crm
(294)
David Schmaier saw a business in the missing aisle
At Dreamforce in 2013, David Schmaier went looking for a company to buy. The gap he found led to Vlocity, a Salesforce acquisition, and a career spent making software speak the customer’s language.
David Zhu and the value of a long memory
At Reevo, David Zhu is betting that sales software should remember what people learn. His founding team has a head start: some of its relationships go back to the schoolyard.
Why Joe Skousen Wants the Software to Disappear
The Inside Real Estate founder has spent years learning why agents leave useful tools untouched. His answer has evolved from marketing services to connected AI, with the same ambition: give people less machinery to manage.
David Hauser and the promise that has to survive Monday
Bits In Glass began in 2002 with a complaint about consulting. David Hauser has spent the years since building a business around the harder part of technology: getting it to work for people.
Stridely Solutions makes the handoffs work
A building model, a factory invoice, an energy dashboard. Stridely Solutions works where useful software meets the messy business of getting things done.
Robert Slack LLC made the follow-up the business.
A $168 purchase of online leads helped start a Florida brokerage. The harder part was building a company that could keep calling after everyone else stopped.
Dale Renner and the business of keeping a promise
From an Iowa farm to customer data software, Dale Renner has kept returning to the same question: can people rely on what you say? At Redpoint Global, that question reaches from the sales pitch to the records beneath an AI model.
Thomas M. Siebel and the unfinished business of being right
He helped turn customer relationships into a software business, then placed another bet on enterprise AI. Now back as C3 AI’s CEO, Thomas M. Siebel faces a familiar question: can an idea survive the daily work of running a company?
Dimitri Sidney Started by Finding Bugs. Then He Had to Build Trust.
The Customertimes co-founder began as a software tester. His account of becoming a CEO turns on a harder problem: helping a growing company keep the habits that made people want to work together.
Joshua Tillman and the business of dead air
An internship full of phone calls gave Joshua Tillman a problem worth solving. The company that followed, first DialSource and then Conquer, carried a UC Davis idea into enterprise sales.
Talent Stacker and the missing step between certified and hired
A Salesforce certificate can prove what you know. Talent Stacker builds a business around the harder question: can you persuade someone to let you do the work?
Kepler makes the connections.
The agency connects data, creative, and media buying in one system. Its client work reveals why better marketing starts with asking what the numbers actually mean.
Moatable Found Its Moat in the Daily Grind
A real estate agent and a long-haul trucker have more in common than you think. Moatable is building a software business around the small decisions that make their working days pay.
Software Experts and the art of following up.
The California listing promotes Thryv, a platform built around an ordinary business problem: getting the next customer is only useful if you can handle what happens next.
VRP Consulting makes the merger work
Buying Salesforce is the easy part. VRP Consulting handles the awkward work of making acquired businesses, scattered data and everyday human habits operate together.
vCustomer made distance disappear.
The offshore support company put internet calls, trained agents and close supervision to work together. Its most useful lesson sits behind the headset.
Velosio makes the handoffs work.
A sale becomes a project. A project becomes an invoice. Velosio works in the awkward spaces between them - where growing companies often lose track of their own business.
Linda Blair makes software a people business.
A small business can buy a dashboard in minutes. Linda Blair’s work with Thryv shows why getting someone to use it can take a much more human investment.
GALE makes the data worth opening
A burrito order can become a story. GALE has built a business around connecting customer intelligence, creative work, and the next purchase.
Himflax Group makes the boring bits work
An online checkout. A hard-to-fill role. A website that needs customers. Himflax Group sells the work between a business idea and a business that runs.
Bastin Gerald and the space between getting software and getting somewhere
He helped build software for large corporations, then founded Apptivo for smaller businesses. With Profit.co, Bastin Gerald returned to a familiar puzzle: how to turn a company’s intentions into work that actually moves.
Christopher O'Donnell and the art of starting over
He helped build HubSpot’s CRM. Now the Day AI co-founder is revisiting the bargain that made it work: people do the remembering, software keeps the records. Along the way, there are guitars, a pirate flag, and a useful argument about who should be in charge.
Brad Birnbaum and the unfinished business of hello
He helped put customer support on the internet, sold companies to Salesforce and Meta, and kept coming back. For Kustomer co-founder Brad Birnbaum, the next chapter begins with a familiar question: does the business remember who is asking?
Shubham Goel and the business of knowing someone
A dorm-room partnership became Affinity, a company built around the relationships hiding in everyday work. Shubham Goel’s story begins with a ridiculous website and keeps returning to a serious question: what makes people trust one another?
Sergey Rizhikov and the art of learning to divide
Before Bitrix24, there was a programming book, a borrowed print run and a dinner that spent the proceeds. Sergey Rizhikov’s software career grew through a different kind of arithmetic: giving partners room to build.
Nicolas Sharp and the trouble with a business that works
Nicolas Sharp had customers, a co-founder and a working CRM business. Then he decided to start again - trading a narrow market for three years of building, and a different idea of what business software could be.
David Maurice Chevalier and the value of a shortcut
A student trading game took him into banking; a tedious university assignment gave his next career its starting point. At Surfe, David Maurice Chevalier is building a business around the hours people would rather spend talking to each other.
Anthony Smith and the four businesses that changed his working life
A salon operator, a consultancy, landscapers, and plumbers gave Anthony Smith a reason to build Insightly. From Perth to Silicon Valley, he kept returning to a deceptively demanding question: can busy people actually use the software?
Katherine Kostereva and the art of making herself unnecessary
She learned to sell by knocking on doors. At Creatio, Katherine Kostereva has spent years building software - and a company - that lets other people get on with the job.
Ray Zhou and the customer who insisted on paying
Before Affinity could sell the value of a relationship, Ray Zhou had to learn what one was worth. His route ran through Stanford side projects, borrowed office space, and a customer who finally asked for the bill.