Yasir Suleman Memon

founder and CEO of Salesflo

Compiled from 1 recorded interview. Every statement below is drawn from the passage cited beside it.

Yasir Suleman Memon is the founder and chief executive of Salesflo, an enterprise SaaS platform. He was born in Hyderabad, Pakistan, and is settled in Karachi. Memon ended up at LUMS for an MBA and worked at Unilever for eight years.

Early life and background

Memon was born in Hyderabad, Pakistan. As a child he lived in three nearby towns, including Tando Jam. His father was a professor of agriculture and came from Hala, which is known for its handicrafts. His mother worked as a librarian at Mehran University. [1]

His father spent two years teaching at Texas A&M in the United States. His parents flew back to Pakistan in the eighth month so that his brother could be born there. His parents still live in Jamshoro, while he is settled in Karachi. [1]

Education

Most of Memon's schooling was in Hyderabad. He says he failed matric and got a C grade in intermediate. He applied to FAST and was rejected. He completed a bachelor's degree and a master's degree. He says he won a gold medal at a university and had a GPA of 3.8. [1]

Memon applied for a Fulbright scholarship but could not crack the GRE scores. He ended up at LUMS for an MBA. He chose an MBA to understand why his product did not sell. [1]

His father, a government employee, could not afford the LUMS fees. Memon was offered a 25 percent scholarship and asked his father about it. His father's friend gave him 120,000 rupees in cash, which he deposited at LUMS. He received a USAID scholarship that covered him 100 percent. [1]

Early career

While studying for his master's, Memon worked at a software house in Karachi for five or six months. He says he dropped out to start a company with a friend from Hyderabad. He describes the company as an SMS text messaging business, dating from 2004. He says the business was closed after about six or seven months. [1]

Memon says branch managers would not buy the product and that the company was selling it to the wrong people. He says a quick commerce venture crashed. [1]

Unilever

After his MBA, Memon turned down a Microsoft developer job. He joined Unilever as a management trainee, selling soap, shampoo and tea. He worked at Unilever for eight years. At Unilever he worked across supply chain, marketing, finance and sales. [1]

He says he was solely responsible for a business of 60 to 70 million dollars. He says he later ran a business of 100 to 120 million dollars. His co-founder also worked at Unilever. [1]

Salesflo

The company began with paid-up capital of about 24 lakh rupees. The company built a merchandising automation platform for FMCG companies. Memon says Unilever became a customer within one year. He says annualised revenue reached close to 36 million, currency not stated, within about two years. [1]

Memon says one particular contract made Salesflo what it is today. The company started building Salesflo as a product in 2017. The first Salesflo team members were hired in Hyderabad. He says that by 2019 and 2020 most of the large consumer goods companies that were early adopters had transitioned, and that they were able to scoop the market. [1]

Memon describes Salesflo as an enterprise SaaS platform. He says Salesflo covers inventory, ordering and invoicing. He says Salesflo offers only a cloud product, which the company manages. He says Salesflo does not charge separately for deployment or consulting. He says about 95 percent of Salesflo revenue comes from subscriptions. [1]

He says the time to closure is a minimum of nine months and sometimes about a year and a half. He says Salesflo did a deal with Mondelez. He says Salesflo closed a contract with Nestle. He says Salesflo has about 100 or more customers. [1]

Memon says ticket sizes can be as large as 400k per year recurring, currency not stated. He says recurring subscription revenue is about 3.5 to 4 million, currency not stated. He says about 6 billion dollars of transactions run through Salesflo. He says Salesflo has about 110 people. [1]

Expansion

Memon says Salesflo has clients in about 11 countries and staff on the ground in three. He says Salesflo first put boots on the ground in January 2024. He says Salesflo has recently opened in Malaysia. [1]

He says he spends about a week in Saudi Arabia each month. He says Salesflo has worked out a repeatable model through its Saudi market. He says the local to global split is about 90 to 10. [1]

Funding and Jugnu

Memon says Salesflo raised funding from Systems Limited, a listed company. He says the Systems Limited investment was about 3.2 million dollars. He says the Systems Limited funding round was mainly used to fund Jugnu. [1]

