Why This Entrepreneur is Always Five Steps Ahead of the Tech Industry
Jennifer Mercer is always five steps ahead of the tech industry. She first built on what became the Salesforce Platform when it was originally a combination of exposed APIs. Then, she founded one of the first app businesses listed on AppExchange. And now her latest venture targets an untapped category. What’s her secret? She says it’s the Salesforce ecosystem.
We spoke with Jennifer to learn how she’s been able to sell big and grow big as an AppExchange partner over the years. This is her story.
Tell us about your entrepreneurial journey.
Jennifer: I co-founded a company in 2003 called DreamFactory and we were very early adopters of the Salesforce Platform. At the time, it was made up of a couple of exposed APIs and my co-founder, Bill Appleton, realized quickly that we could start building apps on the Salesforce Platform.
We were one of the first ISV partners listed on AppExchange, and went on to list a dozen apps. One of our apps, Snapshot, was by far the most popular. It was a change and release management application that we actually created for ourselves, because as early adopters and developers on the platform we needed something for release management and continuous integration.
How did you start Metazoa?
Jennifer: In 2017, DreamFactory had a successful exit and in early 2018, the core team behind the original Snapshot product formed Metazoa, an end-to-end solution for org management. With the rapid innovation and growth of Salesforce, orgs become more and more complex every day. And who’s managing them? Admins. They’re responsible for the entire org end-to-end. So we make it very easy for Salesforce admins and developers to manage, maintain, and optimize their orgs.
What led you to the “aha” moment to build Metazoa?
Jennifer: Talking to all of the admin contacts that we had worked with for over a decade. We discovered that they were missing a solution for org management because everyone was focused on release management. What do you need to do to get your org ready for the next release? And what are you releasing? Are you pushing bad metadata into more bad metadata? Admins are spending more time on releases, when previously, it was the developers. So we empower admins to do things that only the developers could do.
Why did you build on the Salesforce Platform?
Jennifer: If we didn’t leverage the Salesforce Platform for our solution’s infrastructure, we would need to set up a server for every single customer. It would be highly customized, cost a lot of money, and involve countless hours. Instead, we can use Salesforce managed packages and leverage the Salesforce license manager as our own license manager. Being able to utilize everything that is available, plus the marketplace itself, allows us to be a ten-person company and sell like a hundred-person company.
Why did the AppExchange Partner Program appeal to you?
Jennifer: First of all, having availability and access is huge. Programs like the AppExchange Marketing Program and opportunities like the Salesforce Accelerate program give you leverage to top leaders across the Salesforce ecosystem. You also get access to a wealth of information and the ability to align your marketing and sales with Salesforce.
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How does the Salesforce ecosystem help you scale and go faster?
Jennifer: The ecosystem itself is really powerful. I’ve been inside and outside of it and I know the difference. If you’re a startup, being inside the Salesforce ecosystem is going to take you about five years ahead of where you would be outside of it.
What does it mean to be a trailblazer as an entrepreneur?
Jennifer: When you’re a trailblazer as an entrepreneur, you’re blazing new trails. You don’t need to go out and raise round after round after round of funding. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve done it in the past. But you don’t have to. Being a part of the Salesforce ecosystem allows you to be a start-up, sell big, grow big, and scale. And we’ve seen it over and over again.
To learn more about Jennifer Mercer’s entrepreneurial journey, watch her full story here. If you are an entrepreneur with a new business idea, become an AppExchange partner today and start selling into a market of 150,000+ Salesforce customers.
