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        <title><![CDATA[Stories by Rajeev Dham on Medium]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[Stories by Rajeev Dham on Medium]]></description>
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            <title>Stories by Rajeev Dham on Medium</title>
            <link>https://medium.com/@rajeevdham?source=rss-d30c72ef6803------2</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[Modernizing the Way Business Happens Locally: Why We’re Excited About Podium | Sapphire Ventures]]></title>
            <link>https://medium.com/@rajeevdham/modernizing-the-way-business-happens-locally-why-were-excited-about-podium-sapphire-ventures-9906da28efdc?source=rss-d30c72ef6803------2</link>
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            <category><![CDATA[local-business]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[startup]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[saas]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[venture-capital]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[investment]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Rajeev Dham]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2020 15:29:21 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2020-04-28T16:08:13.969Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*TKRiv0N2NFn0MIoMlmhbnQ.jpeg" /></figure><p>Earlier this month, it closed a $125 million Series C funding round, and <a href="https://sapphireventures.com/">Sapphire Ventures </a>is excited to have participated. The way we see it, Podium’s customer interaction software is unique because it’s transforming how local businesses interact with their customers. <a href="https://www.podium.com/press/fast-company-most-innovative/">Fast Company </a>agrees, listing it as one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2019.</p><p>While these are difficult times for local businesses, Podium’s platform is making it easier for them to stay in business by improving how they engage with their customers throughout the lifecycle — from product or service discovery to purchase and loyalty. More than ever, we believe that local businesses need new and creative digital channels to better communicate with their customers.</p><p>Podium’s platform enables local and small businesses to manage customer interactions across multiple channels such as webchat and text message. They can also manage reviews and feedback, and even accept payments. In addition, Podium provides employees with teamchat, enabling them to manage conversations internally and receive analytics on the engagement of their customers.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*q9-98K5o07zmHbUpilVsRw.png" /><figcaption><em>Podium makes it easy to chat with customers, manage feedback and pull insights — all within a single platform.</em></figcaption></figure><h3>Why We’re Committed to Podium’s Vision</h3><p>We believe in Podium and are committed to the company long-term. Here’s why:</p><p><strong>The Technology Opportunity:</strong></p><p>According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, there were <a href="https://www.smallbizgenius.net/by-the-numbers/small-business-statistics/#gref">30.7 million small businesses </a>in the country in 2019, accounting for 99.7% of all companies. We believe that despite the economic weight they carry, small businesses, and especially local businesses, have been historically overlooked. They have been slow to adopt technologies that will help them engage with today’s consumers on the channels and in the moments that they prefer. Think of it this way, a consumer can go on Amazon, make a purchase with a single click and receive a package the same day. Customer service is simple and in most cases self-serve. Contrast that experience with servicing a car or finding a home service professional. They’re dramatically different experiences when they don’t need to be.</p><p><strong>Shifting Consumer Behavior:</strong></p><p>How consumers shop has changed over the last several decades. One of the biggest disruptions we’ve seen is online reviews. According to Spiegel Research Center, nearly of shoppers read online reviews before making a purchase. Consulting online reviews is how consumers start their discovery process and how they choose what to buy. And increasingly that goes for any sort of purchase people make. People turn to online reviews for everything from finding a healthcare professional to selecting a car repair center to a B2B product. By using Podium, businesses can keep track of their online reviews, chat directly with customers and handle payments right within Podium.</p><p><strong>Strong Leadership Team:</strong></p><p>When we look at companies, one of things that motivates us most are the people. Podium’s CEO has a fantastic personality — it’s a great blend of being optimistic and aspirational, yet practical and disciplined. This permeates across his executive team and the company culture. We’ve known Eric for years, and know that he understands the needs of local businesses. His father owned one, so the story is personal to him and we can see his passion for the work he is doing. It’s incredibly contagious!</p><h3>CEO Eric Rea on Starting Podium, Teaming Up with Sapphire and Helping Small Businesses in a Time of Crisis</h3><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/300/0*i6VSS0pL7DtNgGCQ.jpg" /><figcaption>Podium CEO, Eric Rea</figcaption></figure><p>Leading up to the funding announcement, Eric and I spoke a lot about Podium, including why he decided to start the business, what he hopes to accomplish, why he’s excited about partnering with <a href="https://sapphireventures.com/">Sapphire Ventures </a>and what his team is doing to help local businesses during the pandemic. Here’s what he had to say:</p><p><strong>Why did you start Podium?