20 years · Global commercial strategy

Pulasthi Samaraweera

Sales, Business Development & Partner Ecosystem Strategy Consultant

Helping founders and growth-stage companies build the commercial engine they don't yet have.

Pulasthi Samaraweera, Sales, Business Development & Partner Ecosystem Strategy Consultant

Arrow Consultancy

Since 2017

ABOUT ME

Twenty years building the commercial engine most companies discover they are missing only when growth stalls.

I've spent 20 years building the thing most companies don't realize they're missing until growth stalls: a working commercial engine.

Not a slide deck. Not a strategy document that gets filed away after the kickoff meeting. An actual operating system for revenue — the partner programme that turns contacts into a channel, the go-to-market plan that gives a sales team something real to sell against, the Business Development function with a mandate, a structure, and a budget that makes sense.

I moved to Australia in 2009, in the middle of the global financial crisis — not exactly the easiest time to land in a new country and start over. I learned to adapt fast: no network, no local track record, just the work itself to prove I belonged. I found my first job there and built my way up from it, growing into sales and channel leadership roles across Melbourne IT, Aptean, and IBM Australia. That period taught me something I still lean on every day: how to walk into an unfamiliar market with nothing but the fundamentals, and make something of it.

Eventually I moved back — not because Australia stopped working for me, but because Sri Lanka never stopped being home. I was born and bred here, and I wanted to give something back to it. I didn't arrive with a fixed plan. What I found instead, watching young professionals and founders navigate the space between university and the corporate world, was a real gap in how people are actually equipped to operate once they get there. That gap is what led me to start Arrow Consultancy in 2017.

What began as an answer to that specific gap has grown into something broader: a strategic consultancy built to get you on the right track to achieving your business goals. Along the way, I've built that same engine inside global organizations — Millennium IT, IBM, and Wavenet — across Sri Lanka, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas.

I pivoted into Strategic Sales, Business Development & Ecosystems consultancy because I kept seeing the same gap, company after company: founders and CEOs with a brilliant product, and no time to also become partnership strategists, sales architects, and business development managers all at once. That's the gap I close. I bring senior-level thinking in early — before the expensive mistakes happen — and I build the engine once, built right, so your next stage of growth doesn't depend on hiring your way out of a strategy problem.

Helping young companies find their feet isn't just work to me. It's a pleasure — and honestly, a responsibility I feel on my shoulders.

MY PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

Two decades of commercial functions, built and led.

Over two decades, I've built and led commercial functions inside Millennium IT ESP, Melbourne IT, Aptean, IBM, Sitecore and Wavenet. I bring over 20 years of experience as a strategic sales and partnerships leader across global markets to every engagement — building and scaling partner ecosystems from the ground up, and designing the integrated channel and direct sales strategies that turn them into real revenue. I know how to take a global partnership model and translate it into a strategy that actually works in a local market, because that only happens through genuine collaboration across sales, marketing, finance and regional teams — not a plan handed down from head office. That's the discipline I bring to your business: partnership governance, operational excellence, and revenue acceleration, applied from day one.

WSO2 logo
Wavenet International logo
IBM logo
Aptean logo
Melbourne IT logo
Millennium IT logo

Companies I've Partnered, Consulted & Helped Grow

I partner directly with founders and CEOs to build what most growth-stage companies are missing: a go-to-market strategy that holds up, a partner ecosystem designed to scale, and a Business Development function built to run both. This isn't advisory theatre — no framework left to gather dust. It's a commercial engine, built once, built right, engineered so your next stage of growth doesn't depend on you hiring your way out of a strategy problem.

ANNID International logo
KallistoTECH logo
FINAC Datamation Systems logo
Insharp Technologies logo
Sri Lanka Veterinary Association logo
Boutique at Horton Place logo
Sampath IT Solutions logo
Peppermint Cafe logo
LinearSix logo
Omega Global logo
Multi Finance logo
Light & Shade logo

MY SERVICES

Services built for founders and growth teams

Business Development Function Design & Charter Development

Define the mandate, scope, org structure, headcount plan, and budget for a new or evolving BD function — including vertical prioritisation, role definitions, and a phased hiring and investment plan.

Partner Ecosystem & Channel Strategy

Design tiered partner programmes and journey frameworks that turn partners into a scalable revenue channel — not a scattered list of contacts nobody's managing.

Go-to-Market & Sales Strategy

Reframe the commercial pitch around business outcomes, build the sales narrative and GTM playbook, and set the KPIs that keep the sales function accountable.

Revenue Vertical Identification & Market Entry

Identify and sequence the verticals most likely to generate near-term revenue, backed by realistic market sizing and projections — not guesswork.

Partner & Sales Enablement Programmes

Design certification, onboarding, and training programmes that get new partners and new hires productive quickly, not eventually.

Strategic Account & Alliance Planning

Build structured account and alliance plans for priority customers, systems integrators, and technology partners.

Team Structuring, Compensation & Governance

Design lean, day-one-ready team structures and compensation frameworks that attract real commercial talent — and the governance to keep them accountable.

Digital Marketing & Collaboration Solutions

Support for founders and growth teams who need their digital presence and cross-functional collaboration tools working as hard as their sales strategy — helping you get the marketing engine and the internal ways of working aligned with the commercial plan, not bolted on as an afterthought.

HOW I CAN HELP

Three ways founders and boards work with me

Early-stage and growth companies rarely need a full-time senior BD hire on day one. What they need is senior-level thinking applied early — before unfocused partner outreach and hiring mistakes become expensive habits. I typically work with founders and boards in one of three ways:

01

Project-Based Advisory

A defined deliverable — a Business Development charter, a partner strategy, a go-to-market plan — delivered over 2 to 6 weeks. You get a finished, usable artefact, not a set of recommendations you have to translate yourself.

02

Fractional / Interim Head of Business Development

Ongoing part-time leadership of your BD or Partnerships function while you scale toward a full-time hire — someone senior in the seat, running the engine, without the overhead of a permanent leadership salary.

03

Board or Founder Advisory

Periodic strategic input on commercial direction, partner deals, and sales structure — a trusted outside voice who has actually built these functions before, not just advised on them.

IN THE FIELD

On Stage. On the Road. In the Room.

WHY IT'S DIFFERENT WITH ME

I've sat on both sides of the table.

I've sat on both sides of the table — inside the vendor building the programme, and now outside, building it for you. I know what a partner actually needs to say yes, what a CEO actually needs to see before signing off headcount, and what a sales team actually needs to hit target, because I've been each of those people. You don't need another framework you'll never open again. You need a commercial engine, built once, built right, and built to last past the point where I hand it back to you.

LET'S TALK

Let's build your commercial engine.

I'd welcome a conversation about where you are and where you want to be — a senior, hands-on perspective without the overhead of a full-time hire.