Activated Scale

Activated Scale operates a B2B sales talent marketplace that matches startups and scaleups with vetted, US-based sales professionals who can be engaged part-time (fractional), full-time on contract, or converted to employees. The roles offered span fractional Sales Development Representatives and Business Development Representatives for outbound prospecting, full-cycle Account Executives who run the process from prospecting and demos through negotiation and close, and fractional VPs of Sales / go-to-market leaders who build sales strategy, playbooks, partnership programs and tooling decisions. Service lines are described as contract-to-hire sales recruiting, fractional selling and fractional sales leadership.

Matching is positioned around prior buyer experience: the company selects salespeople who have sold to a similar buyer persona at a comparable average contract value, with the stated aim of reducing ramp time. The engagement process starts with a 30-minute goals call, followed by a search across the pre-vetted network, interviews with roughly two to four candidates, and kickoff; the company states clients are typically connected with talent in seven days or less, sometimes within 48 hours. A described onboarding arc runs from company/customer onboarding in the first 15 days, to testing outbound messaging across email, cold calling and LinkedIn in days 16-45, to accelerating outbound and pipeline generation after day 45. Each client is assigned a single point of contact who advises on tooling, metrics and sales management, and free rematching is offered if a placement is unsatisfactory.

The company is listed on the Techstars job board as an internet/marketplace business founded in 2021, at pre-seed stage with 1-10 employees, with locations in Evanston, North Chicago and Chicago, Illinois.

Founding story

The company was founded by Prateek Mathur, described as a sales veteran who has sold for and built sales teams at startups and public companies over roughly 20 years and who built the business around the difficulties startups face when scaling sales and hiring sales talent.

Business model

Activated Scale intermediates between client companies and its network of independent sales professionals, charging clients a monthly retainer per fractional salesperson and a placement fee if a client converts the salesperson into a full-time employee. Engagements are month-to-month with no stated minimum spend or duration, and clients can scale up or down or request a free rematch.

Published pricing is a flat monthly retainer per role plus variable compensation: $4,500 per month plus commission for a fractional SDR/BDR, $6,500 per month plus commission for a fractional Account Executive, and $12,000 per month plus bonus for a fractional VP of Sales. Converting a fractional salesperson to an employee carries a fee of 18% of first-year base salary.

Traction

The website cites more than 200 customers and a network of over 300 pre-vetted sales professionals, states that 80% of clients use its talent for five or more months (elsewhere stated as eight or more months), that roughly 85% of startups hire the fractional salesperson full-time after an initial contract, and that clients save 20+ hours of founding-team interview time per sales hire. Client-reported outcomes include fractional SDRs averaging 11 and 14 meetings per month, a 5X increase in qualified meetings, a 4X increase in average deal size, and stated typical outcomes of 10-15 meetings per month for SDRs and $50,000-$250,000 in new monthly revenue for AEs. A testimonials page headline cites a 4.8-star rating.