“Menlo Ventures defines what it means to be a long-term partner. From their conviction in our initial vision for changing the market, through the IPO, and eventual sale to Nortel Menlo remained on our board as the lead investor and supported us throughout with capital, expertise, and talent you can't find elsewhere.”

 - Dave Stamm, CEO

Serve customers faster and with better results through automation.

Clarify took advantage of the client-server technology wave to automate customer support processes for enterprises of all sizes.

In the late 1980's and early 1990's, the environment for developing application software was changing. Mainframe computers with complex software applications were going by the wayside as the use of client server networks, local area networks, and relational database systems was on the rise. In this changing environment, companies began to develop application software for internal departmental use.

Clarify, Inc., headed by founder and CEO David Stamm, recognized this changing environment and began to develop a scalable, robust, fully-featured software suite to automate and revolutionize customer support.

When the Menlo Ventures team was first introduced to Clarify — a small start-up of eight employees — it recognized immediately that Clarify's vision matched its own in the area of customer support automation. Menlo Ventures was quick to invest and co-led the first round in February of 1991. Menlo's involvement in Clarify would continue into the final phases of the Company, with Menlo working closely with the Clarify team throughout the Company's entire lifecycle.

After Menlo's initial investment, the application software market exploded. Of the nearly thirty companies in the space, seven completed IPO's, and three emerged as leaders: Scopus, Vantive, and Clarify. Clarify distinguished itself from its competitors as the leading provider of fully featured, scalable, robust products for internal and external support organizations.

Menlo continued to strongly support Clarify as revenues doubled year-over-year. Menlo partner Tom Bredt worked closely with the Company to strategize as it branched into sales force automation and to build a stellar management team with the necessary experience to rebuild the Company's market position and to lead a company that soon became second in the marketplace for customer relationship management software, which included sales as well as customer support solutions. In total, Menlo Ventures invested in four rounds of funding.

In October of 1995, Clarify completed its IPO with gross proceeds of $29.9 million. Tom Bredt remained on Clarify's Board of Directors after the IPO. Toward the end of the 1990's the market began to consolidate. Clarify's Board negotiated the sale of Clarify to Nortel Networks in March of 2000 for $2.1 billion. At the time of the acquisition, Tom Bredt was the last remaining venture capital investor on the Clarify Board.