Assistly Sells to Salesforce.com!

It seems just like yesterday that I met Alex Bard and his co-founders at Assistly.  In truth, it was the first quarter of 2010, and the funding environment for start ups was in a decidedly different and more conservative realm.  As Alex confided to me later (after we had funded), we were the only term sheet they received for the initial Series A round of financing.  No problem, though, because True financed Assistly’s Series A requirements along with our good friend and Stocktwits Founder Howard Lindzon with his Social Leverage fund.  Alex, Gary, Brad, and Jeremy – the four co-founders who have started four companies together – put their collective heads down after our investment and delivered a world class, hosted, SMB customer support product.  The team raised a small B round from BullPen Capital and Index Ventures in December, and the Customer WOW they created with its user base generated much excitement and buzz among the tech community and among investors.   I am amazed to compare the Series A funding dynamic with the literally dozen or more venture firms that wanted to finance this business 16 months later.  What a difference a year makes!

Today, the public announcement of Assistly selling to Salesforce.com marks the fantastic end for our investment in Assistly.  You can read the Assistly blog announcement here and the Salesforce press release here.  It is a natural and very smart acquisition for Salesforce to make, and they are acquiring a superb team and product with a rapidly growing customer base.   I have personally enjoyed every minute of my time with the Assistly team, and I look forward to many more chances to work with them in the future.

Thank you Alex, Gary, Brad, Jeremy, and Team for your countless hours spent on building your dream and for letting us be a part of it.  You are the best!