Salsify is a Product Experience Management (PXM) platform that empowers brands and retailers to win on the digital shelf. Earlier this year, Salsify added Jeff Barnett to the company board of directors. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Barnett to learn more about his role and the company.
Jeff Barnett’s Background
Barnett’s career started as a software engineer in 1985, working in the defense industry. And Barnett said:
“In 1988, I started my first company with three friends. While the company ultimately was not tremendously successful, I caught the entrepreneurial bug and have never looked back. Since that time, I have been a founding or early-stage executive at a series of successful startups, each time helping to build the business from zero to a successful exit.”
“The first was a Telecom billing and customer care company called Kenan Systems, which was spun out of a Cambridge, MA-based consultancy (CMD Inc.) based on a software platform which a small group of us had built in Denver, Colorado as an outgrowth of work we were doing for a local telecommunications company.”
“Kenan Systems ultimately sold to Lucent in 1999 in a highly publicized transaction. Following that, I led international sales & marketing at an eBilling company, eDocs, which we grew during the Internet 1.0 meltdown which started in March 2000. Ultimately, we sold eDocs to Siebel in 2004, helping them to grow their online customer self-service capabilities. Subsequent to that, I moved back to the US and began to think about my next move. Having watched Amazon’s early ascendency, I was intrigued by the opportunity in eCommerce. Through serendipity (and a VC connection), I was introduced to former Intershop CEO Stephan Schambach, who had recently been funded for Demandware, with the intention of building a SaaS e-commerce platform. I was immediately convinced and I joined him as Demandware COO, leading all go-to-market activities. Along with an amazingly talented team, we managed to grow Demandware into a successful IPO (NYSE: DWRE) in 2012 and, ultimately an acquisition by Salesforce in 2016. Following the acquisition, I became CEO of the Salesforce Commerce Cloud, which I led for a bit more than two years.”
“Since leaving Salesforce, I have been deeply involved in the startup community in a number of ways, including Angel investing in a number of technology startups, joining some corporate boards, and teaching at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Most recently, I joined the board of directors for Salsify.”
Responsibilities As A Board Member
What are your primary responsibilities as a Board member? Barnett added:
“At the most fundamental level, being a board member is about looking out for corporate stakeholders. This includes shareholders, of course, but customers, employees, and partners are also vitally important. In addition to these foundational responsibilities, I put most of my energy into helping the CEO and leadership team with operational execution. This can be tremendously fulfilling work when you have the privilege of working with excellent companies and leadership teams such as we have at Salsify.”
“This provides an opportunity to draw on my many decades of experience leading software businesses, from startup stage to large public companies. It is incredibly inspiring to work alongside these innovative companies and leaders, and I always learn at least as much as I am able to give back. It is a lot of fun.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory of working with the company so far? Barnett reflected:
“Well, it has only been a few months, so we’re building memories now. Prior to agreeing to join the board, I had a series of discussions with other board members and with company leadership. I was especially impressed by the enthusiasm and the collective sense of mission. It was very compelling.
“I also loved what I perceived to be a very open culture with a lot of transparency and where problems are debated and solved with robust dialogue from all parties. I am convinced that such an open, collaborative culture yields better decisions than a traditional (and still common) top-down orientation.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Barnett explained:
“Salsify sells a unified product experience management platform that helps brand manufacturers and retailers drive sales and manage the complexity of digital commerce. Brand manufacturers use Salsify to centralize product content and deliver it wherever they are, with automation that manages that process efficiently and helps keep brands competitive.”
“This helps them reach shoppers with the right product information across a wide range of changing digital experiences. Retailers also struggle to maintain a competitive assortment and digital experience due to the growing volume, variety, and volatility of suppliers and product data digital requires. Retailers use Salsify to automate onboarding their suppliers and validate the product data those suppliers send. This allows for the most accurate, most compelling and relevant product experience to be presented to each shopper. “
Evolution Of The Company
How do you see the company evolving in the next five to ten years? Barnett noted:
“First of all, I see a lot of growth opportunity. We are in the very early innings of the Digital Revolution when it comes to both B2C and B2B brands. At Demandware, I was fortunate to have played a role in the B2C revolution and the explosion of e-commerce across retail and brands. At Salsify, we are furthering that mission by enabling brands to optimize their use of the Digital Shelf to grow revenues and customer satisfaction.”
“The digital world has so many facets now than it did 19 years ago when we were getting started at Demandware, and there are more emerging all the time. I anticipate that Salsify will continue to play a key role in enabling brands to execute their Digital strategy flawlessly across this complex and highly lucrative landscape.”
Joining The Board
What are some of the most significant reasons why you joined the board? Barnett pointed out:
“1.) The team. It is impressive what they’ve conceived and built to date. They are a very smart, focused team, and they deliver great products. Culturally, they have great people: high integrity, conscientiousness, transparency, and low egos.
2.) Market opportunity. The digital market opportunity is massive but also incredibly complex and getting more so every day. It is very difficult for companies, regardless of size, to operate at an optimal level across this spectrum, given the complex mishmash of technology available to them. The companies that can solve this at scale, enabling world-class digital execution, will create tremendous value.”
3.) Fun. There is nothing like working with a great group of people, solving important problems, and creating value for customers. Although there were very difficult times, I’ve enjoyed each and every one of my entrepreneurial journeys, and Salsify looks like it will be another fun adventure.
Customer Success Stories
After asking Barnett about customer success stories, he replied:
“Most Salsify success stories begin when an enterprising IT director or sales leader is looking to modernize their organization’s approach to digital commerce. These shifts and the Salsify implementation lead to faster times to market, more accurate and effective shopping experiences, and increased sales.”
“For example, Mars experienced a 200% growth in its e-commerce sales in 2020 alone as a direct result of better content management with Salsify. Large-scale French retailer Carrefour reduced its go-to-market time for new product pages from several days to minutes with Salsify.”
“Large global customers often use Salsify to manage complexity at scale – as is the case of ASICS which runs regional websites in four major regions, with 200 team members and 1.26 million digital assets. But midsize enterprises also gain incredible efficiency with the platform – as is the case with Walker Edison, a furniture company with an ecommerce team of 10 that launched 17 sales channels in just a year and a half.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Barnett assessed:
“We see a $13.8 billion market opportunity with just our existing products. It’s a market of more than 56,000 customers of enterprise and mid-market brand suppliers as well as retailers and distributors.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Barnett concluded:
“Salsify anticipated organizations’ need to meet the scale and speed of change in digital shopping better than other vendors. Salsify was built on the belief that great shopping experiences are channel-specific, evolve with changing market trends, and rely on complete and accurate content. The platform organizes data flexibly so that both the internal data model (how does a brand’s marketing or product team organize its product information?) and the multiple and ever-changing external data models (what information does the sales channel, search engine, or shopper require today?) are accounted for in a single, unified platform.”
“In addition, Salsify supports a shared system of work between trading partners so that collaboration at scale becomes possible, given the speed and complexity of global markets.”