</strong></p><p>We started Podium to modernize the way business happens locally. The inspiration came from my dad’s tire shop. Despite being a successful business that provides an awesome in-person experience, the tire shop lacked the messaging tools needed to survive in a modern economy. Innovation for the last decade has largely been focused on building the online economy instead of local businesses like my dad’s.</p><p>Up until recently, the main ways my dad communicated with his customers were a landline phone and mailers. These legacy solutions were inefficient as society has shifted towards online discovery and messaging. Podium’s tools use messaging to help small businesses convert website traffic, schedule appointments, provide customer support, take payment, receive feedback, reviews and more — all by using the messaging platforms that customers are already using.</p><p><strong>What’s driving demand for your platform?</strong></p><p>Consumer expectations around how they interact with family, friends and businesses have forever changed. In the last five years since Podium was started, it has become progressively easier to show every local business the need to add messaging products to their toolbox. The way we see it, it’s clear that messaging is the future of customer interaction — no matter who you’re interacting with.</p><p>Since the COVID-19 crisis, messaging has quickly become one of the only ways small and local businesses can do business. This giant shift is most likely going to permanently alter the way that people make buying decisions, and will only increase the need for local businesses to run their business using Podium.</p><p><strong>Why did you decide to partner with Sapphire?</strong></p><p>When you are seeing the type of growth that Podium has had over the past five years, it’s common to hear proposals from investors about how they have a comprehensive, value-add approach to investing. The real task is to separate out those who are just saying that from the ones who actually walk the walk. Sapphire has proven over time that they deliver.</p><p>And Rajeev brings deep SaaS knowledge and valuable insight into our business model. Podium has been incredibly blessed with partners who have been able to level up our business. I see Rajeev as being one of those people. Overall, we’re thrilled to have Sapphire join our growth story as we work to become a world changing company.</p><p><strong>What’s your goal with this latest round of funding?</strong></p><p>We believe that any business that interacts with customers through a physical location will benefit from Podium’s messaging tools. Podium is working with 45,000+ small businesses today, and there are still millions out there that could improve how they interact with their customers. With the latest funding round, we plan on scaling Podium to meet the demand of this market size, which we’re looking forward to doing!</p><p><strong>How are you helping local businesses in need right now?</strong></p><p>Since the pandemic began, local businesses were one of the greatest hit sectors. Many of them have been operating for decades. And almost overnight, they all had to completely adapt their operations in order to be safe and remain open.</p><p>Podium recognizes the critical need that messaging and contactless payments provide in this environment. That’s why we immediately created <a href="https://www.podium.com/starter/">Podium Starter </a>, a no-cost version of Podium that gives US-based local businesses with two or fewer locations the basic tools they need to get started in messaging. Local businesses will now easily be able to convert the surge in website traffic into transactions using webchat, take contactless payments and use messenger to coordinate curbside pickup, arrange delivery options or any other customer service related conversation.</p><p><strong><em>Disclaimer:</em></strong><em> Nothing presented within this article is intended to constitute investment advice, and under no circumstances should any information provided herein be used or considered as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any investment fund managed by Sapphire Ventures. Information provided reflects Sapphire Ventures’ views as of a time, whereby such views are subject to change at any point and Sapphire Ventures shall not be obligated to provide notice of any change.Companies mentioned in this article are a representative sample of portfolio companies in which Sapphire Ventures has invested in which the author</em></p><p><em>Originally published at </em><a href="https://sapphireventures.com/blog/modernizing-the-way-business-happens-locally-why-were-excited-about-podium/"><em>https://sapphireventures.com</em></a><em>.</em></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=9906da28efdc" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[Congratulations Livongo, a True Company of Consequence | Sapphire Ventures]]></title>
