Why would entrepreneurs start a company to train salespeople, and why are sharp investors pouring millions of dollars into this business?

Part of the answer was supplied by Sales Impact Academy Ltd. this week as the company announced $22 million in new funding to accelerate growth and development of its sales, customer success and marketing learning platform.

“The lack of structured learning and education is one of the greatest educational travesties of the last 50 years,” said Paul Fifield (pictured), co-founder and chief executive officer of Sales Impact Academy. “In its infinite wisdom, the global education system just ignored sales and go-to-market as a profession. What this profession desperately needs is structured learning, good pedagogy, well-designed courses and curriculum.”

Fifield spoke with Dave Vellante, host of SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming video studio theCUBE, in an exclusive interview. They discussed the company’s progress to date and how SIA’s business model is designed to fill a learning gap within the go-to-market profession.

Expanding enterprise community

The latest investment in SIA is being led by Boston-based HubSpot Ventures and MIT Investment Management Company in collaboration with previous investors Stage 2 Capital and Emerge Education.

The fresh capital is designed to enable the continued build-out of SIA’s live learning technology platform, which has shown traction among enterprise firms seeking to upskill go-to-market contributors without requiring an extensive on-site operation.

“The thing that has surprised me the most over the last 12 months is the pull that we’re getting from the enterprise,” Fifield said. “Our learning community has gone from 3,000 people to almost 15,000 professionals. That makes us, comfortably, the largest go-to-market learning community in the world.”

SIA’s business model is based on a per-seat enrollment costing approximately $1,000 per year, according to Fifield. Instruction generally consists of two hour-long classes per week, taught by experienced professionals sourced, in many cases, from the extensive business networks of the firm’s key investors.

The curriculum is structured to appeal to both experienced professionals and individuals seeking to start a career in the go-to-market profession.

“What this platform does is equip people with the right skills and knowledge before they take that next step in their profession and in their career,” Fifield said. “Students are now leaving university with over $100,000 in debt. You could sign up to our platform at $100 per month and within six months gain enough knowledge and skill to walk into a $60,000 a year salary job as a sales development rep.”

Here’s the complete video interview, one of many CUBE Conversations from SiliconANGLE and theCUBE:

Photo: SiliconANGLE