Aksel Yap — CEO

I build presales teams that can execute without the leader in every deal. Over 15 years across Singapore and Southeast Asia, I have led solutions engineering and consulting teams at Salesforce, TIBCO, and SailPoint. My focus is on driving enterprise pipeline, coaching high-ceiling SE talent, and architecting repeatable go-to-market motions that scale. My leadership philosophy comes down to three things: 1. Coaching frameworks that build independence I run a Shadow to Lead to Debrief model using live customer scenarios as coaching laboratories. I used this on a ~$9M enterprise deal at TIBCO by putting an SE in the room, letting them lead the next interaction, and doing a structured debrief to build independent judgment. The goal is always the same: an SE who can own the room without me in it. 2. Talent mapping that targets development precisely I segment teams into three profiles. Industrialists build repeatable assets and playbooks. Executives are high-coachability SEs developed toward board-level narrative leadership. Core members provide technical depth and delivery stability. This stops the one-size-fits-all trap and puts coaching investment where it has the highest impact. 3. Scaling field motions into repeatable systems Individual heroics do not scale. I turn proven field plays into templates, frameworks, and coaching routines the whole team can adopt. This includes automated prospecting, structured executive briefing formats, and value-based messaging that wins complex multi-product deals. I am also a LinkedIn Top Voice in Sales Engineering, an Industry Advisory Board Member for DemoBoost, and a keynote speaker across APAC on AI, agentic technology, and enterprise go-to-market strategy. Let's connect if you are building a presales or solutions engineering function in SEA and want to talk about team architecture, coaching design, or GTM strategy.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS Sales Engineering expert with a strong focus on coaching and team development.

Location: Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

Experience: 15 yrs 9 mos

Skills

Solutions Engineering
Sales Engineering
Thought Leadership
Project Management
Agile Methodologies
Software Development

Career Highlights

Led SEA presales team to $4.7M pipeline.
Developed coaching frameworks for independent SEs.
Recognized LinkedIn Top Voice in Sales Engineering.

Work Experience

Salesforce

Public Sector Solutions Engineering Lead, SEA (2 yrs 5 mos)

Demoboost

Strategic Industry Advisor (2 yrs 11 mos)

SailPoint

Partner Sales Engineering (1 yr)

TIBCO

Solution Consulting Manager, SEA (1 yr 8 mos)

Senior Solutions Consultant (4 yrs 1 mo)

SGX

Test Automation Manager (1 yr 11 mos)

ING

Scrum Master (1 yr 3 mos)

Merrill Lynch

Senior Analyst (3 yrs 8 mos)

Education

Bachelor of Science at Singapore Management University

Aksel Yap

CEO

Singapore, Singapore, Singapore15 yrs 9 mos experience

AI ML PractitionerAI Enabled

Key Highlights

Led SEA presales team to $4.7M pipeline.
Developed coaching frameworks for independent SEs.
Recognized LinkedIn Top Voice in Sales Engineering.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS Sales Engineering expert with a strong focus on coaching and team development.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Solutions EngineeringSales EngineeringThought LeadershipProject ManagementAgile MethodologiesSoftware Development

Other Skills

Structured deal coachingTeam developmentGTM executionTechnical playsAutomated prospectingExecutive messagingCoachingTalent mappingAI insightsB2B salesAnalytical SkillsProduct DemonstrationDeal ClosurePresentation SkillsCybersecurity

About

Experience

15 yrs 9 mos

Total Experience

2 yrs 8 mos

Average Tenure

2 yrs 5 mos

Current Experience

Salesforce

Public Sector Solutions Engineering Lead, SEA

Dec 2023 – Present · 2 yrs 5 mos · Singapore

Led the SEA presales team to $4.7M pipeline and $1.13M ACV in FY25 through structured deal coaching, deliberate team development, and disciplined GTM execution.
Scaled the MuleSoft Public Sector presales motion from $280K to $1.2M by building repeatable technical plays, automated prospecting frameworks, and enablement programs the team could run independently.
Partnered with sales leadership to align presales support to strategic revenue priorities and coached teams on executive messaging and value-base
Introduced Figma-based interactive solution design workflows that reduced SE workload and accelerated customer engagement cycles.
Developed a proposed coaching and talent-development framework for a 10-person SE team. This combined foundation skills, live-deal coaching, and segmented talent mapping to scale proven field motions without requiring the leader to be in every deal.

