FABIAN SCHAEFFER

Joined an early-stage construction SaaS business with a reactive, project-led GTM. Quickly identified the mandate, which was to help the team make the right decisions and focus on qualified ICP opportunities and make expansion a deliberate part of the sales motion. ARR is forecasted to grow roughly 60% year-on-year.

• Replaced project-by-project selling with an ICP-led land-and-expand approach. Found AEs chasing almost every lead and “pilots” closing without an expansion plan. Prioritized strategic accounts and required success criteria, decision-makers, follow-on projects and a credible rollout path before offering pilot terms.
• Shifted resources toward qualified pipeline and customer expansion. Expanded SDR from 1 to 5, AEs from 1 to 4 and CS from 1 to 3; established dedicated Account Management while reducing Marketing from 3 to 1. The decision put more capacity behind strategic-account acquisition, adoption and follow-on sales, with clear ownership across the customer lifecycle.
• Made qualification and expansion a shared operating discipline. Introduced SPICED, SDR/AE playbooks, handover criteria, deal reviews and forecasting. Incentivized CS to identify expansion opportunities and made AM accountable for progressing them.

Advised Felix, Founder & CEO and an early pioneer in the passwordless authentication space, and the team on sharpening product-market fit and developing a focused go-to-market strategy. Beyond strategy, I worked hands-on to refine positioning, build a repeatable sales motion, and support early customer acquisition, helping lay the foundation for growth.

Led global Sales during a period of rapid growth, with a focus on choosing the right ICP, rebuilding SDR and improving how Sales worked with customers and internal partners.

• Tripled annual revenue from €5M to €15M in two years by narrowing the ICP. Sales KPIs showed Fortune 2000 customers had higher TCV, win rates and NRR. Reallocated commercial effort accordingly and challenged AEs to remove non-ICP deals rather than protect pipeline volume.
• Rebuilt SDR and changed how AEs sold. Recruited commercially ambitious SDRs, introduced ICP-focused outreach and stronger qualification. Coached AEs to replace generic demos with customer-specific discovery, engage multiple stakeholders and build clear deal plans.
• Rebuilt trust between Sales and the wider business. Challenged individualistic behavior, reinforced accountability and collaboration, and improved how Sales worked with Solutions Engineering and Customer Success, including customer handovers.

Hired to take over from the departing CRO and bring focus to a junior, founder-led sales organization. After the LivePerson acquisition, the priority shifted to customer retention and commercial migration.

• Found the ICP by getting into customer conversations. Inherited opportunistic chatbot selling without consistent qualification. Spoke directly with customers and prospects about pain, buying triggers and adoption, then combined those insights with pipeline evidence to prioritize measurable use cases and stop chasing exploratory deals without budget or a buyer.
• Built sales fundamentals beyond founder-led deals. Took over CRO-level responsibilities in a junior, understaffed commercial organization; coached pipeline generation and discovery, introduced qualification and deal-management routines, and gave the team clearer account priorities and greater independence.
• Achieved 80% conversion of German customers after the LivePerson acquisition. Worked with the EMEA GM to put retention ahead of new sales and redirect resources toward CS and Account Management. Handled GDPR, US-provider trust and product-continuity concerns account by account, positioning the added value of LivePerson’s platform.

Joined as an early individual contributor and helped build and scale adjust’s EMEA business into a regional organization with dedicated commercial functions. The company was acquired by AppLovin in 2021 in a transaction valued at approximately $1B.

• Grew EMEA ARR from €2M to €47M by choosing markets and customers deliberately. Over time prioritized six main growth regions (Germany, France, UK, Benelux/Nordics, Turkey/MENA and Russia/Eastern Europe) and built dedicated commercial hubs around local sales leaders, giving them ownership of their market, team, and growth strategy. Stayed focused on mobile-first businesses, even when it meant passing on famous logos with limited revenue potential.
• Built a 50+ person organization with local market ownership. Established regional leaders responsible for their markets, backed by SDR, Solutions Engineering and CS. Hired for industry expertise and local customer knowledge, not just conventional sales experience.
• Built a consistent enterprise sales approach. Introduced MEDDPIC and Command of the Message to establish a shared approach to qualification, value-based selling, and deal management, aligned with how customers actually buy. Tested ABM, but ultimately prioritized more effective demand channels: relationships, industry events, and brand.