Dorsey reflects on 10th anniversary of ExactTarget sale
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIt’s been 10 years since California-based tech giant Salesforce acquired Indianapolis-based cloud marketing firm ExactTarget for $2.5 billion.
ExactTarget was founded in 2000 by Scott Dorsey, Chris Baggott, and Peter McCormick with only $200,000 in financing and grew to a publicly-traded company with 1,800 employees when the acquisition was announced.
Dorsey, who would go on to found the venture studio High Alpha, says entrepreneurs benefited from the largest tech sale in Indiana’s history, and many helped build the tech sector in Indiana.
Speaking with Inside INdiana Business Host Gerry Dick at the recent Rally innovation conference in Indianapolis, Dorsey said many of the founders and CEOs that have come through High Alpha also came from the relationships built at ExactTarget.
“So many people have just gone on to have remarkable careers within the tech industry,” he said. “The number of CMOs and CEOs that started their careers with ExactTarget is likely numbered in the hundreds, and it’s just so rewarding to see everyone, their families are growing up, and their careers have really blossomed, and many of them credit ExactTarget as being a launching pad for their career.”
Dorsey said that momentum is continuing in Indiana as “success breeds success.”
“The more wins and strong exits or large companies that are built here—two in our portfolio, Lessonly and Socio are two great examples—I think it just builds collective confidence and experience of what it takes to scale tech companies and hopefully create a lot of jobs for our community.”
As Indiana’s tech economy continues to grow, Dorsey said the state has shown that you can build a company anywhere, not just in Silicon Valley. And, he said while companies are being built differently with the rise in remote work, a sense of place remains very important.
“Indiana’s competitive as any to be kind of an HQ for building software and technology companies,” he said. “We’re starting companies with founders and other geographies, and they fall in love with Indiana, and they want to build a development hub or a team here in Indianapolis to take advantage of the great talent that we have in the community.”