My Crossbeam Journey

This is long overdue... Some of you are aware already but I’m making it official. A few months ago, I exited Crossbeam. Many know the story of Crossbeam but I’ll tell you an abridged version of the journey from my POV. I hope you enjoy the story as much as I enjoyed the experience!

I joined as a founding team member and CRO in September or 2018. We had no product, no customers, and a handful of employees working in the corner of the StichData office in Philadelphia, PA. By January of 2019, we onboarded our first three customers. These customers were using a very limited MVP to share basic data when accounts overlapped. While simplistic, we achieved the desired outcome: it worked! We proved that the market was ready for a controlled data exchange and that we could build a business on the network effects of B2B SaaS.

We learned a lot in those early days. Instead of tackling the market with a broad “data exchange” solution, we settled on a very specific use case: Account Mapping. Our market motions became focused on this message. Companies started to join in drips. We were excited to see a single company join on a given day! Soon, one new registrant a day turned into five a day, and five a day became dozens. The Crossbeam network was growing through existing customer invitations as well as our targeted marketing and sales efforts. We were on our way to solving the B2B data standoff and building a category market leader!

Not every customer was a trailblazer. We commonly ran into sharing and security concerns. But the most common objection was “I’ll come on board when XYZ company is using Crossbeam”.  The “Cold Start Problem” was real and building our network became the primary focus. We searched high and low to find forward thinking customers willing to make the early jump. And, alongside our sales and success team, we convinced their partners to join as well.  

The partnership niche continued to take off and we rode the evolution of the API economy. To support our growth, we created incredible industry content alongside internal Product Led Growth (PLG)and Sales Led Growth (SLG) motions; and we refocused our customer success by building out each company’s partner ecosystem on the Crossbeam network. This ultimately created success for customers and Crossbeam alike! These motions were all new to the industry and our business. When we hired new employees, I’d always say, “there was no blueprint for how a company like Crossbeam should operate.” We were an industry first! So we built our process, structure, and approach on industry best foundations with heavy customization to fit our unique business. 

It was an incredible 4 + year ride and I enjoyed every moment of it! In September, we had over 12,000 customers. Companies didn’t just connect on Crossbeam, they now would “Crossbeam” with one another. Customers don’t just measure MQLs or SQLs but now a new metric called Ecosystem Qualified Leads (EQLs). But maybe best of all, partnership teams are now viewed as a lifeblood of their organization and a must for any successful company in the tech economy. These examples didn’t exist 4 years ago and I couldn’t be prouder.

There is so much more I could share about this journey but I will end this post with this - the future is bright for Crossbeam! I’ll continue as an advisor and head cheerleader every step of the remaining journey.  But I will start on another day to day path. Over the next few weeks, I’ll update you on my next steps. I’m very excited about my future as well!