He describes Jugnu as a subsidiary of Salesflo, built as a platform effort. He says Salesflo closed Jugnu in 2023. He says about 12 to 13 million dollars had been raised overall. He says a foreign investor backed out and said it would not be investing in Pakistan anymore. He says the company had to close down its warehouses. [1]

Outlook

Memon says Salesflo has been cash flow positive since it started. He says Salesflo is open to raising capital but is not actively pursuing it. He says any new raise would fund AI features and a larger sales team. He says they will be a 100 million dollar revenue company within the next five to six years. He says they should be operating in 190 countries. [1]

Views

Memon says the first ingredient needed is a great team that understands the problem well enough. He believes founders should not depend on the government for everything. He says a lack of exposure does not allow one to think big. He rates education readiness at about 1.5 to 2 out of 10. He believes a role model in each community can change how people choose their path. [1]

He says they began losing talent to remote jobs, Fiverr and other outsourcing platforms. He says that in the age of AI it will be 10 extremely valuable head counts rather than 1,000. He says Pakistan never got on to the SaaS and export-based services model. He says the Pakistan market is shrinking under current conditions. He says the way to stop the shrinkage is to sell abroad and bring dollars home. [1]

Memon says the first thing is that we have to have hope and cannot be hopeless. He says one has to identify people with the right intent who can go out and transform. He says Pakistan could become like the Netherlands, Singapore or China. He says he booked a domain called flightnumberpk2047.org. [1]

Memon believes an IPO is meant to convert a company into an institution, because future management gets taken care of. He says an IPO is very clearly a destination for the future. He says they are not going to sell out to an investor who comes in. He says the aim was to build a legacy, something that can last and outlive them. [1]

Timeline

2004
Memon describes his SMS text messaging business as dating from this year.[1]
2017
The company started building Salesflo as a product.[1]
2019
By 2019 and 2020, most large consumer goods companies that were early adopters had transitioned, and Memon says the company was able to scoop the market.[1]
2023
Memon says Salesflo closed Jugnu.[1]
2024
Memon says Salesflo first put boots on the ground in January.[1]

Appearances

DateTitleWhere
2025-11-28 Six billion dollars a year already runs through Salesflo Thought Behind Things

Frequently asked questions

Who is Yasir Suleman Memon?

Yasir Suleman Memon is the founder and chief executive of Salesflo, an enterprise SaaS platform. He was born in Hyderabad, Pakistan, and is settled in Karachi.[1]

What does Yasir Suleman Memon do?

Memon is the founder and chief executive of Salesflo. He describes Salesflo as an enterprise SaaS platform, and says it covers inventory, ordering and invoicing.[1]

Where did Yasir Suleman Memon study?

Most of Yasir Suleman Memon's schooling was in Hyderabad. He completed a bachelor's degree and a master's degree, and he ended up at LUMS for an MBA. He received a USAID scholarship that covered him 100 percent.[1]

Where is Yasir Suleman Memon from?

Yasir Suleman Memon was born in Hyderabad, Pakistan. As a child he lived in three nearby towns, including Tando Jam. He is settled in Karachi, while his parents still live in Jamshoro.[1]

What company did Yasir Suleman Memon found?

Yasir Suleman Memon is the founder and chief executive of Salesflo. The company started building Salesflo as a product in 2017.[1]

Did Yasir Suleman Memon work at Unilever?

Yes. Yasir Suleman Memon joined Unilever as a management trainee, selling soap, shampoo and tea. He worked at Unilever for eight years.[1]

What was Jugnu?

