Valor invested in Drum, a disruptive approach to sales teams from the founders of Kabbage, one of the leading fintech startups in the country. Drum makes standing up a human sales force as fast and easy as standing up a Google AdWords campaign.
For the engine of the US economy–small businesses–hiring a full-time sales force can be prohibitively expensive. That’s even more true for firms founded by today’s most productive entrepreneurs–women and people of color. These founders typically have less access to capital to fuel their growth.
Drum builds word-of-mouth marketing digitally.
PR and print advertising can be tough to measure. Digital marketing–or pay per click–won’t guarantee sales either but it is a super popular way for businesses to advertise because of the preceived low cost of entry–often $10 or less per click. Drum addresses the pain points of creating conversion with its instantly available, massively scalable platform. Drum allows businesses to pay for performance. It’s the next iteration of the “gig” economy and future-of-work, where customers and locals are able to be paid for their influence in contributing to sales.
Experienced founders, unique market insights
We invested in Drum because of the insightful way the platform addresses a true pain in the market. The founders, Rob Frohwein and Kathryn Petralia, also bring unique experience as the founders of fintech unicorn company Kabbage. Rob and Kathryn’s proven insights in growth for business owners, who are their current customers in Kabbage, extend into this new model to support revenue growth for entrepreneurs and marketers. We also see synergies in leveraging the Kabbage customer base that give Drum unfair advantages in competing in the martech environment. Companies are looking for ways to compete that aren’t as expensive as buying Google AdWords or promoting through Twitter or Facebook. Drum provides a scalable sales solution. And at scale, its business model would have attractive exit opportunities for major suppliers from Amazon to Sysco.
Got a business of your own to promote? Try Drum here.