            <link>https://medium.com/@rajeevdham/congratulations-livongo-a-true-company-of-consequence-sapphire-ventures-62489aab9e4b?source=rss-d30c72ef6803------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/62489aab9e4b</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[ipo]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[sapphire-ventures]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[venture-capital]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[investment]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Rajeev Dham]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Thu, 25 Jul 2019 19:03:58 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2019-07-25T21:58:00.014Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/552/1*BDFeeZaBNduUhK3ZYxv-RQ.png" /></figure><p>We’re thrilled about Livongo achieving their latest milestone of going public! After such an accomplishment, it’s always fun <em>and important </em>to look back at the journey because after all, often it is the journey, not only the result, that is most fulfilling.</p><p><a href="https://sapphireventures.com/">Sapphire Ventures </a>first invested in Livongo in 2016, and as our first true health-tech investment, it wasn’t easy. For one thing, we canvassed the digital health (and specifically the diabetes management space) for months, and while there were clearly lots of good intentions, there weren’t that many good businesses .</p><p>Let’s face it: it’s tough sell healthcare solutions. Where there are 1–2 critical decision-makers in an enterprise technology sale, there are at least twice as many in a health-tech sale and you have the added complexity of heightened regulations, patient confidentiality and more.</p><p>But it was clear <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/glen-tullman-76108566/">Glen Tullman </a>(then CEO, now executive chairman) and team were not only looking to do good, (Livongo, as the name suggests, keeps people “living and on the go”) but they were providing a solution that customers were willing to pay for.</p><p>As growth-stage investors we always go deep on sales-motion repeatability/efficiency and retention/expansion metrics, and that’s where Livongo was really performing. Efficiency and existing customer retention/growth are extremely important to us because they are incredibly strong growth levers. When we talk about working with “Companies of Consequence” we mean companies that not only do things which have an impact, but also have the ability to operate at very large scale — and the early data around true sales traction was like nothing else we’d seen in healthcare.</p><p>Our investment thesis was underpinned by their sales traction, but also by:</p><ul><li>Glen and the team around him;</li><li>The disruptiveness of business model (not charging for strips, B2B2C, highly scalable recurring revenue, strong early traction with hugely influential partners);</li><li>he packaged software and service solution (driving real health outcomes, focus on consumer experience, personalized recommendations driven by data science) they provided;</li><li>Glen’s vision of building a chronic-condition management platform that would encompass far more than diabetes — an ambitious enough challenge — and focus on best-in-class enterprise selling with an unparalleled consumer experience.</li></ul><p>Today, we find ourselves partnered with a Livongo team who is tackling not only diabetes, but also hypertension and mental health conditions, with a demonstrated skill set of developing solutions for other conditions. The opportunity ahead of Livongo is incredibly large, and more importantly, the impact the company is having — helping people with chronic conditions live their best / most full lives — is truly consequential.</p><p>At Sapphire, our mantra is to partner with, and help build the companies we invest in. We’re fortunate to have been involved with and helped Livongo.</p><p>Cheers to the Livongo team and onwards and upwards!</p><p><em>Disclaimer: Nothing presented within this article is intended to constitute investment advice, and under no circumstances should any information provided herein be used or considered as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any investment fund managed by Sapphire Ventures. Information provided reflects Sapphire Ventures’ views as of a time, whereby such views are subject to change at any point and Sapphire Ventures shall not be obligated to provide notice of any change. Companies mentioned in this article are a representative sample of portfolio companies in which Sapphire Ventures has invested in which the author believes such companies fit the objective criteria stated in commentary, which do not reflect all investments made by Sapphire. A complete alphabetical list of Sapphire’s investments made by its direct growth investing funds is available </em><a href="https://sapphireventures.com/companies/"><em>here </em></a><em>. No assumptions should be made that investments listed above were or will be profitable. Due to various risks and uncertainties, actual events, results or the actual experience may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in these statements. Nothing contained in this article may be relied upon as a guarantee or assurance as to the future success of any particular company. Past performance is not indicative of future results.</em></p><p><em>Originally published at </em><a href="https://sapphireventures.com/blog/congratulations-livongo-a-true-company-of-consequence/"><em>https://sapphireventures.com</em></a><em>.</em></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=62489aab9e4b" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[Pendo-monium! — Why Sapphire and Pendo are Excited to Partner]]></title>
