Manuel Hartmann

Founder & CEO@SalesPlaybook | Build & scale B2B sales without trial & error

Transforming B2B SaaS Sales in the DACH Region

With over 5 years of experience, I built SalesPlaybook from CHF0 to 30k MRR in under 18 months and scaled it to a 7-figure annual revenue with fewer than 6 FTEs. I’ve supported 300+ B2B SaaS and Professional Service Entrepreneurs to:
- Achieve EUR 0-10 Mio. ARR in under 3 years profitably
- Accelerate ARR growth by over 5x from 0-1 Mio. in less than 18 months
- Close 10-50x larger deals through Message-Market-Fit & Value Selling
- Implement & optimize HubSpot Sales Hub & Outbound Sales from scratch

Career Highlights:
- 2009: Launched sales career with 3-figure NPO donations
- 2012: Reached 6-figure sales with sportscars@Tesla
- 2014-2016: Led 7-figure CRM transformations@Accenture
- 2017-2019: Managed 5-figure AI SaaS@Onedot
- Present: Driving 5-figure deals@SalesPlaybook

What I Offer:
- Pipeline Generation: Developing and executing strategies to build robust sales pipelines.
- Sales Enablement: Equipping sales teams with the tools and training needed for success.
- HubSpot Services: Comprehensive implementation and optimization of HubSpot CRM

Personal Interests: 
- I’m an avid UFC fan, active (kick)boxer, snowboarder, and musician (piano + e-guitar). 
- I enjoy taking on challenges like writing a book in under 30 days or completing 1,000 push-ups

Education: Master’s Degree in Business Innovation from HSG with MBA Exchange in Canada

Let’s connect if: 
- You're a B2B entrepreneur looking to scale sales quickly, efficiently & without 6-figure mistakes
- You identify as a Top 1% talent on hunger & drive, urgent curiosity, intelligence & integrity

Founder & CEO

Join 220+ customers to build & scale sales with the #1 B2B SaaS Startup Sales Journey Partner in DACH.

All the expert sales help you need to fast forward your B2B SaaS Startup.

👉 Book a 1:1 Sales Assessment Call: https://thesalesplaybook.com/bookacall
👉 Get proven hands-on sales resources: https://thesalesplaybook.com/resources
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Track Record:
❖ 0-2M booked ARR in <15 months by finding message-market-fit in <9 months (boostbar)
❖ 0-7 figure ARR in <12 months by hitting message-market fit, setting up outbound sales engine & more (Kyan Health)
❖ 0-7 figure ARR in <18 months by hitting message-market-fit, building outbound sales & training first sales hires (Archlet)
❖ >10 projects to 50+ subscriptions to exit after building outbound sales from 0 (Airica)
❖ 0-2M+ ARR in <18 months by building a sales team from scratch (rready)
❖ 5x MRR by building scalable sales & hiring first sales rep (Turbit)
❖ Ramp 5 SDRs to quota in less than 3 months (Beekeeper)
❖ 4x annual revenue after closing 700k deal with Fortune 500 company by leveraging value-selling (novoMOF)
❖ 2x MRR in 6 months by niching down on Ideal Customer Profile (Houston & Ko)
❖ 370k+ deal closed through hands-on support, approaching 7-figure revenue (56k.Cloud)
❖ 2x ARR in 9 months by 10x'ing ACV by 10x, winning 100K+ deals & hitting 90% reply rates (Classtime)
❖ 2x MRR in 3 months, from 5-10k deals to EUR 150k contract, hitting 30% booking rates (wowflow)
❖ 2x MRR in 6 months from group coaching sessions & more (Houston & Ko)
❖ 250k ARR deal closed by changing their positioning & negotiation approach (Linimex)
❖ <5% to 80% opening and 30%+ reply rates on scalable outbound sales (TRESIO)
❖ 2x MRR in 6 months by niching down on Ideal Customer Profile (Houston & Ko)

Manuel Heilmann

UpCloud

UpCloud is a global cloud computing solution headquartered in Europe with a simple philosophy: "Never become yet another." We care about UpCloud's impact on our customers' businesses. 

My primary responsibility is building and enabling a global Go-To-Market Team that embraces the philosophy and cares every day about making an impact. We implement an integrative marketing and sales strategy, providing the best customer buying journey while building a strong partner network.

Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)

FICO

FICO is a global analytics software company. We use AI and advanced analytics to help companies to optimize every customer interaction. 

We enable Financial Institutions to make better business decisions and to drive meaningful business outcomes while managing risks. 

FICO supports Banks through their Digital Transformation to enhance the end-to-end Customer Experience with various use cases.

Senior Director Sales

RevAccel

A European revenue growth consulting firm and VP Sales-as-a-service for tech companies. Partnering with CEOs of seed-funded and series A start-ups to build a scalable digital sales revenue engine on an Interim basis

✔️ Partnered with 4 x SaaS companies (including one I invested in) to develop and implement a GTM strategy for direct and channel sales and creating alignment across the organization. 

