMEA

SIPhon Networks

SIPHON focuses solely on Unified Communications (UC) technology and specifically addresses innovative new solutions that deliver significant value to our customers in terms of increased revenues, improved efficiency and cost reductions. We do this by combining world class solutions from key technology vendors in the advanced VoIP and UC marketplace and by delivering a very comprehensive Consultancy and Services package with each product delivered. We have developed strong relationships with our technology partners and each partner is a leading player in their technology domain allowing SIPHON Networks to offer multiple best-in-breed solutions. 

SIPHON = Unified Communications Innovation & Delivery

I was responsible for multiple core network products and service sales (Acme Packet, Broadsoft, IPTEGO, Leonid Systems)

Sales Manager

Applied Communications

Applied Communications offer Business Development and Professional Services to Vendors and Carriers who wish to establish or enhance sales presence in EMEA. Applied has a proven team in starting new vendor business in Europe and has specific expertise in IP and SIP based technology. We offer flexible work packages and have competence across sales, technical sales, engineering, project management, training and recruitment. Our commercial model is directly linked to performance and results and we are already adding value to several technology vendors and carriers, today.

Covergence

Sales Manager for Northern Europe for Access Edge Session Border Controller Vendor, Covergence Inc

Sales Manager Northern Europe

NexTone

NexTone were a Session Border Controller Vendor at the vanguard of VoIP peering. I was responsible for Inside Sales for EMEA.

Inside Sales Manager

Helping SaaS Founders grow their businesses to $10M+ ARR

I started SaaStock in 2015 with a simple idea: give SaaS founders a real space to connect, learn, and scale faster–together.

Fast forward to today: SaaStock has become the global home for SaaS founders who are serious about growth.

We've hosted thousands of founders, VCs, and execs from Dublin to Austin, from seed stage to unicorn. We’ve built a community that doesn’t just celebrate scale, it shares the hard truths, the breakthroughs, and the lessons you only get by being in the room where it happens.

Before SaaStock, I spent 11 years in sales, getting my hands dirty, chasing targets, closing deals, and learning what real GTM pressure feels like. That experience taught me: there’s no shortcut to growth. You need the right people around you, the right mindset, and a willingness to evolve — especially now, in an AI First world.

Today, I'm focused on three things:

Growing SaaStock across Europe and the US as the leading platform for SaaS founders.

Building a new generation of founder-driven, AI-enabled companies.

Using the SaaS Revolution Show Podcast to tell the real stories — the wins and the war stories — from the frontlines of SaaS.

SaaS is changing fast.

I'm here for the builders who want to change with it and win.

If you're scaling a SaaS company, or investing in one, let's chat.

Our purpose is to make a real difference to the lives and companies of the SaaS community

Most SaaS companies fail within the first three years due to lack of runway, lack of product market fit and lack of founder experience in managing a business.
SaaStock helps B2B SaaS Founders on the journey to $10mill ARR supercharge their growth by connecting founders with VCs to help extend runway, learn from industry experts and build pipeline.
We do this through or Physical and virtual conferences, our founder membership program, SaaStock local community gatherings and media.
We are the only media and events business that focuses on SaaS founders scaling to $10mill ARR. This focus enables us to provide the highest quality events, content and connections
For founders in this stage of their journey.


Linkedin reminds me today its 10 year anniversary of SaaStock.

10 years since i took the leap to become a first time founder and creating an event and community business, something i’d never done before.

The first SaaStock was magical whilst it filled me with anxiety throughout.

Timing was everything. 

We’ve had tailwinds and faced headwinds.

10 years of growing the business, building a team, expanding internationally.

Showing up every day.

2 years during covid of trying to survive and providing value to our community when there was no in person. Never giving up.

Seeing some new products fail.

Seeing SaaStock Founder Membership (SFM) deliver value.

Working with amazing colleagues present and past.

10 years of looking forward to tomorrow on a Sunday night.

10 years of some exceptional memories and friendships forged.

It’s been hard. It can be exhausting. I’m getting some grey hairs (probs just age). I’ve put on weight, i’ve lost weight.

Yet the Why we do what we do. The purpose is so compelling and rewarding. I feel like I have the best job in the world (most days).

And whilst Linkedin says 10 years. It’s really day one again.

We’ve re-imagined SaaStock. A new program centred around 1:1 meetings and peer to peer learning.

It’s just the start of a new era at one of the most exciting times in B2B Software.

The fire is just as bright as it was 10 years ago.

Love to all our customers and SaaStockers over the years. I’m ready to build the future with you.

Running the largest 1:1 Meetings event in AI & SaaS

SaaS is dead!

Unless you’re actually building it.

Last night I sat at a table of SaaS founders where "dead" looked more like “doubling.”

