How Crunchbase Uses SwagUp To Increase Brand Loyalty and Delight Their Team

Client Overview

Crunchbase is a platform that connects revenue organizations and sales leaders with key insights into private and publicly-held companies. Leveraging the strength of their in-house team alongside machine learning and community contributions, Crunchbase’s data resources enable their clients to grow sales, perform market research, identify investment opportunities, and keep their fingers on the pulse of the business world.

Originally conceived as a way for SaaS leader TechCrunch to track the progress of their child companies and startup endeavors, Crunchbase has rapidly evolved into a resource for companies across the globe. As they've scaled and added team members, SwagUp has played a key role in helping them outfit their team.

Crunchbase’s Challenges

As a startup, Crunchbase team members wore a lot of hats, and by their account, teams were not aligned re: one swag supplier and direction. When SwagUp met with the Crunchbase team, we discovered that their current swag management process was manual, and often fell to an internal coordinator. As a fast-paced startup, efficiencies are key, and it was clear that managing swag inventory and fulfillment was time-consuming, overwhelming, and misaligned with Crunchbase’s strategic goals.

Crunchbase needed a swag solution that would help them present a unified brand identity across all of their swag initiatives, and was searching for a “one-stop-shop” that could alleviate the hassle of vendor relations, inventory management, and shipping and storage headaches.

“There were cheaper options, but they didn’t have the inventory. They didn’t have the warehouse...There were other places that could store it, but that’s even more expensive. So [the experience (with other swag companies] just all felt disconnected, disjointed, and discombobulated vs. SwagUp.”

Luke Velasco, Recruiting Operations at Crunchbase

SwagUp’s Solution

SwagUp’s supplier relationships enabled Crunchbase to select from a broad catalog of premium swag products without having to source and procure it themselves. The team selected items from our swag catalog and worked with our expert project team to put together a comprehensive swag strategy, including client and team-specific packs, theme packs, and bulk items that could be created and stored with SwagUp, and shipped on-demand.

Having a dedicated Account Executive, Jordyn, that understood their business was also crucial to Crunchbase’s swag success. From product ideas to account assistance and updates, the Crunchbase team was informed and empowered, able to leverage our team’s capabilities and talent to source and create the coolest branded swag, fast.

Finally, one of the most valuable components of SwagUp’s solution was the intuitive dashboard interface, which the Crunchbase team used to select new swag, coordinate with our design team, and of course, automate fulfillment of those sweet, sweet swag packs. The team noted that the SwagUp dashboard made a clear difference in their day-to-day operations by freeing up time at the office. When the Crunchbase crew transitioned to remote work, choosing SwagUp meant not having to worry about swag storage and logistics.

For Crunchbase, the success factor lies in SwagUp’s single-source swag solution, which has streamlined and automated the swag-buying and fulfillment process by eliminating the time investments involved in navigating the supply chain, design agencies, and logistics. Our talented teams, from design, to procurement, to sales, assembly, and fulfillment have all pitched in to keep the swag experience for Crunchbase seamless from start to finish.

By choosing SwagUp as their Chief Swag Officer, Crunchbase has been freed from the hassles of swag to focus on creating connections and content with and for their customers.

The Results

Partnering with a swag supplier that truly understood the importance of high-quality, branded merchandise, and could offer a single point of origin for inventory and shipping, was crucial to Crunchbase, and SwagUp’s single-stream assembly, storage, and shipping capabilities made working together a no-brainer. As Luke from Crunchbase puts it, “[t]here were cheaper options, but they didn’t have the inventory. They didn’t have the warehouse...There were other places that could store it, but that’s even more expensive. So [the experience (with other swag companies] just all felt disconnected, disjointed, and discombobulated vs. SwagUp.” Further underscoring the cohesive experience that SwagUp offers is the supportive team that have helped make Crunchbase’s swag visions, reality.

From their early conversations with SwagUp’s Founder and CEO, Michael Martocci (who flew out to SF to meet them for lunch!) to their current business relationship with Account Executive Jordyn and dedicated project management team, SwagUp has consistently provided the inspiration, expertise, and support necessary to ensure that Crunchbase’s swag initiatives were delivered on-time and exceeded their expectations.

Crunchbase has reiterated how crucial their relationship with their SwagUp support team is to their swag strategy. As Luke notes, “ I was working closely with Michael [Martocci] and he was just very approachable …it shows that the customer comes first or putting your customers first is a value that [your team] cherishes from the CEO onward. And that's something that Crunchbase values too. It's one of our core values, so it's cool to see another company strive for the same.” Swagstronauts have been on-hand and ready to assist with each iteration of Crunchbase’s swag, and the collaborative working relationship has been a source of inspiration and support as the Crunchbase team has made purchasing and swag-branding decisions.

Crunchbase has been particularly pleased with SwagUp’s communication style, from their Account Executive Jordyn’s responsiveness and suggestions to the SwagUp team’s consistent transparency related to production timeframes. They also love the convenience of the SwagUp dashboard, which removes the hassle of scheduling or automating shipments. Crunchbase trusted SwagUp with their swag initiatives, and has been thrilled with the team’s work, taking to social channels to share their excitement and delight over their new swag.

Summary

By partnering with SwagUp, Crunchbase has been able to streamline and enhance their swag program. Our single-source swag solution has automated manual processes like assembly, storage, and fulfillment that were slowing the Crunchbase team down, while also providing world-class design and customer support by teaming up with Crunchbase to ideate and coordinate new branded items.

Crunchbase imagined swag better, and SwagUp has answered the call, by partnering with the team to take their ideas #tothemoon, automating processes, improving efficiencies, and owning supplier relationships. These efforts have enabled Crunchbase to focus on its strategic goals while creating and executing a stellar swag program!

“ I was working closely with Michael [Martocci] and he was just very approachable …it shows that the customer comes first or putting your customers first is a value that [your team] cherishes from the CEO onward. And that's something that Crunchbase values too. It's one of our core values, so it's cool to see another company strive for the same.”

Luke Velasco, Recruiting Operations at Crunchbase

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