Firm58 cofounder Sam Mele spoke at Softletter’s SaaS University: Marketing, Selling, Infrastructure and Financing Conference on January 26, 2010 in Dallas, TX. To request a copy of his presentation, contact the Marketing team.

About “SaaS and the Drive to Profitability”

In a recession-impacted business environment, the pressure on SaaS companies who’ve received significant third-party and VC investment is being ratcheted higher. SaaS firms are under pressure to make money and reach profitability at an accelerated rate.

Unfortunately, many of these investment sources rely on metrics developed for client server and desktop/retail companies. The result can be a serious disconnect between what you’re achieving in terms of your businesses growth and the perception of that growth. This session will enable you to manage this perception gap as well as practical strategic and tactical advice from a CEO who’s currently successfully dealing with these challenges.

About Sam Mele

Sam is a Founder and Managing Director of Firm58, an on-demand financial management software provider. As Managing Director, Sam is involved in overseeing all areas of the business; however he focuses primarily on company vision and strategy along with sales and marketing.

Throughout his 20 year career in enterprise software, Sam has focused on driving revenue growth by translating the technical merits of software solutions into business values. By bridging the gap between new technologies and product commercialization, working with senior management of both Fortune 500 companies and small to mid-market organizations, Sam has been successful in creating very scalable revenue models.

Prior to Firm58, Sam served Ariba Inc. in various sales and management roles culminating as the VP of Sales and Services for Europe Middle East and Africa for Ariba, Inc. As the VP of Sales and Services, he was responsible for all sales and services activities and played a key role in establishing Ariba EMEA, driving revenues from $2 million to over $100 million in just two years. Before Ariba, Sam spent 10 years with Oracle Corporation in positions ranging from Principal Database Architect, to Managing Consultant, to Regional Sales Manager of the Internet Solutions Group, during the period when Oracle’s annual revenues grew from $500 million to over $8 billion.

Sam graduated with Honors from the University of Illinois with a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering. He is a frequent speaker at the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois and many other institutions on the topic of product commercialization and entrepreneurship in addition to participating on several corporate advisory boards. Sam, his wife, and their four beautiful children live in the suburbs of Chicago.