            <link>https://medium.com/@rajeevdham/pendo-monium-why-sapphire-and-pendo-are-excited-to-partner-6cf943ee86e7?source=rss-d30c72ef6803------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/6cf943ee86e7</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[fundraise]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[sapphire-ventures]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[pendo]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[startup]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[investment]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Rajeev Dham]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Wed, 12 Sep 2018 17:12:07 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2018-09-12T17:12:07.887Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*2CiR9KvXr5STwjB-omS4FA.jpeg" /></figure><p><em>By Rajeev Dham, Partner, Sapphire Ventures and Todd Olson, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Pendo</em></p><p>I’m thrilled to announce that Sapphire Ventures is leading the Series D financing for Pendo, an incredibly exciting SaaS business re-defining the product and user experience software category. I’m happy to welcome Todd Olson, CEO of Pendo, to the Sapphire family and to share his views here on why he decided to partner with Sapphire. But first, let me tell you my partners and I decided to S<em>pendo on Pendo</em>!</p><h4><em>Why Partner with Pendo?</em></h4><p>At its core, Pendo provides a product cloud platform that improves users’ experience with digital services. As I spend a good portion of my time searching for the next big SaaS business, I’ve come to the realization that the largest and most sustainable differentiator from one application to the next isn’t necessarily based on technical complexity. Rather, the ability for end-users, folks like me and you, to achieve rapid time-to-value and experience ongoing satisfaction with the product is paramount.</p><p>Pendo is the enabler behind this broader trend as they allow folks in product, UI/UX, customer support and success organizations to understand user behavior within their digital services and iterate on product features and flows, but also inform smart in-app communication as a result of the deep analytics they are collecting. They smartly combine visibility via analytics with action via communication — a combination that dozens of customers were thrilled by. The next product and experience cloud platform is in the making!</p><p>As we at Sapphire seek to partner with “companies of consequence,” the team ends up being one of, if not <em>the</em>, most critical driver. Let’s begin with Todd. I first met Todd in mid-2016 and despite Pendo being early for our stage focus back then, I came away incredibly excited about what he was building and his product-driven approach to the business. That said, given any company at this stage, execution risk was still meaningful. Fast forward 2+ years and, admittedly much to my <em>pleasant</em> surprise, Todd had nailed the plan he had laid out for me way back then. Execution — check!</p><p>That said, execution without leadership can only get you so far. More impressive than Todd’s ability to execute, is his ability to lead, proven by the management team he’s been able to attract, many of whom were hired only in the last two years — Bill Binch (CRO), Jennifer Kaelin (CFO), Jake Sorofman (CMO) and many others. Bottom line — Pendo’s team, led by Todd and his co-founders Erik Troan, Rahul Jain, and Eric Boduch,<strong> </strong>is one of the strongest I’ve seen. The intangibles are what create something special and Pendo’s got it!</p><p>Ultimately, however, venture capital investing isn’t as formulaic as I or others may make it sound. Investment decisions are often influenced by the relationship, the human connection between entrepreneur and investor given we’re in this together for the long haul. To that end, Todd’s unique combination of being incredibly down-to-earth yet fiercely competitive with an unrelenting desire to win deeply resonated with me and my partners and will make for a great partnership!</p><h4><em>Why Partner with Sapphire Ventures?</em></h4><p>If I had two words to describe Rajeev, they’d be enthusiastic and persistent. As he mentioned above, we met two years ago during our Series B fundraise and while he didn’t invest then, he stayed in nearly constant contact. Almost like clockwork, he’d ping me each quarter and my response was always the same: We’re not fundraising; we’re focused on execution. When I finally agreed to re-engage this summer, Rajeev came prepared with insights from nearly two dozen customer conversations. Moreover, his comments and takeaways showed a level understanding about the nuance of our product and business that impressed me.</p><p>Raising four rounds of venture funding has taught me that it’s not about the money — it’s about the people. You can get money from anywhere. The people affect your company (and life) far more. We’re fortunate to have investors that help us close customers, recruit great people, and push us to realize our full potential. We’re betting that Rajeev brings the same level of tenacity to company-building as he demonstrated during the fundraising process. We’re on a mission to transform how software is created and delivered, and we can always use more advocates willing to roll up their sleeves and unwilling to accept “no” as an answer.</p><p>Even more unique in my due diligence is their Portfolio Growth team, which is dedicated to helping their companies successfully scale. The Sapphire Portfolio Growth platform regularly leverage their global CXO network to make valuable introductions to customers, partners and executive talent. We’re also excited to be speaking at their annual CIO Summit in October, which will help us elevate the Pendo message to a powerful group of Global 2000 CIOs, Silicon Valley CEOs and industry thought leaders. Through all of my reference calls and interactions, it was clear that Sapphire’s Portfolio Growth team is more than just talk — they are all about impact and outcomes.</p><h4><em>Our Pendo Partnership</em></h4><p>We are thrilled to welcome Todd and Pendo to the Sapphire family and can’t wait for the journey ahead!</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=6cf943ee86e7" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[Out-Reaching for Consequence — Why Outreach and Sapphire Ventures Are Excited to Partner]]></title>
