Dirk Sahlmer

Acquiring SaaS companies @ saas.group | saas.wtf Newsletter

Engineer turned M&A professional. After 20+ transactions on the buy-side, I'm now helping tech founders run a structured exit process.

Posting regularly here on LI and in my saas.wtf newsletter on SaaS and  M&A topics.

Head of Origination

saas.group is an acquirer and operator of SaaS businesses. Founded in 2017 by entrepreneurs with a bootstrapper mindest, we acquire and scale companies through a founder-friendly, transparent process - respecting each company’s culture while providing the operational support to help them thrive.

We focus on small to mid-sized SaaS businesses (typically $2M–$10M ARR) with strong products and loyal customer bases. Post-acquisition, we empower teams with centralized expertise, shared knowledge, and operational excellence, while preserving their unique identity. Since inception, saas.group has acquired 25+ companies across verticals like marketing, HR, developer tools, and eCommerce. We believe in sustainable growth (guided by the Rule of 40), building communities (such as saas.connect), and creating a long-term home where products and people can reach the next level.

As Co-CMO at saas.group, I co-lead the Central Marketing Team, which brings together disciplines many smaller SaaS brands cannot or do not want to fully build in-house. Our expertise spans SEO, Content, Affiliate Marketing, Data, PPC, Web Development, and Design. By centralizing these capabilities, we enable portfolio companies to access high-quality marketing services and benefit from shared best practices.

A key part of my role is ensuring knowledge transfer across the portfolio. By working with companies at similar stages, we accelerate growth and help them avoid repeating mistakes. I also guide portfolio company CEOs in all things marketing until they establish their own fully operating marketing team - whether by advising directly or supporting the recruitment of senior marketing leaders. Additionally, I build and nurture a community of marketers within saas.group and support our M&A team in marketing due diligence and brand positioning. This mix of operational excellence, community building, and strategic guidance enables us to scale SaaS businesses sustainably and create lasting value.

Tim Heicks

Everyone is obsessing over AI visibility.

AEO. GEO. LLM citations.

Fair.

But if you’re a WordPress plugin or Shopify app developer, pay equal attention to your rankings inside the marketplaces themselves.

Because those listings aren’t just distribution channels.

They’re the foundation.

In our portfolio we consistently see:

• App Store rankings drive core acquisition
• Reviews drive conversion
• And both feed AI visibility (LLMs scrape marketplaces, G2, directories)

Strong marketplace presence → more mentions → more citations → more AI visibility.

So we built a free tracker for G2, the Shopify App Store and the Wordpress Plugin Directory:

https://lnkd.in/d_qT_M7C

It monitors:

• G2 reviews
• Shopify App Store reviews + keyword rankings
• WordPress plugin directory reviews + keyword rankings

All in one tool.

If you want, add your profile by signing up, or even without a signup:

Drop your profile URL in the comments.
It gets added to the daily crawl.

______

Tools used for this project:
- Scraper: ScraperAPI
- Coding: Lovable
- Ad: Nano Banana + Higgsfield (with Kling 3.0)
- Connection between LinkedIn and App: Unipile

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The Battle

Dirk Sahlmer

Tim Heicks

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taplio

The Battle

Dirk Sahlmer

Tim Heicks

Followers

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);}Tim Heicks's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreTim Heicks's LinkedIn Performance