Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2× CEO, venture builder and transformation leader, scaling SaaS, AI, Climate Tech, FinTech and Wealthtech companies to growth, profitability, and market leadership. Proven track record: 7× valuation uplift, $3M+ SaaS pipeline, $1B+ transformation value, and $600M+ e-commerce growth. Hands-on operator improving People, Products, Processes, P&L, Pricing & Go-to-Market in short cycles. Global experience across start-ups, scale-ups & corporates in Europe, Asia & the Middle East. I love building great teams, products, and companies. As a 2× CEO and venture builder, I have led SaaS, AI, Climate Tech, and FinTech companies from start-up through scale-up to profitability and market leadership. 🔹 Hands-on operator – improving People, Products, Processes, P&L, Pricing, and Go-to-Market in short cycles. 🔹 Proven results – scaled a PE-backed SaaS to 7× valuation growth, built a $3M pipeline at a VC-backed Climate Tech SaaS, unlocked $1B+ in value at Accenture, and grew Dell’s e-commerce to $600M+. 🔹 Breadth & depth – strategy, leadership, finance, data/analytics, product innovation, international expansion, e-commerce & channel sales, pricing, and marketing-driven growth. 🔹 Global perspective – operating and consulting experience across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, in start-ups, scale-ups, and large corporates. 🎓 Executive education at MIT Sloan (General Management, Finance, Operations, Advanced Analytics, Negotiation), NYU Stern (Corporate Finance & Valuation), and Leiden University (Law). High-empathy, high-integrity leader | Driving growth, transformation, and scale | Creating lasting value for shareholders, teams, and society.
We build and accelerate leading data and software companies. Through sharper strategy, stronger teams, smarter technology, partnerships, and relentless execution we unlock more value faster. Current work: Building a quantitative wealth manager Previous work: New platform venture development for a publicly listed Software and Data company Scaling of an AI Climate Tech company Value creation and M&A advisory for a private equity search fund Strategy and go-to-market advisory for a B2B SaaS company
Built Coral, an AI-first climate-tech sustainability software startup that helps companies measure and reduce their footprint, and maximize business value. Assignment: Prepare VC-funded seed-stage company for scaling and Series A. Strategy: Defined ICPs, product, pricing and go-to-market strategy. Finance: Created well-grounded financial plan and aligned it with investors. Decreased burn-rate by 30%. Operations: Built and led product, sales, marketing and ops teams. Set up process and tools. Enabled and energised the team. Sales and marketing: Set up the enterprise go-to-market motion, including AI-assisted prospecting, lead generation, direct sales, and reseller and referral partner networks.
Built an Enterprise Data Services Company into the market-leader in the Middle East. Increased company value by 7.5x and revenue by 4x in 5 years. Created value in all areas of the business (see below). Assignment: Build and scale a PE-owned data and software FinTech that helps large enterprises make better-informed choices with real-time data and insights. Full cross-functional and P&L responsibility. Strategy: Analyzed user needs, market sizes, competition, and USPs. Developed and agreed the five-year strategy, budgets, and annual plans with the PE-Holdco. Secured financing. Aligned the organization through OKR's. Set up budgeting and cash-flow tracking. Adjusted strategy and budget during Covid. Continued implementing the strategy. Delivered the plan. Organization: Developed a new organization with clear role descriptions, KPIs, career and training plans, and employee pulse surveys. Hired and trained new talent. Set up offshore development center. Connected supporting agencies. Product: built the big data tech stack and processes, including ML functionality. Designed, Developed, and scaled multiple B2B and B2C products, including a SaaS business analytics suite (dealrevs.com), a B2B2C inspection application (carantee.me), a B2B Api data service for insurance companies, customs and banks (autodatame.com) and B2C e-com report for consumers (vehiclereport.com). Performed market research, scoped key features, drafted user flows, developed wireframes. Developed the roadmap. Hired lead product designers and engineering managers. Set up an offshore dev center. Set up agile development process. Led product function with weekly roadmap and product reviews. Sales: Scaled the business to four new countries and three new verticals. Implemented a data-driven consultative sales process. Marketing: Redesigned the brand, website, and other brand assets. Improved SEO and lead generation. Finance: Cut inefficient costs, set new pricing, and improved cash collection.
Unlocked over €1B in value for clients. Sold over $40 million in consulting projects. Designed and implemented multiple digital strategies and transformations (see below). Assignment: Make companies more relevant and efficient by improving their operating model, organization, processes, and tools. Help companies use data and technology to make customer and employee experiences more relevant. Full strategy and transformation programs: designed and implemented a full three-year digital marketing transformation plan for a food manufacturer in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Led and won client pitch. Built the business case and designed the transformation program. Aligned the board and leadership of the business units and key geographies. Delivered the change, improving the way 1000 FTE + agencies work. Strategy: Designed a new omnichannel commerce strategy for a Fashion retailer. Designed a sales force optimization strategy for a beverage company. Set up a globally used Digital Capability Assessment tool. Operating model changes: designed, built, and operated global centers of excellence for business analytics, performance marketing, content optimization, seo/sem, and campaign management. Organization: Hired, coached, and enabled high-performing teams. Led practice marketing function. Pricing: Implemented a new pricing model for an airline. CRM: Implemented a new CRM organization, process, and tools for a global consumer electronics and automotive company. Sales and marketing: Designed and implemented a new sales and marketing analytics function for a global automotive company.
Grew e-commerce business to over $600M in revenue. Delivered +15% annual revenue growth. Increased all brand metrics by 5-10%. And ... (see below ) Led global pilots for brand tracking and 3rd party marketplace distribution. Assignment: Lead the go-to-market strategy for the consumer and small-medium hardware business in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, and Austria. Strengthen the brand, increase demand, and improve monetization to increase long-term demand and sales. Omni-channel Go-to-Market Strategy: Created and aligned annual strategy, budgets, and quarterly reviews. Set up a new brand and campaign tracking tool (scaled globally) and connected this with demand generation and omni-channels sales to optimize marketing spend. Brand Marketing: Improved brand marketing campaigns by refining the target audience, creating more distinct and consistent messaging, and optimizing channels and timing of campaigns. Set up a product review program. Set up social user-generated content campaigns. Increased unaided brand awareness by 10% and purchase intent by 5% (on average). Setup social campaigns Demand generation: Optimized digital marketing across all channels (including SEO, SEM, paid advertisement, Social campaigns, affiliates, and email marketing). Demand monetization: Optimized e-commerce by decreasing bounce rates and increasing click-through (by reducing loading times, setting up more relevant landing pages, improving product pages, improving linking strategies) and increasing sales by improving offers, simplifying the check-out process, adding external review quotes and shipping time estimator. Business model innovation: Setup global pilot for 3rd party marketplace distribution model (drop-ship), by setting up product and pricing feeds, and automated order and delivery exchange protocols.