Aaron Horne

About Aaron Horne

I’m a technical founder and sales engineering leader with 20+ years of experience building, scaling, and leading technology-driven teams across enterprise, SaaS, and startup environments.Before founding TabPref™, I spent two decades bridging the gap between business strategy and technical execution — leading pre-sales engineering organizations, launching new cybersecurity and service business units, and driving go-to-market success for enterprise solutions across North America.Today, as Founder & CEO of TabPref™, I’m leading the evolution of the first social and workforce management platform built for the hospitality industry — uniting professionals, establishments, vendors, and consumers in one connected ecosystem. From LinkedIn-style networking and Slack-style chat to scheduling, vendor marketplaces, and POS/payroll integrations, TabPref empowers the people behind the tab to connect, collaborate, and thrive.My background spans: • Leadership & Growth: Built and led teams of 20+ engineers and managers driving $40M+ annual revenue. • Product & Technical Strategy: Experienced in SaaS architecture, product design, cybersecurity, and user experience. • Go-to-Market & Sales Enablement: Proven success in scaling business units, optimizing sales frameworks, and creating high-performing teams. • Community & Innovation: Passionate about connecting technology, people, and purpose to solve real-world problems.I believe every great product begins with empathy, data, and execution — turning ideas into platforms that make work, and life, meaningfully better.Now in Public Beta: tabpref.com#HospitalityTech #SaaS #Founder #Innovation #Leadership #ServiceIndustryLife

Experience

1. Founder CEO

   Tabpref

   Apr 2025 — Present · Austin, TX, US

   As the Founder and CEO of TabPref™, I’m leading the creation of the first social and workforce-management platform built for the service industry, uniting professionals, establishments, vendors, and guests in one connected ecosystem.What started as a networking idea has evolved into a full-scale SaaS platform that blends LinkedIn-style professional networking with Slack-style team chat, scheduling and shift management, vendor marketplaces, and POS/payroll integrations. Our mission is to empower the people behind the tab bartenders, servers, managers, and brand reps to connect, collaborate, and thrive without barriers or fees.In this role, I lead: • Vision & Product Strategy – Defining roadmap, UX, and go-to-market alignment to scale across multiple hospitality verticals. • Technology & Architecture – Overseeing a modern stack (React 18, TypeScript, Node.js, PostgreSQL, Neon, WebSockets, OAuth 2.0) with an emphasis on speed, security, and mobile parity. • Growth & Partnerships – Driving adoption through national beta expansion, community engagement, and early enterprise collaborations. • Fundraising & Investor Relations – Managing pre-seed capital strategy, investor communications, and long-term growth modeling.With 20+ years in sales engineering and solutions leadership, I bridge the gap between product, technology, and business strategy, translating complex problems into intuitive, scalable products.TabPref represents more than a platform; it’s a movement to redefine how the service industry works, hires, and connects.Now in Public Beta: tabpref.com#HospitalityTech #SaaS #Startup #CommunityPlatform #Founder #Innovation #ServiceIndustryLife

Education

• The University of Texas at Austin

  Economics, Business

Skills

• Go-to-Market Strategy
• Pre-Sales
• Vdi
• Channel Partners
• Data Center
• Strategy
• Storage Area Network (San)
• Selling
• Partner Development
• Saas
• San
• Storage Virtualization
• Storage Solutions
• Managed Services
• Business Development
• Software as a Service (Saas)
• Solution Selling
• Partner Management
• Vmware
• Salesforce.com
• Sales Enablement
• Virtualization
• Cloud Computing
• Enterprise Software
• Sharepoint
• Training
• Rfp
• Professional Services
• Sales
• Direct Sales
• Software Industry
• Business Alliances
• Customer Relationship Management (Crm)
• Process Improvement
• Storage
• Enterprise Storage
• Entrepreneurship
• Storage Area Networks
• Leadership
• Management