An Investment in the Future of Proposal Generation and Sales Acceleration
By: Jason Tagler
Camden Partners has invested in Proposal Software, which provides one of the leading cloud platforms for proposal generation and sales acceleration. Four fundamental points highlight why we are excited about this opportunity.
Streamlining proposal generation accelerates sales. Many companies are spending money on customer relationship management (CRM), marketing automation and other software technologies to help accelerate their sales processes. However, efficiently generating proposals that contain accurate, up-to-date content can be a bottleneck in the sales process. We believe that Proposal Software’s cloud platform for proposal management can relieve that bottleneck, accelerate sales, and allow companies to see the true benefits of the money they are spending on CRM, marketing automation and sales acceleration software.
The market is huge. The market for Sales Acceleration Technology is over $12 billion, according to a 2014 study by InsideSales.com. However, Proposal Software is relieving the bottleneck that RFPs create in the sales process, so it is also affecting the following large, growing, and adjacent sales and marketing technology markets:
• $18 billion CRM market; and,
• $5 billion Marketing Automation market.
The company has a strong CTO and technology platform. Co-founder and CTO, Steven Heffter, developed the technology platform that allowed the company to bring on its blue-chip, global client base. The platform has survived multiple security audits and penetration tests by large, global financial firms. However, the company’s platform is also attractive to small and medium sized businesses because of the following:
• Speed of implementation/on-boarding;
• Search functionality (capability, speed and ease of use); and,
• Ease of use and feature functionality.
Steven Heffter has deep domain expertise in the RFP and proposal management space from over 20 years in the industry as a leader, operator and software entrepreneur. He understands the customer’s pain point and how to design and deliver a value proposition that is software-based and highly scalable. Steven is excited about partnering with Camden Partners and with Craig McSavaney, new CEO, to develop new and innovative software solutions and maintain the Company’s position as a thought leader in the RFP response and sales acceleration markets.
We are investing behind strong CEO leadership. The investment philosophy of Camden Partners is centered on partnering with outstanding management teams and helping them growth their businesses. Craig is a seasoned CEO with over 20 years of experience. He brings leadership, Cloud/SaaS expertise, and the experience managing companies through explosive growth.
Multiple aspects of Craig’s background are particularly interesting and important to highlight. First, he has SaaS/Cloud CEO experience across different sectors. Second, he has particular expertise in leading software companies through periods of explosive growth, and doing it in a highly capital-efficient way. Third, prior to software CEO experience, Craig has had COO and CTO roles at multiple fast-growing software companies. As a result, he understands all the angles of operating and growing software businesses – and believes in Proposal Software, investing in the round alongside Camden Partners. We’re thrilled to have him join the team.