40 GROWTH PARTNERS'
EXPERTISE.
Why “40” — and Why It Matters
The Rule of 40 is a simple benchmark in software: the sum of growth and profitability must reach forty. When a company hits that mark, it shows a healthy, scalable business with momentum.
We help teams get there. We drive growth and profitability at the same time. And in today’s market, growth matters more than ever, especially the ability to win new customers and create real, repeatable traction.
This principle inspired our name. 40 Growth Partners exists because reaching the Rule of 40 is challenging. It takes discipline, focus, and leaders who understand software economics and investor expectations. We built the firm for teams who need a partner that truly understands that reality.
40 Growth Partners works in the space between investor expectations and operational reality. Investors set the plan. Management must deliver it. We help teams close that gap.
We are operators first. We have carried budgets, rebuilt teams, fixed broken processes, and delivered numbers under pressure. We know what it takes to hit targets when the plan looks cleaner on paper than it does inside the business.
Our work is simple: build value creation strategies with investors and execute them with management. We bring clarity, align priorities, and focus teams on the actions that move the needle. Growth, margins, new customers, pricing, product improvements, operational discipline - whatever shifts performance in the right direction.
Executives work with us because we understand their world. We speak their language. And we stand with them to turn ambitious plans into measurable results.
WHERE WE CREATE VALUE.
OUR TEAM.
CHRISTIAN SALZA
Operating Partner
Christian Salza builds companies that scale. With more than twenty years in leadership and in the technology and software sector, he has guided businesses through acquisitions, integrations, roll-ups, restructurings, transformations, and exits.
His perspective is rare: he has scaled start-ups, transformed founder-led companies, sold businesses to strategic buyers and private equity, and led M&A for a major European aggregator, creating operational and organizational transformation throughout his career.
He understands the operational realities of leadership and the expectations of investors. Christian brings clarity, breaks old patterns, and installs operating models, metrics, and leadership behaviors that drive profitable growth.
As an Operating Partner at 40 Growth Partners, he helps companies grow, improve margins, and prepare for successful exits.
FRIEDRICH TROTT
Director
Friedrich builds teams and organizations that scale. With more than a decade in talent, people, and organizational leadership, he has supported fast-growing companies through hypergrowth, acquisitions, and international expansion while keeping culture and performance aligned. His experience spans executive search, global talent acquisition leadership, and People & Culture in founder-led tech companies.
Friedrich combines operator and investor perspectives. As an investor and external advisor, he helps early-stage and scaling companies design strategic people solutions from workforce planning to organizational development. At a family office he contributed to a long-term, value-driven family business shaping the energy transition, bringing clarity to people strategy and installing talent models and leadership behaviors that support sustainable growth. As Director at 40 Growth Partners, he helps companies grow, assesses leadership and finds the best people for successful exits.
SASCHA HAASE
Operating Partner Product&AI
Sascha Haase turns AI into revenue. With more than 15 years in product leadership across cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and GenAI SaaS, he has built and shipped products that scale in regulated and security-sensitive markets, and advises PE-backed and scaling companies on AI strategy and product execution.
His perspective is operator and strategist in one. He shipped the first secure messenger certified by BSI for classified information and designed a differentiated AI integration strategy with global partners, driving 550% TCV growth in the government segment. For a B2B SaaS platform, his AI-native pricing strategy results in +118% international growth. For a PE-backed vertical-software portfolio in textile and apparel, he runs AI competitive intelligence across six business units, mapping per-BU AI gaps and cross-portfolio patterns. His background in international business law sharpens how he reads contracts, partnerships, and regulatory exposure.
Sascha brings clarity, cuts through complexity, and installs the operating cadence that turns AI ambition into a shipped product. As an independent AI strategy advisor to PE-backed and scaling tech companies, he helps leadership teams sharpen positioning, accelerate AI adoption, and prepare for the next stage of growth
AXEL FRIEDRICH
Operating Partner Finance
Axel Friedrich drives financial clarity in organizations navigating complex change. With more than twenty years of senior finance leadership in the IT and media sector, he has guided businesses through digital disruption, business model transformation, and organizational evolution.
His background is distinctly cross-industry: he led EMEA finance at Twentieth Century Fox, steered financial operations at digital marketing innovator Sovendus, and brings deep expertise in interim management and consulting. Throughout, he has built and developed high-performing finance teams grounded in transparency, integrity, and open communication.
Axel combines strategic vision with operational discipline. He understands that sustainable value creation requires not only sound financial governance, but also authentic leadership and the ability to bring people along through change. As CFO and Managing Director at Humera Group (formerly Vimata Group), he helps organizations sharpen their financial foundations, develop talent, and deliver results that matter.