Structured deal coachingTeam developmentGTM executionTechnical playsAutomated prospectingExecutive messaging+2

Demoboost

Strategic Industry Advisor

Jun 2023 – Present · 2 yrs 11 mos · Remote

Recognized as a leading voice in Sales Engineering, sharing insights on AI and B2B sales.
Achieved 456,283 annual impressions by engaging the global sales engineering community.
Industry Advisor for Demoboost, re-shaping the SE space with interactive demos.
Selected Thought Leadership Pieces:
https://demoboost.com/blog/the-modern-approach-to-presales-job-hunt-aksel-yap-on-gaining-an-edge-with-interactive-demos
https://demoboost.com/blog/the-power-of-dql-in-lead-generation
https://demoboost.com/blog/tech-sales-ae-se-ratio-balancing
https://demoboost.com/blog/b2b-sales-revolution
https://demoboost.com/blog/interactice-product-demos-walkthroughs-for-lead-generation

Sales EngineeringAI insightsB2B salesThought Leadership

Sailpoint

Partner Sales Engineering

Dec 2022 – Dec 2023 · 1 yr · Singapore · On-site

Analytical SkillsProduct DemonstrationSolutions EngineeringDeal ClosurePresentation SkillsCybersecurity+1

Tibco

2 roles

Solution Consulting Manager, SEA

Promoted

Jul 2021 – Mar 2023 · 1 yr 8 mos

Hired and onboarded three Solutions Consultants using a proprietary technical interview validation framework.
Led team performance across $8M+ annual contract value and achieved 100% MBO attainment for upskilling and incremental ACV goals.
Implemented capacity planning and operating improvements that reduced ramp time and improved resource utilization.
Increased RFP win rates by 62% through systematic technical qualification and validation frameworks.
Applied a Shadow to Lead to Debrief coaching model in a ~$9M deal. I used live customer interactions as coaching laboratories to build independent judgment, executive narrative capability, and SE ownership of high-stakes conversations.

Team performance managementTechnical qualificationCapacity planningCoaching modelSales EngineeringSolutions Engineering

Senior Solutions Consultant

Jun 2017 – Jul 2021 · 4 yrs 1 mo

TIBCO President Club 2019, No 1 consultant in Asia, 241% of quota.
Provide thought leadership on trends such as blockchain, AI & machine learning
Deal highlights:
Electrical Authority in SEA: Build machine learning pipeline for multiple use cases. eg. predicting grid load and behavior with introduction of electrical vehicles
PSA Tuas Mega Port: Real-time Digital Twin terminal operating system with 2100 automated guided vehicles and cranes using streaming analytics and IOT edge processing
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/tuas-port-officially-opens-with-3-berths-500-workers-as-freight-volumes-reach-record-high-levels
XL Axiata: Operationalize data science pipeline from data to deployment using analytics as an API. https://www.telecomasia.net/content/xl-axiata-teams-software-company-tibco
Affin Hwang: Using Data Virtualization to enhance their customer’s investing experience
https://www.enterpriseitnews.com.my/affin-hwang-am-selects-tibco-to-enhance-their-customers-investing-experience/
Speaking event highlights:
SemiconSEA Kuala Lumpur http://www.semiconsea.org 2019
➙ "Smart Manufacturing: Data Fueled Innovation
➙ "Digital Twins To Improve Semiconductor Yield
PhinCon Indonesia 2019
➙ "The future of banking using data science"
Pasasalamat ITG Philippines 2019
➙ “Overcoming Challenges with AI and ML

Sales ProcessesAnalyticsSales EngineeringSolution SellingOral CommunicationTeamwork+13

Sgx

Test Automation Manager

Jul 2015 – Jun 2017 · 1 yr 11 mos · Singapore

Implemented “shift-left” strategy cutting each UAT cycle by 20 man-days; delivered a project 4 months ahead of schedule. The 1st project in SGX to do so.
Managed and grew DevOps team from 3 to 8 professionals
Train team on agile practices for SGX Titan-OTC, SPMI 16-17 Project Of The Year Winner
Delivered 3 projects with different budgets, 25m, 9m, 30m
Conducted 13 workshops to upskill 35 professionals in Scrum, LeSS and XP

TeamworkBankingBusiness Case PreparationAPI DevelopmentEnglishProject Management+1

Ing

Scrum Master

Feb 2014 – May 2015 · 1 yr 3 mos · Singapore

Guided team of 6 away from waterfall and adopt agile project management metholodgy
Coached senior team members with 10 - 15 years of experience more than me on refactoring and design to improve maintainability of legacy code
Offered chance to move to Head Office in Amsterdam and lead team there
Negotiated scope with business partners from Singapore, Netherlands, Bulgaria

BankingBusiness Case PreparationAPI DevelopmentEnglishSettlementAgile Methodologies+1

Merrill lynch

Senior Analyst

Jun 2010 – Feb 2014 · 3 yrs 8 mos · Equity Linked Technology Singapore

Implemented Dodd Frank real time reporting system in 2 months resulting in BAML being the first to comply with CFTC requirements in Dec’12
Received 5-stars review from Asian Head of Trading, gaining us massive numbers of internal customer in London and New York
Received BAML Employee Gold award for high quality software delivery

BankingBusiness Case PreparationEnglishSoftware DevelopmentProject Management