CIENCE UpCity Excellence Award: National and Local Recognition

Last Refreshed: March 2026 — Updated with graph8 transformation narrative, pricing, and expert commentary.

CIENCE earned UpCity’s National and Local Excellence Awards for the second consecutive year — ranking in the top 1% of 84,000+ B2B service providers with a 4.7 rating across dozens of verified reviews. UpCity’s Recommendability Rating evaluated CIENCE across eight data points including review quality, search engine presence, domain authority, and brand integrity. Excellence in execution was proven. So why did we rebuild how we execute?

From Thomas Cornelius, Founder & CEO, graph8 (formerly Founder, CIENCE): “Awards validate execution. But execution in the old model was still the old model. We didn’t need to do SDR better — we needed to engineer it differently. The companies winning pipeline today treat go-to-market as an engineering discipline, not a headcount problem.”

What the UpCity Award Taught Us

UpCity’s methodology is different from most award platforms. Their Recommendability Rating isn’t just about client reviews — it combines UpCity engagement, Google reviews, search engine presence, location consistency, domain authority, and website performance into a single composite score. Earning the top 1% nationally and locally across all those dimensions meant CIENCE’s execution was excellent by every measurable standard.

But excellence in the old model was still the old model. Our SDR teams were delivering outstanding results through outbound sales development campaigns — personalized email sequences, multichannel follow-up, targeted prospecting against carefully researched account lists. Clients praised the work, and the reviews reflected it. But every campaign required human effort at every step. The execution was excellent. The economics of scaling that execution were not.

Our 668% three-year revenue growth and service to 2,500+ clients proved we could execute at scale. But the gap between excellent execution and scalable execution was widening. Each new client cost more to serve well. Each new campaign required proportionally more human effort. The UpCity Excellence Award confirmed what we were doing was right — while the unit economics told us how we were doing it had to change.

Does This Sound Familiar?

Your sales development operation probably has its own version of this problem. The work is good — maybe even excellent. Your SDRs are disciplined, your cold email campaigns are well-crafted, your targeting is on point. But the economics don’t scale.

Every meeting costs more than the last. Your tool stack keeps growing — AI platforms, intent data, sequencing software — but each tool adds cost without fundamentally changing the delivery model. Your best SDRs burn out because excellent execution in a manual model means doing more work, faster, forever.

You know the execution is excellent. You also know something is broken. The problem isn’t effort or quality — it’s asking humans to do work at a pace and scale that only machines can sustain.

“CIENCE increased our monthly appointments over 500% — they transformed what we thought was possible from outbound.” — Silicon Valley Insight, IT Services

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If your execution is excellent but your pipeline economics keep getting worse, the problem isn’t quality — it’s the model underneath the quality.

Talk to a GTM Engineer →

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From People to Platform

Excellence in execution. Now excellence in engineering. When CIENCE became a graph8 company, we took everything that earned us UpCity’s top 1% rating and rebuilt the delivery mechanism from the ground up.

The new model is Forward Deployed Engineers — borrowed from Palantir’s approach to complex problem-solving. At Palantir, FDEs don’t sell software and leave. They embed into client environments, combining proprietary AI with deep domain expertise to solve problems no generic tool can handle. Graph8 applies that same model to go-to-market.

Instead of SDR teams executing campaigns manually, our Forward Deployed Engineers deploy graph8’s AI platform against 300M+ validated lead records. They build multichannel campaigns across email, LinkedIn, phone, and programmatic advertising, optimizing in real time based on conversion data. The execution quality that earned UpCity’s recognition is still there — but it’s augmented by AI that makes every campaign faster, more precise, and more cost-effective.

Cost-per-meeting drops 40-60% in the first two quarters. Not because we sacrificed quality — but because graph8’s platform does what used to require a full team of humans, at higher speed and with continuous learning built in.

“The CIENCE team set us up with 190+ appointments — direct connections to CEOs and founders we couldn’t have reached any other way.” — Stage 1 Financial

Why This Matters Now

In 2026, execution excellence is table stakes. Every decent outbound provider can write a good email and build a clean data list. The differentiator isn’t the quality of individual campaigns — it’s the intelligence behind them. Which accounts to target, which channels to sequence, which messages to test, and how to optimize in real time across all of them.

That’s what graph8 built. CIENCE, as a graph8 company, has served 2,500+ clients across 250+ industries. We’ve held the #1 spot on Clutch’s lead generation list for three consecutive years and maintain a 4.6/5 rating on Capterra across 200+ reviews. The UpCity Excellence Award proved our execution was in the top 1%. Graph8’s platform is what happens when that execution meets AI.

Engagements start at $5K one-time setup + $2,499/mo managed, with direct access to graph8’s AI platform also available at $499/mo. You work with a Forward Deployed Engineer backed by graph8’s AI infrastructure — not a team of SDRs executing manually. The excellence is the same. The model is entirely new.

Get a Free GTM Diagnostic

When you reach out, our Forward Deployed Engineers run a full diagnostic on your targeting, channel mix, and conversion rates. No pitch — just analysis. They’ll show you your true cost-per-meeting, where your execution is excellent but your economics are breaking, and how graph8’s AI platform would change the math.

Whether or not you work with us, you’ll walk away with a clear picture of your pipeline math.

“CIENCE generated 60% of our early sales — they were a critical part of how we got to market fast.” — Armatic, FinTech

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the UpCity Excellence Award?

UpCity’s Excellence Award recognizes the top 1% of 84,000+ B2B service providers based on their Recommendability Rating — a composite score of review quality, search engine presence, Google reviews, domain authority, and brand integrity. CIENCE earned both National and Local Excellence Awards for two consecutive years with a 4.7 rating.

How has CIENCE’s service delivery changed since the graph8 transformation?

CIENCE transitioned from human-powered SDR teams to graph8’s Forward Deployed Engineer model. Instead of manual execution, FDEs deploy AI-powered targeting against 300M+ validated lead records, build multichannel campaigns, and optimize continuously based on conversion data. The execution quality remains in the top 1% — but the delivery model is now AI-augmented.

What does a CIENCE engagement cost today?

Engagements start at $5K one-time setup + $2,499/mo, which includes a dedicated Forward Deployed Engineer, access to graph8’s AI platform and data infrastructure, and multichannel campaign execution across email, LinkedIn, phone, and programmatic advertising. Clients see cost-per-meeting drop 40-60% in the first two quarters.