One founder — fully bootstrapped — was at $8M ARR in April.
 Last night? $13M ARR.

Another I hadn’t seen in a year.
Now sitting at $16M ARR.

No outside capital.
No hype cycle.

Just leaning into tailwinds, building systems, and shipping value.

Add in founders at $5M ARR, $7M ARR — same story:
Quiet execution > loud predictions.

It’s funny — people keep declaring SaaS over.

Meanwhile, the builders I know are compounding.

There’s nothing better than breaking bread with founders who are doing the work.

(7) Post | Feed | LinkedIn

li_at

JSESSIONID

We just closed our first ever 3-year deal.

10 years of SaaStock. Thousands of sponsors.
But never this.

Sure — we’ve always had loyal partners. Some have come back 7 or 8 years in a row, no questions asked.

But every time we tried to turn that into a multi-year commitment…
it ended up becoming “let’s just renew next year.”

So what changed?

The product changed. Not the pitch. Not the deck. The product.

Our Hosted Meetings program delivered more value — faster — than anything we’ve ever built.

Not for everyone. But for the ones it works for… it really works.

This customer ran 20 hosted meetings at SaaStock Europe last month.
They closed deals on site.
They got instant ROI.

And that’s why they just committed to:
 🔥 300 hosted meetings over the next 3 years
 🔥 at this year’s rate
 🔥 locked in

A 3-year deal wasn’t something we pushed.

It was something the results pulled into existence.

Product > persuasion.
Outcome > optimism.
Proof > promises.

On to the next one. 🙌

Look who's talking.

Or should I say speaking at SaaStock USA 2026, next April in Austin.

We've just published the first 10 speaker drop and I hope you like it as much as I do:

Manny Medina, Co-founder & CEO, Paid
Nathan Latka, Founder & CEO, Founderpath
Kady Srinivasan, CMO, You.com
Krish Ramineni, Co-founder & CEO, Fireflies.ai 
Adam Robinson, Founder & CEO, RB2B
Colin Nederkoorn, Founder & CEO, Customer.io
Jen Igartua, CEO Go Nimbly
Tanay Kothari, Co-founder & CEO, Wispr Flow
Richard White, Founder & CEO, Fathom
Anne Giviskos, SVP - Strategic Finance Leader & CAO, Navan

A mix of Unicorn Founders, $100M ARR companies, Bootstrappers and VC backed businesses. GTM & Finance leaders and dare I say influencers.

Something they all have in common? They are building the future of B2B Software.

I'm also a customer of 5 out of the 10, which had nothing to do with their selection.

Join me in the front row for their sessions at SaaStock USA in April, as well as Meetup our 1:1 meetings program and Tabletalks, our peer to peer learning program.

Save the dates, get your tickets, learn and meet with the best at SaaStock USA 2026.

Harshvardhan Mishra 👹

I was in my very first Sales Job, right out of college, I was more excited than scared. 

Probably that's a good thing. 🤷 

But yeah, one fine day, I asked help from a Senior Director in my team, to give me some e-mail templates & cold call scripts, if the lord had it.

Lord smirked at me, and said: "You are a wild horse Harsh, you have not been tamed yet"

My eyes wide open, in disbelief, I questioned, 'if I was a Horse all this time?  " 

First of all: "Excuse me, what??" 😮

But come to think of, I do love open grassfields, have empathy and am intelligent but still, the confusion prevailed. 🤔 

Only to realise that he had left me on my own. 

And probably that's a good thing too. 🌼 

Because dramatically getting hurt by his one small comment, I ignited fire in me, called another founder ( Sridhar - B2Brain ) and said:

"I can't take this anymore" 

"We need to build a support system" 

"He said, 'I hear you'" 

"Let's do it" 

And thus somehow a Sales Community for SaaS Sellers was born 🥂

In the midlife, it became to be known as Sales 101, and man we did and do some great fun 🤩 

- Brunches ( Mixers ) 
- Workshops 
- Rant Sessions / Zigs 

and much more. 

So that little idea is now a movement, where we want to build an ecosystem for Indian SaaS Sellers and provide a home, a village, a shoulder to take them forward together 🫂

Account Executive

Working in SMB Sales

Harshvardhan Mishra

Back when I started as an SDR, 

- I didn't have pre-made playbooks

- No power dialer ( or any dialer for that matter ) 

- No Database tool 

- No SEP or Intent Signal or Website De-anonymization platform 

I was handed an email ID ( yeah just one, not 30 different ones ) and a list of accounts where I was supposed to setup meetings. 

And was just thrown into the deep end of the pool. 

Instead of drowning, I learned to swim 🏊 

Used free credits of tools, guessed email IDs and asked people for contact numbers. 

Ended up booking 120+ Enterprise meetings in a year. 

