Data and workflow overlays on Salesforce
Startup CMO on the data models underpinning CRMs
The real opportunity in sales is not replacing Salesforce, it is using Salesforce as the system of record and building a better data layer and workflow layer on top of it. In large sales teams, the hard part is not sending emails, it is keeping account, contact, and activity records current across uploads, forms, enrichment tools, and product signals. That is why the likely winner looks more like an overlay on Salesforce than a new CRM.
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Salesforce remains the default home for sales teams because many adjacent products already plug into it, from outbound tools to contract software, and its ecosystem gives builders distribution into existing enterprise workflows.
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Klaviyo is a different shape of winner. It built strong ecommerce marketing software by making customer data easy for non technical marketers to merge, segment, and activate, but the research places it closer to marketing centered companies than enterprise sales organizations.
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The broader pattern is that more value is moving into the fat data layer, the CRM, CDP, and warehouse connection points. That creates room for companies that clean records, unify identities, and sync product data back into Salesforce without asking a sales team to leave Salesforce.
Going forward, the strongest sales software companies are likely to look like intelligence and automation layers sitting on top of Salesforce. They will make the CRM feel more alive, by updating people and account records continuously and turning product and intent data into actions for reps, while Salesforce stays underneath as the database and buying center.