Yasir Suleman Memon describes Jugnu as a subsidiary of Salesflo, built as a platform effort. He says Salesflo closed Jugnu in 2023.[1]

References

  1. Six billion dollars a year already runs through Salesflo . Thought Behind Things , 2025-11-28.
Show the source passages (93 statements)
  1. Yasir Suleman Memon is the founder and chief executive of Salesflo. Yasir Suleman Memon, Founder & CEO of Salesflo
  2. Yasir was born in Hyderabad, Pakistan. well I was born in Hyderabad, Hyderabad, Pakistan
  3. As a child he lived in three nearby towns, including Tando Jam. I had the opportunity to, you know, live in three, you know, cities that are close by, you know, Tando Jam which is a agriculture university city
  4. His father was a professor of agriculture. My my father was in in agriculture, um as a professor, not as a zamindar
  5. His father came from Hala, which is known for its handicrafts. my father belonged to Hala which is a which is known for its handicrafts
  6. His mother worked as a librarian at Mehran University. she was a librarian for the Mehran University which is an engineering university
  7. His father spent two years teaching at Texas A&M in the United States. I also had a very short stint for two years in the US where my father was actually teaching at Texas A&M in Texas
  8. His parents flew back to Pakistan in the eighth month so that his brother could be born there. So they flew back in the eighth month to deliver my brother in Pakistan
  9. His parents still live in Jamshoro, while he is settled in Karachi. My parents still live in Jamshoro um as I am settled in Karachi
  10. Most of his schooling was in Hyderabad. Then in Hyderabad where you know, I had my schooling, most of my schooling I you know, was was in Hyderabad
  11. He says he failed matric and got a C grade in intermediate. I actually failed my matric exam. I had a C grade in Inter
  12. He applied to FAST and was rejected. So I applied for FAST. I said I want to go to the best university. I got rejected there
  13. He says he won a gold medal at a university. I actually got a gold medal in in ZABIST
  14. He says he had a GPA of 3.8. I actually had a great GPA, 3.8
  15. He completed a bachelor's degree and a master's degree. I did my bachelors, I did my masters and during my masters, which was in the evening
  16. While studying for his master's, he worked at a software house in Karachi for five or six months. during my masters, which was in the evening, I started working for a software house in Karachi. But that didn't last uh more than five, six months
  17. He says he dropped out to start a company with a friend from Hyderabad. I dropped out to start a company with my other friend from Hyderabad
  18. He describes the company as an SMS text messaging business, dating from 2004. which was um a text messaging company, SMS sending company. This is back in 2004
  19. He says the business was closed after about six or seven months. so we kind of in about six, seven months we closed down that particular business
  20. He says branch managers would not buy the product and that the company was selling it to the wrong people. none of the branch managers would buy our product. So we were clearly selling it to the wrong people
  21. He applied for a Fulbright scholarship but could not crack the GRE scores. I applied for my Fulbright, um but I just couldn't crack the GRE scores
  22. He ended up at LUMS for an MBA. I ended up in LUMS for my MBA
  23. He chose an MBA to understand why his product did not sell. I did want to do business for sure because I really wanted to know that why couldn't I sell my product
  24. His father, a government employee, could not afford the LUMS fees. my father was in a government job, so he of course could not afford to pay fees for LUMS
  25. He was offered a 25 percent scholarship and asked his father about it. They offered me 25% scholarship and uh I asked my dad
  26. His father's friend gave him 120,000 rupees in cash, which he deposited at LUMS. And I remember that the same day my dad's friend came and he gave me a handed me a envelope of like 120,000 rupees in cash. And I went and deposited that in LUMS
  27. He received a USAID scholarship that covered him 100 percent. I was lucky to get a USAID scholarship, so I was 100% covered by the scholarship
  28. After his MBA he turned down a Microsoft developer job. I got an offer from Microsoft. They even flew me into Dubai. Um it was a developer job. I said I've done my MBA, I don't want to be developer
  29. He joined Unilever as a management trainee, selling soap, shampoo and tea. from Unilever as a management trainee to sell soap, shampoo and tea
  30. He worked at Unilever for eight years. Unilever proved to be another great institute where I learned so much over the next eight years
  31. At Unilever he worked across supply chain, marketing, finance and sales. I was lucky to like while saare departments kiye, supply chain bhi kiya, marketing bhi kiya, you know, finance bhi kiya and then I settled into the sales function
