It’s been a good year for SalesLoft. In recent weeks, the sales intelligence software company has cracked the Technology Association of Georgia’s annual list of Top 40 Innovative companies and impressed a tough panel of judges with a second place finish at Startup Riot 2012. In addition, revenue has skyrocketed and the B2B software application was voted #1 Customer Choice App in January through Salesforce.com’s AppExchange.
Not bad for a six-month-old startup with deep roots in the Atlanta technology community.
“We have been very happy with the growth,” said Kyle Porter, SalesLoft’s President & Co-founder. “Before our second month, we had a working model product and we were able to generate revenue in our first 100 days. We’re adding new customers weekly…and all without cold calling or advertising.”
Of course, much of the success is due to the strength of the product. SalesLoft provides technology aimed at easing the ability to research and identify sales prospects and rank them according to their likelihood to buy. The goal is to increase effectiveness, reducing the time sales pros spend on research so they can focus on the important task of closing deals instead. From job change alerts to company spend predictions, news tracking and technology tracking, SalesLoft offers tools that can capture dynamic data on customer targets and deliver measurable results.
“We’re leveraging the concepts of big data and we’re scanning information on 10 million companies every 24 hours,” said Jon Birdsong, SalesLoft’s Sales and Marketing Executive. “We’re finding crucial data about those companies and prospects, such as which technology they use, how fast they’re growing from a social media or website traffic perspective, how much money they’re spending on products and advertising and other important news and information alerts. It’s like an intelligence engine for your CRM.”
The idea for the startup came about last year, when Porter joined forces with David Cummings, a seasoned Atlanta entrepreneur behind the creation of several local companies including Pardot and Hannon Hill. Determined to find a way to provide deeper sales intelligence for industry pros, the pair bootstrapped their way to a successful start in September. They were also able to benefit from their own product, utilizing SalesLoft software to generate leads and develop a customer base.
Also playing a key role in the company’s growth? ATDC. Prior to launching SalesLoft, Porter worked around the incubator for more than five years, building the skills, professional network and business acumen needed to manage a successful venture.
“My career has been heavily influenced by ATDC. I owe a lot of my mentorship to the people there,” said Porter, a Georgia Tech graduate.
With eyes on the future and the next phase of growth, members of the four-person startup are determined to secure 100 paying customers by year’s end – a goal that is more than feasible due to a rising interest in sales intelligence.
“The whole concept of SalesLoft is that companies are spending billions of dollars on CRM systems, but they’re getting mixed results,” said Porter. “Now, just about every week we hear from a customer that is further in a sales cycle or closed a deal based on our product. We’re bringing life to their CRM and changing the way that businesses sell.”
Want a taste of the software? SalesLoft recently unveiled a free micro product: http://jobchangealerts.com/.