Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, today announced the begins of its new Salesforce Startup Program in India, designed to enable startups to innovate, augment customer connections and scale their ventures to the next level. This program, debuting in India, is uniquely designed to offer disruptive startups with access to Salesforce technology, experts, ecosystems, as well as business mentorship to create real impact.
 
According to IDC, the Salesforce Economy in India will create 1.3 million jobs and $66.4 billion in new business revenues by 2026. Salesforce is driving immense growth for its partner ecosystem in India, which will make $6.55 for every $1 Salesforce makes locally by 2026. The Salesforce Startup program offers a unified platform to help foster and accelerate an environment for innovation, growth and partnership for Startups across Sales, Developer Relations, App-Exchange Trailblazer product community, Trailhead and our Ventures Organisation.
 
The key highlights of the Salesforce Startup Program consist of streamlined access to the following Salesforce offerings:

• Salesforce Services: access to services including the chance to utilise the #1 CRM platform and innovative technologies like Slack, Tableau, Heroku, Pardot, etc. to outperform sales expectations, outsmart the competition, and outpace market growth. 
• AppExchange Partner Program: The Salesforce AppExchange is a repository of pre-built apps from Salesforce and partners that drive value by quickly solving business problems, as well as an access point for consultants who develop custom solutions. Through this program, startups will have the opportunity to innovate within a global marketplace via AppExchange, a leading enterprise cloud marketplace, for startups building on the Salesforce Platform. 
• Community and Support: The Trailblazer Community helps everyone thrive in the Salesforce economy. This program offers startups access to the Trailblazer community and platform for mentorship opportunities by industry experts, including coaching on product strategy, technology and design.
• Potential Investment Opportunities through Salesforce Ventures: Through the investment arm, Salesforce-Ventures, start-ups may be given the opportunity to pitch to enterprise technology investors. In addition, Salesforce supports start-ups with their go-to-market, product development and design strategies.

 Comments on the Announcement:

Sanket Atal, SVP and MD - Sites, Salesforce India, stated “2021 has been a milestone year for the Indian startup . We have witnessed a fast-growing list of unicorns that are addressing not just the Indian, but also the global market. At Salesforce, our endeavor is to enable the growing startup ecosystem by providing them with access to the latest Salesforce technologies to help build scale and also enables access to a platform, to reach global audiences. These are exciting times for startups and we look forward to many successful partnerships in the years to come.”
 
Arundhati Bhattacharya, CEO and Chairperson, Salesforce India, told, “Startups 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.”