Firas Saedaddin founded AGA Group in Vienna in 2016. He advises owners and managing directors of mid-sized companies, as well as start-ups and scale-ups. This page shows his career with results, his own businesses and his roots in Vienna.
The Bridge Builder
Most advisors have either run a corporation or built a startup, rarely both, and almost never across half a dozen industries. Firas Saedaddin has done both, repeatedly, over a 28-year career spanning disciplined corporate leadership, hands-on entrepreneurship, and today, the role of trusted bridge builder between established business, innovation, and capital.
The corporate chapter was built inside global tech leadership. Over 16 years at Alcatel-Lucent (now part of Nokia) and Genesys, Firas held executive roles across Europe, the US, and Asia-Pacific, including COO of PacketVideo Network Solutions in San Diego, and built strategic alliances with IBM and HP that generated more than USD 145 million in business volume over two years. That discipline in execution and accountability still defines how AGA Group operates today.
The entrepreneurial chapter spans industries most advisors only theorize about: enterprise software (72solutions), health and fitness (multiple Bodystreet studios), food production and wholesale (sNUTS Trading), and residential real estate development, with several successful projects delivered. Add an active angel investment portfolio spanning further sectors, including ISTARI.AI, Repark, Impact AI, Talents & Company, and sendance, and the result is a rare, first-hand feel for almost any industry a client brings to the table.
Underreingasse, 1140 Vienna: completed residential building with privately financed condominiums. Rendering.
At 72solutions, a Vienna software house with more than a hundred Austrian clients, among them Stadt Wien Marketing and Red Bull Media, Firas was shareholder and Co-CEO from 2021 to 2023. Selling, hiring and answering for the result is not something he only advises on.
What distinguishes AGA Group today is this rare combination, tested across sectors and backed by deep integration in the innovation ecosystem. As mentor and advisor to more than 500 companies and start-ups, working with Wirtschaftsagentur Wien, aws Austria Wirtschaftsservice, EIT Health, and the Founder Institute, and as co-author of How to Start-Up (Linde Verlag), Firas connects clients, whether an early-stage startup or an established SME, with the capital, partners, and hard-won operating experience that real growth requires. We are not just consultants; we are bridge builders.
Transactions and leadership results
- 1998 to 2005, Vienna and Vélizy near Paris. Marketing and sales, video product line, head of sales for pvNS. From 2002 to 2004 he initiated and led the acquisition of PacketVideo's server business in Vélizy.
- 2005 to 2008, San Diego. COO of PacketVideo Network Solutions. Responsible for product strategy, sales, operations and P&L with seven direct reports at executive level. The business reached more than USD 5 million in revenue. Sales productivity rose by 300 percent in three years and market share by 10 percent. Integration after a cross-border acquisition came on top.
- 2008 to 2011, Kuala Lumpur. Director Service Provider Sales SEA and Business Development APAC. Regional team of several dozen people with ten direct reports at executive level. Built a sales-through model for fixed-line and mobile operators.
- 2011 to 2012, Vienna. Senior Director Strategic Alliances. Alliances with IBM and HP with more than USD 145 million in business volume over two years. Worldwide roll-out of a high-volume OEM agreement with IBM.
Roots in Vienna's mid-sized business community
Firas is deputy chair (Obmann-Stellvertreter) of the Hernalser Kaufleute and is co-founder and co-organiser of the Alszeilenmarkt in Hernals (since 2021).
From 2020 to 2025 he was delegated to the committee of the Federal Trade Association for the Food Trade at the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, as industry spokesperson for the food wholesale trade.
The Federal Trade Association for the Food Trade is the statutory representation of more than 8,500 member companies with over 160,000 employees.
Education
MBA in Executive Sales Management, SMA Sales Manager Akademie Vienna. Commercial academy (Handelsakademie) of the Fonds der Wiener Kaufmannschaft.
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Appearances, jury work and press with sources are on Appearances and press. Short articles on decisions in mid-sized companies are under Perspectives. The figures on our work are under Results in numbers.