ExactTarget first filed to go public in December 2007, then waited more than four years while the financial crisis came and went. When it finally listed in March 2012, the Indianapolis company sent marketing email, text messages and social posts for more than 4,700 clients. It ran on rented servers in Indianapolis and Las Vegas and sold its software by subscription. In a city better known for car racing, it had grown into one of the biggest cloud companies in the Midwest.

Email From the Midwest

Scott Dorsey, Chris Baggott and Peter McCormick started the company in Indianapolis in 2000 as ExactTarget, LLC. Their first product helped small marketers write and send email newsletters without a programmer. Over time ExactTarget added mobile messaging, social media tools and data features, and moved up to big brands and agencies. The bet was that marketing would move from mass ads to one-to-one messages, and that marketers would pay a monthly fee for the software to send them.

Salesforce Comes Calling

ExactTarget sold 8.5 million shares at $19 in March 2012 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange as ET. It sold more stock in a follow-on offering that September. In June 2013 Salesforce agreed to buy ExactTarget for $33.75 a share in cash, about $2.5 billion, and completed the deal that July. The business became the core of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and its Indianapolis offices became a major Salesforce hub.

Cover: Archery (Sha), from the series "Informal Versions of the Six Accomplishments in the Floating World (Ukiyoe rikugei ryaku)", Isoda Koryusai. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for an archer aiming (exact target).