            <link>https://medium.com/@rajeevdham/out-reaching-for-consequence-why-outreach-and-sapphire-ventures-are-excited-to-partner-d8ae72495113?source=rss-d30c72ef6803------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/d8ae72495113</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[growth-insights]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[startup]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[sapphire-ventures]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[outreach]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[investment]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Rajeev Dham]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Tue, 22 May 2018 16:42:56 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2018-05-22T16:42:56.151Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>By Rajeev Dham (Partner, </em><a href="https://medium.com/u/a6b25747936b"><em>Sapphire Ventures</em></a><em>) and </em><a href="https://medium.com/u/e4a5401df033"><em>Manuel Medina</em></a><em> (CEO, </em><a href="https://medium.com/u/bc832b36fe99"><em>Outreach</em></a><em>)</em></p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/1*_6mSlB1U4NcTI8pW8t__iw.jpeg" /></figure><p>Today, I’m excited to announce our <a href="https://www.outreach.io/blog/announcing-our-series-d">Series D investment</a> in <a href="https://www.outreach.io/">Outreach</a>, a fast-growing provider of the leading SaaS customer engagement platform. At Sapphire, we have a mantra of backing “Companies of Consequence” and we believe Outreach fits the bill. Beyond me telling you why, Manny, CEO at Outreach, was gracious enough to also share his thoughts on why he chose to partner with Sapphire Ventures.</p><p>But first, what does a customer facing engagement platform really mean? In my view, engaging with prospects and customers, for a variety of purposes, should be the #1 activity of any go-to-market organization. Outreach has created the engine that powers smarter and more scalable customer communication. This ultimately enables sales and other customer-facing teams to scale their day-to-day workflow in an automated, yet intelligent and still personalized manner.</p><p>While we see Salesforce.com and other CRM providers as the prevailing systems of record, there is a significant opportunity for a system of engagement that activates and potentially improves that underlying CRM dataset — enter Outreach.</p><h4><strong>Why Partner with Outreach?</strong></h4><p>I first met Manny in late 2015 and have been tracking him since. While It was clear that Outreach was on to something special, what really intrigued us at Sapphire was Manny and the rest of the team. After our latest discussions, I walked away impressed that he had executed on the goals he set back in 2015 — remarkable for any entrepreneur, but especially for a company in its earlier stages, as they were back then.</p><p>What truly distinguishes Manny in my view, however, is his unique combination of product vision and go-to-market understanding. Most mid-to-late stage SaaS entrepreneurs I meet tend to be either technical, product-driven founders <em>or</em> sales-first execution maestros. Manny encompasses both. This is critical because while GTM execution is key, having a strong product-led company and vision is what creates a longer-term moat and sustainable differentiator.</p><p>Further, Manny is relentlessly obsessed with his customers, his team and his business. He has an intensity of focus and work ethic (4:30 am emails from Manny is commonplace) that is coupled with his ability to authentically and passionately tell the Outreach story. This inspires customers, employees and investors to buy-in to his vision.</p><p>Look no further for evidence of this than the talented team that surrounds Manny. Andrew (co-founder), Anna (COO), Matt (Sales), Mike (Customer Success), and the rest of the employees all march to the same energetic, customer-focused beat.</p><p>Finally, what really sealed the deal for us was Manny’s maniacal focus on what we believe should be the primary KPI for SaaS businesses — user engagement. More on this North Star metric below from Manny.</p><h4><strong>Why Partner with Sapphire Ventures?</strong></h4><p>When I met Rajeev a few years ago, Rajeev was a rising star at Sapphire with uncommon knowledge about our space. Most VCs know a lot about marketing or ad tech, but very few have more than passing knowledge of sales tech. Many have been burned betting against Salesforce, so they stay away from anything that comes even close to CRM.</p><p>However, our first conversation with Rajeev piqued my interest — let me explain. For me, Outreach is a labor of love and my life. I am not a serial anything. Outreach is it. I expect the same level of commitment and knowledge of the space from a potential partner. Rajeev proved to be just that kind of partner. From the get go, he understood the landscape and the customer pain CRM left unsolved. He not only understood it, he had the conviction to bet on it. Mind you, this is a very competitive space and is growing rapidly as it is being defined. That drives away timid investors. Not Rajeev.