Cristian Dina

Tekpon

CEO @ Tekpon AI Summit & Tekpon Awards

Co-Founder

Chief Revenue Officer

Chief of Staff

Account Executive

Website Manager

Social Media Manager

Forbes

Forbes 30 under 30

SaaStock Local

City Leader

SaaStock

I was a jury at the SaaStock Global Pitch Competition, where the winning startup got an investment of $500.000.

It was an opportunity to show off your up-and-coming SaaS in front of the region’s most influential VCs and funds and the wider SaaS community.

Jury

Startup Wise Guys

Alumni SaaS Batch

carVertical

Affiliate Marketing

Co-Founder & Managing Partner @ Tekpon | City Leader @ SaaStock | SaaS Podcast Host

We rise by lifting others!

Cristian Dina is the Co-Founder of Tekpon and the CEO of Tekpon AI Summit.

His work has positioned Tekpon as a trusted software buying platform used by thousands of companies worldwide.

As the CEO of Tekpon AI Summit, he's bringing together over 1,000 B2B SaaS and AI leaders, solidifying his impact on the artificial intelligence and software community.

Cristian has personally interviewed 300+ industry leaders and authored the best-selling book King of Networking, establishing himself as one of the most connected and respected voices in the ecosystem.

At just 23 years old, Cristian was named Forbes 30 Under 30 2025, representing a new generation of tech builders, bold thinkers who move fast, build with purpose, and create real impact.

Founding Member - Right Hand to CEO

> Strategic support
> Building and nurturing relationships

⚠ This will be our last event in Romania.

Tekpon AI Summit 2026 will be hosted in London.

If you ever planned to join us in Romania, this is the moment.

One last chance to feel the atmosphere that shaped everything we built.

See you all in 7 days 👋

CEO @ Tekpon AI Summit | Forbes 30 under 30 | Co-Founder @ Tekpon

It doesn’t matter if you land at 2 AM

If you’re flying in for Tekpon AI Summit, we take care of you ✈️

At Tekpon, leadership is service, not status.

When brilliant minds travel thousands of kilometers to join us, we show up

In person. No matter the hour.

👉 Flying in and need a ride? Drop a comment or DM.

👉 Are you a Romanian founder or executive and want to help bring global SaaS and AI legends to Romania?

🤝 This is your chance to welcome them and connect before the summit even begins.

This is how we do things at Tekpon AI Summit, together, from the very first step off the plane ✈️

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We just hired Cezar on Monday, and what does he do in his first day off?

It's Saturday and he's picking up guests from the airport, arriving for Tekpon AI Summit 

Not because someone asked or because it was expected

But because this is what leadership looks like at Tekpon 

You serve first. You take initiative.

Most companies wait months to see if someone is a cultural fit. We saw it in five days :)

Cezar turned a simple airport pickup
into a powerful first impression of Romania
and a meaningful connection with one of our speakers, Angeley Mullins

This is the standard we operate on. This is the culture we protect

And this is why Tekpon keeps growing as a global community

Bcause people like him don’t wait for titles to lead

If there's something that I learned about hiring is that the most important trait is hunger

As Cristiano Ronaldo says it, 'hunger is the most difficult'

See you all in 4 days at Tekpon AI Summit

🚨 New Speakers Just Dropped

Tom Hunt, Founder & CEO @ Fame 
Angeley Mullins, CEO @ Aetheris Ventures
Oren Greenberg, GTM Advisor
Mike Korba, Co-founder & CCO @ User.com by Positive  
Alex Baldovin, Founder & CEO @ Authbound  
Valentin Radu, Founder & CEO @ Omniconvert 

At Tekpon AI Summit, we bring together the people shaping the future of SaaS & AI

They’ve built brands, led teams, and reshaped the SaaS & AI landscape

And now, they’re bringing their expertise to our stage

We can’t wait to hear their stories at Tekpon AI Summit 🚀

Our unofficial "Chief Compliance Officer" has inspected all Tekpon AI Summit badges

He concluded they are extremely comfortable

If you’re joining us, please know:

Your badge has been rigorously tested for softness, durability, and nap-compatibility

We work hard. But this guy clearly works smarter

Big news for us at Tekpon

We’re welcoming Cezar Nitulescu, our new Strategic Partnership Manager to the team

Yes, he is only 21 years old

He comes in with a strong drive, a sharp mind, and a focus on performance.

