This episode of The SaaS Revolution Show comes to you live from SaaStock USA. Fresh off the Founderpath Center Stage, Savneet Singh joined Alex Theuma to discuss how he took PAR Technology from having just weeks of cash left to the billion dollar public company it is today.
Tune in to hear Savneet’s candid take on what it really takes to lead under pressure and scale with purpose, including:
- Stepping into the CEO role with only a few weeks of runway.
- The urgent actions taken to avoid bankruptcy—including a 25% workforce cut in 10 days.
- Why transparency and accountability laid the foundation for PAR’s cultural turnaround.
- The shift from “feel-good” values to bold principles like Speed, Ownership, and Winning.
- How AI is being operationalised at PAR—with a sharp focus on efficiency and product experience.
- The real sacrifices of being a SaaS CEO and why you need to be “all in” if you want to be the best.
Watch (or listen) below or read on for key takeaways.
From the brink of collapse to $400M in revenue
When Savneet took the role as CEO at PAR, he saw it as an interim role, where he’d facilitate the sale of the company. He explained:
“I had been on the board for six to eight months before I became the CEO… We moved to try to sell and realised that with the team we had at the time, we would not be able to sell the business. It just wasn’t going well.
“And so I thought I was coming in, almost like a part time job. I’ll manage the bankers…and we’ll get the company sold.”
Seven years later, Savneet is still CEO and PAR is a $400M revenue company. But getting to this point wasn’t easy. In his first days in the role, Savneet faced the harsh realities of the company’s finances–they only had 8-10 weeks of cash runway left.
Taking action
“I don’t think we had the perfect plan, but it was a ton of focus.”
On discovering the severity of the company finances, Savneet called his leadership team together and they developed a cost savings plan that they could enact over the next ten days.
The plans fell under two main pillars:
- Cutting costs
- Getting extensions from lenders
“Our goal was to convince lenders to give us more time, get the business as profitable as we can in a very short period of time, and remove every distraction…sell non core assets, cut out all the parts of the business that we didn’t need as essential. And it was painful. We had to lay off 20-25% of the workforce within 10 days.”
Putting people first
On the decision to cut almost a quarter of the workforce, Savneet was advised not to go into the office. Feeling strongly that he needed to take accountability for the decisions being made, he went in and spoke to the entire team.
“I went through all the cost cuts, the amount of money we saved, how we’re saving the company, and it was transparent. And I remember I got off stage and I got like a semi-standing ovation.”
As difficult as it was, making these decisions and managing them with transparency set the culture that PAR still works by today.
Building a culture of resilience
Once the company was focused on the new plans and things were moving in the right direction, Savneet took the decision to change the company values to make them more reflective of what they were building.
They moved from what Savneet referred to as “fluffy” values like caring and empathy to tough ones: Speed, ownership, and winning.
“The whole point, and the advice I always give to companies, is you want your values to scare as many people as they attract or even more. If you go to most companies’ values, try to find a company’s values that you disagree with. Nine out of ten, you’re like, yeah, I’ll fit there, I’ll fit there. I’ll fit in there. And I wanted the opposite. I wanted to be like, oof, that sounds intense. I don’t want that.”
This has helped PAR attract the right type of people to work in the business.
The CEOs role in AI adoption
“The worst thing you can do as a CEO is just keep talking about AI being important because, in the end, nobody in your company knows what to do with it.”
Building on company culture, Savneet explained how CEOs should approach AI and enabling their team to use it effectively. At PAR, this comes down to two things:
- AI tooling for business efficiency.
- AI as it relates to the user experience of PAR products.
Savneet also advocates for these initiatives to take place at department level, rather than hiring an AI specialist or team:
“I see companies creating AI Czar and Head of AI roles. I generally find that to be the innovation labs of companies. They become professors, not doers. I think if you want to be in the AI world, tooling needs to be owned by the department in the line of business. And so they’re saying, I’m making this investment in my P&L because I believe it’s actually going to deliver my goals.”
Making sacrifices as a CEO
“You have to be all in if you want to be the best.”
Despite his successes, Savneet explained that there’s never been a moment of relaxation–and with that level of intensity comes sacrifice:
“If you want to be a successful CEO, you sacrifice a lot of other stuff. You sacrifice an immense amount of time with those that you love and care about. You sacrifice your health, I’m on a plane 50% of the year. You sacrifice other joys that your friends have.”
One of the ways Savneet claims time back is through sports-watching, playing, and helping his kids in sports teams.
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Savneet’s journey is a masterclass in resilient leadership—from decisive action in crisis to redefining culture through values.
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