Smit Patel — CEO
I started working in startups at 17 and have spent 15 years joining early teams at companies that go on to win: HubSpot (IPO), ToutApp (acquired by Marketo), UpGuard ($120M+ raised), Datadog (IPO), and Postman ($5.6B). I like to build what doesn’t exist yet. New products, new functions, new GTM motions from zero to one, often working as the CEO’s strategic right hand. I’m a product minded operator. I start with the product and work outward to positioning, pricing, packaging, and distribution. I join during the hardest stages, from 100 to 1,000 employees and from early traction to hundreds of millions in ARR. I joined early enough to shape strategy, built and led teams from scratch, and stayed long enough to see them scale. At Postman I started as Chief of Staff and grew into a functional executive, building and leading four net-new organizations: Partnerships, API Network, API Literacy/Developer Relations, and Corporate Development. At Datadog I was the first BD hire who helped build global partner packaging, pricing, and positioning from nothing with Marketing and Engineering, earning President’s Club twice. At Pieces I came in as COO to bring operational discipline to a venture-backed AI startup, reduced burn by 40%, repositioned the product, and built relationships with top AI labs. Currently: Fractional executive at OpenHands, the open-source platform for autonomous coding agents (65K+ GitHub stars, $18.8M Series A led by Madrona), working with the CEO on strategic initiatives. LP at Integral Ventures, an AI/Infra/DevTools fund. Writing about AI agent ecosystems, GTM strategy, and market structure on LinkedIn. My work spans enterprise GTM, pricing and packaging, product marketing, product partnerships, developer relations, ecosystem and community-led growth, OKRs and operating cadence, board communications, org design, corporate development and M&A. If you’re building in AI, developer tools, or SaaS, I’m always happy to share what I’ve learned.
Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS and AI growth strategist with extensive experience in corporate development and partnerships.
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Experience: 12 yrs 7 mos
Skills
- Go-to-market Strategy
- Corporate Development
- Marketing
- Mergers & Acquisitions (m&a)
- Strategic Partnerships
- Business Strategy
Career Highlights
- Built and led four new organizations at Postman.
- Drove strategic initiatives during hyper-growth at Postman.
- Spearheaded successful M&A strategies at Datadog.
Work Experience
OpenHands
Fractional Exec (3 mos)
Pieces for Developers
Chief Operating Officer (1 yr 3 mos)
Postman
VP Of Corporate Development (1 yr 2 mos)
VP Of Partnerships & Ecosystem (Product Partnerships, API Network, API Literacy) (1 yr 10 mos)
Director, Special Initiatives (1 yr)
Chief Of Staff (1 yr 1 mo)
First Round Capital
Mentor (1 yr)
Datadog
Global Strategic Partnerships (2 yrs 1 mo)
Partner Development (1 yr 7 mos)
LeakyFunnels
Growth Consultant (6 mos)
ToutApp, Inc.
Growth (3 mos)
Learn To Hustle
Author (2 mos)
UpGuard
Growth (2 mos)
HubSpot
Product Marketing (6 mos)
Flightfox
Growth (2 mos)
FounderMatchup
Co-Founder (9 mos)
Weymouth High School
Technology Internship (4 mos)
Education
BSBA at Suffolk University
High School Diploma at Weymouth High School
