Rome wasn’t built in a day – or a year. But when each day brings progress, achievements soon follow.
Reflecting back on the last 12 months, we are both proud and humbled to note the strides that Highspot has made with the support of our employees, customers, partners, and investors.
In just 365 days, we have witnessed incredible change:
Skyrocketing Demand for Sales Enablement
With modern buyer expectations continuing to mount, companies now regard sales enablement as the new standard of doing business. SiriusDecisions Research Director Peter Ostrow explained, “Sales enablement is a competitive necessity, providing companies with an effective way to align marketing and sales teams and provide buyers with exceptional value.”
By 2021, 15% of all sales technology spending will be applied to sales enablement technology, up from the 2017 level of 7.2%, according to Gartner. Why? Because winning over today’s buyers has become more challenging than ever in the fast-changing landscape, and leaders now recognise sales enablement as the key to unlocking better buyer engagement that leads to continued revenue growth and business success.
Over the last year, we’ve seen tangible examples of the rising demand. Leading enterprises such as John Deere, Siemens, Aetna, and DuPont adopted the Highspot solution. Attendance of the 2018 Sales Enablement Soiree doubled and attracted the best in the business, including keynote speakers such as Salesforce SVP of Global Enablement Dan Darcy, Miller Heiman Group President and CEO Byron Matthews, and Vengreso CEO Mario Martinez, among others. On top of that, Aragon Research estimates that the sales enablement market will be worth $5 billion by 2021.
“Highspot discovered a market pain point and answered with an innovative, advanced sales enablement solution,” said Matt Garratt, Managing Partner at Salesforce Ventures, a Highspot investor. “We are proud to be partnered with a pioneering company that has highlighted the importance of sales enablement.”
Product Innovation
What do you do with a great product? Make it better.
In 2018, we released numerous product improvements that are delighting sellers, marketers, and sales enablement leaders. AutoDocs, SmartPages, and Pitch Experiences changed the way people guide their sellers and engage with their buyers. Customers have deeper integrations with popular learning tools such as MindTickle, Brainshark, Docebo, and more. Highspot is available on new devices, including dedicated Android and Windows apps. Sales workflows are more streamlined through new integrations with Outreach and Salesloft. Updates like these have led Forrester to state that Highspot “leads the way with technology innovation.”
At the heart of every new update are our customers – we work to deliver the software that not only enhances their ability to do their jobs, but also enhances their lives. We think this focus is behind Highspot’s 90% adoption rate, as customers truly find value in the product.
In an interview with Yahoo! News, our CEO and co-founder Robert Wahbe shared, “I define success as adding value to our customers. I get the most satisfaction out of seeing the positive impact our solution has on our customers’ businesses every day. We are really helping their companies grow and flourish – and that, to me, is success.”
Hyper-Growth
One of our favourite moments of 2018 came with the successful raise of $35 million during our Series C round led by new investor OpenView, bringing our total funding to $64 million.
Our people were the driving force behind this milestone. The top talent that Highspot is attracting from companies including Amazon, Smartsheet, Moz, and Zillow is fuelling our innovation and customer adoption. A year ago we were 80 employees strong. Since then we have nearly doubled in headcount and are excited to greet new faces every week as we enter this next phase of hyper-growth.
Having cemented a position as a sales enablement leader and with a team of the industry’s best and brightest, Highspot is poised to dive deeper into industry verticals and expand into global markets.
Industry Recognition
It began with Highspot winning an American Business Award for Most Innovative Tech Company from the Stevies®, and ended with a clean sweep of the 2018 Comparably Awards where employee ratings earned Highspot recognition as one of the best 50 companies in the U.S. for culture, women, diversity, and leadership. In the last 12 months, Highspot has been honoured as both a top product and best place to work by numerous organisations:
- LinkedIn honored Highspot as a Top 50 Startup in the U.S.
- Glassdoor recognized Highspot as one of the 100 Best Places to Work in 2019.
- Gartner included Highspot in its 2018 Market Guide for Digital Content Management for Sales as a vendor that meets all identified capabilities and supporting all use cases.
- Highspot took home two SIIA CODiE Awards: Best Sales Enablement Platform and Best Content Management Platform.
- Seattle Business Magazine awarded Highspot with a Tech Innovation Award for its advanced analytics.
- Selling Power listed Highspot as one of the Top 50 Companies to Sell For.
- Highspot earned the Martech Breakthrough Award for Best Overall Sales Enablement Solution, the highest recognition in the category.
- Highspot was honored as one of Washington’s 100 Best Companies to Work For.
Looking to 2019 and Beyond
With vision, dedication, and a lot of hard work, it’s amazing what can happen in a year’s time. Whether you’re setting out to break quota every quarter, transform your sales organisation, deliver a cutting-edge lead generation campaign, or provide a consistent and modern customer experience, big things don’t happen overnight – they happen over time with commitment and passion.
We are deeply grateful to our everyone who has helped make this year one of the best yet. One of the most motivating things about it is that we’re just getting started. We have big plans to use these milestones to launch Highspot into another year spent learning, innovating, and delivering software that transforms the way millions of people work.
