Ash Ali

Co-Founder & Growth Hacker

Co-Founder of Uhubs | Bestselling Author: 'The Unfair Advantage' | Empowering SaaS Sales Leaders to Exceed Targets

Hey there! I’m Ash Ali, an entrepreneurial spirit who thrives on turning ideas into reality. 

Best known as the first marketing director at Just Eat, I helped scale it to Series A which then went onto become UK’s first tech unicorns.

But my journey didn't start in the usual boardroom. Without a formal degree, I carved my path through sheer grit, instinct, and a knack for seeing opportunities where others see obstacles. 

Today, I leverage my 20 plus years experience to mentor, invest in, and fuel the next generation of startups.

I co-authored "The Unfair Advantage: How You Already Have What It Takes to Succeed" which won Business Book of the Year.

Our book dives into leveraging your unique traits for success — something I live by and encourage others to recognise in themselves.

I'm currently leading Uhubs, a cutting-edge B2B sales performance startup that empowers sales leaders to define and measure excellence in their teams. 

Our unique Pulse technology provides real-time insights and metrics, helping businesses understand "what good looks like" in sales performance. 

It's about bringing clarity and precision to skills for better sales strategies, enabling teams to thrive in today's competitive markets.

My personal philosophy is to:

"Embrace your unique journey, your most significant 'unfair advantage' might just be something you already possess."

If you’re an entrepreneur at heart, a sales leader looking to elevate your team, or just want to chat about the startup world's highs and lows, feel free to connect! 

I'm always open to sharing ideas, speaking at events and conferences and specialise in GTM, Marketing, Sales and everything to do with starting tech startups.

Co-founder - We're hiring!

Uhubs helps busy sales leaders at top SaaS companies optimise their sales enablement to develop reps and grow revenue, by uncovering blind spots on performance, motivation and skills.

The Uhubs Pulse platform visualises each team’s development needs for personalised upskilling & provides data-driven coaching recommendations that are saving Sales Managers 40+ hrs per quarter and helping reps ramp up 30% faster.

Supercharge your sales team by booking a demo with us today.

AscensionQ

• Creation of SaaS based clinical research CTMS business to accelerate research and drug development.

• Full product creation and development and GTM strategy.

•  Understanding market needs / governance and compliance inline with MHRA / FDA guidelines

• Leading fundraising efforts, securing investments (£450K), and devising GTM strategy.

• Generating over £200k a year in sales within 2 years of launch.

• Managing budgets and financial planning, devising an online marketing and sales strategy aligned with commercial, product development based on market needs.

• Designing and implementation of "All in one platform" to manage clinical trials based on key CRM principles (First in research) to improve patient experience and management of clinic operations, reducing costs and improving research outcomes.

• Setting up offshore capabilities and driving development with agile / sprints with 20+ developers, creating and launching 7 apps that seamlessly integrate built on .NET Azure framework. CTMS, eISF, DMS, eLabs, eDelegation, Quality management and regulatory solutions.

• Devising a market-fit and aligning the product fit for different markets such as CRO, SMO, Research sites in both NHS and commercial.

Co-Founder

Ashforce

Empowering organisations to reach their objectives through cloud technology-driven business transformations that shape and modernise the entire enterprise.

Business Transformation Consultant

Hologic, Inc.

• Led and managed the multi-year digital transformation programme, ensuring alignment with 
 strategic objectives and successful deployment globally.

• Delivery of business case and roadmap for board level approval

• Partner selection with complex contract negotiations to deliver program

• Managed a portfolio of digital transformation projects with budget over $10M

• Responsible for global alignment of order to cash process across 3 different business functions across EMEA, APAC and US

• Led the strategic management and global rollout of Salesforce.com project portfolio (including Pardot, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, CPQ, FSL, Partner and Customer Communities) across North America, EMEA, and APAC

• Assembled and responsible a team of 45+ professionals and coordinated with 5+ international partners to execute strategic initiatives

• Fully re-engineered the order-to-cash process, encompassing a comprehensive overhaul of the Sales process, Order Management, CPQ, and ERP systems to enhance efficiency and reducing costs.

• Creation and implementation of a Data management strategy

• Designed DevOps team and hired team to deliver service after Project completion.

Global Program Director

Unilever

• Led the strategic separation of operational systems from Unilever to Upfield, supporting the creation of an new organisational structure focused on full-scale production and operations for Upfield.

