Growing the Impact of the Salesforce Ventures Platform Team
Welcoming Sarah Codraro and Derek Asbun to the Salesforce Ventures Platform Team.
In a tech landscape where capital is commoditized, what sets VC firms apart is everything they provide founders beyond investment: early product feedback, customer introductions, and connections with decision-makers at Fortune 500 companies. These strategic value-adds are crucial for startups as they work to achieve scale — and they’re why Salesforce Ventures has worked from Day 1 to build one of the strongest platform teams in the industry.
Under the leadership of COO Khushboo Patel, the Salesforce Ventures Platform Team has helped hundreds of portfolio companies scale effectively and get to market faster through coveted community with other innovative founders, brand amplification, and privileged access to customers, partners, and expertise.
A Platform For Success
Think of our platform team as an extension of your startup — we’re here to help solve the challenges that keep founders up at night.
The Salesforce Ventures Platform team leverages Salesforce technology, often in combination with solutions from our portfolio companies, to drive and scale our industry-leading operations. With an extensive portfolio and 15 years of investment experience, we offer unique insights and perspectives to help our founders succeed.
Our Marketing team offers founders brand amplification and coveted community via public relations, exclusive events, and featured content. Our Portfolio Development team offers founders valuable connections with partners and customers at some of the largest enterprises in the world — including a deep connection with Salesforce — so founders can build a network that can carry their business forward. Lastly, our Finance and Data teams empower portfolio companies to scale their businesses, combining expert guidance on financial metrics, trends, and reporting with deep technical knowledge for building data-driven businesses.
Over time, we’ve built out a variety of programs designed to help founders at every stage of the growth cycle:
- Elevate: Elevate is Salesforce Ventures’ annual CEO summit and the flagship of our events calendar. Over two days, attendees have the unique opportunity to build relationships and exchange ideas with fellow portfolio founders, Salesforce customers, Salesforce leadership, and industry luminaries.
- Dreamforce: Salesforce’s annual conference brings together all members of the Salesforce community for three days of learning, philanthropy, and celebration.
- Portfolio Dinners: Intimate founder dinners featuring fireside chats with enterprise leaders and members of the Salesforce Ventures portfolio.
- Innovation Days: Curated 1:1 time with enterprise customers where portfolio founders can pitch their solutions.
- Innovation Forums: Networking events arranged for individual founders to meet with a group of enterprise customers.
- Community Workshops: Persona-based workshops hosted by enterprise thought leaders for members of the Salesforce Ventures portfolio.
- Global Agentforce Tours: One-day events in cities around the world showcasing the latest Salesforce innovations.
- Cloud 100: Our annual celebration for members of the Forbes Cloud 100 — a yearly ranking of the top enterprise software companies in the world.
- Innovation Advisory Board: A collection of leaders and decision-makers at Fortune 500 enterprises with a desire to remain at the forefront of digital transformation. The IAB program offers Salesforce Ventures portfolio companies mentorship and guidance, product feedback, strategic partnerships, and customer introductions through 1:1 access to IAB members.
Whether a founder wants to sign their first major enterprise contract, receive strategic guidance on a new initiative, or amplify their message to the market, our Platform Team is there to support founders through every step of the journey.
Today we’re excited to announce the addition of two leaders who’ll help us further expand the impact of our Platform Team: Sarah Codraro as Head of Marketing and Derek Asbun as Head of Portfolio Development. Sarah and Derek join our Head of Finance, Sarah Browne, who leads financial strategy and operations, and Sr. Data Scientist Brian James Murphy, who drives our data-driven investment strategy and portfolio management — as fellow leaders of the Platform Team.
Sarah Codraro: Head of Marketing
As Head of Marketing, PR, and Events for Salesforce Ventures, Sarah and her team are responsible for driving the firm’s full-funnel growth through brand, content, events, and media, connecting Salesforce Ventures’ value proposition with the world’s most enterprising founders. Sarah is based in Oakland, CA, holds a BA from Bates College, and is a proud mom of two.
Derek Asbun: Head of Portfolio Development
Derek and his team are helping entrepreneurs accelerate growth and engage with executives within our Innovation Advisory Board (IAB) — a consortium of executives and technical leaders from leading public and private companies — as well as executives and experts within the Salesforce ecosystem. Derek is based in San Francisco and holds a BA from UC Berkeley as well as advanced degrees from the University of Oxford and the University of Cape Town.
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We’re excited about this new chapter of the Salesforce Ventures Platform and look forward to growing our impact on the technology ecosystem and our portfolio companies.
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