Sierra, an innovative new startup co-founded by Bret Taylor and former USDS entrepreneur-in-residence Ben Bavor, recently passed a remarkable milestone. It grew to $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in under two years after introduction. The rapid growth of the company, which specializes in AI customer service agents, has attracted attention from both tech giants and older businesses alike.
Despite Taylor’s acclaim, in 2023 Taylor departed Salesforce. He then recruited Bavor, a former Google executive, who has spent 18 years leading product for things like Gmail and Google Drive. It all began with a lunch invitation that Bavor sent out to form their partnership. On that fateful lunch, the pair identified a massive opportunity—AI-powered customer service solutions.
Sierra’s AI customer service agents have become a hit among leading tech companies. These companies are anxious to try out these cutting-edge tools. More surprisingly, the company has attracted interest from legacy businesses, broadening its customer base past the expected bounds of the tech startup ecosystem. This surprise interest, Taylor explains, has fueled Taylor and Bavor’s confidence that Sierra has the capacity for sustained growth.
Sierra’s financial success is best reflected in its current stock market valuation. That’s pretty remarkable considering it’s currently valued at 100x its revenue. The valuation in part highlights the company’s extremely high growth rate as it continues to navigate through one of the most competitive ecosystems seen within AI technology.
Marina Temkin, a venture capital and startups reporter at TechCrunch, warns us not to underestimate the importance of this accomplishment. Financial Analyst background Temkin is a financial analyst and CFA charterholder. She uses that expertise to write smartly about startups’ inner workings and big-picture investment trends. You can email her at marina.temkin@techcrunch.com. To ask additional questions, send an encrypted message to +1 347-683-3909 on Signal.
Leave a Reply