SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE| CHANNEL | CONSULTANT

STEWART TOWNSEND

Not just another empty suit.

As Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer at Podcasthawk and Hullo.Me, I leverage my 20+ years of experience to help high-growth SaaS companies scale revenue through partnerships. Previously, I held leadership roles across organizations of all sizes, from Fortune 500s to early-stage ventures. This diverse experience has honed my skills in building high-performing teams, crafting innovative go-to-market strategies, and architecting partnerships that fuel exponential growth.

I am a born leader, with a driven attitude and a reputation that is appreciated by a multitude of professionals across a number of industries. With architectural skills when it comes to business models and design, my experience in building and establishing go-to-market channels is unlike any other and I believe that my own level of professionalism helps to highlight the individual skillsets that I have to offer.

I thrive at the intersection of business strategy, technology, and people. My core strength is identifying and activating new growth levers through partnerships. Whether it’s coordinating co-selling agreements, launching channel sales models, or advising organizations that recently closed Series A funding, I can design win-win partnerships that expand market reach.

My understanding of business models and my personal strengths as a person enable me to go on and coach others who have an interest in business, both within the company and the clients that they go on to work with. An influencer of change and profitability, my solid foundation and understanding of IT and business allow me to move businesses from their current state to that of a profitable future, using controlled evolution and nearly two decades of experience to ensure the best result from start to finish.

Having spent most of my career working everywhere from large enterprises to small and local start-up companies, I have a solid understanding of what complications can occur through building partnerships around cloud services. I have the ability to grow MMR through various channels from co-sells to full channel models, while simultaneously advising a multitude of organisations who have just gone on to achieve their first Series A.

My ultimate focus lies with building teams who can go on to generate millions of dollars of revenue, using SaaS processes to eliminate the limitations that organisations face. This gives them the chance to maximise revenue while keeping a steady level of control over the variables that all businesses face. My track record for success enables me to not only be a good business partner, but an adviser, a team builder, a money-maker, and all-around business maestro.

Co-Founder/CEO – Podcast Hawk

Co-founding a data-led podcast guest research and outreach SaaS company with a B2C and B2B solution to enable individuals or agencies to research and automatically contact in-volume podcast hosts in order to book a guest slot, discuss joint sales opportunities, or research sponsorship. A growing ARR business with key advisors on board such as Pat Flynn and Jordan Harbinger, the company is scaling and growing rapidly, my role is to own everything related to revenue generation and customer success.

CRO – Always on Mobile / Hullo.ME

Building out a sales/marketing organisation globally to deliver revenue for an SMS conversation channel offering, a game changer in the sector and one in which the founders actually are the founders of SMS surveys and deliver on-time technology that they have built over the last 20 years serving clients such as Proctor and Gamble, Vodafone and the NHS. The next stage is bringing this technology through to SMB/SME businesses to enable them to gain 95% open rates with their clients.

Founder – Channel as a Service

Providing a consultancy service aimed at SaaS companies who want to increase their revenue through partners who can take their product out to a wider customer base or territory but who are not ready to hire someone full-time to build out a program test and validate if this model works for them.

I deliver a remote or onsite service that looks at their business as a whole and understands the cross-functional business unit relationship and if it is ready to drive a partnership model, then we move to a program build, training, and sales delivery.

August 2018 | – Present day.

Managing Director at Digital Lancashire

My role was to help digital companies in Lancashire get the voice they need to rise above their limitations. The companies I worked with range from corporate brands to start-ups that receive million-dollar investments, blurring the line that separates small companies from big profits while also giving every business the boost it needs to make history.

The end goal was to provide a consistent stream of advice, confidence and support to individuals and organisations who work in the digital sector. This included funding, investments, skill developments and changes to the general infrastructure.

August 2016 | – August 2018 (2 years)

Director of Global Channel Development at Zendesk

Joining Zendesk when we had 200 staff globally my responsibility was to build, develop, and scale a global partner program and manage a team of professionals across Europe to deliver revenue through distributors, VARs, and SI’s. The end goal was to increase revenue and contributions leading back to the business, and this was achieved through high-performing partnership programs. Compelling channel propositions were devised to encourage long-term MMR growth so partners could see the value across several streams of revenue.

The team was enabled with resources to build a pipeline in various territories while a long-term partner enablement program worked to accelerate sales through strategically placed channels to maximise long-term growth.

January 2013 | – August 2016 (3 years 8 months)

Director of Business Development at DataSift

It was my responsibility to identify key partners and to build a program that would truly deliver. This would require integration for a go-to-market and a high level of focus on scaling the program and pushing direct data onto the BI/Analytics landscape. This was done via data warehouses directly into the application to maximise results and to also achieve the goals that were set in place.

August 2011 | – January 2013 (1 year 6 months)

EMEA Business Development and Startup Essentials
Oracle Corporation / Sun Microsystem

Business Development in Technology Marketing EMEA. Built and implemented the use of new digital media to enable pipeline generation into the financial services sector, through the use of social media
tools focused the team on direct targetted leads, and consulted on overall strategy for the implementation of social media tools long term.

January 2001 | – October 2010

Salford University

I studied at Salford University before going on to achieve an MA in Social Media. I was one of the first people in the United Kingdom to achieve this at a Masters level with a dissertation. My studies involved focusing on how human behaviour can be changed and brought about through events and various attendance levels on Twitter.

MA, Social Media | 2009 – 2011

Salford University

I attended Salford University part time whilst working full-time in order to achieve a business degree in Business and Information Systems. This went on to lead me to my full-time role as a member of Sun Microsystems, where I remained for a total of 9 years.

Bsc Hons Business and Information Systems | 2000-2002

The Alternative School

TAS, or The Alternative School is an organisation that helps children who cannot cope with the stress and commitment of a mainstream school, and it is something that I love to help out with. I volunteer here on a regular basis to ensure that the students who do attend this school are given the care and support they need as well as offering them a good insight into the world of business from my own experience.

Social Media Training | January 2009 – January 2017

Pendle Powerfest

I like to do everything I can to donate my time back to the general public and to those who need it. Pendle Powerfest combines two things that I have a strong interest in, which is raising money for the community and cars. Of course, I love working with Pendle Powerfest, and I believe that it’s a great way to re-connect with the community on a voluntary basis.

Committee member | January 2016 – Today

“Stewart is a great connector, very passionate about helping startups and a great guy both professionally and socially”

Vice President – Snapchat
Nick Bell

“In the past two years we have been working with Stewart as Business Development Director EMEA at Zendesk.

During that time, Stewart proved to be incredibly helpful and and a great team player. He had efficient negotiation skills and was excellent in problem solving and supporting us with our customers.

Stewart is a genuinely nice person and I would like to thank him for all the time and effort he puts into developing our mutual business while focus on customer satisfaction and partners initiatives.”

CEO at DoiT International
Yoav Toussia-Cohen

“Stewart is a rare breed indeed. There is not many people I know who are comfortable engaging at all levels of an audience/business (from technical, commercial to C level) and with all sizes of business (from startups to Fortune 500’s) and can hold a quota. Stewart has worked for two different companies where I was a customer (Sun and Zendesk), and I can honestly say he’s made a big impact in the relationships I had with both of those companies.”

Co-Founder & CEO at Converse.AI, INC
Tony Lucas