2017 Tech Impact Awards, SaaS: Outreach

Location: Seattle | Employees: 170

Making a good sale only starts with good leads, Manny Medina asserts. The company he helms, Outreach, provides the structured framework for pursuing sales that make customer relationship management (CRM) systems like Salesforce work.

Speaking on the phone, taking meetings, attending events all this activity happens outside of CRM, he observes. While the databases of customers and accounts are essential, he adds, They dont assign priorities.

Outreach stumbled onto its product when, in an effort to save a recruitment startup (then called GroupTalent), it embarked on a furious sales effort. Prospects didnt want the service, but they wanted the secret sauce of its sales team. There were so many examples of this, Medina says, it made us reconsider what we were doing.

The pivot worked, with Outreach now boasting more than 15,000 users across 1,200 companies that include CenturyLink, Zillow and eBay. A recently secured funding round brings total investment to $60 million. Outreach continues to innovate with AI and analytics tools that will help salespeople choose the optimal time and mode of contact. For sales, Medina says, We want to be the sole system of engagement, improving the sales cycle and relations to the cycle.

Silver Award

Zonar Systems
Location: Seattle | Employees: 360

Keeping drivers safe and fleet expenses down is Zonars mission, and its specialty tablet helps monitor the operation of trucks and transit vehicles for compliance and cost.

The cellular-enabled GPS device collects data like air pressure, coolant level, engine temperature, location and mileage, alerting both the operator and the home office when there is a problem. By monitoring idling times and fuel efficiency, truck companies report saving thousands of dollars via improved driver habits and environmental gains.

See the rest of the 2017 Seattle Busineess Magazine Tech Impact Award winners here.