</p><p>Also, given Sapphire’s track record backing world-class enterprise companies,<strong> </strong>Rajeev understood our unorthodox approach to B2B SaaS: at Outreach we care deeply about active users and tracking engagement with the application. We fundamentally believe that if we provide value to the users, they will reward us by taking more actions on Outreach to drive their customer relationships forward. The more actions taken on Outreach, the more data our members generate that we can use in machine learning models to automate those actions and give our members time back. Automation in turn creates higher engagement.</p><p>This virtuous cycle of engagement-driving-automation-driving-engagement is common in consumer applications like Facebook, but rare in business applications. But that is our secret sauce: consumer-like thinking drives customer obsession across Outreach. Seeing Rajeev and the Sapphire team’s excitement about pushing the envelope in customer engagement by using a consumer approach to enterprise applications was the genesis of this exciting partnership.</p><h4>A Perfect Partnership</h4><p>The feelings here are mutual and we’re thrilled to welcome Outreach to the Sapphire family. We look forward to partnering with Manny and the Outreach team on their journey of becoming a Company of Consequence.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=d8ae72495113" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[TransferWise: The Power Of Product And Delighting Users]]></title>
            <link>https://medium.com/@rajeevdham/transferwise-the-power-of-product-and-delighting-users-a81e4feb903?source=rss-d30c72ef6803------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/a81e4feb903</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[transferwise]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[growth-insights]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[investment]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[sapphire-ventures]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Rajeev Dham]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Thu, 02 Nov 2017 16:35:06 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2017-11-02T16:44:12.399Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*guzk0P3hCDVRqb5VriiQtQ.jpeg" /></figure><p>We’re excited to announce our <a href="http://sapphireventures.com/press/transferwise-announces-280m-investment-round-as-company-focuses-on-new-products-and-apac-expansion/">Series E investment</a> in <a href="https://transferwise.com/us/">TransferWise</a>, a next-generation global leader in international money transfer.</p><p>Traditional bank transfers and other money transfer services often have punitive and opaque pricing and poor user experiences. To solve these problems, TransferWise is creating a new fabric of international asset and currency transfer driven by a transparent and easy-to-use application for end-users.</p><p>Another simplistic consumer finance application? Not so fast. Over the past six years, TransferWise has diligently and smartly struck the right balance between integrating with and disrupting the current, complex financial ecosystem to provide a world class service to consumers and businesses across dozens of countries.</p><p>Frustrated by the cumbersome and expensive international bank transfers, co-founders Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Käärmann set out to create a money transfer system that could eventually be used for various types of international payments. From inception, user experience (speed, reliability, price) and developing user trust were paramount. They achieved this with smart product decisions and a transparent experience and pricing model — never relenting on these core tenets.</p><p>What we found most compelling about Kristo, Taavet and the rest of the team was how aligned they were on product focus. Despite running an efficient go-to-market engine, they refuse to indiscriminately spend on marketing. They realize that smart digital marketing and outspending competitors is not a sustainable differentiator, but building great product your users love is. This product-first strategy has led to viral adoption and the more users that sign-up and send money through the system, the better the product and pricing for users, which leads to further viral adoption.</p><p>The TransferWise team is on a mission to take the inefficiencies out of the existing financial money transfer ecosystem and delight users while doing it. Their maniacal focus on product has allowed them to build a rapidly growing, profitable business tackling a massive market. We’re thrilled to partner with them on their journey to build an enduring and valuable global category leader in the financial technology space.</p><p><em>Disclosures:</em></p><p><em>The information set forth herein is not intended to constitute investment advice and under no circumstances should any information provided herein be used or considered as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any investment fund managed by Sapphire Ventures. Sapphire Ventures does not solicit or make its services available to the public and none of the funds are currently open to new investors. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.</em></p><p><em>The portfolio companies referred to above do not necessarily represent all of the investments made or recommended by Sapphire Ventures, and were not selected based on the return on Sapphire Ventures’ investment in them. It should not be assumed that the specific investments identified and discussed herein were or will be profitable. Not all investments made by Sapphire Ventures will be profitable or will equal the performance of the companies identified above. View all of Sapphire Ventures’ investments </em><a href="http://sapphireventures.com/companies/"><em>here</em></a><em>.</em></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=a81e4feb903" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[Reltio: Making Data Management Cool Again]]></title>
