Why we started Adrata
“I don't believe in statistics. I believe in calculus.” Ben Horowitz said that, and it stuck with us. Statistics tell you where you are. Calculus is about the move that changes where you're headed.
For years the whole industry has poured money into figuring out where a deal is: forecasting, deal scoring, pipeline inspection, dashboards that hand you a probability and a stage. Almost no one invested in the thing that actually decides the outcome: how to move it. The next move. Who really decides. The route in.
We had spent years watching great products lose to worse ones. Strong teams beaten by rivals who knew the right people inside the account. Not because they sold better. Because they could see who actually decided. That gap between knowing where a deal sits and knowing how to move it is why we built Adrata.
Enterprise deals rarely die in dramatic fashion. They die slowly. Stalled in meetings. Lost in stakeholders no one mapped. Decided by a committee no one reached. The best reps chase stale reads. Forecasts slip. Pipeline fills with deals that look alive and never move. And the team with the best product loses anyway, because they called the wrong person, opened with the wrong reason, or never got to the room where the call was made.
The problem was never effort. It was access. CRMs track activity. Revenue tools replay calls. Neither answers the three questions that win a deal: who holds the power, why does it matter now, and how do you get to them.
We built Adrata to answer them. It is the AI for enterprise sales, for the deals you can't afford to lose. It finds the entry point, the way into a company. It surfaces the trigger, the reason it's now. It maps the buyer room and the route through the committee to the people who decide, then hands you the move. You work the room.
Around that engine we built a governed layer: your data, your integrations, the best models, continuous evaluation, and evidence on every move. So every action stays inspectable and yours to approve, even on the accounts you cannot afford to get wrong.
Win the deals you can't afford to lose.
Our Values
Win Together
The customer winning is the only score that counts. Rep success is the metric.
Compound Weekly
Small gains stack. Every week we ship, every week we learn, every week the system gets smarter.
Truth Over Comfort
Say the hard thing early. No vanity metrics, no forecast theater.
Build Correctly
Quality compounds. Shortcuts charge interest.
Speed with Intention
Fast and deliberate. Never fast and reckless.
Founders
Ross Sylvester
Co-Founder & CEO
Ross founded Adrata after years watching deals die in committee. He saw the best teams losing not because they could not sell, but because they were selling to the wrong people. His first company was acquired by CampusLogic in 2019, where he stayed through the Ellucian acquisition in 2022. He built Adrata because he lived the problem.
Outside of Adrata, Ross is eager to beat Tom in one hole of golf.
Tom Curzon
Co-Founder & Chairman
Tom brings 40+ years guiding startups through their most critical moments. He focuses his time on building Adrata into an enduring company and serving as a leader in Scouting America. Tom has served on numerous corporate and nonprofit boards and brings the operational discipline of someone who has helped companies scale from idea to acquisition.
Outside of Adrata, Tom loves fly fishing, playing with his grandkids, and watching his sons and daughter-in-laws build great families. He is never losing a hole in golf to Ross.
Win the deals you can't afford to lose.
The AI that finds the way in, names the reason it's now, and gets you through the buyer room to the people who decide. Start with one account.
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