• Directed the expansion of Sales and Service Cloud into 8 new markets, including the US, LATAM, and APAC, managing smooth transitions, local market adaptation, and system detachment from Unilever.

• Tasked with reviewing and realigning ( Due to critical gaps) the global sales and service implementation post-PwC handover, ensuring seamless operational detachment and reconfiguration of systems to suit Upfield’s independent needs.


• Spearheaded the formation of a new Global Implementation Team, ensuring strategic alignment, operational excellence, and efficient transitions from legacy Unilever systems to Upfield’s tailored solutions.

• Established a globally managed Centre of Excellence, integrating cross-continental operational standards, collaborating with business leads to increase adoption and ensure successful implementation of new systems.

• Provided expert consultancy on best practices, optimising global business processes to enhance efficiency, effectiveness, and long-term operational success for the newly formed Upfield.

Technical Business Architect / Product owner

Sitecore

• Orchestrated an 18-month digital transformation programme, including the development of an initial business case and ROI projections. Secured board-level approval and funding to shift Sitecore from a perpetual to a subscription-based model, targeting 20% annual growth.

• Directed vendor selection and steered commercial and legal contract negotiations, securing optimal pricing and maximising value for Sitecore. Structured multi-year, complex contracts to ensure effective delivery and alignment with the organisation’s long-term strategic objectives.

• Assembled, hired and led a team of 15 internal contractors (UK) with external partners, including offshore teams in India, Bulgaria, and Spain, to implement a customer-centric digital transformation. This involved modernising legacy business applications and deploying a SaaS-based enterprise solution, enhancing productivity, transparency, and customer engagement.

• Held direct accountability to the CCO, CFO, and CRO for a comprehensive overhaul of the customer lifecycle—from lead acquisition through to renewal—improving operational efficiency, customer retention, and sales operations.

• Designed and optimised customer journeys, identifying critical touchpoints and automating manual processes to improve efficiency. Defined the broader business and technology data strategy, driving change management and securing stakeholder alignment for seamless transformation.

• Skilfully navigated organisational politics and managed challenging C-suite stakeholders, adapting to shifting priorities and adjusting timelines to ensure project success.

• Worked with business leaders to implement best practices for customer success, sales, and marketing, ensuring leadership alignment and overseeing the implementation of key systems, including Partner Channel (SFDC Communities), Sales Cloud, Closed Loop Marketing (Marketo), and Sales Strategy (Miller Heiman).

Global Technical Programme Director 

Earthport

•	Design and implement Digital transformation strategy & its Roadmap using Force.com platform 
•	Business ready activities, creating a CoE & Support functions, Info Sec Advisory (Shield)  
•	Leading Design workshops, as is Gap Analysis, detailing existing Business process across the organisation. 
•	Mapping “New” Customer Journey across all functions to improve efficiency and open new channels 
•	Consulting on strategy and implementation of Service & Sales Cloud and Communities 
•	Duties include, managing relationship of external Vendors and building a team internally
•	Advising Marketing on best practises of digital marketing using Pardot 
•	Implementation of CTI solution, E-signature and Compliance software ( KYC) 
•	Building a Governance and data security model using Shield
•	Financial Budget management and planning

Salesforce Solution Architect / Project Manager 

EDF Europe

• Advisory role to oversee digital transformation strategy and support customer with Key Vendors

• Advising on data strategy for customer centricity and creating plans for data flow and integrations

• Overseeing Detailed design of Service Cloud, Sales Cloud, CPQ and Marketing Cloud,
field service with Deloitte functional team, Accenture and Cloud Sense

• Lead on devising, refining the customer life journey & creation of customer-centric Data Model. Understanding key industry, legal and governing constrains to ensure validity of the new operational model

• Core responsibly to govern, direct and articulate the CRM blueprint into tactical sprint- able User Stories to ensure a customer centric organisation using Cloud technology (SFDC Platform) from Legacy SAP on premise technology stack

• Oversee design, implementation and sign-off work from onsite partners such as Deloitte, Accenture & Cloud Sense

• Leading change management / training and preparing organisation for new operating model

Salesforce Solution Consultant 

foodpanda

Responsible for devising, executing CRM roadmap across 8 Countries, liaising with senior management to roll-out full program of projects using the force.com platform. 

