Insider Announces Steve Cakebread, Legendary IPO Leader for Salesforce, Pandora, and Yext, to Join Advisory Board

NEW YORK, May 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Insider, a single platform for building individualized, cross-channel experiences, today announced that Steve Cakebread joins the company's advisory board. Cakebread brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the Insider team, having served as a senior financial executive in the technology industry for over 40 years.

Cakebread is best known for his role in leading the financial teams that took Salesforce, Pandora, and Yext to IPO. In 2020, Steve authored The IPO Playbook: An Insider's Perspective on Taking Your Company Public and How to Do It Right. Earlier in his career, Steve served as CFO for Autodesk, Vice President of Finance at Silicon Graphic (now SGI), and Director of Finance at Hewlett-Packard. His proven track record in guiding companies through successful IPOs will provide Insider with invaluable counsel as the company prepares for the future.

"From Insider's leadership team to the product and roadmap, I see a unique combination of innovation, vision, and momentum that is reminiscent of companies like Salesforce and Yext," said Steve Cakebread. "Today, Insider serves more than 1,200 brands and retailers worldwide, including one-third of the Fortune 500, making one of the most impressive client rosters I have ever seen. Insider is also building impressive recognition in the marketplace, recognized already as a leader by IDC's MarketScape: Worldwide Customer Data Platforms Focused on Front-Office Users and Gartner's 2022 Magic Quadrant™ for Personalization Engines. More importantly, Insider has been named the #1 leader in G2 for six years in a row, gaining the highest possible satisfaction scores of 98/100 by verified users. 

With a product-first approach that's translating to phenomenal growth in global markets, including North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. I believe Insider is well-poised to become the market leader in the customer experience industry.

I look forward to contributing to Insider's continued growth and success, and helping their leadership team find the correct course of action to source innovative, world-first solutions to marketers' biggest frustrations and challenges," he said.

Cakebread's appointment follows news that Insider unlocked unicorn status with a $1.22B valuation and a $121M Series D investment. More recently, Insider made its first-ever acquisition, MindBehind, a Meta-verified, Conversational Commerce and Messaging Platform, to accelerate its development of conversational solutions. Cakebread will provide invaluable insights and guidance as Insider continues to grow aggressively and considers new ways to increase its product offering and cement its position as the market leader in customer experience.

"I am delighted to welcome Steve Cakebread to Insider's advisory board," said Hande Cilingir, Co-Founder and CEO at Insider. "It's hard to imagine anyone with more capital market or IPO experience than Steve, having led three companies from private ownership to their IPOs. Steve's deep understanding of how to build teams, policies, procedures, and controls that support a company's growth will be invaluable. In this position, Steve can offer his guidance, insights, and experiences from Salesforce, Pandora, and Yext. I look forward to working together to explore new ways to accelerate our market-leading product, including potential mergers and acquisitions, to better serve our customers and deliver continued value to our stakeholders. There is A Brand New Way™ for crafting customer experiences, which is why Insider exists. I cannot wait to see what impact Steve's guidance and insight will have on our business; his IPO expertise is exactly what we need to navigate Insider's next chapter."

Insider is trusted by the world's best-loved brands, including Samsung, GAP, Santander, Vodafone, IKEA, MAC, Virgin, Toyota, Singapore Airlines, Madeira Madeira, Marks & Spencer, BBVA, and Estée Lauder. 

About Steve Cakebread

Steve Cakebread is a seasoned financial executive with over 40 years of experience in the technology industry. He is best known for leading the financial teams that took Yext, Pandora, and Salesforce to IPO. Cakebread held senior financial positions at companies such as Autodesk, Xactly Corporation, and Pandora Media, among others. He is also the author of 'The IPO Playbook: An Insider's Perspective on Taking Your Company Public and How to Do It Right', an invaluable reference guide for preparing for a successful IPO.

About Insider

Insider—a single platform for building individualized, cross-channel experiences—enables enterprise marketers to connect customer data across channels and systems, predict their future behavior with an AI intent engine, and build individualized customer experiences. Marketers use Insider's platform to deliver consistent and engaging experiences across channels like Web, App, Web Push, Email, SMS, and Messaging Apps (e.g., WhatsApp). 

One-third of Fortune 500 companies and top brands across retail, automotive, and travel choose Insider to deliver AI-led personalized experiences that exceed customer expectations. Insider is trusted by over 1,200 global businesses, including Singapore Airlines, Estée Lauder, Virgin, Toyota, New Balance, IKEA, GAP, L'Oreal, Samsung, Newsweek, MediaMarkt, Nissan, AVIS, Marks & Spencer, Allianz, Madeira Madeira, Santander, BBVA, Pizza Hut, Avon, and CNN.

For more information, visit www.useinsider.com.

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