Partnership growth.
Relationship building.
Market understanding.

Being the youngest in most rooms never stopped him

From sales meetings to events, he gets the same question:

“How old are you?”
“I’m 21.”
Silence. Then he lets the work talk.

I see a lot of my own early journey in him. The same hunger. The same energy. The same drive to prove yourself through action

Can't believe we're only 2 weeks away from Tekpon AI Summit 🤯

From the bottom of my heart, thank you everyone for joining Tekpon AI Summit  

Still need to process everything that happened

Yesterday we announced Tekpon AI Summit London, June 2026

Will you be joining us?

Thank you for believing in our mission and supporting us ❤️

Why we keep a Business Formal dress code at Tekpon AI Summit

Some people ask why the summit follows a business formal dress code

The short answer is that we are hosting global AI leaders, investors, and operators who fly in from all over the world.

A formal look helps us:

→ Set the tone for meaningful exchanges
→ Keep a focused and respectful environment
→ Build a sense of occasion for speakers and attendees

Step into a room full of people who are here to build the future

See you all in 5 days. And be ready for the pictures 📸

Look for these beautiful flags when coming to Tekpon AI Summit

See you in a few hours

Tomorrow you can listen to my podcast on Radio France Internationale Romania

93.5 FM in Bucharest, from 17:30 to 18:00, and again on Saturday after the 11:00 news

I’ll be sharing more about Tekpon AI Summit 2025, the story behind Tekpon, and how we’re bringing 1,000 AI and SaaS leaders from around the world to Bucharest this November

At 23, being part of the Forbes 30 Under 30 community and leading one of the most exclusive AI events in Europe is both humbling and inspiring

A big thank you to Mirel Bran and the RFI Romania team for the invitation and the inspiring conversation about technology, community, and the power of authentic networking 🙏

If you want to scale without hiring fast, this is the session you watch.

Vincent Jong, Founder @ Poolside Ventures, brings the AI-First Playbook to Tekpon AI Summit

He’ll walk through how AI reshapes product, GTM, sales strategy, and operations for extreme efficiency

With real examples from Poolside companies, you’ll see how high-traction startups operate with minimal headcount

A must-attend for anyone building lean, profitable, AI-driven companies

The most competitive companies in the next decade will be AI-first by design.

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Read the latest Tekpon Magazine tomorrow

Featuring Jeko Kolev, the founder and CEO of Nextoria 

See you all in 16 hours

A mentor sees the version of you that you can’t yet see yourself.

For me, that mentor has been Alexandru Stan

My co-founder, partner, and guide through every challenge of building Tekpon.

His insight, belief, and leadership have shaped not just the company, but the way I lead and think every day.

Being included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list is a milestone I’ll always be proud of,but it’s also a reminder that no achievement stands alone.

Behind every step forward, there are people who push you, challenge you, and inspire you to aim higher.

Thank you, Alex, for your mentorship, guidance, and partnership. This recognition is as much yours as it is mine.

We’re partnering with BizzyNow as the Official Networking App for the Tekpon AI Summit

All participants will be able to connect, match, and collaborate directly through the BizzyNow app

This will create real opportunities for meaningful conversations and partnerships in the AI ecosystem

Download the app using the link below 👇

This guy is the reason why we’re doing Tekpon AI Summit

Last year, Kazik kept pushing me to let him speak.

I told him Tekpon Awards doesn’t have speakers.

He didn’t accept that. For a month, he kept insisting.

He even said he wouldn’t attend unless he could teach something real.

Because of that persistence, we added Day 3 at the UiPath office, our first-ever workshop day.

It was experimental. It wasn’t planned.

And his session became a turning point.

He taught people how to build and use AI agents, and everyone walked out with their mindset changed.

That moment made everything clear. This is what the ecosystem actually needs.

And that’s why Tekpon AI Summit exists today.

This year, Kazik is coming back with The Human - AI Collaboration Playbook.

You’ll learn how to eliminate frustrating AI interactions, compress weeks of research into hours, and know when predictable workflows outperform autonomous agents.

Kazik Pietka. The person who pushed us to raise the bar. And the perfect person to take this summit’s stage.

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Todd Paris is flying all the way from the US to teach how AI search visibility really works

He will show why top Google pages rarely appear in AI answers. Less than ten percent overlap.

The gap is real and it is reshaping how brands get noticed.

