Assertion Partly supported AI assessment confidence: 85% certainty 5/5 debate potential 1/5

Freishtat sold a startup for nearly $200M in 1999

Greg Freishtat · 631: Saleswise Raises $3m, Launches Product, Helping 12 Customers Deveop Better Relationships with Their Data with CEO Gregg Freishtat · Apr 16, 2017 · at 12:38

Saleswise CEO Gregg Freishtat reflects on his dot-com era startup acquisitions and exit track record.

0:00 / 0:02exact quote · 2.9s

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“Well, I sold one in 99 for just under two hundred million as well.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

Gregg Freishtat sold a company in 1999 for just under $200 million.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

Gregg Freishtat did sell a company he founded and led (VerticalOne Corporation) in 1999 to S1 Corporation, with the transaction announced in September 1999 and completed on November 11, 1999. However, the transaction was valued at approximately $160 million at announcement and recorded at $166 million at closing, which falls noticeably short of 'just under $200 million'. Under the evaluation rules for offhand numeric estimates that overstate the realized value by roughly 17-20%, the claim resolves to partially_true.

VerticalOne Corporation, founded and led by CEO Gregg Freishtat, was acquired by S1 Corporation in an all-stock transaction completed on November 11, 1999.
The transaction was valued at approximately $160 million at announcement and recorded as a realized acquisition value of $166 million according to S1 Corporation SEC disclosures and contemporary records.

Checked against

[1] customerthink.com [2] permid.org [3] justia.com [4] sec.gov [5] wikipedia.org [6] tagonline.org [7] rediff.com [8] indiatimes.com

"S1 Corporation" "VerticalOne" "1999" "million" SEC "Gregg Freishtat" OR "Greg Freishtat" "VerticalOne" "S1 Corporation Completes Acquisition of VerticalOne Corporation" "VerticalOne" "S1 Corporation" 10-K 1999 "VerticalOne" "VerticalOne" "Gregg Freishtat" "166 million" OR "160 million" OR "200 million"

assessed as of 2026-09-02

This assessment is an AI reading of a public statement, made against the cited references with the confidence shown. It can be wrong. The quote, the tape and the references are all on this page; if something is off, use report an error below. full disclaimer →

Mentioned

Gregg Freishtat

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Disclosure

Saleswise prices by total employee headcount rather than per-seat

“We are a SAS company, but we do not charge by the seat. Rather we believe in what we call democratizing data, meaning that our customers should provide our relationship intelligence to every single employee that can use it productively. So we price based upon …”

Greg Freishtat Apr 16, 2017 ▶ 2:17 631: Saleswise Raises $3m, Launches Product, Helping 12 Customers Deveop Better Relationships with Their Data with CEO Gregg Freishtat

Prediction Not checkable as stated

Freishtat expects negligible churn until direct competitors emerge

“I think we'll enjoy very, very low churn maybe even negative churn and expansion for some period of time until the market category gets established and we see some competitors”

Greg Freishtat Apr 16, 2017 ▶ 6:58 631: Saleswise Raises $3m, Launches Product, Helping 12 Customers Deveop Better Relationships with Their Data with CEO Gregg Freishtat

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Saleswise averages nearly $1,000 in monthly revenue per customer

“Somewhere just short of a thousand dollars a month. The entry level is 500 dollars for under a hundred employees. We go up to 500 employees for 2500 dollars a month.”

Greg Freishtat Apr 16, 2017 ▶ 2:53 631: Saleswise Raises $3m, Launches Product, Helping 12 Customers Deveop Better Relationships with Their Data with CEO Gregg Freishtat

Disclosure

Freishtat invests his own money in every VC round he raises

“I think I've raised about 20 rounds of venture capital over the last 20 years. I've participated in every round and will continue to participate in any time I ask outsiders for money, I tend to think I should be putting my own money alongside it.”

Greg Freishtat Apr 16, 2017 ▶ 4:26 631: Saleswise Raises $3m, Launches Product, Helping 12 Customers Deveop Better Relationships with Their Data with CEO Gregg Freishtat

Disclosure

Freishtat invested $500,000 of personal capital to launch Saleswise

“About a half a million bucks.”

Greg Freishtat Apr 16, 2017 ▶ 4:44 631: Saleswise Raises $3m, Launches Product, Helping 12 Customers Deveop Better Relationships with Their Data with CEO Gregg Freishtat

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Saleswise syncs over 800 million Salesforce records daily

“We're sinking over eight hundred million Salesforce records a day, and we have over five terabits of data.”

Greg Freishtat Apr 16, 2017 ▶ 5:21 631: Saleswise Raises $3m, Launches Product, Helping 12 Customers Deveop Better Relationships with Their Data with CEO Gregg Freishtat

Freishtat sold a startup for nearly $200M in 1999

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