Deals

The CEO of a Manchester data-driven sales coaching platform has explained her reasons for selling the business to a US buyer.

BusinessCloud revealed last week how Altrincham-headquartered e4enable had been snapped up by Philadelphia-based Richardson Sales Performance for an undisclosed sum.

Kate Lewis co-founded e4enable in 2019 and has worked with businesses across the UK, Europe and North America including NCC Group, Apogee and UX insights company UserZoom.

Explaining how the deal came about Lewis said: “John Elsey (Richardson’s president and CEO) and I have been speaking for some time and have always found a great connection between our vision and approach.

“As we were exploring partnership options to see how we could engage closer, the conversation grew and Richardson suggested we bring the organisations together to really deliver on that vision.  Although we had no intention of being acquired at the time, it was too compelling to ignore!”

Lewis said the biggest three factors on picking Richardson were people; vision; and ability to execute on the vision.

“Richardson are a clear leader in their space and have an enormous amount of experience in designing and delivering transformational change within their customers,” she said.

Manchester sales coaching platform snapped up by US firm

“The team are a wonderful bunch of people and it’s a testament to their culture that their average tenure is six years and many of their exec leadership team have grown their careers within the Richardson group of companies.”

In terms of vision, Lewis added: “When you look at the combined strengths of both Richardson and e4enable, it makes perfect sense.

“Where Richardson’s strengths lie in delivering sales training and transformation, e4enable compliments that perfectly with our strengths in measurement and data analytics.  You realise that the combination and ultimate vision is more than the sum of its parts.

“The fact that we have been welcomed with open arms into the Richardson team means that we have the opportunity and the pleasure of delivering on the promise.

“It has been clear all along that Richardson were not just interested in the e4enable technology platform, they saw the value in the people to be part of the Richardson team to bring about that vision.”

Lewis she she and the entire e4enable team were ‘100 per cent along for the ride’ following the acquisition.

I’ll be taking on the role of chief product officer to execute on the combined vision,” she said. “Watch this space as we prepare to share that vision with the world!”

Who is Victoria Price? – profile

E4enable’s technology seamlessly connects to any sales enablement platform and data set to empower sales teams to understand precisely where to focus their time, resources, and efforts for maximum performance return.

In 2022 e4enable secured backing from five experienced technology investors including former AppSense chairman Charles Sharland and founder of Pareto Law, Jonathan Fitchew.