Scaling B2B Software
in the AI Era

I have spent more than 20 years building and leading B2B software companies as a co-founder with an exit, CEO, COO and CCO. I write about how AI changes business models, software economics and enterprise value. I work with business owners, boards and investors on specific growth, financing and integration situations.

CEO · COO · CCOBoard & Advisory
Latest articlesDiscuss a specific situation

Operational analysis and implementation through Convios.

Dr. Oliver Gausmann – CEO and COO for B2B software
01Exitas co-founder, after four years
024 integrationspost-merger at S&P Global
0320+ yearsoperational leadership in B2B software
01Exitas co-founder, after four years
024post-merger integrations
0320+years of operational leadership

Profile

Scaling B2B software, from code to board.

Technology
200+ engineers
More than €50M budget across three continents
Deep technical understanding down to the latest AI architectures.
  • 5Mactive users, 43 languages
  • 150IT staff, 30 systems integrated
  • 250+people trained in AI scaling, last 12 months
Operator
Co-founder to COO
P&L from Series A to exit, most recently around 300 staff
Years of hands-on work in pricing, sales, marketing and scaling, in the engine room.
  • €1Mrevenue 6 months after founding
  • 2.5×revenue through pricing
  • +40%MQL in 60 days
Board
Four funding rounds
with VC, PE and Fortune 500 as investors
Deal logic from both sides of the table, speed and a reliable network.
  • 18 yearslongest client relationship
  • 4 dealsbuy and sell side, as lead or in the team
  • 8 industriesnetwork across Big Four, PE and industry

Insights

What's on my mind

Perspectives from 20 years of B2B software, PE and fundraising.

Long-exposure surf around dark rocks at blue hour, symbolizing fast and slow change in the AI scenarios to 2029
Market & StrategyAI & Technology

AI Scenarios to 2029: What's Possible and What Creates Lasting Value

AI scenarios to 2029: which AI projects create lasting value, and which early indicators point to a plateau or an acceleration.

September 202621 Min. read
Rowing crew with a standing coxswain in a wooden boat on choppy sea, symbolizing the topic of scaling B2B software sales
Market & StrategyPE Operations

Scaling B2B software sales: four stages from founder-led selling to a sales machine

Scaling B2B software sales in four stages: the number that matters at each stage, and how to tell where your sales team stands today.

September 20269 Min. read
AI pricing models as a stair diagram: the AI price ladder in five steps from price per token to price per outcome
Market & StrategyAI & Technology

AI Pricing Models in 2026: The AI Price Ladder from Tokens to Outcomes

Token prices keep falling while AI bills keep growing, and vendors keep swapping their counting units. The AI price ladder sorts today's AI pricing models in five steps.

August 202616 Min. read
Exposed mechanical watch movement without a dial, symbolizing headless software run by AI agents
Market & StrategySoftware & Delivery

Headless Software: Why Value Moves into the Permission Layer When AI Agents Skip the Interface

AI agents run software through APIs and MCP while the screen stays dark. Why headless software shifts value into permissions, audit trails and codified business rules.

August 20267 Min. read
Hourglass with black sand nearly run out, symbolizing time-based fees giving way to outcome-based pricing
Market & Strategy

Outcome-Based Pricing Comes for the Day Rate: Consulting Fees in the AI Era

Most consultancies say AI hasn't touched their prices. The largest firms are already tying fees to results. When outcome-based pricing beats the day rate, and when it doesn't.

August 20268 Min. read
An older man in a work apron leans over a potter's wheel in a workshop, watching a boy shape the clay
PE Operations

More German SMEs Now Plan to Close Than to Hand Over

By 2029 some 114,000 German SMEs plan to wind down each year, against 109,000 looking for a successor. The IfM points to earnings, not to ageing owners.

August 202610 Min. read
TOOLAI Cost Calculator: What does a completed task cost?