•	Sole Architect of CRM system to support Global business process to best manage the customer experience & provide insight 
•	Management of Global Sales Operation using Sales Cloud its implementation across 20 + countries 
•	Creation of an internal CRM department that can collaborate with Sales, Marketing and account management to improve customer experience. 
•	Creation of support function, using the service cloud to manage the 800 SFDC User base.
•	Development of in-house development capabilities, using agile/prototype development and implementation of associated tool set
•	Vendor selection of force.com tools such as CTI, E-Signature & other sales tools 
•	Large and complex CRM Migrations from new acquisitions and bring the sales, account management into the global Sales process and aftersales. 
•	Integration of Zendesk, PHP backend and other SaaS systems. SimilarWeb.

Global Business Transformation Director 

The Coca-Cola Company

Key responsibilities is to evaluate the current Solution against the strategic direction of Coke enterprise within the Social and True-multichannel system, management of the big data created by capturing the interactions across all Cokes Digital customer sites, plus Social Media 
•	Review and build data discovery tools for customer behaviour analysis to capture trends in customer lifecycle. 
•	Managing the CRM technology deployment working with Off shore development house 
•	Consulting Coke on latest technology to solve big data & scale Salesforce across Coke’s Global business 
•	Driving Social & digital marketing engagement strategy using SFDC and Exact target 	 
•	Building, driving a Data Governance framework to drive privacy, security and standards across coke Consumer platforms  
•	Project & product management of Exact Target upgrade and implementation within Coke and its External Marketing Agencies.

Force.com Solution Architect (Martech)

Top right group

Responsible for defining the Salesforce implementation strategy on key areas of Sales, Marketing and account management across 3 different diversions to harmonise process of customer journey leveraging the force.com platform. 
•	Introduction, implementation and global roll out of key Products to capture customer, sentiments NPS scoring (Qualtrics), management of Sales teams (Echo-sign and Ingenuis CTI & Verba Call recording) to monitor, manage and train Sales teams via analytics. 
•	Delivered new integration feeds from marketing intelligence platform to enable better campaign management via multiple channels, new process definition to increase velocity and lead time of campaigns from 8 days to 3 days. 	 
•	Management of number of vendors to partner with TRG with correct SLA’s to deliver key projects defined by TRG to assist with customer journey and customer analytics, (BVD Data,MINT), (Hubstone Jitterbit), (Adobe Echo-sign) , (Development house, Creation Technology) 
•	Defining best practises, framed and monitored using Force.com platform to deliver consistent customer experience in most cost effective   manner.

Technical Project Manager

A dynamic and results-driven transformation leader with over 20 years of experience in guiding businesses through complex challenges and helping them achieve a competitive advantage. My passion for continuous learning and strategic application of technology, people, and business processes enables me to offer unique insights that drive impactful decision-making.

With a proven track record of aligning enterprise strategy with customer-focused outcomes, I played a pivotal role in Groupon’s hypergrowth, helping the company become the fastest to reach $1 billion in revenue. My deep understanding of SaaS platforms and business productivity was instrumental in shaping Salesforce.com’s product innovation and B2B marketplace strategy, eventually making my organisation its largest customer at the time. 

Over the years, I’ve partnered with a wide range of global organisations, leading their digital transformation initiatives from vision through execution. My holistic approach combines technology integration, organisational alignment, and a focus on customer experience to deliver sustainable success in a rapidly evolving marketplace.

Key Success 

Scaling start-ups post-funding to expand offerings into new markets

Successfully scaled start-ups following substantial funding rounds, driving expansion into multiple international markets. Helped Rocket Internet launch two business in EMEA and beyond. Achieved 50%+ growth in revenue within the first 12 months of market entry by developing go-to-market strategies, building operational frameworks, and leveraging partnerships to accelerate regional traction. 


Defining transformation strategy and implementing change programmes:

Led the development and execution of comprehensive digital transformation strategies, aligning business objectives with technological advancements. Delivered change programmes across functions, resulting in a 30% increase in operational efficiency, improved cross-functional collaboration, and accelerated decision-making processes by 25%.


Transforming organisations into tech-first, data-driven, customer-centric enterprises:

Spearheaded digital and data transformation initiatives that positioned organisations to become technology-first, customer-centric operations. Leveraged advanced analytics and automation to drive a 40% improvement in customer satisfaction scores (CSAT) and a 20% boost in customer retention by delivering personalised, data-driven experiences.

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Ash Ali

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