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***Voting is live on both Final Four matchups! Most votes at 11:59pm ET goes to the Championship Round. Cast yours here.***
Welcome to the 4th annual March SaaSness Tournament, hosted by Ambition, Qualtrics, DiscoverOrg, and Prezi.
What is March SaaSness?
The SaaS industry's answer to March Madness. Where 64 SaaS companies compete in a single-elimination, six-round bracket concurrent with the NCAA Tournament.
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Come for the spectacle. Stay for the schadenfreude of unicorns (traditional NCAA powerhouses) duke it out with their rivals and go down in a blaze of ignomy at the hands of a plucky startup.
Who Competes in March SaaSness?
The process for selection and seeding is as rigorous as they come.
- An anonymous Selection Committee handpicks the field.
- Seeding is determined by Twitter followers.
- 24-hour public vote determines who advances from each matchup.
This year's field of competitors includes the Who's Who of SaaS. For the first time ever, we gave each region its own specific market niche:
- Human Resources
- Operations & BI
- Marketing
- Sales.
For a full overview of the 2018 March SaaSness Tournament schedule, rules and voting format, read our 2018 Tourney Introduction.
March SaaSness Final Four Preview
It's time to get serious, folks. Only 4 battle-hardened SaaS companies remain.
Styles make fights, and we're about to bring you a brief introduction and breakdown of each competing company and how they stack up in their 5th Round matchups.
Matchup #1. BambooHR vs. Hootsuite
How They Got Here: BambooHR
BambooHR enters the Elite Eight riding huge wins in Rounds 1-3. A Round 1 dismantling of Bullhorn was followed by a takedown of 1-seed Glassdoor. In Round 3, BambooHR turned heel on Lever and chewed and swallowed their onetime collaborator faster than you could say 'eucalyptus.' They beat Greenhouse for the HR region championship and entrance to the Final Four.
About the Company: BambooHR provides HR software for small and medium-sized businesses that have outgrown using spreadsheets. BambooHR also helps companies keep track of all human resources activity for each individual employee.
Founded: 2008. HQ: Lindoln, Utah. Experience: 2017 Sweet 16.
How They Got Here: Hootsuite.
Last 1-seed standing and social media kingpin Hootsuite went through the ringer in Rounds 1-3. Matchups with Engagio (hot ABM solution; last year's Cinderella), Drift (market-leading Inbound Chat platform; trendy upset pick), and Marketo (marketing automation stalwarts; seasoned SaaSness veterans) got more harrowing each round. Their clutchness proven in comebacks versus Drift and Marketo, and coming off a dominant win versus Constant Contact, Hootsuite presents a legitimate threat to go all the way and become our 4th March SaaSness Champion.
About the Company: Hootsuite is a social relationship platform for businesses and organizations to collaboratively execute campaigns across social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ Pages from one secure, web-based dashboard. Advanced functionality includes tools for audience engagement, team collaboration, account security and comprehensive analytics for end-to-end measurement and reporting.
Founded: 2008. HQ: Vancouver. Tourney History: Debut.
Matchup #2. Evernote vs. LearnCore.
How They Got Here: Evernote.
Tourney Trivia: Evernote is all-time winningest company in March SaaSness. Four of Four Sweet Sixteens. Three of four Elite Eights. Zero Final Fours. (Is Marv Levy running March SaaSness strategy over there?). Evernote blew by Blue Jeans in Round 1, made a gritty comeback versus Atlassian in Round 2, and fended off VeraCode to reach the Elite Eight. They beat Box to advance to the Final Four.
About the Company: Evernote was founded in 2007 as an independent, privately held company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Evernote builds products and applications that create a workspace you can write free from distraction, find what you need, collect information, and present your ideas to the world.
Founded: 2007. HQ: Redwood City, CA. Tourney History: Elite 8 (2x)
How They Got Here: LearnCore.
The 2018 Cinderella deserves some serious credit. LearnCore was the 64th overall seed (based on Twitter followers - right at 1,000). Out of our 8 tournament analysts this year, 0 predicted LearnCore to advance past their current matchup. Their opponents: the class of Palo Alto (1-seed Salesforce), Boston (9-seed InsightSquared), and Atlanta sales software (SalesLoft). In the Elite Eight, LearnCore beat DocSend to advance to the Final Four.
About the Company: LearnCore is a sales enablement and video coaching solution that address common training challenges for large and growing organizations. Headquartered in Chicago and founded in 2012, LearnCore enables companies to onboard new reps faster, ensure consistent communication across global teams, and quickly roll out new certification programs and products.
Founded: 2012. HQ: Chicago, IL. Tourney History: Debut.
What’s Next?
The 5th Round of the 2018 March SaaSness Tournament kicks off on Thursday March 29, at 12am EST. Follow Ambition on Twitter for live score updates, analysis and final results for each matchup. Want more information? Visit Tourney Central at ambition.com/saasness/.
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