Samir Nayak on Building World-Class IT Sales Teams in Asia’s Toughest B2B Markets

~Vinay Kumar

B2B technology sales in Asia, especially in India, are extremely challenging. Customers want premium products but at the lowest cost.  With intense competition and high expectations, the market constantly tests leadership. 

Samir Kumar Nayak has spent more than 26 years not just surviving in this environment, but consistently winning in it.  A seasoned enterprise technology leader, he has built and scaled high-impact sales organizations across the Asia Pacific region (APAC) —often from the ground up: “These are some of the most difficult and complex markets in the world. Customers are extremely knowledgeable, highly price-sensitive, and often seek German quality at Chinese prices. If you can succeed here, you can succeed anywhere,” he shares.

Rather than weakening leaders, Nayak believes such conditions sharpen them. High-pressure markets, according to him, produce resilient, disciplined, and people-centered leadership: “Asia’s B2B tech market is tough, and that’s exactly why it produces some of the best sales leaders out there. The complexity pushes you to sharpen your strategy, build real resilience, and get really good with people,” he explains.

From his perspective, pressure is not an obstacle but a training ground—one that forces leaders to think clearly, stay grounded, and continuously improve: “If you are making even a one percent improvement every week or every month, by the end of the year, it becomes a very significant transformation,” he says.

That philosophy is deeply embedded in Nayak’s leadership style. Trained as a mechanical engineer at Utkal University and later shaped by executive education in Marketing and HR at SJMSOM, IIT Mumbai, this skill set and a people-first mindset are an uncommon but powerful combination in enterprise sales. 

For him, leadership ultimately comes down to character as much as capability: “At the end of the day, you have to be a good human being. If you want to become a good leader, you have to be disciplined, empathetic, and sensitive—at the same time,” he says.

That balance between discipline and empathy was forged early in Nayak’s career at global technology leaders such as Oracle, Microsoft, SAP, and Autodesk. Working in these highly structured enterprise environments, he developed deep expertise in account management, executive stakeholder alignment, and long-cycle selling. 

More importantly, they shaped a core belief that would define his approach to growth: technology should never be sold in isolation, but positioned as a problem-solving platform: “When you sell IT products, you are solving business problems. Technology gives people the tools to do their jobs better, whether they’re on the business or technical side,” he explains.

As his career progressed, that foundation was tested repeatedly. Time and again, this B2B sales specialist has helped build businesses from scratch while navigating tight budgets and aggressive growth targets. Those challenges shaped his belief in sales driven by customer focus and financial discipline: “Building a business is fascinating. You’re creating something from nothing—building teams, winning hard-earned customers, and learning every day through adversity,” he says. For Nayak, sustainable growth was never about chasing volume, but about earning credibility and making deliberate decisions under pressure.

At the center of this approach is his ability to turn ambiguity into clarity: “Many times, customers themselves don’t understand their problem. A problem well stated is a problem half solved. That is why my job is to ask the right questions and help them get that clarity,” he shares. 

Together, these experiences form the blueprint for how Nayak builds teams, evaluates talent, and accelerates new market entry today, demonstrating that in the world’s toughest B2B markets, disciplined leadership paired with people-first execution is what separates short-term wins from lasting impact.

Thriving in Adversity

Nayak believes APAC’s complex and often chaotic business environment sharpened his competitive edge early in his career. During fragile growth phases, particularly at Intralinks, global uncertainty constantly tested his teams: “There were things happening worldwide that were completely beyond our control. So I told the team—focus only on what we can control,” he recalls. That mindset became his anchor in volatile conditions, allowing him to impose clarity where circumstances offered none.

Moreover, he sees the early stages of business-building as especially fragile moments, where courage and composure matter more than speed: “Sometimes fear is nothing but irrational. You face the fear—and the fear vanishes.”

Early-stage roles taught Nayak discipline. With limited resources, he had to be smart about how he used his time and deploy resources wisely. That approach paid off at Intralinks India, where he helped build the business from the ground up, growing it to $9 million in revenue between 2014 and 2019. Along the way, he earned nine consecutive Quarterly Business Review awards and was named to the President’s Club three years in a row—while building a high-accountability sales culture that later became a pipeline for leadership talent.

Those hard-earned skills became even more critical as he began scaling larger regional teams. At Everbridge India (2019–2022), Nayak started from scratch again, this time with no customers. Over just 3.5 years, he built a 15-member team and grew revenue from $0 to $12 million by establishing core sales processes and embedding disciplined upselling and cross-selling. The business achieved 130% year-over-year growth, and Nayak was named to the President’s Club twice in three years: “I built two businesses that had zero presence in the country. It was difficult—but extremely rewarding,” he says.