Standpoints

Three principles, one thesis

For me, AI, regulation and growth belong together. Companies that think them together grow faster and safer. That holds for software companies as much as for established businesses that are making AI part of their core. From that follow three guiding principles: growth, speed, and defensibility.

Growth

Scaling mechanics

Growth comes from the right mechanics. I start in the engine room.

Go-to-market, pricing, sales motion, and the economics behind them.

Articles on this

Speed

AI across the company

Build the guardrails, then drive fast. In exactly that order.

Governance as a speed lever. AI as a company-wide tool in engineering, service, and sales.

Articles on this

Defensibility

Defensible Scale

Scale only counts when it is defensible: workflow, data, distribution.

Moats, workflow lock-in, and the investor lens on B2B software.

Articles on this

Track record

Concrete roles, concrete companies.

  • COOCREATEQ AG
  • Managing Consultant (via E&P Consulting)Munich Re Group
  • Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)enmacc GmbH
Full track record

TALKS & TEACHING

Stage, Lecture Hall, Boardroom

All talks, workshops and courses

TEACHING · FALL 2026

Applied AI Systems: Architecture, Integration and Scaling

Universität Zürich · Fall Semester 2026

Bachelor seminar on AI systems in practice: architecture, integration and scaling.

Seminar at the Department of Informatics, University of Zurich, fall semester 2026. Students build AI systems in groups against practical assignments, covering architecture, integration and scalable operation.

Global Software Management

Universität Zürich · Fall Semester 2026

Operating standards, governance and AI delivery in globally distributed software teams.

MSc lecture at the Department of Informatics, University of Zurich, fall semester 2026. Distributed delivery, vendor management, AI in DevOps, IT governance and B2B SaaS delivery at scale.

UPCOMING
October 14, 2026

Why the Next Five Years Will Decide Your Consulting Firm's Future

Scaliento · Söding bei Graz (AT) · Keynote

Standing still is not a strategy: how compliance consulting stays defensible in the AI era.

EIGENBAU
October 24, 2026

Eigenbau II: Build Your Own AI Tool in a Day

Convios GmbH · LechLoft, Landsberg am Lech · Workshop

Twelve seats for business owners and decision-makers: build a tool for your own problem that runs by the evening.

COMPLETED
Eigenbau I · August 29, 2026 · LechLoft, Landsberg am Lech

The first EIGENBAU building day: a resounding success

Twelve building stations, two trainers, one day of focused building on each participant's own case. The second edition follows on October 24, 2026.

The photo retrospective on eigenbau.app
Trainer and participant align at the building stationParticipants work at their laptops at the LechLoft

SELECTED TALKS

EIGENBAU: Build Your Own AI Tool in a Day
Convios GmbH · LechLoft, Landsberg am Lech · Workshop · 2026
AI Agents, Vibe Coding and the EU AI Act
BVMW Bayern · Online · Online Talk · 2026
The Metals Trading and Price Reporting Marketplace of the Future
SEAISI · Online · Online Talk · 2020
Digitalization in Logistics: People, Processes, Technology
SVG Saar · Saarbrücken · Keynote · 2019
Banking Challenges in a Digital, Connected World
Crealogix · Zürich · Keynote · 2019
Digital Transformation in Logistics: More Success through Collaboration
gwSaar / Saarl. Wirtschaftsministerium · Paris · Keynote · 2019
Digitalization between Service and Sales
Sparkassenakademie NRW · Dortmund · Keynote · 2018

References

Selected clients

ABOUT ME

Just do it. Now.

Dr. Oliver GausmannOliver Gausmann in the cockpit, headset on

I'm an entrepreneur. That's what I've been in every mandate and every role, in startups, scale-ups, and corporates. The title changes. The mindset stays.

Getting on top of new topics fast, finding the screw in the gearbox and loosening it. That's what drives me. Growth gets less of a head start today than it did five years ago. Less room, more discipline, faster decisions. That's exactly when I get the call.

