SalesScreen boosts sales team performance

Online recognition, competitions, leaderboards and visualization—even from home

Photo courtesy of SalesScreen
Part of the SalesScreen team by the Brooklyn Bridge, near the location of the American. From left, Frank Matticola, CRO, who runs the Brooklyn office; Product Director Simon Hordvik; co-founder/CEO Sindre Haaland; and Account Director Remi Sanderford.

RASMUS FALCK
Oslo

A billionaire doubles investment in a couple of Norwegian startups. He sees business opportunities these days in increased digitalization. 

I have written about Are Traasdahl before. He made NOK 1.5 billion when he sold his startup Tapad to Telenor in 2016. He was named Global Startup Award’s Founder of the Year in 2016. Together with two other entrepreneurs he established the venture fund Spring Capital. Now they have come to the realization that the portfolio companies need liquidity. One of the companies where they are investing is SalesScreen and their sales performance software.

It all started back at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) when a couple of students wanted to create something on their own and form their own workplace. The company was established in 2011, two years before founder Sindre Haaland finished his studies in entrepreneurship at NTNU. Co-founders Øystein Hedmark and Marius Ekerholt joined half a year later. The goal was to make money before they finished school. Their business idea focused on sales performance software. They quickly realized that they had struck a market potential and developed the tool SalesScreen.

The founders were on their own until the serial entrepreneur Traasdahl became an investor in 2018. He was invited on board because the startup needed speed. His venture fund invested NOK 20 million. At the time, SalesScreen had more than 10,000 active users working for a total of 300 companies, all in Norway. Now, thousands around the world are using the tool.

SalesScreen’s software is among the products that have seen increased use during COVID-19 restrictions. Many in various sales forces now work from their home office. SalesScreen is built for this. Their system can help the salesperson thrive during these troublesome times and beyond. In short, they have transformed the work of sales into a professional, motivating, and exciting game—a game where all the employees have fun while competing with one another for the top position. The startup’s mission is to build stronger and more productive organizations by helping teams to set goals, measure progress, and celebrate achievements in real time.

Photo courtesy of SalesScreen
When a target is achieved, the winning salesperson can be recognized and highlighted in a YouTube video, boosting morale and improving motivation.

It is easy to hand out awards to the best salesperson. However, you also need to make them compete for the No. 9 and the No. 10 spots. In many businesses, the sales force needs an extra kick. With SalesScreen, companies can develop friendly competitions; recognize employees of the week with prizes (the employee can choose from the company web store); show leaderboards so the entire team can see where everybody stands; and employ visualization dashboards predicting outcomes in real time. It’s customizable so companies can set different targets and metrics to be measured. SalesScreen provides fun graphics and templates to use. There’s also a mobile component, where information can be updated while in the field.

Today, Salesscreen has offices in Trondheim, Oslo, New York, Stockholm and Gothenburg in Sweden, Amsterdam, and Singapore. Newly hired sales director Frank Matticola, who has 20 years of experience working with startups in North America, has his office in an entrepreneurial environment in the Dumbo district near the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn, N.Y.

 For Traasdahl, Spring Capital is like the source of water. A spring is the source of growth. The fund wants to release the energy in entrepreneurs and help them create growth. Spring Capital is “evergreen,” which means that they don’t have to raise capital from outside investors. The fund is an early-stage venture capital firm based in New York City. They invest in early-stage technology startups with high growth potential. Spring is the season of optimism and energy—and there is much to look forward to. 

This article originally appeared in the May 22, 2020, issue of The Norwegian American. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.