SalesTech consolidators: Salesloft
SalesTech consolidators: Salesloft
Resuming my Sales Consolidator series with a spotlight on Salesloft, an iconic player in the sales and revenue technology industry.
Founded in 2011, Salesloft qualifies as a veteran in the space and is widely recognized as one of the leading sales engagement providers.
But did you know that Salesloft didn't start as a sales engagement company? In fact, it began its journey as a sales intelligence provider, offering a job change alert service. It wasn't until 2014 that things really took off with the introduction of Salesloft Prospector, a Chrome extension that pulled search results from LinkedIn to load them into a spreadsheet. However, the company soon realized that this approach wasn't appropriate, leading to a defining moment and a strategic pivot, doubling down on Salesloft Cadence. The rest is history.
When the Sales Engagement category took off, it quickly became a two-horse race between Outreach and Salesloft. Interestingly, the two leaders adopted different approaches to the market. Headquartered in Atlanta, Salesloft took pride in cultivating its 'Midwest roots' and not pursuing growth at all costs when the market was red-hot. It also has been nurturing a strong sales culture. Its visionary founder, Kyle Porter, even coined their user conference as 'SalesLove'.
On the technology side, what sets Salesloft apart is the prioritization of product usability over features. Early on, it ventured down the 'all-in-one' route, adding a dialer to its arsenal in early 2015 and pioneering real-time coaching with Live Call Studio in 2017. Salesloft made a few tuck-in acquisitions, Noteninja, a Conversation Intelligence specialist in May 2018, followed by the addition of Costello for opportunity management and guided selling in November 2019. It was also one of the first companies to create a marketplace, introducing its Sales Development Cloud ecosystem in 2016.
Fast forward to December 2021, Vista Equity acquired a majority stake in Salesloft. The company was boasting 750 employees, had already bagged $250M in funding, and had crossed the $100M ARR mark earlier in the year.
In February of this year, David Obrand became CEO to propel Salesloft into new horizons. In June, leveraging the launch of its AI engine, Rythm, Salesloft repositioned as a Global Revenue Workflow Platform for full-cycle sellers. It reflects the company's expansion, transforming from a top-of-funnel engagement tool into a comprehensive digital selling solution. Salesloft now aspires to power all activities throughout the customer lifecycle, from prospecting to renewal
.