✔️ Implemented an end-to-end revenue growth process including LeadGen, ABM, prospecting tactics and a sales framework

CRO-as-a-Service

GUURU

Series-A, Swiss headquartered, 50-person, B2B SaaS firm, providing Customer Experience, AI, ChatBot and Customer Service SaaS solutions to the enterprise sector

✔️ Maintained a steady growth during the pandemic
✔️ Implemented a revenue line from LeadGen to Key Account Management.
✔️ Introduced a new subscription-based revenue model, migrating from a usage-based revenue model
✔️ Implemented sales processes, set up the team to scale
✔️ $5m series A round raised during the pandemic
✔️ Defined the GTM Strategy, expanded sales to other European countries outside of DACH
✔️ Closed strategic Customer Service SaaS deals with Rewe Group, Coop Group, Stihl, OLX, Ricardo, Intersport
✔️ Scaled the business from 2 to 12 reports

Chief Sales Officer (CSO)

cleverbridge

Cleverbridge is a 300-person, B2B SaaS firm, providing B2B eCommerce, subscription management and cloud-based billing solutions.  Competitors include Zuora and Paddle.

✔️ Introduced sales processes, tools and a sales methodology for enterprise clients 
✔️ Doubled ACV for new contracts by going after larger enterprise companies and with professional services. Closed deals with Sony, Jamf, McAfee, Avast, Kaspersky & others
✔️ Built an Asian team to focus on new client acquisition - quadrupled ARR in APAC between 2016 and 2019
✔️ Developed a sales and product strategy to help B2B SaaS companies automate sales processes and turn their digital relationships into global revenue.
✔️ Defined and implemented a new Key Account Management Methodology with the focus on expanding the business with the existing client portfolio
✔️ Double-digit growth with 35 reports

VP of Sales

Coinzone

Coinzone (acquired by Coinify) was a 15-employee, European Bitcoin Digital Payments Provider. By using Coinzone, users could buy, sell, trade and transact with Bitcoin and other cryptos.

✔️ Built, developed, and led business-focused digital payment platform, implementing sales and business development strategies that grew company to 15 employees 
✔️ Secured VC funding of €2 million 
✔️ Entered a successful exit with Coinify in July 2015 and assisted transition process

CEO & Co-founder

Digital River

1,300-employee, NASDAQ-listed, eCommerce Platform firm.  Customers are big brands that sell direct to consumer. Competitors include SAP Hybris, Magento and Demandware Salesforce Commerce

✔️ Led strategic and operational planning and fostered sales growth of the company’s SMB division. 
✔️ Merged four SMB brands and six platforms, 120 reports
✔️ Established new offices in Moscow and Shanghai, overseeing investments to accelerate sales growth and improve client experience. The Chinese market contributed 10% of the business unit’s revenue in 6 months.

CEO - MyCommerce

✔️ Implemented new processes for sales, legal and delivery, which shortened the sales cycle for SMB deals to 90 days and increased ACV by over 80% leading to 280% YoY SMB sales growth in the US in 2011

VP Sales SME North America

✔️ Closed Kaspersky, Philips, Canon, Ubisoft and Avast which contributed more than 30% of all Digital River’s business by 2010

VP Sales EMEA & APAC

element5 AG

Founded in 1996, element5 was a leading provider of outsourced e-commerce solutions for software publishers in over 150 countries, and the second largest worldwide e-commerce outsourcing provider to software publishers.
✔️ Responsible for driving the customer expansion, leading to the $120M acquisition by Digital River in 2004
✔️ Expanded client base, to become the industry-leading e-commerce provider in Europe and Asia and grew client base to become the No. 1 SMB e-commerce solution for digital products.
✔️ Provided commerce, enabling them to migrate from a perpetual to a SaaS-based business model
✔️ Promoted from Sales Manager to Director and finally to VP

Account Executive/Director Sales/VP of Sales EMEA & APAC

CCO at Upcloud 🇺🇦

As the Chief Commercial Officer at UpCloud, I lead the global sales, marketing, partner, and customer success teams to drive growth and innovation in the cloud computing industry. I have over 20 years of experience in SaaS and PaaS sales, focusing on commerce and cloud infrastructure.

I advise and mentor SaaS start-ups on how to scale their business, optimize their customer interactions, and achieve their goals. I am passionate about sharing my knowledge and insights with the SaaS community and fostering a culture of excellence and collaboration.

Senior Director, Banking

Exciting news! 
The EU is finally modernizing digital compliance.

The Digital Omnibus proposal just dropped, and I'm genuinely optimistic about where this is heading.

Here's what stands out:

✅ One-click consent (no more dark patterns)
✅ Machine-readable preference signals (your browser tells sites your choices)
✅ Clearer rules for AI training with personal data
✅ Standardized breach reporting across regulations. 

This is exactly the direction we've been pushing for at iubenda. The themes in this proposal mirror what we've built from day one:

👉 Reduce friction while strengthening user control
👉 Make compliance tools that empower, not slow down
👉 Build trust through transparency, not just checkboxes

Privacy isn't about avoiding fines. It's about earning trust. And the Digital Omnibus gets that. We're not waiting on the sidelines. We're ready to help shape how this becomes reality, making it work for businesses and their customers alike. This is our space. We're here to lead it.
Full breakdown on our blog. You find the link in the comments. 

#digitalomnibus #gdpr #dataprivacy #eu

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