Saif Akhtar

Saif Akhtar

Fractional Head of Growth and GTM / RevOps operator for B2B SaaS and marketplaces.

I help early-stage companies build the revenue systems that make them run: positioning, pipeline, lifecycle, and the operations behind them. Available for fractional and contract engagements, remote from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Work with me LinkedIn

Available as a Forward-Deployed GTM Engineer: one operator who finds the bottleneck, builds the fix, and owns adoption.

Available now: fractional engagements (10 to 20 hours a week), contract projects, and interim full-time roles. Remote across the US, and in-office or hybrid within the San Francisco Bay Area.

Portrait of Saif Akhtar

What I do

Fractional GTM and growth leadership

Senior growth leadership without a full-time hire. Positioning, demand generation, and lifecycle programs, plus the operating cadence to run them, embedded with your team a few days a week. I have been a founder, operator, and investor, and I do the work myself.

RevOps and revenue systems

I build the revenue systems that make early-stage companies run. CRM and attribution wired correctly, pipeline stages that reflect reality, and reporting that founders can trust. From lightweight no-code systems to managing engineers, designers, marketers, and salespeople, I am comfortable organizing chaos.

AI agents in production

I design and run fleets of AI agents that operate real business workflows, from scheduling and inbox triage to lead research and code review. Production agents need checks, approvals, and kill switches, and I build that oversight in from the start, so the systems stay safe to run.

Also available for: startup advisory for pre-seed and seed founders who need to get unstuck, product strategy and MVP design, business development and sales support, and pre-seed fundraising narratives and pitch decks.

  • 30 person product and engineering team led across the US and Türkiye at Horizon Labs
  • $40M+ in ad spend managed by OrionCKB, where I was the first hire (2012 to 2014). Tinuiti acquired the agency in 2017, after my time there.
  • 23,000+ members in the Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs community I ran
  • 15 paying employers on SimplyHRA, the benefits platform I co-founded (October 2026)

Track record

  • Co-founder and COO, Horizon Labs Marketplace development agency and official Sharetribe Expert Partner, building client marketplaces since 2019.
  • Co-founder and COO, SimplyHRA ICHRA benefits administration platform for small employers. 15 paying employers signed up, and quoted on ICHRA in BambooHR News.
  • First employee, OrionCKB First hire (2012 to 2014); helped grow the team from 2 to 30. Tinuiti acquired the agency in 2017, after my time there.
  • VP Operations, Intellus.ai Part of the founding team (as Cresance, an Alchemist Accelerator and StartX company). Built the GTM and RevOps playbook the company used toward its first enterprise demos.
  • Investor and accelerator co-founder, Pakistan Co-founded the 10xC accelerator and was founding COO of Planet N Group, backing early-stage startups across fintech, commerce, and media, partnered with AWS, IBM, Microsoft, and Google.
  • Fractional growth work, Nostra.ai and PolymerSearch Reported to Rand Owens, now Head of Marketing at GrayMatter Robotics.
  • Education B.S. Mechanical Engineering, San Jose State University, 2011.

Experience

Product, strategy, GTM, and growth ops. My roles have always come down to building products, growing revenue, and keeping customers happy.

  • 2019 to present: Co-founder and COO, Horizon Labs AI-native software and marketplace agency for founders who need experienced product and engineering teams. I run a 30-person team across the US and Türkiye and lead sales, customer success, and operations.
  • 2022 to 2025: VP Operations, Intellus.ai (formerly Cresance) Founding team of a B2B SaaS for cloud cost efficiency, an Alchemist Accelerator and StartX (Stanford) company. I built the GTM and RevOps playbook the company used toward its first enterprise demos.
  • 2016 to 2020: Co-founder and CEO, 10xC Accelerator Early-stage accelerator in Asia, partnered with AWS, IBM, Microsoft, Google, and more.
  • 2016 to 2020: Founding COO, Planet N Group Pre-seed and seed venture fund focused on Asia. Worked closely with founders on sales, marketing, fundraising, and partnerships.
  • 2014 to 2016: Founding Product Lead, Smashon Health and fitness social network in San Jose. I owned product from zero to the launch of its mobile apps.
  • 2014 to 2015: Community Lead, F50.io Community consultant growing the SVE founder meetup and hosting tech events around the Bay Area. I ran the Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs meetup as it grew past 23,000 members.
  • 2012 to 2014: Founding Team, OrionCKB Performance marketing agency for large brands, acquired by Tinuiti in 2017, after my time there. I was the first hire, helped grow the team from 2 to 30 people, and ran campaigns for brands including Palo Alto Networks, The Body Shop, and Thumbtack.
  • 2011 to 2012: Co-founder and COO, Pinfluence B2B SaaS that helped brands grow their presence on Pinterest.
  • 2010 to 2015: Co-founder and CEO, Spartups Incubator Grew a meetup group into a 6,000 square foot incubation center and accelerator in downtown San Jose that graduated 22 companies, with support from San Jose State University and the City of San Jose.
  • 2010 to 2011: Generalist, The Nerditorium Micro-budget incubator; worked on early tech projects including People in Motion and Podly.

Advice and office hours

I host the StartupStudios podcast and hold office hours for founders. I also match startups with advisors and specialists in my network, and I keep a free, public database of resources I have found valuable.

If you are building something and want a second set of eyes on go-to-market, positioning, or your revenue systems, reach out. I am happy to help where I can, and to point you to someone better suited when that is the honest answer.

Ask for a second set of eyes

About me

Saif, pronounced "Seff." Second-generation Pakistani-American, born in Detroit and raised in San Jose from age two. Karachi is my second home, and where I married the love of my life. I studied mechanical engineering at San Jose State University (Beta Theta Pi, ZH #177), and I have spent 15+ years building startups, accelerators, venture funds, and agencies in the US and Asia.

Happily married to my best friend. Avid PS5 and PC gamer, and a cricket and table tennis player. I love everything startups, Star Wars, and the 49ers.

Contact

The fastest way to reach me is email. I read everything myself.