  32. He says he was solely responsible for a business of 60 to 70 million dollars. I was like wholly solely responsible for 60, 70 million dollar ka business chalaya
  33. He says he later ran a business of 100 to 120 million dollars. Phir thoda aur bada business diya unhone to 100, 120 million dollar ka business bhi run kiya
  34. His co-founder also worked at Unilever. And my co-founder Sharoon, he was also in Unilever, so you know we got to know each other
  35. The company began with paid-up capital of about 24 lakh rupees. So, the total paid-up capital we put into the company was about 24 lakh rupees
  36. He says one particular contract made Salesflo what it is today. And that contract actually made sales flow what it is today
  37. The company built a merchandising automation platform for FMCG companies. it was called Storewiz and it was a merchandising automation platform for FMCG companies
  38. He says Unilever became a customer within one year. within one year we got Unilever to become a customer, we got Store like Hilal to become a customer
  39. He says annualised revenue reached close to 36 million, currency not stated, within about two years. within the first, I think two years, we took our we we took our revenue up to about 36 million ke kareeb jo hai aap annualized revenue pe hum usko pahuncha chuke the
  40. The company started building Salesflo as a product in 2017. 2017 mein is when we started to work on what sales flow is today as a product
  41. He says Salesflo covers inventory, ordering and invoicing. Jismein inventory bhi aati hai, ismein ordering bhi aati hai, ismein invoicing bhi aati hai
  42. He describes Salesflo as an enterprise SaaS platform. It's actually an enterprise SaaS platform
  43. He says Salesflo did a deal with Mondelez. humne jab Mondelez ke saath deal ki
  44. He says Salesflo closed a contract with Nestle. jab humne Nestle ke saath deal crack ki, contract hua
  45. He says about 95 percent of Salesflo revenue comes from subscriptions. we drive um 95% of our revenues through subscription
  46. He says Salesflo offers only a cloud product, which the company manages. We only have a cloud offering, which means that everything is self like managed by us
  47. He says Salesflo does not charge separately for deployment or consulting. We don't charge separately for a deployment. We don't charge separately for a consulting assignment
  48. He says Salesflo has clients in about 11 countries and staff on the ground in three. today we have about 11 countries jahan pe hamare clients hain and we have boots on the ground in 3 countries
  49. He says Salesflo has about 100 or more customers. that in numeric terms from a customer base point of view is about close to 100 plus customers
  50. He says ticket sizes can be as large as 400k per year recurring, currency not stated. Our ticket sizes can be as large as, you know, 400k per year recurring
  51. He says recurring subscription revenue is about 3.5 to 4 million, currency not stated. we're doing recurring close to about 3 and a half, 4 million at the moment um in subscription charges
  52. He says Salesflo has about 110 people. We have 110 people at the moment
  53. He says the local to global split is about 90 to 10. It's about 90-10 right now. 90 local, 10 global
  54. He says Salesflo first put boots on the ground in January 2024. we landed the boots on the ground for the first time in 2024 Jan
  55. He says Salesflo has recently opened in Malaysia. We've opened up Malaysia very recently
  56. He says he spends about a week in Saudi Arabia each month. So, I for example, spend about a week in Saudi every month
  57. He says Salesflo has worked out a repeatable model through its Saudi market. through the Saudi market, we've cracked the repeatability, we've cracked the model in terms of how we want to repeat it
  58. He says Salesflo has been cash flow positive since it started. for that reason, we've been cash flow positive since inception
  59. He says Salesflo is open to raising capital but is not actively pursuing it. yes, we are um open to raises, but it's not something we've been aggressively pursuing as of today
  60. He says any new raise would fund AI features and a larger sales team. One is for a lot of AI play that we are, you know, embedding within the platform and second is of course for expanding the sales team
  61. He says Salesflo raised funding from Systems Limited, a listed company. Systems Limited se humne raise ki thi. It is a public listed company
  62. He says the Systems Limited investment was about 3.2 million dollars. So, at that time it was $3.2 million dollars
  63. He says the Systems Limited funding round was mainly used to fund Jugnu. But that funding round was primarily used to fund the Jugnu initiative at that time
  64. He describes Jugnu as a subsidiary of Salesflo, built as a platform effort. That was a subsidiary of Salesflow. It was a platform play effort built on top of Salesflow
  65. He says Salesflo closed Jugnu in 2023. jo ke Jugnu ka humne closure kiya 2023 mein
