GTM & Sales Leader Β· Prague

Ivan
Valev

Building teams that sell. Coaching people who lead.

10+ years scaling SaaS revenue across EMEA. Currently leading CEE SMB at Deel. Background in psychology β€” I apply it to sales culture, coaching, and high-performance teams.

Ivan Valev
🎀 Employer Branding Summit 2025 πŸ—žοΈ Kapital.bg πŸ—žοΈ Startup Kitchen CZ 🎀 Digitalk Keynote 2025 πŸ—žοΈ The Recursive πŸ—žοΈ Tech News BG πŸ—žοΈ Economic.bg 🎀 Employer Branding Summit 2025 πŸ—žοΈ Kapital.bg πŸ—žοΈ Startup Kitchen CZ 🎀 Digitalk Keynote 2025 πŸ—žοΈ The Recursive πŸ—žοΈ Tech News BG πŸ—žοΈ Economic.bg

Background

Who I am

I'm a GTM and sales leader with over a decade of experience scaling revenue for SaaS companies across Europe. My work spans enterprise, mid-market, and SMB β€” with roles at Salesforce, Merkle/Dentsu, Deel, and several high-growth scale-ups.

My background in psychology (BSc + MSc from EUR Rotterdam) shapes how I lead: with a focus on trust, culture, and building teams that actually want to perform β€” not just teams that are managed into it.

I've lived and operated across Bulgaria, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, and now Prague β€” which gives me a genuine feel for how business gets done across multicultural EMEA markets.

10+
Years in SaaS sales
5
Countries operated in
30%+
YoY growth, back-to-back
8Γ—
Salesforce top performer

Track Record

Deel
SMB Sales Leader, CEE
  • Leading the CEE SMB sales team (4 FTE)
  • Back-to-back 30%+ YoY territory growth
  • Deploying AI-enabled outbound, qualification, and sales motions
Funden
Sales Coach
  • Advised co-founders on GTM, sales motions, and enablement
  • Coached pipeline generation and full-cycle sales (5 FTE)
Salesforce
Account Executive
  • Seven roles in five years across three sales regions
  • Bootcamp Rising Star Β· 8Γ— Top Performer Β· Top SMB AE FY20/Q4
  • 10Γ— Mentor & onboarding buddy
Merkle / Dentsu
Regional Sales Director
  • Built CEE & AT teams β€” avg 170% YoY growth (5 FTE)
  • Built Merkle's BDR function across DACH (3 FTE)
  • Established Merkle as an award-winning regional partner
FLO Group
Chief Growth Officer
  • Led DACH & CEE expansion
  • Built joint revenue teams with full P&L ownership (9 FTE)
  • Aligned GTM across sales, marketing and delivery

Media & Speaking

Press & Talks

🎀 Speaking Employer Branding Summit 2025 YouTube Β· 2025 🎀 Keynote Digitalk 2025 Keynote YouTube Β· 2025 πŸ—žοΈ Press AI Ρ€Π΅Π²ΠΎΠ»ΡŽΡ†ΠΈΡΡ‚Π° няма Π³Ρ€Π°Π½ΠΈΡ†ΠΈ β€” Kapital.bg Capital.bg Β· 2025 πŸ—žοΈ Press Why Deel is expanding into CEE Startup Kitchen CZ πŸ—žοΈ Press Deel's fastest-growing company CEE push The Recursive 🎀 Speaking Crossroads Bulgaria 2025 Startup Bulgaria πŸ—žοΈ Press Tech News BG Feature technews.bg πŸ—žοΈ Press Deel's focus on the Bulgarian market Economic.bg

Let's talk

Whether it's a speaking invitation, coaching inquiry, or just a conversation about building revenue teams β€” I'm happy to connect.