In the gliding club, the bricklayer flew with the professor, and they sat at the same table that evening. That's where I learned early that substance beats hierarchy. Today I fly actively, PPL(A) with night and seaplane ratings. When the horizon disappears, you rely on your instruments, structure, and training. That's how I run companies.

I've kept that technical depth through every phase and pass it on today at the University of Zurich.

Doctorate in information systems from the University of Augsburg, summa cum laude. Lecturer at the Department of Informatics, University of Zurich.

THESES

Nine pointed theses. Disagreement welcome.

From practice, sharpened in articles and conversations. Every thesis comes with a resolution, many with an article behind it. If you disagree, that's exactly what the button is for.

01

Everyone wants to go fast with AI. Building the road is somebody else's job, apparently.

Resolution

Productive AI use takes more than ambition and investor pressure: processes, data, guardrails. First the road, then the speed.

The article behind itTell me why I'm wrong
02

More sales pressure is the most expensive answer to a mechanics problem. The world doesn't need more sales slop.

Resolution

When positioning, pricing, and sales motion are off, more hunting only makes the damage faster. I start in the engine room.

Tell me why I'm wrong
03

Hiring three more hunters is the 2019 answer. The cheapest sales rep in 2026 is your product.

Resolution

Partners, product, and price beat direct sales more often than most plans admit. Three levers, tested in three mandates.

The article behind itTell me why I'm wrong
04

AI without context is like skiing in summer. You can, but you really don't have to.

Resolution

Without your own data and workflows, every model stays a party trick. Context is the slope.

The article behind itTell me why I'm wrong
05

AI is a tool, not a product. Your painter doesn't sell you the brush either.

Resolution

What gets paid for is the painted house. If all you sell is the brush, you're a commodity within six months.

The article behind itTell me why I'm wrong
06

Software that's just a pretty window onto someone else's data has an expiry date. MCP just moved it up.

Resolution

Open protocols talk to the data directly. The moat moves into workflow and data ownership, and valuations follow.

The article behind itTell me why I'm wrong
07

Go ahead, keep banning AI. Do you really think the kids don't know where the sweets are?

Resolution

Your team is using AI already, with or without approval. The only question is whether anyone is watching.

The article behind itTell me why I'm wrong
08

Nobody ever got fit from a gym membership alone. The ChatGPT license works the same way.

Resolution

70 percent of the value sits in reworking how people work. The license is the membership card. The training starts after.

The article behind itTell me why I'm wrong
09

No AI is going to steal your deal. The competitor who uses it more consistently will.

Resolution

It's a Red Queen race: standing still means falling behind. For software vendors, twice over.

The article behind itTell me why I'm wrong
Which thesis is missing? Send me yours.·Or book 30 minutes directly.

Convios & Ventures

The thinking lives here. The execution is called Convios.

Both happen at the same desk: operational leadership roles and board work, AI adoption and software governance for B2B companies and their investors.

CONVIOS

My company · since 2006

Analysis and implementation in bounded steps: scaling audit, 90-day lever and support. For investors and portfolios as well as business owners and management teams.

convios.com →

ETHENIOS

Own B2B SaaS Venture

B2B SaaS platform for AI-powered compliance management. EU AI Act, DORA, ISO 27001 modeled as structured data. Built with own engineering team in India. Currently in development.

Ethenios →

Teaching

Department of Informatics · University of Zurich

Lectureship with an MSc lecture on Global Software Management and a BSc seminar on Applied AI Systems. Executive sparring via Convios.

convios.com →

Contact

The shortest path is a conversation.

Feedback on an article, sparring, a concrete situation in your company: write to me, or book 30 minutes directly in my calendar.

Schedule a conversationgausmann@convios.comlinkedin.com/in/olivergausmann

Convios GmbH · Bischof-Riegg-Str. 19a · 86899 Landsberg am Lech · Germany