SaaS Startups

Harness.io is the industry's first continuous delivery as a service platform, founded by Jyoti Bansal, the former Founder & CEO of AppDynamics (acquired by Cisco for $3.7B). The company was launched as the first venture from BIG Labs, Bansal's laboratory for creating and launching innovative ideas. The source material focuses on Bansal's insights about scaling SaaS companies across different revenue stages rather than specific traction metrics for Harness.io.

MuleSoft is an enterprise integration platform founded by Ross Mason that connects applications, data, and devices. After raising over $250M in VC funding from top-tier investors like Lightspeed, Salesforce Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, and NEA, MuleSoft went public in March 2017 with a 45% pop on its first trading day.

FreshBooks is a cloud-based accounting SaaS platform built by Mike McDerment that grew from his parent's basement to serve over 10 million users worldwide. The company has raised over $75M in VC funding from investors like Accomplice and Georgian Partners, establishing itself as the #1 cloud accounting solution for service-based small businesses.

InsightSquared is a Boston-based sales intelligence SaaS startup founded by Fred Shilmover that raised over $25M in VC funding from top-tier investors including DFJ, Bessemer, Salesforce, and Atlas Venture. The company focuses on helping teams understand sales performance and metrics, with Fred advocating for a SMB-to-enterprise expansion strategy and challenging conventional SaaS wisdom around metrics like CAC/LTV.

Smartsheet is a SaaS platform that enables firms to plan, track, automate, and report on work. The company has raised over $105 million in funding from leading investors including Insight Venture Partners, with Mark Mader serving as CEO.

LeadGenius is a SaaS platform that combines human intelligence with machine learning to provide lead generation and data enrichment services. The company has raised $16 million in funding from prominent investors including a16z, Initialized Capital, and SV Angel. Mark Godley, the President, brings 25+ years of SaaS experience and advocates for founders to prioritize customer acquisition over fundraising.

SalesCollider is a sales advisory service founded by Ryan Williams, a veteran sales leader who scaled teams at AdRoll (growing ARR from $4M to $58M), advised InVision on enterprise deals, and grew enterprise sales by 400%+ at LeadGenius. The company helps technical founders navigate early-stage sales challenges and build effective sales functions.

Gremlin is a 'failure as a service' SaaS platform founded by Kolton Andrus, a former Chaos Engineer at Netflix who designed Netflix's failure injection service. The company has raised over $8M in VC funding from top-tier investors including Index Ventures and Amplify Partners. Kolton leverages his deep experience scaling reliability at Amazon and Netflix to help organizations proactively identify system weaknesses.

Sage Intacct is a global leader in financial software solutions serving finance teams of any size, with over 10,000 employees and 3 million customers. The company generates over $2 billion in revenue and was built on the foundation of Intacct's incredible 8-year journey that culminated in an $850 million acquisition by Sage in 2017.

Pendo.io is a SaaS platform that helps companies understand and guide their users to create engaging product experiences. The company has raised over $58M in VC funding from top-tier investors including Battery Ventures, Spark Capital, and Salesforce Ventures. Bill Binch, formerly Senior Vice President of Global Sales at Marketo, now serves as CRO and brings enterprise sales expertise to the organization.

Retention Science is an AI-powered marketing automation platform founded by Jerry Jao that uses artificial intelligence to deliver personalized customer experiences at scale. The company has achieved significant enterprise traction with clients including P&G, Unilever, and Olay, and has raised over $10M in VC funding from investors like Forerunner Ventures and Upfront Ventures. The company has been profitable since 2018 while maintaining a focus on enterprise sales and long-term customer relationships.

Moat is a SaaS analytics and intelligence company focused on transforming brand advertising online, founded by Jonah Goodhart. The company raised over $67m in VC funding and was acquired by Oracle for a reported $850m. Jonah brings experience from founding Right Media (acquired by Yahoo for $680m) and has invested in several successful startups.

Sapho is an employee experience portal for the digital workforce founded by serial entrepreneur Fouad ElNaggar. The company has raised over $27 million in funding from prominent investors including Felicis, Bloomberg Beta, and Social Leverage. Fouad brings extensive experience from his prior roles as Chief Strategy Officer at CBS Interactive and as a VC at Redpoint Ventures, along with three previous venture-backed exits.

Dialpad is a modern business phone system founded by Craig Walker, an experienced operator with a track record of building voice communication products at Google. The company has raised over $120M from top-tier VCs including Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures, and Iconiq. Craig's expertise in go-to-market strategy, enterprise sales trials, and scaling teams has been central to Dialpad's positioning as a SaaS solution for modern workplaces.

Robin is a workplace management SaaS that helps organizations manage meeting rooms, desks, and people scheduling. The company has raised over £9M in funding from investors including BoldStart, Accomplice, and FirstMark. The profile focuses on CMO Joe Chernov's background and marketing philosophy rather than Robin's specific traction metrics.

Scalyr is a log monitoring and analysis platform for DevOps teams founded by serial entrepreneur Steve Newman, who previously created Writely (acquired by Google to become Google Docs). The company has raised over $27.5M in funding from notable investors including Susa Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Shasta, and GV, establishing itself as a key player in the DevOps tooling space.

Anaplan is a B2B SaaS platform that accelerates decision-making with effective planning capabilities. The company has raised over $299 million in funding from top-tier investors including Meritech, Salesforce Ventures, Shasta, and DFJ Growth. Maria Pergolino, a seasoned B2B marketing executive with experience at Marketo and Apttus, joined as CMO to lead the company's go-to-market strategy.

Rainforest QA is an on-demand QA solution that helps companies identify customer experience issues before code reaches production. The company has raised over $40M in funding from top-tier SaaS investors including Bessemer, Andreessen Horowitz, and Marc Benioff. Hannah Willson, VP of Sales, brings over 10 years of enterprise sales experience from companies like Zenefits and HelloWallet.

Snyk is a developer-first security platform that automates vulnerability detection and remediation in software dependencies. Founded by Guy Podjarny (former CTO at Akamai and security veteran with 18 patents), Snyk has raised over $32M from top-tier VCs including Accel and Google Ventures. The company has become one of the hottest open source companies by leveraging a freemium model that gives away significant value while maintaining a clear path to enterprise revenue.

Sprout Social is a leading SaaS provider of social media engagement, advocacy and analytics solutions for business. The company has raised over $111M in funding including a recently announced $40M Series D led by Future Fund. Ryan Barretto, SVP of Global Sales, discusses scaling strategies and sales leadership principles drawn from his experience growing Salesforce from $180M to $7.5B.