40 GROWTH PARTNERS'
EXPERTISE.
Why “40” — and Why It Matters
The Rule of 40 is a simple benchmark in software: the sum of growth and profitability must reach forty. When a company hits that mark, it shows a healthy, scalable business with momentum.
We help teams get there. We drive growth and profitability at the same time. And in today’s market, growth matters more than ever, especially the ability to win new customers and create real, repeatable traction.
This principle inspired our name. 40 Growth Partners exists because reaching the Rule of 40 is challenging. It takes discipline, focus, and leaders who understand software economics and investor expectations. We built the firm for teams who need a partner that truly understands that reality.
40 Growth Partners works in the space between investor expectations and operational reality. Investors set the plan. Management must deliver it. We help teams close that gap.
We are operators first. We have carried budgets, rebuilt teams, fixed broken processes, and delivered numbers under pressure. We know what it takes to hit targets when the plan looks cleaner on paper than it does inside the business.
Our work is simple: build value creation strategies with investors and execute them with management. We bring clarity, align priorities, and focus teams on the actions that move the needle. Growth, margins, new customers, pricing, product improvements, operational discipline — whatever shifts performance in the right direction.
Executives work with us because we understand their world. We speak their language. And we stand with them to turn ambitious plans into measurable results.
WHERE WE CREATE VALUE.
OUR TEAM.
CHRISTIAN SALZA
Operating Partner
Christian Salza builds companies that scale. With more than twenty years in leadership and in the technology and software sector, he has guided businesses through acquisitions, integrations, roll-ups, restructurings, transformations, and exits.
His perspective is rare: he has scaled start-ups, transformed founder-led companies, sold businesses to strategic buyers and private equity, and led M&A for a major European aggregator, creating operational and organizational transformation throughout his career.
He understands the operational realities of leadership and the expectations of investors. Christian brings clarity, breaks old patterns, and installs operating models, metrics, and leadership behaviors that drive profitable growth.
As an Operating Partner at 40 Growth Partners, he helps companies grow, improve margins, and prepare for successful exits.
FRIEDRICH TROTT
Director
Friedrich builds teams and organizations that scale. With more than a decade in talent, people, and organizational leadership, he has supported fast-growing companies through hypergrowth, acquisitions, and international expansion while keeping culture and performance aligned. His experience spans executive search, global talent acquisition leadership, and People & Culture in founder-led tech companies.
Friedrich combines operator and investor perspectives. As an investor and external advisor, he helps early-stage and scaling companies design strategic people solutions from workforce planning to organizational development. At a family office he contributed to a long-term, value-driven family business shaping the energy transition, bringing clarity to people strategy and installing talent models and leadership behaviors that support sustainable growth. As Director at 40 Growth Partners, he helps companies grow, assesses leadership and finds the best people for successful exits.