What we'll learn tomorrow:

✅ How AI engines pick their sources
✅ Why GEO and SEO tell different stories
✅ What brands must change to stay visible

Thank you IQRush.ai for supporting the event. You can head to IQRush.ai to take their AI Readiness quiz 🚀

💸 56% savings. One smart move.

When Clym, a fast-growing digital compliance SaaS, decided to scale through partnerships, they needed a reliable affiliate marketing platform to power their new program

They found the perfect one, an enterprise-grade solution used by global brands.

But the annual cost? $30,000 👀

Instead of compromising on quality or settling for a cheaper tool, they turned to Tekpon’s procurement service for help.

✅ We ran a full discovery call to understand the needs and goals
✅ Saved them $16,800 and weeks of back-and-forth
✅ Negotiated the price down to $13,200 /year

Today Clym’s affiliate program is live and thriving, without burning through their budget.

This is what smart software buying looks like.

Real companies. Real savings. Real results.

👇 Full story by Ana-Maria Stanciuc below

Opening the stage at Tekpon AI Summit,

Sara Maldon sets the tone for Artificial Intelligence

As Head of Business Automation & AI at Make, she knows what it takes to scale AI

It all starts with one question, what actually works?

She will share the playbook on how they built scalable agentic systems that deliver real outcomes

Expect lessons from real-world experiments, failures, and successes that turn AI into action

Don't miss this rare session for anyone serious about operationalizing AI 🚀

Prismforce

Head of Marketing (Marketing Director)

CMO Alliance

The Chief Marketing Officer Alliance is collective of passionate CMOs and aspiring CMOs, connecting and learning collaboratively through events, podcasts and other ways that form a catalyst for success and growth

Member

Advisor, Mentor with SaaS startups. In my previous assignments, I have advised on GTM (More recently with building, "Outbound", scaling demand gen and building pipeline efficiency) and have also assisted with leadership hiring. I have a point of view around a sales-led, hybrid gtm motion, brand building for startups and hiring the right team.

Advisor, Mentor

Outplay

-Helped build the brand, "Outplay" - Brand search term increased by 30% YOY
-Built the marketing org - Content, Campaigns, Paid, Organic, Marketing Ops, and Product Marketing functions
-Reduced CAC by almost 50%

Head of Marketing (Director of Demand Generation) 

Freshworks

As there was greater expansion of our sales teams in the India and South East Asia regions, there required greater focus from marketing for these regions. 

In my current role I head regional marketing initiative for Freshworks for the South East Asian market. This is across demand generation efforts and brand awareness.

Head of Field Marketing, South East Asia

I lead the regional marketing initiatives across the India and South East Asian markets. I was responsible for all GTM efforts, brand awareness and demand generation campaigns for the region.

Field Marketing Manager, India & South East Asia 

To futher our efforts in the mid-market side of the business, Freshworks decided to setup a dedicated marketing team to drive campaign efforts for our global sales teams. 

I found this as a great opportunity to be extend my outbound sales development and my previous marketing experience to be part of this new team. My role was predominantly focused on working closely with our global regional field marketers and driving our online campaigns (be it digital, webinars, working with publishers, content syndication etc.) for the UK and MEA regions.

Campaigns Manager (UK, MEA)

Given my successes in setting up the early SDR US outbound team, I was given the opportunity to lead our SDR outbound team globally. 

This was working across the US, UK, ANZ, Middle East and Africa and the Rest of Europe regions and working closely with our teams based out of London, San Franciso, Sydney and Berlin.

Head - Sales Development (Global)

Give my experience across sales and marketing across and working across different size of companies, I was brought into Freshworks to help setup our SDR outbound engine to drive our mid-market business. This was first for the US market. This was also working closely with our sales leadership in the US. 

Some key initiatives while I lead the team included,
- Setting up a sales enablement repository and building out relevant material to enable the SDR team
- Setting up a internal mentor program to help the team get better through skill-sharing

Lead - Sales Development (US Mid Market)

Sundaram Business Services

Role expectations & responsibilities includes a direct involvement with:
•	Business Development & Relationships 
•	Pre-Sales & Solutions
•	Lead Project transitions
•	Establishing direct CXO level connects with clients / prospects
•	Lead sales efforts & teams across verticals & geographies.
•	Account management & Sales revenue generation for NEW accounts (NBD)
•	Handling of clients from multi-verticals and horizontal services.
•	Client interfacing & relationship building
•	Continuously identify and generate possibilities for additional sales – Go to market strategy, Account planning & strategy, Collaborations, pricing models, staffing estimations, contract negotiations, etc
•	Leveraging full life cycle exposure from past to provide consulting support for process re-engineering / analysis for further improvements
•	Responding with winning proposals for RFP's
•	Third party System Integrators/vendors coordination to design solutions.
•	Geographies: Prime focus on Australia; Previous experience also of having worked extensively in the United Kingdom