            <link>https://medium.com/@rajeevdham/reltio-making-data-management-cool-again-a057fd649950?source=rss-d30c72ef6803------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/a057fd649950</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[investment]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[sapphire-ventures]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[data-management]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[reltio]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[venture-capital]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Rajeev Dham]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Wed, 19 Apr 2017 03:31:12 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2017-04-19T03:44:54.022Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*WTAUi5PMBQNw4dfVxajbDQ.png" /></figure><p><em>By Rajeev Dham, principal, Sapphire Ventures, and </em><a href="https://medium.com/u/1c0e30192aee"><em>Nino Marakovic</em></a><em>, CEO and managing director, Sapphire Ventures</em></p><p><em>Master Data Management. </em>If that doesn’t make you jump out of your chair, we understand. After all, compared to the buzz surrounding robotics, AI/ML, drones and the rest of the “cool” areas within technology, data management may not come to mind as the next exciting area of disruption. But, for better or worse, we dig categories that may be deemed less cool — look no further than the <em>enterprise service bus</em> and <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2010/03/30/open-source-enterprise-company-mulesoft-raises-12-million-from-sap-and-others/">our investment in MuleSoft</a>.</p><p>As such, we’re excited today to <a href="https://www.reltio.com/about/news/2017/4/reltio-raises-40m-in-series-c-funding-to-fuel-global-leadership-in-modern-data-management">announce our Series C investment in Reltio</a>, a modern cloud-based data management platform provider. We’re particularly enthusiastic about partnering with companies that are either creating or re-inventing large categories of enterprise software, especially those that do so by introducing paradigm shifts that go beyond solely moving on-premises software to the cloud — enter <a href="http://www.reltio.com/">Reltio</a>. Further, we’re always looking for great entrepreneurs that demonstrate deep domain expertise, execution capabilities and a clear, strategic vision, and we think there is no one better than Manish Sood, CEO of Reltio, in this regard.</p><p><strong>The Sequel?</strong></p><p>Before we delve into our investment thesis, it’s worth noting that my colleague Nino and I have invested in this space before. In fact, look no further than our <a href="http://sapphireventures.com/blog/meet-the-forces-behind-krux-the-most-recent-addition-to-our-sap-ventures-family/">investment in Krux</a>, which was subsequently <a href="http://www.krux.com/blog/general/salesforce-krux/">sold to Salesforce.com for last year</a>. The idea that Krux could play the role of a B2C CRM by combining first and third party datasets to enable smarter, on-the-fly segmentation at a massive scale in order to direct more effective marketing for large enterprises is analogous to Reltio in many respects. Reltio is also coupling first party master entity data with third party datasets to provide a modern data management platform that can ingest and resolve data entities — customers, products, etc. — in order to allow workflow systems, such as a company’s CRM, to operate better. After all, we’re constantly reminded of the acute need for cleaner data in order to actually leverage it for better business outcomes. Reltio does just that. But it doesn’t stop there…</p><p><strong>Cloud ++</strong></p><p>Reltio goes beyond providing master data management (MDM) in the cloud. First-generation solutions were largely characterized by long implementation cycles and had zero to limited exposure and interaction with business users. MDM as we had known it was relegated to IT and oftentimes purchased to simply “check the box” for purposes of compliance and governance. Reltio, on the other hand, uniquely allows both IT and front-line business users to interact with and derive value from their data-driven applications and interfaces. We’ve invested behind the theme of “democratizing analytics” before, with companies such as Alteryx and more recently Looker, and now we’re seeing Reltio democratize data management, collaboration and basic exploration, which ultimately generates a multiplier on business value.</p><p><strong>Following Through And Building Trust</strong></p><p>Finally, and perhaps most compellingly, Manish has done what he said he would do. We first engaged with Manish, Ramon Chen (CMO), Bob More (SVP Sales), Anastasia Zamyshlyaeva (VP PM) and Jeffrey Schlesinger (CFO) over one year ago and were immediately impressed with Reltio’s technology and early traction with large enterprises. At the time we noticed that Manish was able to attract and retain key executives from his prior experience at Siperian / Informatica, which gave us a second-hand sense for the trust others had in Manish. He laid out a plan for us that he, one year later, beat and raised. We rarely see this in our line of work so we came away impressed and ready to invest dollars behind the first-hand trust we had now developed in him by tracking the company over time. Finally, Manish’s understated and poised, yet intensely driven and competitive demeanor is remarkably aligned with the values that we at Sapphire strive to embody.