Table of Contents
- Consensus founders and financing at a glance
- Who is Garin Hess?
- Why the founders built Consensus
- What Consensus does
- What makes the founder thesis distinctive?
- Consensus financing and transaction history
- What the latest milestone was intended to change
- Founder and company timeline
- The founders' public thesis
- Strengths, risks and unresolved questions
- Evidence to watch over the next 12 to 18 months
- Frequently asked questions
Garin Hess founded Consensus, the ai-powered demo automation and presales platform business now serving presales, solutions-consulting, sales and revenue teams. Garin Hess is Founder and former CEO.
The latest material financing milestone covered here is $110M growth investment, dated 2023-03-08. The relevant total is At least $112.8M disclosed, labelled as initial $2.8M seed plus company-confirmed $110M Sumeru investment. It is company-level capital or transaction value—not founder net worth.
Authentic Consensus website evidence captured on 21 July 2026.
Consensus founders and financing at a glance
| Field | Verified information |
|---|---|
| Founding team | Garin Hess |
| Current or documented roles | Garin Hess: Founder and former CEO |
| Company | Consensus — goconsensus.com |
| Founded | 2013 |
| Headquarters or operating scope | Lehi, Utah, United States; distributed team |
| Product category | AI-powered demo automation and presales platform |
| Primary customer | Presales, solutions-consulting, sales and revenue teams |
| Latest financing milestone | $110M growth investment, 2023-03-08 |
| Total or transaction value | At least $112.8M disclosed — initial $2.8M seed plus company-confirmed $110M Sumeru investment |
| Public status | Privately held or part of an acquirer |
| Last verified | 21 July 2026 |
Who is Garin Hess?
Garin Hess is Founder and former CEO at Consensus. Garin Hess's role should be read in its current context: founder status is permanent, while executive responsibility can change as a company scales, lists publicly or is acquired.
Founder profile: Connect with Garin Hess on LinkedIn.
Garin Hess in an official Consensus author portrait.
In the founding team, Garin Hess contributed to the combination of product judgment, technical execution and go-to-market work behind Consensus. The public evidence does not justify claims about private ownership, personal wealth or undisclosed internal responsibilities.
Why the founders built Consensus
Hess began building the product after repeatedly seeing presales teams spend scarce expert time delivering the same introductory demonstrations. Consensus was designed to automate repeatable demos, collect stakeholder priorities and reserve technical specialists for the conversations where their expertise has the greatest value.
This is documented company history plus editorial assessment. It does not establish private motivations beyond what the founders and company have said publicly.
What Consensus does
Consensus provides interactive video demos, product tours, stakeholder discovery, demo analytics and personalized buyer enablement. Its current platform adds AI-assisted workflows for presales teams and content that buyers can share across a decision group.
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What makes the founder thesis distinctive?
The CSV incorrectly attributes Consensus to Scott Clark. Company history identifies Garin Hess as founder; Doug Johnson became CEO in 2023. The latest $110M transaction is a growth investment, while a company social post described it as Series C.
Our assessment is that durable differentiation must show up in customer outcomes, workflow adoption, reliable data movement and lower operating cost—not only in feature count or AI branding.
Consensus financing and transaction history
| Announcement date | Round or instrument | Amount | Lead or named participants | Reported use | Evidence status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Seed | $2.8M | Investors including Peak Ventures | Commercialize automated product demos | Company-reported in later funding announcement |
| 8 March 2023 | Growth investment / Series C | $110M | Sumeru Equity Partners | Scale the demo-automation category and international growth | Company-confirmed |
| — | Current qualified figure | At least $112.8M disclosed | — | — | initial $2.8M seed plus company-confirmed $110M Sumeru investment |
The headline uses $110M growth investment because it is the clearest recent milestone in the verified record. Different instruments are not silently combined: acquisition consideration, IPO proceeds, primary funding and secondary liquidity have different meanings.
What the latest milestone was intended to change
Public statements connect the milestone to some combination of product investment, AI capability, geographic expansion, hiring, acquisitions or shareholder liquidity. Those plans are attributed intentions, not proof that each outcome occurred. Evidence should include shipped capabilities, adoption, retention, unit economics and customer results after the transaction.
Founder and company timeline
| Period | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2013 | Hess develops the first Consensus prototype. |
| 2015 | The company raises a $2.8M seed and begins commercial expansion. |
| 2023 | Consensus secures a $110M Sumeru investment. |
| 2023 | Doug Johnson succeeds Hess as CEO. |
| 2026 | Consensus expands interactive demos, stakeholder discovery and AI-powered presales workflows. |
The founders' public thesis
Across the available company history, the founders argue that customer data becomes valuable when operating teams can turn it into timely, coordinated action. The exact emphasis differs by company—category creation, accessibility, data ownership, real-time infrastructure or AI-assisted execution—but the test is similar: can a customer make better decisions without adding hidden complexity?
Strengths, risks and unresolved questions
Visible strengths
- A founding thesis attached to a recurring and measurable marketing workflow.
- Product history and financing evidence available from primary sources.
- A platform broad enough to influence data, orchestration and customer communication.
Material risks
- Recorded demos and buyer analytics may contain confidential product or account information.
- Automated stakeholder conclusions should be checked before guiding sales strategy.
- The latest investment should not be interpreted as revenue, valuation or founder proceeds.
Questions buyers and researchers should ask
- Which founder roles are current, and which describe historical service?
- How is incremental customer or revenue impact measured against a control?
- What data, consent, model and deliverability controls constrain automated action?
- Which transaction amounts were primary capital, secondary liquidity or acquisition consideration?
- What implementation resources are required before the platform produces reliable value?
Evidence to watch over the next 12 to 18 months
Watch for independently explainable retention and expansion, transparent AI evaluation, successful migrations, product delivery tied to the announced financing purpose and current executive-role disclosures. For public companies, filings provide a stronger operating signal than promotional customer counts alone. For private companies, future financing announcements should identify transaction composition clearly.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded Consensus?
Consensus was founded by Garin Hess.
What does Consensus do?
Consensus provides ai-powered demo automation and presales platform capabilities for presales, solutions-consulting, sales and revenue teams.
What is Consensus's latest financing milestone?
The latest milestone verified for this profile is $110M growth investment, dated 2023-03-08.
How much funding has Consensus raised?
The qualified figure used here is At least $112.8M disclosed. Its status is initial $2.8M seed plus company-confirmed $110M Sumeru investment; it should not be interpreted as founder wealth.
What should buyers verify?
Buyers should test data integration, consent controls, measurement, implementation effort, support, exportability and the limits placed on automated or AI-generated actions.
Tolu S.
Associate Director
Evidence-led product reviews and founder profiles for search, marketing, authority, and AI visibility teams.
