# Qualtrics

> Qualtrics is the company that turned surveys into a category. Founded in a Provo, Utah basement in 2002, it built the Experience Management (XM) platform that lets organizations collect and act on feedback across four fronts - customers, employees, products, and brands. What began as an academic research tool now powers listening programs for more than 19,000 organizations worldwide, sitting on one of the largest databases of human sentiment ever assembled and layering AI on top of it. After an $8 billion sale to SAP in 2018, a 2021 IPO, and a $12.5 billion take-private by Silver Lake and CPP Investments in 2023, Qualtrics remains the reference point every rival is measured against.

- **Founded:** 2002
- **Headquarters:** Provo, Utah, USA (co-headquartered in Seattle, Washington)
- **Founders:** Ryan Smith (Co-founder, former CEO (now Executive Chairman / owner of the Utah Jazz)), Scott M. Smith (Co-founder, former BYU professor), Jared Smith (Co-founder), Stuart Orgill (Co-founder)
- **Team size:** ~5,700 employees (2025)
- **Products:** Qualtrics XM Platform, CustomerXM, EmployeeXM, ProductXM, BrandXM
- **Notable:** Pioneered and named the 'Experience Management (XM)' software category., Bootstrapped profitably for its first decade while rejecting venture capital., Acquired by SAP for $8 billion in 2018 - at the time the largest acquisition of a venture-backed enterprise software company.

## Products & services

- **Qualtrics XM Platform** — The core cloud platform for collecting and analyzing experience data across all four 'core experiences' on one connected system.
- **CustomerXM** — Customer experience management - surveys, feedback, and analytics to reduce churn and improve loyalty across every customer touchpoint.
- **EmployeeXM** — Employee experience management - engagement, lifecycle, and pulse surveys plus people analytics for HR and leadership.
- **ProductXM** — Product experience research - concept testing, pricing, and feature feedback to guide product decisions.
- **BrandXM** — Brand tracking and market research to measure awareness, perception, and positioning.
- **Qualtrics AI / XM Discover** — Generative, predictive, and causal AI that analyzes text, voice, and sentiment at scale across the world's largest human-sentiment database.
- **Qualtrics Research Suite** — The original advanced survey and academic research tool used by universities worldwide.

## Achievements

- Pioneered and named the 'Experience Management (XM)' software category.
- Bootstrapped profitably for its first decade while rejecting venture capital.
- Acquired by SAP for $8 billion in 2018 - at the time the largest acquisition of a venture-backed enterprise software company.
- Completed a blockbuster IPO on Nasdaq in January 2021, with valuation reaching ~$23-27 billion.
- Taken private by Silver Lake and CPP Investments for $12.5 billion in 2023.
- Serves 19,000+ organizations including much of the Fortune 100.
- Built one of the largest databases of human sentiment in the world.
- Hosts X4, described as the world's largest experience management summit.

## Latest updates

- **2025-10** — Company moved to interim co-CEOs Jim Whitehurst and Mark Gillett as Zig Serafin transitioned to Vice Chairman and Special Advisor.
- **2025-03** — Hosted X4 2025, the experience management summit, in Salt Lake City (March 18-20).
- **2025** — Expanded AI leadership with Mark Hammond as SVP of Core AI and Jeff Gelfuso promoted to Chief Product Experience Officer; workforce around 5,700.
- **2024-04** — Appointed longtime Microsoft executive Gurdeep Singh Pall as its first-ever President, AI Strategy.
- **2023-06** — Completed take-private acquisition by Silver Lake and CPP Investments for $12.5 billion.

## Links

- Website: https://www.qualtrics.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/qualtrics
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/Qualtrics
- GitHub: https://github.com/qualtrics
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/qualtrics
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/qualtrics/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/qualtrics

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/qualtrics
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-08