We founded Rypple in 2008 with the idea that social applications were going to change how people worked together. We kept hearing that the static, top-down, compliance-based technology then available in the marketplace didn’t help companies engage and empower their people to do great work and achieve business results. And we wanted to re-invent management for our social and mobile world.  It’s been an incredible journey. We’ve gotten to work with some of the fastest growing, most innovative, most inspiring companies on the planet. And, we’ve built a great team who have created a truly delightful service.

Today, we’re excited to announce that Rypple has entered into agreement to be acquired by salesforce.com. With more than 100,000 customers, Salesforce.com is the enterprise cloud computing company that is leading the shift to the social enterprise. They share Rypple’s vision for a more social, mobile, and transparent workplace, and we’re proud that we will be working together to make it a reality.

Most importantly, we know that joining forces with salesforce.com will be great for our customers, our product and our team. In fact, the acquisition signifies salesforce.com’s entry into the human capital management (HCM) market. When the transaction closes, salesforce.com plans to re-launch Rypple as “Successforce” and create a new HCM business unit.

Successforce will be part of salesforce.com’s HCM business unit and run by John Wookey, salesforce.com’s executive vice president of advanced applications. John is a legend in enterprise applications with over 20 years of experience in enterprise software, including senior leadership positions at Oracle and SAP. Personally, David and I are very excited about the opportunity to work with John. He shares our passion and vision for the next generation of social apps that are delightful for people.

Our Customers

Salesforce.com has an incredible heritage of innovation and trust.  They’re the undisputed leader in cloud computing and are now driving the shift to the social enterprise. Salesforce.com and Rypple share a vision for the future of technology, the cloud and the social enterprise, and all of our customers will benefit from a new social approach to HCM.

Our Product

Salesforce.com introduced the social enterprise to allow companies to put customers at the heart of their business. Successforce will continue Rypple’s vision of delivering a social and collaborative experience to performance management, and will be the first step in launching salesforce.com’s HCM business unit.

Our Team

The Rypple of the future will continue to be the Rypple you know — only better. Rypple management and employees plan to join salesforce.com once the transaction closes to continue our spirit of innovation and to ensure the continuity of our customer relationships. Our customers will continue to have access to the same dedicated people in Customer Success and Support they’ve come to rely on to help them get the most out of Rypple.

The transaction is expected to close in salesforce.com’s fiscal first quarter ending April 30, 2012, subject to customary closing conditions. Until then, Rypple will continue to operate independently.

You can find more information on the acquisition from the press release.

We thank you for all your support and look forward to sharing this exciting new adventure with all of you.

Sincerely,

Daniel and David