I felt un-stoppable, and that built the muscle which is helping me earn till date. 

____

No, this is not to say that today's SDRs have it easy, if anything, they have it harder than me. 

I was operating in a less noisy environment, selling AI 5 years ago, people were curious and afraid, that did lead to conversations and conversions. 

But as we at times feel that using too much ChatGPT has made us dumb, similarly, I feel the SDRs of today are too much dependent on the tool, intent signals, and power dialers. 

All of this was invented to operate at scale, to be able to remove guesswork, to become more efficient, and it did all that. 

Except maybe building that muscle became weaker. 

Remember all these tools, platforms and tech will only help if you know how to use them correctly. 

I'd ask every SDR right now: 

"Will they be able to book meetings if they were stripped of most of the tech available to them?" 

If answer is YES, then good for you, you will survive a long time. 

If it's NO, then I'd ask try doing it without any fancy tech. 

It will build that muscle. 💪 

_______

PS: If you have this muscle I keep talking about, reachout to me, I am helping few companies hire their Founding SDR and you might be the right one for them. 

PPS: That is younger me, attending his first conference, plus people like seeing photos on Linkedin.

India’s OG SaaS Sales Community | Sales 101

We just helped a YC company hire their Founding SDR! 

Wasn't easy to find a good fit, but that's why we exist. 

But there are more roles where we are helping, read and reachout ONLY if you fit the bill. 

__________

For Chennai - 

1. SDR - US Shift 
2. SDR - EMEA Shift
3. Associate Director of Sales - APAC 
4. Director of Demand Generation

__________

For Bangalore - 

1. Founding SDR - US Shift 
2. AE - India Shift 

_________

For Pune - 

1. SDR ( B2B Outreach but not SaaS ) - India Shift 

________

Remote - 

1. SDR ( B2B Outreach but not SaaS ) - US Shift 

______

Share this post with people who might be a fit, tag them below or if you yourself are looking for a switch, DM away!

Sometime ago, we ( Sales 101 ) hosted an AE mixture in association with Wayground (formerly Quizizz). 

It was a combination of fun, knowledge and good food 🍱 

Rajdeep Pundir talked about the journey of Wayground.
 
Mihir Bhanushali made a lot of us laugh for sure while answering rapid fire questions.

and an amazing team behind the scenes - Nishant, Gayatri, Priyanka, Aayushi, Sangram & Namratha, people who made it possible. 

Enjoy the aftermovie, and keep an eye for our future events ❤️

Companies don’t want to invest in enablement, that is the truth of today. 

Life of freshers is tougher than ever. 

Companies want exact fit, 

-someone who has already worked in X geo, 

- talked to Y persona and 

- comes in their budget 

Why all of these filters? 

Because they want to maximise their chances of success and get results ASAP. 

The 3 month ramp up period has become more of a probation that is tied to results. 

Patience level has gone down because founders/sales leaders themselves don’t understand what needs to be done. 

Treating junior employees like SDR and AE as your revenue bearers and expecting them to keep your company afloat is lazywork. 

Why are you a leader then? 

I remember when I started, Sales Enablement used to be a function which has disappeared now. 

Even then the sales enablement team was doing low impact tasks like preparing your ppt for you, writing messaging or giving case study at best. 

Instead everyone wants a silver bullet, someone to join them and crush revenue targets. 

It’s almost ridiculous to see how a lot of companies are operating, you’d think they are doing things right at the top level and that trickles down, but mostly it’s guesswork and pressuring the sales team. 

People who had low pressure, worked in less noise, were early sellers, are now leaders who are almost clueless. 

And this leads to toxicity and mis-alignment. 

I have a feeling things will heal themselves, golden era of SaaS has ended and only people with substance would survive. 

Rest will hit a wall. 

So think if you can become a salesperson of substance.

There's a lot of money to be made by throwing people under the bus 🚌 

By eating out of the benefits that were supposed to go to them, by underpaying people, by cheating them or playing loopholes with them. 

We could be one of the biggest sales hiring agency in India, but because 

- we created a community, 

- care about the candidate and 

- also want to create a good name in the long term

we loose on money! 💰 

And that is fine, because I believe eventually we will find more of the people that we want to work with. 

Plus in Sales, none of the company is best for salesfolks, 

- there's always some sort of compromise that you will have to make, 

- some pressure/toxicity to bear 

- some bad leadership 

- some product defects 

But I think even if it is 70% good, if it's a decent company for you, then you should be thankful for that match. 

Do avoid shiny titles, un-real promotions or hikes, promises of the future and Red flags. 

But junior employees specifically fall prey to these, because they have less knowledge, less self-confidence, are insecure and low on runway ( money money money ).

Investors don't give a shiit about the junior most employee or culture in general, rather they sit with founders and give audacious revenue goals, which will result in a good exit for them. 

