# Godard Abel

> Godard Abel is the co-founder and CEO of G2, the software review platform that brought Yelp-style peer reviews to enterprise software buying. A third-generation entrepreneur born in Germany and raised in Pittsburgh, he built and sold two SaaS companies before G2: BigMachines (acquired by Oracle for a reported $400M+) and SteelBrick (acquired by Salesforce). At G2 he has raised more than $260M, weathered a near-bankruptcy earlier in his career, and is now steering the company through the AI wave with its buying agent Monty and the 2026 acquisition of Gartner's Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at G2
- **Organizations:** G2, BigMachines, SteelBrick, ThreeKit, Siftery
- **From:** Monchengladbach, Germany
- **Nationality:** German-American
- **Education:** College preparatory, Sewickley Academy, BS and MS, Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MBA, Stanford University Graduate School of Business
- **Known for:** Built and sold two enterprise SaaS companies - BigMachines to Oracle and SteelBrick to Salesforce, Co-founded G2, the leading B2B software review platform and marketplace, Raised more than $260M in venture capital for G2

## Career timeline

- **1994** — Graduates from MIT with a bachelor's and master's in mechanical engineering
- **1999** — Earns an MBA from Stanford GSB; co-founds BigMachines in the Bay Area with MIT friends Christopher Shutts and Eugene Chiu
- **2004** — Relocates BigMachines to the Chicago suburb of Deerfield, and growth takes off
- **2011** — Steps down as CEO of BigMachines, which has grown past 300 employees
- **2012** — Co-founds G2 (originally G2 Crowd) to bring peer reviews to enterprise software buying
- **2013** — Oracle acquires BigMachines for a reported $400M+
- **2014** — Founds and becomes CEO of SteelBrick, running it alongside G2
- **2016** — Salesforce acquires SteelBrick; Abel becomes SVP/GM of the unit (now Salesforce Revenue Cloud)
- **2017** — Leaves Salesforce to refocus full-time on G2
- **2021** — G2 raises a $157M Series D, bringing total funding past $260M
- **2025** — G2 launches its AI buying agent Monty and Monty for Sales
- **2026** — G2 acquires Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp from Gartner (announced Jan 29, closed Feb 5)

## Achievements

- Built and sold two enterprise SaaS companies - BigMachines to Oracle and SteelBrick to Salesforce
- Co-founded G2, the leading B2B software review platform and marketplace
- Raised more than $260M in venture capital for G2
- Grew BigMachines from a struggling startup to 300+ employees and a $400M+ exit
- Led G2's 2026 acquisition of Gartner's Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice
- Pioneered a peer-review alternative to the traditional analyst-report model of software buying

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — G2 completed its acquisition of Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp from Gartner, consolidating the software-review market.
- **2025-06** — G2 rolled out its AI buying assistant Monty and a Monty for Sales agent, positioning the platform for AI-driven and agent-to-agent software buying.

## Links

- Website: https://g2.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/godardabel
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/godardabel

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/godard-abel
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-01