  66. He says about 12 to 13 million dollars had been raised overall. we had raised about 12-13 million dollars overall
  67. He says a foreign investor backed out and said it would not be investing in Pakistan anymore. During that time, our foreign investor also backed out and then said we would not be investing in Pakistan anymore
  68. He says the company had to close down its warehouses. the warehouses we had shut up that we had to you know, unfortunately close it down
  69. He says the first ingredient needed is a great team that understands the problem well enough. First, foremost ingredient that you need is a great, kick-ass team that understands the problem well enough
  70. He believes founders should not depend on the government for everything. you don't need to depend on the government for everything
  71. He says a lack of exposure does not allow one to think big. The exposure, the lack of exposure, what that does is it does not allow you to really think big
  72. He rates education readiness at about 1.5 to 2 out of 10. I'd say you know we are currently sitting at probably 1.5, 2 out of 10 when it comes to our education readiness
  73. He believes a role model in each community can change how people choose their path. If you have a role model in every community, people would look up to them and you know, kind of change track
  74. He says they began losing talent to remote jobs, Fiverr and other outsourcing platforms. We started losing that talent to remote jobs coming in and you know, Fiverr and other outsourcing platforms
  75. The first Salesflo team members were hired in Hyderabad. while we were building Salesflo, in fact the first set of team members we hired were in Hyderabad
  76. He says a quick commerce venture crashed. yeh jo quick commerce wala kaam hai Tezman woh toh crash kar gaya
  77. He believes an IPO is meant to convert a company into an institution, because future management gets taken care of. IPO is actually to really usko idare mein convert karna because aapki future management gets taken care of
  78. He says an IPO is very clearly a destination for the future. To future mein yes, IPO is very, very clearly as a very clear destination
  79. He says they are not going to sell out to an investor who comes in. We are not going to be selling out to XYZ investor coming in
  80. He says the aim was to build a legacy, something that can last and outlive them. It was to build a legacy. It was to build something that can last, outlive us
  81. He says they will be a 100 million dollar revenue company within the next five to six years. that we will be a 100 million dollar company, revenue company, theek hai, um within the next 5-6 years
  82. He says they should be operating in 190 countries. we should be operating in 190 countries
  83. He says that in the age of AI it will be 10 extremely valuable head counts rather than 1,000. in the age of AI, it's not going to be the 1000 head count, it's going to be 10 extremely valuable head counts
  84. He says Pakistan never got on to the SaaS and export-based services model. Pakistan mein for some reason we never got on to the the whole SaaS and SaaS products and export based uh services model
  85. He says the Pakistan market is shrinking under current conditions. Pakistan ki market unfortunately in the current sets of circumstances in a way shrink ho rahi hai
  86. He says the way to stop the shrinkage is to sell abroad and bring dollars home. Uski shrink hone se rokne ka wahid hal ek hai woh yeh hai ke bhaiya bahar jaake aapne maal bechna hai aur aapne dollar Pakistan lekar aana hai
  87. He says the first thing is that we have to have hope and cannot be hopeless. And the first thing is that we have to have hope. That's that's the first and foremost. We cannot be hopeless
  88. He says one has to identify people with the right intent who can go out and transform. So you have to be able to identify people with the right intent who can you know, go out and transform
  89. He says Pakistan could become like the Netherlands, Singapore or China. Pakistan jo hai woh Netherlands bhi ban sakta hai, Singapore bhi ban sakta hai, China bhi ban sakta hai
  90. He says he booked a domain called flightnumberpk2047.org. I booked a domain, you know, called flightnumberpk2047.org
  91. He says that by 2019 and 2020 most of the large consumer goods companies that were early adopters had transitioned, and that they were able to scoop the market. By 2019, 2020, by COVID time, like most of the large consumer good companies jo hain, jo early adopters the woh us pe transition ho chuke the and we were able to scoop the market
  92. He says the time to closure is a minimum of nine months and sometimes about a year and a half. the time to closure is really you know takes about minimum of 9 months, sometimes it even goes to about 1 and a half years
  93. He says about 6 billion dollars of transactions run through Salesflo. So, $6 billion dollars jo sales flow ke upar transact hota hai