Case Study
How Qualified Partnered With Salesforce Ventures to Find Its Market Niche
the opportunity
Build a Differentiated Pipeline Generation Tool to Compete in a Crowded Market
Qualified launched in 2018 with the ambition to build a better pipeline generation tool for B2B companies. Co-Founder Kraig Swensrud knew the pipeline generation process was broken: As Salesforce’s former CMO, he had seen first-hand that companies could drive prospects to their website, but couldn’t understand who those prospects were, where they worked, what they clicked on, or what their intent was. This led to missed opportunities because marketing organizations couldn’t identify high-quality prospects and efficiently move them into their sales funnel.
Kraig and his co-founder, Sean Whiteley, believed they could build a pipeline generation tool that would help marketing teams hit their targets, but that would mean entering a crowded market with well-capitalized incumbents. Anticipating tough competition, the team set out to align with a partner who could give them a meaningful edge.
What’s unique about Salesforce Ventures is everything they bring beyond capital.
Kraig Swensrud, Co-Founder, Qualified
the solution
Gain a Unique Entry Point Into the Market With Salesforce Ventures
When it came time for Qualified to raise a seed round in 2019, Salesforce Ventures was one of Kraig’s first calls. “When we started the company, the strategy of the founding team was to be differentiated in our go to market,” Kraig said. “We had to have something that competitors who were years ahead of us in the market didn’t have, and we realized that something could be a tight alliance with Salesforce.”
Our history with the Qualified team ran deep: Salesforce Ventures had invested in their previous company, GetFeedback, a customer survey tool for Salesforce (acquired by Campaign Monitor). Salesforce had also acquired Kraig and Sean’s first company, Keiden, in 2006.
Our team met with Kraig and Sean and fell in love with Qualified’s product vision: a conversational marketing platform that could help B2B companies connect with buyers in real-time, right on their company’s website. Further, Qualified was built natively on Salesforce and works closely with Salesforce CRM & Salesforce Pardot, so it felt like a natural fit for our ecosystem.
These factors led to our decision to invest in Qualified’s seed round in 2019 alongside our friend’s at Redpoint. We were so impressed by the market’s reception and Qualified’s progress that we continued to support the company as it scaled: Salesforce Ventures invested in Qualified’s $12M Series A in 2020; led its $51M Series B in 2021; and backed its $95M Series C in 2022.
“Salesforce Ventures investing in our seed round was really important because it allowed us to gain some initial traction,” Kraig said. “And when they participated in our Series A and ultimately led our Series B, it cemented our position from a marketing perspective. At a time when none of our competitors had an allegiance or relationship to Salesforce, it gave us a unique entrypoint in the market.”
the impact
Expertise, Access, and Customers
Since aligning with Salesforce Ventures, Kraig says Qualified has received immense value in addition to capital. Salesforce Ventures has connected Qualified with several Salesforce executives who’ve taken board observer positions within the organization, including former Pardot COO Mike Kostow, former CMO Sarah Franklin, current Salesforce Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy Bill Patterson, and current Salesforce CMO Ariel Kelman.
“Working closely with Katie, Zak and the investment team has been amazing,” Kraig said. “But what’s special about Salesforce Ventures is that we also get the benefit of people who are currently operating large organizations with their eyeballs on us. Having these folks participate in our business and board meetings is huge because we get insight that none of our competitors can get.”
Additionally, Salesforce Ventures helped Qualified secure new business opportunities. For example, our team connected Qualified with the Salesforce AppExchange team when they were sourcing a live chat software solution. Qualified now powers AppExchange Chat, which enables Salesforce partners to have conversations with buyers directly on the AppExchange Marketplace.
What’s more, Qualified has attended numerous exclusive events organized by Salesforce Ventures where they’ve had the opportunity to network with prospective customers. At Salesforce Demo Days, founders get to meet 1:1 with a member of our Innovation Advisory Board and their respective teams; at Innovation Forums, a group of portfolio companies showcase their products to Salesforce executives. Qualified has also been able to access talent and expertise through Salesforce Ventures’ recurring events, including Dreamforce, Elevate, and Cloud 100.
“What’s unique about Salesforce Ventures is everything they bring beyond capital,” Kraig said. “It’s opportunity, intelligence, insight, connection, knocking down doors, making deals happen, and the connection to the brand. That’s not to say other organizations can’t help, just that Salesforce Ventures is so unique in the type of value it can provide to our company.”
the future
Thriving Alongside Salesforce
Since aligning with Salesforce Ventures, Qualified has grown from 5 employees to a thriving Series C+ business with a team of 160+ people. Qualified continues to demonstrate clear ROI for its customers, having generated $2.6B in pipeline for its customers last year, which includes leading brands like GrubHub, Vimeo, Attentive, and Carta. Additionally, with support from Salesforce, Qualified recently rolled out a suite of AI-powered products designed to deliver more personalized experiences to users.
Kraig’s goal is for Qualified to become a publicly traded company. For now, he’s focused on building the definitive pipeline generation platform for all B2B organizations—and doing it alongside Salesforce Ventures.
“Salesforce and Salesforce Ventures have been there with us every step of the way. It’s part of who we are,” Kraig said. “They’ve helped us hit our targets and achieve the growth we wanted to achieve, and it has set us up to become a large-scale enterprise software company.”