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FOCUSES ON E
CC

U SS

RATHER THAN REWARDS

Founder and Chief Achiever Razor Suleman tells ESM how his frm

has evolved in the engagement space by downplaying features and
functions and selling solutions

erhaps no other company in the incentive, recognition, or loyalty business

warrants closer attention these days than Achievers. After all, it’s the only
P company in this space that has received Silicon Valley funding since the
1990s dot-com boom.

Launched as I Love Rewards in the extent necessary to justify a public and employees to share recognition on
Toronto back in 2002, the company offering. Globoforce, the other well- social-media-like news feeds open to
successfully won the backing of Sequoia fnanced company in the engagement and everyone in the organization.
Capital, whose investments include Apple, recognition space, recently withdrew its “No company ever woke up and
Electronic Arts, Cisco and other high- public offering. said ‘I need more rewards today,’” says
profle frms – and more recently, Airbnb Razor Suleman, Achievers Founder and
and Tumblr. IT TAKES AN OUTSIDER Chief Achiever, in a recent interview
With total fnancing now at nearly Achievers is known for two key with ESM. “When your business model is
$40 million, the company faces the innovations – its early embrace of the based on that, it’s hard to change. Often,
challenge of accomplishing what no one concept of employee engagement and it takes an outsider to look at an industry
in this feld has since the golden era of its leadership in social recognition differently to bring a fresh perspective.
the trading stamp: scaling a business to technology (i.e., the ability for managers Our approach from the beginning was to

contnued on page 18

engagement strategies Vol.18 Issue 2 13