</p><p>We’re incredibly happy to partner with Manish and the Reltio team on their journey of making data management cool again!</p><p><em>Disclosures:</em></p><p><em>The information set forth herein is not intended to constitute investment advice and under no circumstances should any information provided herein be used or considered as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any investment fund managed by Sapphire Ventures. Sapphire Ventures does not solicit or make its services available to the public and none of the funds are currently open to new investors. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.</em></p><p><em>Any portfolio companies referred to above do not necessarily represent all of the investments made or recommended by Sapphire Ventures, and were not selected based on the return on Sapphire Ventures’ investment in them. It should not be assumed that any specific investments identified and discussed herein were or will be profitable. Not all investments made by Sapphire Ventures will be profitable or will equal the performance of any of the companies identified above. View all of Sapphire Ventures’ investments </em><a href="http://sapphireventures.com/companies-list/"><em>here</em></a><em>.</em></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=a057fd649950" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[Catchpoint Systems: Smarter, Faster End-user Monitoring]]></title>
            <link>https://medium.com/@rajeevdham/-9037ff029caa?source=rss-d30c72ef6803------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/9037ff029caa</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[analytics]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[investment]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[saas]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[sapphire-ventures]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[venture-capital]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Rajeev Dham]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Thu, 03 Nov 2016 16:04:48 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2016-12-15T23:02:34.576Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*M-Udly9wJ_xAAFekzU5Hog.png" /></figure><p>We’re thrilled to <a href="http://sapphireventures.com/press/catchpoint-completes-22-5-million-series-c-funding-led-by-sapphire-ventures/">announce our investment</a> in Catchpoint®, a next-generation leader in digital performance monitoring and analytics. Catchpoint provides a SaaS platform that monitors and optimizes the end-user experience across enterprise customers’ digital touch points to ultimately enable a smarter, faster way to preempt performance issues.</p><p>So why’d we invest? Well, it all started with our near-immediate appreciation for the problem Catchpoint is solving. For years we’ve evaluated the application performance monitoring (APM) ecosystem and realized that while traditional APM vendors play a critical role in IT operations management, businesses still lose visibility and control of their end users’ experience with applications for reasons outside of their internal infrastructure — e.g., CDNs, ISPs, DNS, device and browser types, etc. Enter Catchpoint, which provides this unique visibility into the performance of customers’ applications from global vantage points.</p><p>Coupled with the above, consumers of websites and software increasingly demand a certain level of performance out of their interactions with applications. Waiting for a website or your favorite application to load is frustrating and leads to a measurable adverse business impact. Catchpoint allows enterprise customers of all sizes and verticals to gain visibility and understand the root causes of these performance issues.</p><p>Beyond the typical criteria of market positioning, market size and financial performance, the people behind the company is an equally important factor in our decision-making. We believe Mehdi, the CEO and co-founder of Catchpoint, and his broader team are world-class operators, most of whom hail from DoubleClick. And in speaking with customers, we were most impressed that they consistently remarked how thrilled they were with the responsiveness and customer centricity of the Catchpoint team. Everyone in the Catchpoint organization genuinely believes in the “customers come first” mantra.</p><p>The clincher was the cultural alignment we had with Mehdi and his team. Catchpoint values substance over style, and Mehdi leads with a sense of transparency and humility that deeply resonates with us.</p><p>For all these reasons and more, we’re excited to partner with Catchpoint to help create the next SaaS end-user monitoring category leader!</p><p><em>Disclosures</em></p><p><em>Nothing presented herein is intended to constitute investment advice and under no circumstances should any information provided herein be used or considered as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any investment fund managed by Sapphire Ventures. Sapphire Ventures does not solicit or make its services available to the public and none of the funds are currently open to new investors.</em></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=9037ff029caa" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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