Doug Winter: The GTM Story of Seismic (Nearly $400M ARR)

Seismic pioneered the sales enablement platform category, transforming how company's approach their sales and marketing strategies. With over $450 million in funding and approaching $400 million in ARR, Seismic has expanded its services to serve thousands of customers worldwide, becoming category king in the process.

In a recent episode of Unicorn Builders, I sat down with Doug Winter Winter, CEO and co-founder of Seismic , to learn about the company's journey from a content management solution to becoming a leading provider of comprehensive sales enablement tools for enterprises.

Topics Discussed:

• Seismic's evolution from a cloud-based content management solution to a comprehensive sales enablement platform
• The challenges and strategies in evangelizing cloud-based solutions to enterprise customers in the early 2010s
• Seismic's approach to discovering and embracing the term "sales enablement"
• The company's focus on targeting and serving large enterprise customers
• Seismic's strategy for building trust and transparency with customers through product iterations
• The process of aligning the team around a clear narrative and value proposition
• Seismic's approach to marketing and brand building in the B2B space
• The company's perspective on category creation and positioning in the market
• Seismic's journey to achieving product-market fit and scaling to nearly $400 million in ARR
• The challenges and successes in educating the market about sales enablement

Here are the top lessons B2B founders can learn from the Seismic GTM journey.

#1: Embrace existing terminology for emerging trends:

Doug described adopting "sales enablement" organically: "We found the term sales enablement. And, you know, more than I would say we knew about it, we found it and realized, yeah, this is exactly what we're doing." He added, "We kind of took ownership of that term over time." While creating a new category term from scratch sounds sexy, founders should be open to adopting existing terms that fit their solution, as it can accelerate market understanding and adoption.

#2: Be patient with category creation efforts:

Doug noted the time it takes to establish a category: "I think from when we started till when that [first Forrester Wave] was published was probably five or six years." He advised, "You can't give up. You got to stick with it. Patience is important." Founders should be prepared for a long-term commitment when creating or defining a new category.

#3: Have fun with your marketing

Doug shared a creative campaign Seismic ran around the word "enablement" not being in the dictionary. They created a petition website called "Real Problem Real Word," garnering 10,000 signatures and even involving competitors. Doug explained, "We started a campaign... signed the petition and we will until we're getting people to sign up at Dreamforce and you know, and then launch the website, put a little video on there and got, you know, everyone in the ecosystem and around the ecosystem to sign up to be part of it and put their logos right next to ours." This playful approach not only raised brand awareness but also reinforced their category leadership. Founders should consider how they can inject creativity and humor into their marketing efforts to stand out and engage their target audience.

#4: Align your target market with your team's DNA and strengths

Doug emphasized self-awareness in this decision: "Know who you are, you know who you are, you know, be okay looking in the mirror and even if everyone's telling you need to be this, you know, it's okay to be that instead if that's who you are." He added, "We looked in the mirror and said, we do big companies, we do financial services, we know how to deal with those industries. That's one of our strengths. Why would we want to give that up?" Founders should critically assess their team's experience, strengths, and natural inclinations. Ask yourself: What type of customers have we successfully worked with before? What market segment aligns best with our team's skills and experience? Where can we provide the most value based on our current capabilities?'

#5: Evangelize your POV into the market

Doug highlighted the importance of market education, especially when introducing new technologies like cloud solutions. He acknowledged the groundwork laid by pioneers: "I give all the credit in the world to Salesforce for pioneering that, you know, getting people comfortable, getting people to understand it." Seismic had to evangelize their specific solution in a market without a dominant competitor: "Everyone solved the problem of content... but it might be a Z drive or a sharepoint site or there was no built for purpose solution." Founders should be prepared to articulate and promote their unique point of view, while also leveraging broader technology trends to make their solution more relatable and acceptable to potential customers. This approach can accelerate market understanding and adoption of your innovative solution.

Listen to the full episode:

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