This ability to operate with discipline and integrity under extreme uncertainty is something Kishore Daryanani, an industry peer who has known Nayak for nearly 15 years through professional networks and IT leadership forums, has consistently observed. While they have not worked directly together, 

Daryanani has closely followed Nayak’s leadership across multiple organizations: “Building successful operations from the ground up in the APAC region is exceptionally hard. The markets are complex, expectations are high, and the margin for error is very small,” he shares. Nayak, he adds, has demonstrated this capability repeatedly at Intralinks, Everbridge, and Noventiq—growing each into multi-million-dollar operations through strategic clarity and operational rigor.

What sets Nayak apart, Daryanani says, is his ability to deliver results without compromising integrity—especially under pressure. He recalls a major RFP at Everbridge where Nayak chose transparency instead of overpromising. After meeting the client, Nayak realized his team couldn’t deliver the entire scope on its own. 

Rather than covering it up, he sent a straightforward follow-up explaining what his team could handle, where partners would be needed, and even noted that he was willing to step back: “That level of honesty is rare—it immediately builds trust,” Daryanani says. The customer ultimately re-engaged and awarded the project: “Samir believes credibility compounds. Short-term wins come and go, but trust creates lasting success,” he adds.

That way of thinking turned into consistent execution on the ground. The team stayed on track by closely monitoring KPIs, focusing on quality instead of volume, and celebrating small wins along the way: “Less is not less—less is more. Every presentation, email, and demo matters,” Nayak explains.

This highly-regarded expert believes that impact always matters more than volume. As he puts it: “We play like sharks in the ocean, not fish in a pond,” Nayak says—capturing a philosophy built around focus, leverage, and operating where the stakes are highest.

The Empathy and Aspiration Formula

At the heart of Nayak’s leadership is purpose—one that combines deep empathy with a drive to achieve more. For him, leadership begins with impact, not just outcomes measured by quotas and revenue: “Purpose isn’t just hitting numbers. It’s about creating a broader market impact. I always ask: how does our work drive real transformation for customers and for the economy?” This belief anchors how he defines success and guides his teams.

This way of thinking grew out of his consulting experience in cloud and enterprise tech. There, results always came before deals. Across SaaS and enterprise teams in the APAC region, the same lesson kept showing up. Trust matters. Transparency matters. Emotional intelligence matters. When people feel listened to, aligned, and responsible, teams perform better—even in tough situations.

This is why empathy, therefore, is at the core of Nayak’s leadership philosophy. He believes that if you want to move people, you have to connect with them first: “You can’t motivate people with knowledge alone. Heart comes before the head.  People don’t really care how smart you are until they feel that you actually care about them. Once people know you care about them, they’re more open to your ideas. And if you don’t understand what they’re dealing with, it’s almost impossible to motivate them,” he explains.

When leading multicultural teams, he puts people first. He listens to individual challenges and builds accountability through trust and support. In high-stress, diverse teams, he leads by listening. He supports individuals and builds accountability without heavy-handed control: “Emotions matter. You’re working with people, not machines,” he says. 

However, this sought-after expert believes that empathy is not a substitute for ambition.  Instead, empathy and ambition should go hand in hand. Understanding people doesn’t mean lowering expectations. For instance, he often pushes teams to think bigger—challenging a $20 million goal and asking, “Why not $30 million or $40 million?” As he puts it: “Higher aspiration is required for any business leader. Even if you don’t fully reach it, you’ll come closer. That’s how organizations evolve.”

His ability to balance people-first leadership with strong growth goals stems from his early experience at global companies such as Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, and Autodesk. These companies demanded disciplined execution and high standards, and he learned early that the two couldn’t be separated. His track record speaks for itself. He was selected twice for Microsoft’s Circle of Excellence and received Best Account Manager recognition at both Microsoft and Oracle. These are early proofs of his ability to connect enterprise solutions to C-suite goals while delivering consistent growth.

Industry peers have seen this balance of empathy and ambition throughout Nayak’s career. Amol Gawande, Senior Client Director of Sales at Tata Technologies, has known him for almost 15 years through industry groups and professional networks across the APAC region. Gawande says Nayak stands out not only for driving growth, but for how he leads: “Samir gets results without forgetting the people behind them. He knows lasting success comes from trust, clarity, and real support—especially in high-pressure situations,” Gawande shares.

Gawande notes that Nayak’s strength lies in his consultative approach. When customers are unsure which problems they need to address, Nayak takes the time to guide them. He doesn’t focus on pushing technology; he is more on achieving meaningful, long-term outcomes: “He has a rare ability to translate ambiguity into structured action. 

