Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, has launched its Salesforce Startup Program in India to enable start-ups to innovate, augment customer connections and scale their ventures. The program is debuting in India and is designed to provide disruptive start-ups with access to Salesforce technology, ecosystems, experts, and business mentorship to create impact.

The Salesforce Startup Program streamlines access to Salesforce offerings, which include Salesforce Services, AppExchange Partner Program, Community and Support, and Potential Investment Opportunities through Salesforce Ventures.

Arundhati Bhattacharya, CEO and Chairperson, Salesforce India, said, “Start-ups are a critical pillar to the success of our growth in India. With the Salesforce Startup Program, we wish to innovate locally to resolve local problems while at the same time promoting these solutions globally. I am confident we will be able to deliver innovation at scale, enabling growth for both the ecosystem and Salesforce.”

With Salesforce Services, start-ups will have access to their CRM platform and technologies like 

Slack, Heroku, Tableau, Pardot, etc. This can help outperform sales expectations and competition and outpace market growth. The AppExchange is basically a repository of pre-built apps from Salesforce and partners that drive value by solving business problems, as well as an access point for consultants who develop custom solutions. Through this program, start-ups will have the opportunity to innovate within a global marketplace via AppExchange. The Trailblazer Community platform will offer mentorship opportunities by industry experts, including coaching on product strategy, technology and design.

An interesting part of the program is the potential investment opportunities through Salesforce Ventures, where start-ups might get to pitch to enterprise technology investors. Under this, Salesforce also supports start-ups with their go-to-market, product development and design strategies.