SaaS

One Week Out: How Salient Launched Welcome into a $5B Market

Project duration

2020-2021

Published date

Jul 2026

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Summary

About Salient PR

Salient is a B2B tech PR agency. We help startups become the story — landing tier-one coverage, building executive visibility, and turning attention into pipeline.

Senior team. No hand-offs. Radical transparency. If you’re ready to talk, reach out.

Contact

https://www.salientpr.com/contact-us

At a Glance

Timeline: 7 Days — Sprint Launch
Tier-One: TechCrunch, NPR, Fortune — Mainstream Credibility
Trade: VentureBeat, AdWeek — Industry Authority
Challenge: Hopin at $5–6B — Premium Positioning

The Partnership

Kleiner Perkins made the introduction. Welcome was one week away from announcing their Series A. They had no comms team, no previous agency, and no time.

In a market where Hopin was being chased at a $5-6 billion valuation, Welcome needed to launch loud enough to be heard — and distinct enough to matter.

The Challenge

November 2020. The world had been remote for eight months. Every company with a video feed was calling itself an "event platform." Hopin was the monster in the room, and Welcome was about to announce $12 million into a category drowning in commodity players.

The pitch couldn't be "another virtual events company." It had to be something reporters could actually remember.

The Strategy

Find the Frame: We positioned Welcome as the "Ritz-Carlton for event platforms" — premium, polished, designed for companies that couldn't afford to look like everyone else. While competitors sold features, we sold the feeling: Apple keynote-style virtual events that made attendees want to show up.
Coordinated Strike: TechCrunch and VentureBeat went live the same day. Fortune's Term Sheet followed. We turned a Series A into a market moment.
Stay in the Conversation: The launch was just the beginning. Over the following months, we kept Welcome in every major roundup on virtual events — mentioned alongside Hopin, included in AdWeek's production guides, featured in NPR's coverage of the pandemic startup boom.

The Results

In seven days, Welcome went from unknown to featured in TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and Fortune. Over the next five months: NPR, AdWeek, SF Gate, and consistent inclusion in industry coverage as the premium alternative to Hopin.

Today, Welcome has evolved into a leading webinar platform for marketers — still built on the same premise we launched with: experiences worth showing up for.

About Salient PR

Salient is a B2B tech PR agency. We help startups become the story — landing tier-one coverage, building executive visibility, and turning attention into pipeline.

Senior team. No hand-offs. Radical transparency. If you’re ready to talk, reach out.

Contact

https://www.salientpr.com/contact-us

Portrait of Jena Andres, a smiling woman with long dark hair wearing a sleeveless red top against a plain light gray background.

Working with Justin has been an awesome experience from the start. He’s highly collaborative and his ability to quickly provide deep strategic value is remarkable.

Jena Andres

Head of Marketing at Welcome

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