Gainsight Kicks Off 2021 With 136% YoY Bookings Growth; Announces Global Hiring Plan To Support Accelerating Customer Success Movement
Company Grows Bookings 136% Year-Over Year; Accelerates Hiring Plan with Goal to Surpass 1,000 Employees Worldwide by the End of 2021
Gainsight, the Customer Success company, today announced highlights from a record-breaking first quarter, which ended April 30th. The company’s latest financial results continued to build on its momentum from a record-breaking 2020 and streaked past its Q1 revenue targets. Gainsight also revealed aggressive hiring initiatives, including the addition of 148 new employees in Q1 alone; multiple executive promotions; and the official announcement of its annual Pulse Everywhere conference, June 9-11, 2021.
“From born-in-the-cloud startups to transformative Fortune 100 leaders, Customer Success has truly arrived as an organization-wide priority for businesses of every shape and size,” said Gainsight CEO Nick Mehta. “It’s no longer about the transition from customer support or account management to customer success management or buying tools to help automate CSM processes. Customer Success now carries the same significance as sales, marketing and product when it comes to the core of your growth engine. In fact, you can go a step further and say that Customer Success is the fabric that brings together every core function of a modern digital business.”
Gainsight also appointed Apptio Co-Founder CEO Sunny Gupta to its board of directors.
“Sunny is a true market and product innovator with a passion for Customer Success,” said Mehta. “I couldn’t be more excited for our team to learn from and leverage his experience in building a company from category pioneer to publicly traded global leader. I couldn’t imagine a better fit – or better person – to help guide our next phase of growth here at Gainsight.”
Read More: Vendasta Announces Historic $119.5M Round To Revolutionize Small Business Technology
Gainsight’s first-quarter highlights included:
Record Bookings Growth
Gainsight’s growth exceeded expectations across both its Customer Success (CS) and Product Experience (PX) technologies, with first quarter bookings increasing 136% year-over-year. Growth was driven through both fast-growing, born-in-the-cloud SaaS companies, as well as some of the world’s largest organizations going through large-scale digital transformations.
Key customer wins and expansions included:
- SaaS and Cloud: Acoustic, Appian, Avaya, Cornerstone On Demand, ForgeRock, Miro, Piano, Quantum Workplace, Qumu, Synup, Veeam, Workday, and Yellow Messenger
- EdTech: Blackboard
- Healthcare IT: Dental Intelligence
- FinTech: Divvy, Lockstep
- Technology Service and Solution Providers: Netsync, World Wide Technology (WWT)
The number of publicly traded companies leveraging Gainsight grew to more than 100 in Q1, including nearly 60% of the Forbes Cloud 100.
Teammate Success
Gainsight’s Glassdoor performance grew to all-time highs, highlighted by:
- Overall rating increased to 4.61
- Business Outlook increased to 89%
- Recommend to a friend increased to 93%
Worldwide, Gainsight added 148 new employees in Q1 with plans to surpass 1,000 total team members by the end of 2021. In addition to its aggressive hiring plan, the company announced several key promotions across its executive team:
- Kellie Capote – Capote was promoted to Chief Customer Officer, overseeing Gainsight’s post-sales journey, including customer success, customer experience, customer support, escalations and customer success operations.
- Robin Merritt – Merritt was promoted to SVP, Chief of Staff and Community, managing the Office of the CEO and the team responsible for global corporate communications, public relations, customer success careers and philanthropy.
- Maksim Ovsyannikov – Ovsyannikov was promoted to EVP, Products, leading Gainsight’s product management, product design, customer community and documentation organizations with overall responsibility for Gainsight’s product strategy, vision and roadmap.
- Alka Tandan – Tandan was promoted to SVP, Finance and Strategic Programs, leading the organization’s global finance and accounting functions, operational and financial management, and key cross-functional projects tied to Gainsight’s long-term strategic vision.
- Caitlin Quinlan – Quinlan was promoted to SVP, Revenue Operations, advising the executive team on analysis and strategy that guides all go-to-market and customer success activities.
Read More: Vendasta Announces Historic $119.5M Round To Revolutionize Small Business Technology
