Welcome to the OdaTeam Spotlight Series! As the leading Enterprise Data Security Platform for Salesforce, some of the best and brightest in the ecosystem work here at Odaseva at our offices in San Francisco, Paris, Sydney, London, Kuala Lumpur, and remotely around the world. In this Q&A series, we’ll be sharing their journeys with you. And by the way, it’s an exciting time to join the team transforming SaaS data management! You can see our open positions in here.
Today we’re featuring Tom Cheriyan, the VP of Sales Excellence who works to support Odaeva’s Global Sales Team.
A: Hi, I’m Thomas Cheriyan—though you might hear folks call me Tom or even “Professor Tom” (yes, I really do teach on the side). I recently came on board at Odaseva as the VP of Sales Excellence, which, in everyday terms, means I help our Global Sales Team remove obstacles so they can reach and surpass their revenue goals. At Odaseva’s February 2025 Company Kickoff in Barcelona, I described it like this:
Sales Excellence exists to remove any roadblocks that keep us from hitting our revenue goals. Whether it’s training, technology, content, or more—if it helps us scale and win, we’re on it.”
In practice, that means I focus on three key pillars:
Before I landed here, I led enablement at another company in the Salesforce backup ecosystem as their Sr. Director of Revenue Enablement. I’ve also gathered insights from my past roles at Gartner and Yelp. And yes, I also teach as an adjunct professor at The City College of New York—which basically makes me the resident “Professor” of Sales Excellence. I’m excited to bring all that experience together at Odaseva, helping our sales organization reach new heights in a way that’s both strategic and sustainable.
A: I’ve always been passionate about how Salesforce customers protect and manage their data—so much so that I ended up with a patent in my name during my time at the last company I worked for. It’s interesting to me that something so critical is also so easy for companies to overlook: the SaaS “shared responsibility” model. Salesforce is responsible for keeping the platform running, but customers still need to safeguard their Salesforce data—especially if something goes wrong, whether that’s a platform outage or a dreaded “Oops, I just deleted all my records” moment.
Storing your backups in the same environment as your production data isn’t really a backup—it’s putting all your eggs in one basket. If production goes down, you risk losing access to everything. That’s why having an independent partner is so critical. And that’s exactly what drew me to Odaseva. We’ve built our reputation on being the #1 independent vendor in the Salesforce data management space, tackling backup, restore, sandbox seeding, archiving, and security from the outside looking in. The result? Customers can truly control and secure their data, no matter what happens. It’s a mission I believe in, and I’m thrilled to channel my experience into helping Odaseva stay laser-focused on protecting and empowering our customers.
A: What really excites me about Odaseva is how the technology is purpose-built for enterprise clients—it’s not just a repackaged backup tool. It was designed by Salesforce architects for Salesforce architects, which means it tackles the complexities of large-scale data management head-on. That’s why heavy-hitters like DoorDash put us through a proof-of-concept alongside every other major vendor and ultimately chose Odaseva. When you’re dealing with high transaction volumes, frequent data changes, and the need for bulletproof reliability, you need a partner who truly understands enterprise-grade requirements.
DoorDash’s experience is a perfect case in point: they faced performance issues with other solutions, but after testing us thoroughly, they saw Odaseva could deliver successful backups without slowing them down. Our technology was born out of the Salesforce ecosystem—so it’s not just a superficial add-on, it’s an architecture-level solution. The result is a platform that gives enterprises the flexibility and control they need to protect and optimize their data, even as it scales.
For me, being part of a team that’s laser-focused on delivering this kind of innovation is a huge draw. It’s one thing to say, “We do backup.” It’s another to say, “We’ve built an enterprise-ready solution that can handle massive data volumes, complex org structures, and global deployments—seamlessly.” That’s what sets Odaseva apart, and it’s a big reason why I love working here.
A: Outside of Odaseva, I’m first and foremost a proud dad to two amazing daughters, ages 7 and 9 (the best backups ever that I can’t afford to lose). My wife is corporate counsel at a Fortune 500 company, so our household conversations can get pretty interesting—imagine dinner table chats about limits of liability and data protection in equal measure.
I’ve been in the tech world since I was 22, starting off with a background in Computer Engineering before my passion for business, sales, and marketing pulled me in new directions. It’s been a whirlwind journey with some of the most innovative companies in the industry, which has taught me that there’s always something new to learn or build. Still, when I’m not geeking out about data management or sales methodologies, I’m usually hanging out with my daughters. At the end of the day, they’re who I really work for.
Thank you for sharing your experience, Tom!
Join the team transforming Salesforce data security! See Odaseva’s open positions here. When you join Odaseva, you’ll work alongside some of the most accomplished people in the Salesforce ecosystem, helping leading global companies manage a mission-critical asset—their data. Odaseva offers an inclusive, collaborative, work environment where talented people innovate and grow. We have openings in our San Francisco, Paris, Sydney, London, Kuala Lumpur offices, as well as remote work opportunities across the world.
Data Protection
Data Security
Data Archiving
Data Compliance
Data Platform
