Industry: HR Technology / Workforce Analytics

Focus: Employee retention prediction, skills gap analysis, and engagement analytics

SaaS subscription model targeting mid-market companies (500-5,000 employees) with an average contract value of $85K/year.

Core Product Suite

• RetentionIQ Engine: Predictive analytics identifying flight-risk employees 90-180 days before departure
• SkillsGraph Platform: Real-time skills inventory and gap analysis
• EngagePulse Surveys: Continuous engagement monitoring with AI-powered sentiment analysis
• Succession Planning Module: Leadership pipeline visibility (launched Q2 2025, only 12% customer adoption)

Target Sectors

• Technology companies (38% of customer base)
• Healthcare systems (22%)
• Financial services (18%)
• Manufacturing (12%)
• Professional services (10%)

Total Raised: $73 million across 4 rounds

Recent Funding

• Series C (July 2024): $25.8M led by Sapphire Ventures — existing investors declined full pro-rata
• Net revenue retention declined to 118% (from 127% in 2024)
• Gross margins dropped to 68% from 74% due to AI infrastructure costs

September 2025

• CFO Departure: Michael Torres resigned, interim CFO Rachel Kim appointed, active CFO search underway

August 2025

• CRO Change: David Okonkwo demoted to VP Enterprise Sales, replaced by Jennifer Park (former CRO at Culture Amp)
• Sales team reduced by 22% in restructuring

Current Executive Team

• CEO: Marcus Chen (Co-founder, former Google PM)
• CTO: Dr. Sarah Williams (Co-founder, MIT PhD, ex-LinkedIn)
• CRO: Jennifer Park (joined August 2025)
• CPO: James Murphy (2022 hire from Qualtrics)
• Interim CFO: Rachel Kim

Market Challenges

• Intense competition: 30+ direct competitors, win rate dropped from 31% to 23%
• Extended sales cycles: 4.2 months (up from 2.8 months in 2023)
• Increased churn: 12% gross churn rate (up from 8% in 2024)
• AI disruption: Microsoft/LinkedIn integrating free retention insights in Viva

Go-to-Market Issues

• Sales productivity declining: quota attainment at 58% (vs. 79% in 2024)
• Customer acquisition cost increased 40% YoY
• Founder-led sales: CEO closing 35% of enterprise deals
• Only 8 Fortune 500 customers

Product Challenges

• Succession Planning Module underperforming (12% adoption)
• Customer feedback: "insights good but not actionable enough"
• Integration complexity: 4-6 weeks to deployment (target: 2 weeks)
• SkillsMapper acquisition 4 months behind schedule

Near-Term Priorities (Next 6-12 Months)

• Achieve cash flow positive by Q3 2026
• Reduce customer churn to sub-10%
• Launch "TalentPulse AI Copilot" - GenAI-powered manager assistant
• Expand partner channel (currently only 8% of revenue)
• Complete CFO hire

Key Opportunities

• Strong customer love among power users (NPS: 47)
• Unique dataset advantage (5+ years of retention/engagement data)
• Potential acquisition target for larger HCM platforms
• International expansion largely untapped (96% revenue from North America)