Case Study
Unified Vision and Cross-Team Collaboration Accelerate Project Outcomes at Submittable
Company Snapshot
- Industry: SaaS - Grant & Social Impact Management
- Founded: 2010
- Team Size: 230+
- Location: Missoula, Montana, USA
Scale (2025)
~$66.6M annual revenue, 230+ employees, 30,000+ programs supported, $10B+ in funds administered
Mission
Empower organizations to maximize social impact through streamlined application, grant, and CSR program management.
The Opportunity
As Submittable scaled rapidly—from $49M in 2023 to $66.6M in 2025—it faced the classic challenge of operating as “one company” across functions.
Rapid headcount growth across engineering, sales, product, and CSR teams created alignment gaps.
With multiple solution areas (grants, volunteering, community investment), teams lacked a standardized narrative to communicate impact internally and externally.
Submittable’s value proposition spanned nonprofits, governments, and corporate CSR leaders. Translating this complex offering into simple, consistent ideas proved difficult.
Product development priorities risked diverging from the company’s overarching vision of social impact leadership.
The Risk
Without stronger alignment, Submittable risked slower execution, diluted messaging, and internal inefficiencies—ultimately threatening its ability to lead in a competitive SaaS-for-impact category.
The Solution
We partnered with Submittable to embed alignment and collaboration across strategy and execution. The engagement focused on six levers of alignment:
Conducted facilitated workshops bringing engineering, product, sales, and marketing into shared alignment sessions.
Established clear accountability frameworks and joint success metrics.
Refined and simplified Submittable’s “North Star” as “Move as One Company for Social Impact.”
Created a vision narrative rolled out across leadership and mid-level managers to cascade alignment.
Developed a unified messaging framework, ensuring that sales, product, and CSR teams spoke a common language.
Delivered toolkits and internal playbooks for consistent communications.
Translated Submittable’s multi-offering platform (grants, scholarships, volunteering, relief funds) into three clear narrative pillars for external positioning and internal adoption.
Partnered with product leadership to align feature prioritization with Submittable’s broader impact strategy.
Introduced quarterly cross-functional roadmap reviews to prevent drift.
Moved beyond strategy to execution support—building quarterly OKR dashboards and alignment rituals across leadership teams.
The Impact
Within three months of execution, Submittable realized measurable improvements:
92% of leaders reported greater clarity on how their function contributed to the North Star vision.
Time spent resolving inter-departmental conflicts reduced by 30%.
Sales enablement teams reported a 25% reduction in cycle time for developing external proposals.
Unified messaging boosted customer confidence, driving faster deal closures in the CSR segment.
Complex product narratives condensed into three strategic pillars, improving adoption across 1,200+ employees and partners.
Product development timelines shortened by 15% due to clearer prioritization.
Greater alignment between new product releases and corporate social impact goals enhanced brand differentiation.
Submittable reinforced its identity as a Public Benefit Corporation, strengthening employee pride and retention amid scaling.
Overall Result
Submittable achieved “one-company alignment,” positioning itself to scale efficiently while maintaining its social impact mission.
Key Takeaways
1. Unified Direction
Cross-functional teams aligned around a single North Star, reducing silos and internal friction.
2. Consistent Messaging
Standardized narratives simplified complex offerings and ensured clarity across all touchpoints.
3. Roadmap Discipline
Product priorities synchronized with strategic goals, accelerating execution and impact delivery.