Head of Learning and Development
Key responsibilities include:
To create and deliver a leadership development programme that meets the current and future needs of the business
Working with the Head of Operations to identify and prioritise training needs and develop appropriate solutions to address these needs
Working with the Head of Operations to constantly evolve and improve the training and development offering
Ensure that training programmes are culturally aligned, customer centric, and deliver an appreciable contribution to the bottom line
Maintain an appropriate level of industry knowledge and ensure own learning and development expertise is kept up-to-date 
Select and manage appropriate external partners for to meet specialised training requirements

Manager International Sales

APE (Arts-based People Engagement)

Helping firms across India with their marketing and sales initiatives. This included training and business development.

APE is an arts-based training company that uses theatre, film, dance and video gaming techniques. We have specialized programs for managers that focus on team leadership, first line manager development, ownership and assertiveness for managers.

APE helps companies with employee engagement, team building, new manager and new employee programs, goal setting, company corporate culture, selling attitude and the customer comes first mindset.

APE uses an interactive approach uses innovative drama techniques and simulation to produce highly experiential solutions that are relevant and focused. APE works with the HR department of companies and ensures that programs are readily retained and successfully applied. 

APE also includes voice-over services and digital marketing services.

Consultant

DTracks Limited

DataTracks (subsidiary of TaurusQuest) provides fully iXBRL managed tagging services for several of the top accounting firms and thousands of companies in the United Kingdom. (www.datatracks.co.uk)

One of his key assignments included setting up a sales ops for an India-based firm in the United Kingdom and developing a very successful B2B Ecommerce portal. This was worth a $1 million in it's first year of operation. 

Lead the project of creating two e-commerce websites for both the UK and India business.

Head of United Kingdom and Europe business development

Lead the online marketing team (SEO/Adwords) to ensure DataTracks appears in the top ranks of Google.

Lead a team to launch the company’s first XBRL tagging tool in India. 

Responsible for leading teams in achieve sales targets through effective business planning, creative sales techniques and innovative marketing.
 
Developed personnel, motivated staff to exceed goals, and improved production and sales.

Sales and Marketing Manager

TaurusQuest Services Private Limited

I manage all sales and marketing initiatives at TaurusQuest. 
I also double up as a client relationship manager for select clients. 

Furthermore you could visit our website www.taurusquest.com for more information.

Assistant Manager - Business Development

I handle business development in legal services at TaurusQuest. Our clientele are law firms and corporate counsel based in the United States and United Kingdom. 

Our typical service portfolio for legal services include 1)Litigation support 2)Legal research 3)Contract drafting, review & management

 Furthermore you could visit our website www.taurusquest.com for more information

Senior Executive - Business Development

Caterpillar Inc.

+  Ensure maximum output & optimum utilization from all machines at machine shop.
 + Manage shop-scheduling activities.
 + Motivate Process Engineering, Maintenance, Material, Tool Engineering & Purchasing to work as a team in order to solve daily product & quality problems.
  + Drive behavioral change to improve production efficiency, quality & safety.
  + Ensure alternate tools/machines are provided when needed.
  + Sketch out effective contingency management plans.
  + Develop and periodically update the skill-set matrix for operators.

Manufacturing Specialist

Seasoned marketing exec, mentor, investor and growth advisor to startups. I love building and scaling marketing teams.

Consider me the, 'get it done' person who thrives on diving deep into the details and tackling challenges head-on. 

I currently lead marketing at Prismforce, the only vertical SaaS solution for tech services. I've spent the previous decade leading marketing teams across geos at Freshworks, Outplay and DataTracks.

Outside of work, I'm actively involved in promoting better mental health practices and fostering open conversations about mental well-being in the tech community.

Specialties: marketing strategy, general management, gtm, startups.

taplio

The Battle

Cristian Dina

Sandeep John

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taplio

The Battle

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Sandeep John

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Posts

Engagements

Likes

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);}Cristian Dina's LinkedIn Performance

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