LeadrPro, the 1st software marketplace directly connecting sellers with buyers of software, was selected as an alternate in the Future of Work category for the 15th annual SXSW Pitch (formerly SXSW Accelerator).
SXSW Pitch is the marquee event of South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Conference & Festivals (March 10 – 19, 2023), where leading startups from around the world showcase some of the most impressive technology innovations to a panel of hand-picked judges and a live audience. Out of the 731 companies that applied to present at SXSW Pitch 2023, LeadrPro was selected among the 40 finalists spanning eight separate categories.
The two-day event will be held the first weekend of SXSW Conference & Festivals, Saturday, March 11 and Sunday, March 12, on the fourth floor of the Downtown Hilton Austin, Salon D/E. The event will then culminate with the 2023 SXSW Pitch Awards Ceremony on Sunday evening, March 12, where winning startups from each category and a Best in Show winner will be announced and honored in Salon H on the sixth floor of the Hilton Hotel.
SXSW Pitch will feature finalists across the following 8 categories: Artificial Intelligence, Robotics & Voice, Enterprise & Smart Data, Entertainment, Media & Content, Food, Nutrition & Health, Future of Work, Innovative World Technologies, Metaverse & Web3, and Smart Cities, Transportation & Logistics.
LeadrPro will present among four other companies in the Future of Work category on March 13, 2023.
“For those familiar with B2B marketing and sales, we’re like G2 or Capterra, but instead of PPC, we offer a PPM (pay-per-meeting) model, helping sales teams to increase their pipeline quickly, cost effectively, and predictably. We’re a replacement to the SDR/BDR function. For those unfamiliar with the B2B space, think of us like a dating app for B2B sales where we match an existing solution with a person (or company) that is experiencing that unique pain point,” said Chris Sheng, CEO and Founder of LeadrPro when asked what they are solving for their customers.
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As a marketplace, LeadrPro has both sellers and buyers of software on their platform. On the buyer side, LeadrPro hopes to become the best way to discover new software. Buyers (which include decision makers from companies like RedBull, Lyft, Brex, Ulta Beauty, Tesla, Fiverr, amongst others), are constantly bombarded with SPAM either via email, LinkedIn, or paid advertising. LeadrPro wants to be the single source of truth for all that solicitation, with filters in place so that Buyers see only what is relevant to them. In 2021, SaaS companies spent $455 billion on paid advertising. Buyers saw none of that. LeadrPro’s business model not only matches Buyers with solutions, but also compensates Buyers for their time ($75 typically per 30 min demo, which can be instantly withdrawn through popular payment methods like Venmo, Zelle, PayPal, CashApp, Gift Card) or donated to the charity of the month.
Mr. Sheng boldly added, “If time is money (which it absolutely is), then shouldn’t we be compensated for our time even when we’re being marketed to?”
LeadrPro recently closed a Seed round in November of 2022, led by Okapi Ventures, Mucker Capital, Plug and Play, Gaingels, and 3x marketplace guru Matt Mickiewicz (99 designs, Hired.com, Flippa).
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You can follow the journey of LeadrPro via their YouTube docu-series, How to Start a Startup. The idea is to document a company as they go from 0 to 1, since most entrepreneurial stories are told in hindsight from a one-sided narrative. Separately, Chris hosts PodSaaS, a podcast featuring Founders and CEOs of SaaS and software companies. Guests have ranged from post-Seed startups, to founders of Unicorns ($1B+ valuation company) and C-Suite executives at publicly traded companies.