Snov.io’s Journey to Growth Through Business Travel

Last Updated on: Jun 25, 2025 at 6:50 am

Founders in Flight features real stories from business leaders on using travel to fuel growth, build teams, and win new markets.

Pada Snov.io, business travel isn’t just a line item; it’s a growth strategy. In this edition of Founders in Flight, we speak with the company’s Founder and CEO to uncover how international travel fuels their client relationships, team alignment, and product innovation.

About Snov.io

Snov.io is a B2B SaaS company specialising in sales automation. With a growing team of around 180 employees, the company invests approximately $300,000 annually in business travel. Much of this travel focuses on international team alignment, client acquisition, and attending key conferences. Typical travellers include executives, engineering leads, and sales managers who play a critical role in driving growth and maintaining strong cross-border relationships.

Snov.io is a Ukrainian-founded, NYC-headquartered sales automation platform that helps businesses scale lead generation, email outreach, and CRM workflows. Their value proposition? Turning scattered sales efforts into structured revenue pipelines through one AI-powered toolkit, designed for efficiency and global compliance.

A day in the life of a globally mobile CEO

Alex Kratko, founder and CEO of Snov.io, balances strategic growth and global team cohesion as a daily priority. He estimates that roughly 50% of the role is dedicated to strategic operations, 30% to cross-cultural team alignment, and 20% to travel, averaging about eight travel days per month.

Critical trips often include quarterly “culture camps” in Kyiv or São Paulo, as well as attendance at key industry summits, to build strategic partnerships.

Why business travel matters

For Snov.io, business travel is not optional.

“When you have teams across Ukraine, Brazil, and North America, face-to-face time isn’t a luxury, it’s oxygen. Video calls solve tasks. Travel solves trust.” Kratko recounts.

A pivotal moment came in 2023 when a trip to São Paulo during Brazil’s data-privacy law overhaul revealed customer concerns about Snov.io’s local compliance. By collaborating with engineers on the ground, the team built a compliance prototype in just 72 hours. That hands-on response secured five enterprise contracts, worth $250K ARR.

“Regulations are global; solutions must be local.”

Balancing costs and value

At Snov.io, travel is treated like R&D, an investment that’s carefully optimised to maximise returns. Strategies include:

• Trip clustering: Combining multiple objectives in one itinerary (e.g., team hackathons in Kyiv alongside conferences in Berlin).
• Loyalty program smart use: Prioritising upgrades for leadership using points, because rested leaders make better decisions.
• Pre-briefing with Loom: Sending video summaries ahead of meetings to make in-person time more focused.

The company also streamlined its processes by shifting to bulk-booking platforms, resulting in a 33% reduction in administrative costs. These savings were reinvested into an AI-powered travel policy that automatically approves trips with direct revenue impact. Today, 50% of those savings are channelled into Snov.io’s Ukraine-based engineering hub to accelerate product innovation.

Human-centric travel, supported by smart automation

For Snov.io, travel management automation is about efficiency, but human connection remains at the core. Their approach includes:

• Pre-trip “Heart Checks”: Automated systems manage the bookings, but managers personally ask each traveller, “What’s one personal goal for this trip?”—whether it’s visiting family or exploring a new city. These goals are built into the itinerary where possible.
• Post-trip storytelling: Travellers are encouraged to share photos and stories in the company’s #global-culture Slack channel, fostering cross-cultural bonds. One memorable example? Ukrainian engineers teaching their Brazilian teammates traditional folk songs.

“Automation handles logistics. Humans handle empathy.”

We can help you grow through business travel

If this sounds like your story, we can help. TruTrip makes it easier to manage business travel, save costs, and keep your teams connected across borders. Tempah demo atau daftar untuk percubaan percuma today to see how we can support your growth.