# Carter Wigell

> Carter Wigell is the San Francisco-based founder and CEO of Thunder, a Salesforce consulting, implementation and managed services company founded in 2020. An early Salesforce employee, he co-founded CloudTrigger in 2009, later led Ideator and held leadership responsibilities at WeWork. His work centers on helping organizations turn CRM, data and AI investments into operational results.

- **Role:** Founder and CEO at Thunder
- **Organizations:** Thunder, Salesforce, CloudTrigger, Cloud Sherpas, Ideator, WeWork, The Gratitude Network
- **Education:** Bachelor of Arts, University of Colorado
- **Known for:** Co-founded CloudTrigger, acquired by Cloud Sherpas in 2012., Led Thunder through its announced $16 million Series A in 2023., Built Thunder with backing from Salesforce Ventures, Recognize and Washington Harbour Partners.

## Career timeline

- **2001** — Joined Salesforce in early 2001 as one of its first 100 employees.
- **2008** — Conceived the idea for Ideator after moving from San Francisco to Los Angeles, according to his 2016 account.
- **2009** — Co-founded Salesforce consultancy CloudTrigger.
- **2012** — Cloud Sherpas announced its acquisition of CloudTrigger on December 20.
- **2016** — Announced as CEO of Ideator on January 25; Ideator participated in the first Salesforce Incubator cohort later that year.
- **—** — Led commercial technology, enterprise services and account management functions at WeWork before returning to Salesforce consulting.
- **2020** — Founded Thunder.
- **2023** — Thunder announced a $16 million Series A led by Recognize, with participation from Salesforce Ventures.
- **2024** — Washington Harbour Partners announced a growth investment in Thunder on December 17.
- **2026** — Published commentary on revenue transformation, federal modernization and the economics of SaaS and AI.

## Achievements

- Co-founded CloudTrigger, acquired by Cloud Sherpas in 2012.
- Led Thunder through its announced $16 million Series A in 2023.
- Built Thunder with backing from Salesforce Ventures, Recognize and Washington Harbour Partners.
- Led Ideator during its participation in the first Salesforce Incubator cohort.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Published “Is SaaS dead? Not if you’ve done the math.” on Thunder’s blog on September 29, arguing for evaluating total costs before replacing established platforms with custom AI applications.
- **2026-02** — Published a February 24 update on Thunder’s federal practice, crediting Maurine Fanguy and reporting that the federal team had more than doubled that year.
- **2026-02** — Published a February 9 essay about revenue transformation, drawing on conversations with Salesforce executive and Thunder advisor Meredith Schmidt.

## Links

- Website: https://www.thundersf.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carterwigell

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/carter-wigell
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-27