That mix of sharp thinking, integrity, and genuine care for people is why teams trust him—and why customers keep coming back,” Gawande shares. Gawande adds that across APAC’s toughest markets, empathy paired with ambition is what gives leaders the upper hand.

Further reinforcing this reputation is Amit Sawarkar, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Collins Aerospace. He has known Nayak for nearly 15 years through long-standing professional networks and industry interactions across the APAC region. 

While the two have not worked directly together, Sawarkar has closely followed Nayak’s leadership journey as he built and scaled enterprises such as Intralinks, Everbridge, and Noventiq from the ground up: “What I like about Samir is the consistency of value he brings over time. He’s not just successful in isolated roles—he’s built a remarkable career by repeatedly creating impact in some of the most complex and competitive markets.”

According to Sawarkar, Nayak has the rare ability to balance strategic thinking with genuine, human-centered leadership. This shows most clearly in high-pressure government and enterprise transformation projects, where he values clarity over fast but shallow wins: “Samir has an exceptional way of working with senior stakeholders, getting to the real intent behind the business, and turning ambiguity into focused action. He doesn’t take shortcuts,” Sawarkar shares.

Nayak earns trust by genuinely caring about people while staying disciplined and focused on execution: “That’s why his impact lasts. He’s a true 21st-century change-maker—humble in how he leads, bold in how he challenges old ways, and deeply guided by ethics and purpose,’ Sawarkar adds.

A Legacy of Impact

For Nayak, success has never been defined by revenue alone. What truly motivates this highly-regarded expert is the ability to create opportunity—by building teams, generating employment, and helping individuals grow into leaders: “I get excited when I create more employment opportunity by growing my business,” he says, noting that building a 20- or 30-member team is not just a business milestone, but a deeply personal one: “When you create 20 or 30 jobs, it’s exciting all the time… that’s what the purpose is all about,” he adds.

His purpose comes through in how he works with people. Nayak has spent years hiring, training, and mentoring more than 100 sales professionals, equipping them with practical skills like execution, presentation, deep product knowledge, and decision-making under uncertainty. 

He’s intentional about who joins his teams, focusing less on tenure and more on learning mindset, ambition, and purpose: “Learning agility is more important. You may have two people with similar experience, but the one with higher learning agility will make better judgments when data is not available,” he explains.

That mindset comes from his unique personal journey. Nayak did not begin his career in sales: “I was a techie guy. I didn’t want to carry a quota. Sales happened by accident—but once I started enjoying it, I never looked back,” he shares. The experience reinforced his belief that aspiration matters more than a perfect résumé: “Aspirational people learn skills over time. They are the ones who drive organizations forward,” he says.

Today, this belief shows most clearly in how he hires and grows his team. Nayak looks for people who are eager to learn, willing to try new paths, and driven by purpose. For Nayak, leadership is about mindset and being comfortable with uncertainty. It’s not just about a resume and credentials.

The long-term impact of that approach is evident in the careers of those he has coached. Many have gone on to become sales directors and senior leaders, and several continue to seek his guidance: “They may not be working with me anymore, but they still call me during difficult situations—to seek opinions, guidance,” he shares. For Nayak, that continuity of trust is the truest measure of leadership impact.

Legacy, for him, is built quietly—through relationships that endure beyond titles and roles: “If I can lift the career of an individual, and I meet them five years down the road, that’s the greatest happiness for me,” he shares. 

This people-first philosophy carries particular weight as Asia’s IT sector continues to accelerate. In complex, high-pressure markets, leaders like Nayak demonstrate that empathy, mentorship, and aspiration are not soft skills, but decisive advantages. He credits this belief to a simple truth about business: “At the end of the day, it’s all about people dealing with people. If you build meaningful relationships, you never know where and how people may come back to you for help.”

Grounded in a rare blend of startup-scale execution, enterprise discipline, and cloud-driven transformation expertise, Nayak’s career reflects how diverse experiences across global technology companies and high-growth environments can converge into lasting leadership impact.

Even outside the boardroom, that mindset remains intact. He describes himself as “very disciplined, empathetic, and sensitive,” adding that enjoyment is essential to longevity. “As long as you enjoy what you’re doing, you never get bored,” he says, noting that even after decades in sales, every customer and opportunity still feels different—because people are different.

In markets that demand relentless performance, his approach builds more than strong businesses—it builds people, purpose, and enduring impact: “At the far end of life, legacy—not material success—is the real net worth,” he adds.

About the Author: Vinay Kumar is a contributor covering business insights, technology developments, and emerging market trends.