# Christian Kletzl

> Christian Kletzl is the Austrian co-founder and CEO of UserGems, a sales and marketing software company he built with his identical twin brother Stephan. An engineering graduate with an MBA and a Master of Engineering Management from Northwestern, he worked at Microsoft, McKinsey and Google before the brothers developed ShelfFlip and SmartHires. UserGems grew from their experience reconnecting with a customer after a job change; its current platform combines buyer signals, data and AI-assisted sales and marketing workflows.

- **Role:** CEO and Co-founder at UserGems
- **Organizations:** UserGems, ShelfFlip, SmartHires, Google, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft, Y Combinator, Forbes Business Council
- **Nationality:** Austrian
- **Education:** Diplom-Ingenieur (FH), Information Technology and Systems Management, FH Salzburg (Salzburg University of Applied Sciences), MBA, Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management, Master of Engineering Management, Northwestern University, McCormick School of Engineering
- **Known for:** Co-founded UserGems with his identical twin brother Stephan Kletzl., Participated in Y Combinator’s Summer 2014 batch through the venture that became UserGems., Received Northwestern’s Breed Prize in June 2013.

## Career timeline

- **2003-2005** — Worked in software development at Dax Softwareentwicklung.
- **2006-2007** — Worked in software development at Visyoo GmbH.
- **2008-2011** — Premier Field Engineer at Microsoft Austria.
- **2012** — Summer Associate at McKinsey & Company.
- **2013** — Completed graduate studies at Northwestern; received the Breed Prize and Dean’s Distinguished Service Award.
- **2014** — Product Manager at Google from January to May; co-founded ShelfFlip; the venture joined Y Combinator’s Summer 2014 batch.
- **2014-2016** — Co-founded SmartHires, a candidate-sharing network.
- **2018** — Described the customer job-change discovery behind the later UserGems product as occurring around 2018.
- **2019** — UserGems introduced its Champion Tracking signal, according to Kletzl’s company blog.
- **2021** — UserGems secured a $20 million Series A in October.
- **2022** — UserGems released Meeting Assistant, linking calendar contacts with Salesforce.
- **2024** — Published his case for signal-based go-to-market workflows; UserGems ranked No. 319 on the Inc. 5000.
- **2025** — UserGems launched Gem-E, an AI outbound agent; ranked No. 993 on the Inc. 5000.
- **2026** — Presented UserGems’ AI GTM brain approach and discussed its MCP-connected platform in public sessions and interviews.

## Achievements

- Co-founded UserGems with his identical twin brother Stephan Kletzl.
- Participated in Y Combinator’s Summer 2014 batch through the venture that became UserGems.
- Received Northwestern’s Breed Prize in June 2013.
- Received Kellogg’s Dean’s Distinguished Service Award in June 2013.
- Led UserGems through a $20 million Series A in October 2021.
- UserGems appeared on the Inc. 5000 at No. 319 in 2024 and No. 993 in 2025.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — Appeared on GTM Vault episode 53, published October 11, discussing stacked signals, data accuracy and UserGems’ MCP-accessible platform.
- **2026-09** — Presented the AI GTM brain framework at UserGems Insiders; the company published a session recap on September 18.
- **2026-04** — Presented UserGems’ centralized intelligence approach at UserGems Insiders alongside co-founder Stephan and customer speakers.

## Links

- Website: https://www.usergems.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiankletzl/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/christiankletzl

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/christian-kletzl
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-25