Located in the heart of Atlanta, Salesloft is a leading sales engagement platform that’s powering sales success for a rapidly growing roster of clients. With over 250 employees and counting, and three rounds of funding under their belt, SalesLoft is a poster child of SaaS success in Atlanta’s growing tech scene. We were thrilled to have the opportunity to sit down with the company’s founder and CEO, Kyle Porter, an inspiration in the city of Atlanta and in the Saas world, to learn more about what is fueling this rocket-ship growth.
We’ve heard the Salesloft team referred to as “the cool young kids with jeans in the building,” and our time with Kyle Porter certainly lived up to the hype. He came in with custom Vans, complete with hearts, umbrellas, and SalesLoft logos, and a story that made us laugh.
“I once got on an elevator and I had my electric skateboard,” says Kyle. “Some guy with a suit got on, looked at me, looked at the skateboard and goes, ‘You ride that to the office?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, you want to try?’ and he said, “No. Does everyone have one of those at your company?” The elevator door opened, and as I hopped off I turned around and said, “No, silly. Everyone has two of them.”
As we all know, building a successful company isn’t all fun and games. The entrepreneur has faced his fair share of challenges. Kyle attributes SalesLofts’ success to one thing—a strong company culture.
As he built the company, Kyle had the opportunity to meet with many entrepreneurs in Atlanta, but there were two that really stood out and made a big impression: David Cummings, founder and CEO of Pardot, Atlanta Tech Village, and Atlanta Ventures, and Charles Brewer, founder of Mindspring and later the CEO of EarthLink. Both men instilled in Kyle the importance of values, purpose, and culture. Succeeding in business wasn’t about the product, the market, or the economy—all of which could shift and change in an instant. It came back to culture.
“I remember them saying to me that as a founder and entrepreneur, corporate culture is the thing you have the most control over,” says Kyle. “What I have control over are things like: What is the purpose? What is our mission? How are we going to behave? What values are we going to have?”
Kyle insisted that a clear and compelling purpose is the key to building something meaningful. When your employees understand what you’re doing and why a sense of purpose cascades into every other facet of the business. Things like annual planning, core objectives, and quarterly OKRs, are all created and executed with purpose and values in mind.
Perhaps the most compelling proof point of the company’s’ commitment to its people and its culture? The maternity/paternity leave policy. All new mothers get 12 full weeks of paid time off to be with their babies and all new fathers get six weeks of paid time off. The company also throws in a few additional perks like delivering diapers and offering cleaning services for the first twelve months.
Curious to learn more about what it takes to scale a SaaS company? You can listen to the full interview with Kyle Porter right now.
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