Venture Capital For B2B Sales Technology Doesn’t Stop For A Pandemic

Many have learned to pitch their services in new ways of late. For tech entrepreneurs, particularly those in the business of helping others sell, the pitch for venture capital isn’t the same uphill battle that others may be facing.

GetAccept, a B2B sales-enablement platform, founded in 2015 by Swedish entrepreneurs Samir Smajic, Mathias Thulin, Jonas Blanck, and Carl Carell, announced today $20M in Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

Although larger corporations have been transforming digital for years, 2020 has forced SMB companies to rapidly rethink their processes, platforms, and the speed at which they could shift. That speed to deployment has meant the difference between making it and shuttering to some companies. 

Eating your own dog food

Not every business in the B2B space can use their own tools to demonstrate their model’s success. Those who can have a distinct advantage—imagine Zoom using a Zoom meeting to secure new capital or On24 constructing a digital experience for venture capitalists.

For GetAccept, whose platform enables online sales, they created a “pitch-room” and designed an entire experience to mirror and reflect their platform advantages. In theory, it made sense, but the team was still, in their words, terrified because they understand that “investors invest in teams and we as a team do excellent in-person meetings.” Anyone who does a strong in-person dog and pony show understands how foreign it has been to pivot. As CEO Samir Smajic points out, they focused heavily not only on the presentation details but also on adding energy and differentiation to the presentation. 

Relevant now and in the future

While Smajic says that his team was aware that their offering was in a sweet spot due to COVID-19 business dynamics, it wasn’t enough to suggest they were well-positioned. Rather than being opportunistic, the team focused on all the fundamentals of importance to investors—team quality and synergy, end product excellence, and the ability to project or model the addressable market opportunity. 

Another advantage GetAccept had was where it fits in the customer’s business model. When an economy is insecure or contracting, many curtail spending on non-essential categories, but nearly all companies continue or increase spending in sale-related strategies and platforms. Smajic and his team have seen this among all their customers in almost every vertical. In particular, for their SMB customers with an actual cash sale value (ACV) between $5,000 and $50,000, which a sales process of 4 to 10 weeks, the platform has been seen according to Smajic as “critically tied to revenue and an important part to actually surviving.”

Stay human

In addition to being very strategic, well-positioned, and focused, the GetAccept team has a quirky, human side that is equally important to cementing team momentum. This year, most leaders have had to flex their muscles, staying anchored and connected and using humor where appropriate to keep their team moving forward. For instance, when the team added their 100th employee, they celebrated by having their CEO jump out of a plane and shared the video on social media. (Note: When my own team gets to 100 employees, we will celebrate by having that employee jump out of a plane because I am not doing it.)

So what lessons can you learn from GetAccept to make 2021 your best year?

1. Position yourself in a market that is growing or even swelling.
2. Find ways to ensure that you are a critical infrastructure component of your customers’ businesses.
3. Don’t take your “winning position” for granted. Make sure investors or stakeholders understand why you’re well-positioned.
4. Get $20M in B funding.
5. Whether you get the funding or not, stay positive, fun, and forward-focused.

Contrary to many who may feel after a trying 2020 that “the end is near,” remember that “the beginning is near.” At all times, stay focused on the future and build toward it with your team.