SaaS operations & transformation
SaaS made simple.
Mohamed Elsherif — SaaS operations and transformation advisor, founder and CEO of ASaaSI Middle East. Fifteen years running the operating layer of SaaS companies across MENA, not advising it from outside.
- Crowd AnalyzerChief Operating Officer, 2022–2025
- Extend | The Ad NetworkBusiness Insights Director, 2021–2023
- The American University in CairoResearch & Teaching Assistant, 2020–2025
- Egypt University of InformaticsAdjunct Instructor, 2026
- University of YorkMSc Social Informatics
Three ways I work
Operations & transformation advisory
For founders and executives past validation, where the constraint has moved from the market to the way the company is run. Start with a free clarity call, then a retainer, a team workshop, or help hiring the role that decides your next stage.
Training
The 7-Stage MENA SaaS Growth Roadmap. Every stage has a way in, whether or not a cohort is running for it — the MRR and team bands tell you which one you are in.
Speaking
Five talks on SaaS operations, AI transformation, the seven stages, AI for marketing teams, and Arabic media intelligence. Keynotes, workshops and executive briefings, in Arabic or English.
The work, in numbers
Ten years of cohorts, workshops and one-to-one sessions, alongside the operating roles rather than instead of them. The teaching came out of running the function: three offices reopened, a team taken from two to over a hundred, and more than $1.5M in SaaS sales inside two years at Crowd Analyzer.
What participants say
From participants in the MENA SaaS Foundation Masterclass, in their own words and their own language.
What I gained from this course goes beyond information. I acquired new skills, joined a lifelong community, and had the opportunity to engage in meaningful and open business discussions.
Shahd Mohamed
The course was very insightful and changed my perspective about a lot of aspects when it comes to validation and founder–market fit. The Coach prompts are amazing to help you and challenge you to refine the idea and the statements needed to make things straight.
Omar Youssef
Don’t be over optimistic about your idea, it might just be more of a burden than an actual money maker! Mr. Mohamed will challenge your idea for you, but you’ll have to defend it yourself! If you really want to go to the founders circle and live that messy life, FIGHT. Thanks Mr. Mohamed Elsherif for providing me with the knowledge, tools, awareness and POWER to move on.
Mohamed Ali
ممتنة لك بحجم السماء يا محمد الشريف، وكم خبراتك المميزة التي استفدنا منها على مدار الكورس.
Mariam Rabie
Run your own numbers
Three calculators built on the same material I teach and advise from. No sign-up, no email wall, and nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere.
Is your business model actually SaaS?
A straight answer, and what to do about it either way.
Rule of 40 and burn multiple
Your score, your burn multiple, and the gap you have to close.
SaaS COGS and gross margin
Your gross margin, against the benchmark investors actually use.
The 7-Stage MENA SaaS Growth Roadmap
Every SaaS company is somewhere on this map. The stage sets the constraint, and the constraint sets the work. Exit criteria at every stage — you leave when the evidence says you can, not when the quarter ends.
- Stage 01Validation$0 – $1k MRRFounders only
- Stage 02MVP$1k – $10k MRR2–3
- Stage 03Acquisition & Distribution$10k – $30k MRR4–8
- Stage 04Customer Retention$30k – $80k MRR10–20
- Stage 05Product Focus$80k – $200k MRR20–40
- Stage 06Scalability and Growth$200k – $500k MRR40–80
- Stage 07Governance$500k+ MRR80+
Brands I have worked with
Extend
Crowd Analyzer
FIFA
Agthia
BLVD World
McDonald's
World Bank
Riyadh Season
The American University in Cairo
AUC School of Continuing Education
Brands and organisations I have worked with, directly and through Crowd Analyzer and Extend.
Two careers at once
I have had two careers running at the same time.
Fifteen years building B2B SaaS inside enterprise companies pushing into MENA — Singapore, Cairo, Dubai, Riyadh — and ten of those years spent teaching and advising the founders trying to build it from nothing, in accelerators, incubators and universities across six countries. Seeing both sides is why ASaaSI Middle East exists: enterprises have the budget and the process, founders have the vision and the speed, and each one lacks exactly what the other has. I know how the SaaS model actually works in this region, and I can hand that to the people building here.
Latest writing
Operations, pricing, growth, data and AI, hiring — fifty pieces, grouped so one leads to the next.
If the operating layer is the constraint, start here.
Tell me what is actually blocking you. The advisory form asks for the constraint in your own words, because that is the part I need in order to say anything useful — or to tell you that you do not need me.