No one's striving to build a great workplace anymore, rather growth at all costs. 

Recruiters crying about short stint of SDRs, meanwhile SDRs being used and thrown without an iota of enablement and care. 

Then people come and say you can earn upto 1CR as a fresher in SaaS, I mean what bullshiiit guys!! 

There's a company paying 4 LPA for 4-5 years experience SDR and still hiring, there's another one hiring 17 SDRs meanwhile so many people at that company had short stints.

Man, if I had my way, I'd call out a lot of bullshit, but I also have to live and earn with these mfers, so just trying to steer out of un-necessary bs.

Employers and Employees both do wrong to each other sometimes. 

So in that case, it should be called a fair deal, right?

Part and parcel of the game, shiiit happens and various other things that we tell ourselves. 

But in case of an Employee, the Employer can do some serious damage to your career and life. 

- Negative Ref Checks ( leaving you un-employed for a long time ) 
- No Severance 
- Forgetting about you as soon as you are out the door 

And as an Employee, you can't do much. 

- Labour laws in India are shit 
- Sales as a profession is vulnerable to bad name ( because people usually hire based on trust and gut feeling rather actual skills, because they are super hard to verify ) 
- Can get served a defamation notice and what not! 

So my bias would still go towards an employee who was making 8-10 Lakh rupees, has no legal support, is dependent on your review to keep his career going on and can be pressurized at per employer's will. 

We all have heard Employees committing suicide due to pressure and toxicity, ever heard an Employer do that, because the employee harassed them?

Almost all of these fancy, hustling, super-genius founders are just people who can use people well, some might care about you, but to most, you are a way to make "their" company great.

[ATTENTION] - If you are in SaaS Sales, and looking for your next play: 

 🫵 GO CLICK THE LINK IN MY PROFILE 

Or just visit www [ dot ] emplyod [ dot ] com

_______

Why? 

- Most of the job opportunities never see themselves on a notice board 

- They are filled through asking within close circles or take help from someone like us 

- And often at times, you might know the opportunity but when you apply directly, you become a part of the rest 450 people who applied. 

Good Luck Buddy :) 

Butt 🍑 , if you go through us:

- We analyse which opportunity would be a good fit for you 

- We reachout to you if we find something and guide you through the whole process 

- We tell you the pros and cons 

- We help you with your resume, assignment, building up confidence and even negotiations

_________

What does it cost?

Nothing from your end. 

So if you are someone in SaaS Sales, serious about your career path, and would like to take our help, drop your resume in the portal. 

You can even refer your friends, colleagues and juniors. 

CC: Astha

People don't engage in meaningful discussions on Linkedin anymore. 

It's all "Me-this" "Me-that" "My achievement" "Me Me Me"

So let's treat this post as sort of brainstorming wall, Ask me Anything, I will try to reply to best of my knowledge, and maybe others will also join. 

That's it, that's the post.

I keep screaming that "Average will not work anymore".

and trust me, for a lot of sales-people, this realization will come far too late. 

Because of AI + Funding Crunch + Outbound getting noisy and more, the pressure to deliver more in less has started showing up. 

I don't know much before 2020, but during 2021-2023, India SaaS was hiring like anything. 

If you could 
- speak decent English, 
- knew some jargons, and 
- were even average, 

money was being thrown at you 💰 

Because companies had fresh funding and wanted to scale as much as they could. 

But now, it's all back to optimizing, and when it comes to that, companies start cutting budgets, reducing salaries and hiring talent which actually deserves it. 

They have the leverage and we need to level up. 

So what can you do?

- Do an audit 👀 

Identify knowledge gaps, understand the scope of your role, growth opportunities and where a pivot is needed. 

- Talk to people 🧍‍♂️🧍‍♀️ 

Talk to people in your industry ( Peers, Junior and Senior ) and see what are they doing right?

- Prepare a plan  ✍️ 

How will you fix it, how will you upskill, who all can help?

- Execute it ⚙️ 

Go do it, and then keep auditing and retrospecting

So many of you won't do it, because it's hard, boring and doesn't give any immediate results, and hence people who'd do it, would definitely survive better.

It's been a long time since we did something in Delhi. 

Hence, with no further ado, presenting Sales 101 - Delhi Brunch. 

Although it's no longer a Brunch ( Linner?? - Lunch + Dinner ?? ) 

But yeah, same old format, same old vibe. 

Limited spots, no sponsor and a promise of a good experience. 

Get your spots through the link in comments or just ask Me or Astha in DM. 

See ya!

taplio

The Battle

Alexander Theuma

Harshvardhan Mishra

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The Battle

Alexander Theuma

Harshvardhan Mishra

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Alexander Theuma's LinkedIn Performance

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