Consensus raises $110M to inject automation into SaaS product demos

Garin Hess, a tech entrepreneur based in Utah, experienced what he calls the "demo bottleneck" at a previous software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup while pitching to potential customers. He theorized that a self-directed interactive demo, personalized to each stakeholder, could not only streamline the process and save time, but also help organically discover and engage other stakeholders who might not normally be reached.

That led Hess to found Consensus, a platform for interactive video demos, which today announced that it raised $110 million from Sumeru Equity Partners. Consensus lets engineering teams build a library of reusable, interactive video demos that sales teams can send out on demand.

"Consensus is like an 'Iron Man mech suit' for every sales engineer to be able to do more with what they have," Hess told TechCrunch in an email interview. "For example, Consensus automates the routine 'harbor cruise' demos so that consultants can spend more of their time doing what they do best: strategically helping buyers through complexity when buying solutions that have many pieces to the puzzle."

Launched in 2013 and now with over $139 million in the bank (inclusive of today's raise), Consensus allows users to build demo videos and then email those demos to prospects. Prospects pick what they want to learn about and get a personalized demo, which they can share with their wider teams and organization.

Throughout the process, Consensus tracks engagement and automatically finds new stakeholders by role and priority.