CIENCE UpCity Best of California Award: Top 50 Providers

CIENCE earned UpCity’s Best of California Award as a top-50 B2B service provider — selected from thousands of California companies based on customer satisfaction, verified reviews, and UpCity’s Recommendability Rating. The award celebrated the best regional providers based on positive feedback from active users. Born in California, CIENCE was built for the world. So why did a company already winning regional and national recognition need to reinvent itself?

Last Refreshed: June 2025 — Updated transformation narrative, graph8 platform details, and pricing context.

From Thomas Cornelius, Founder & CEO, graph8: “Regional recognition validated our execution — but it also revealed the ceiling. The best California companies don’t just win locally; they build platforms that replicate their best outcomes at scale. That’s what graph8 is: the playbook from 2,500+ clients, operationalized as an AI system.”

What the California Award Taught Us

California is home to some of the most competitive B2B service providers on the planet. Earning a top-50 spot meant CIENCE’s sales development execution was consistently outstanding — not just by national standards, but in a state where every technology and services company is fighting for the same clients.

Our San Diego and San Francisco operations were delivering results that clients noticed. Reviews highlighted our research quality, campaign management, and ability to generate meaningful pipeline. We’d also earned UpCity’s National Excellence Award and SourceForge recognition — proof that the quality wasn’t regional luck.

But California also taught us something about the future. We were surrounded by companies that had made the leap from services to platforms — from selling human effort to selling software-powered outcomes. Our 668% three-year revenue growth and 2,500+ client base proved the services model worked. The companies around us proved that platforms work better.

Does This Sound Familiar?

If you’re running B2B sales development, you’ve probably watched this services-to-platform shift happen in every adjacent category. Marketing agencies became marketing platforms. Customer support centers became AI-powered helpdesks. But outbound sales development? Most companies are still doing it the same way — hiring SDRs, building sequences, grinding through volume.

Your cost per meeting keeps climbing. Your cold email response rates keep falling. You’ve added AI tools to the edges, but the core delivery model is still human-powered and linear. Every improvement you make is incremental. Every scale-up requires proportionally more budget.

The rest of the go-to-market stack has evolved. Sales development is still running on the old operating system.

“They definitely supersede our internal capabilities.” — Candice Long, Marketing Director, Learning Ally

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If every other part of your GTM stack has modernized except your pipeline generation, that’s where your biggest opportunity is hiding.

Talk to a GTM Engineer →

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From People to Platform

Born in California, built for the world. When CIENCE became a graph8 company, we completed the same services-to-platform evolution that California’s most successful companies had already made — but we did it for go-to-market.

The model is Forward Deployed Engineers, borrowed from Palantir’s approach. Palantir doesn’t sell software licenses from a distance. They embed engineers — with proprietary AI technology and domain expertise — directly into client environments to solve problems that off-the-shelf tools can’t touch. Graph8 applies that same model to pipeline generation and sales development.

Instead of SDR teams executing manual campaigns, 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 California-born commitment to client outcomes hasn’t changed. The delivery mechanism has been completely rebuilt.

Cost-per-meeting drops 40-60% in the first two quarters. Not because graph8 cut corners — but because AI does what used to require an entire team of humans, with continuous learning that makes every campaign smarter than the last.

“Thanks to CIENCE Technologies’ efforts, the client has seen a 500% monthly increase in their new sales appointments.” — Bryce Garoutte, Sr. VP, Silicon Valley Insight

Why This Matters Now

In 2026, geography doesn’t define your GTM capabilities — your platform does. CIENCE, as a graph8 company, serves clients across every time zone and industry. The California roots that earned us UpCity’s Best of recognition gave us the competitive DNA. The graph8 platform gives us global reach.

We’ve served 2,500+ clients across 250+ industries. We’ve held the #1 position on Clutch’s lead generation list for three consecutive years, maintain a 4.6/5 rating on Capterra, and earned 4x Inc. 5000 recognition. The graph8 platform makes those results available to any B2B company, anywhere.

Engagements start at $5K one-time setup + $2,499/mo managed, which includes a dedicated Forward Deployed Engineer backed by graph8’s AI infrastructure. Add the full graph8 platform for $499/mo — not a regional services team limited by geography. Born in California. Built for everywhere.

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 pipeline math. They’ll show you your true cost-per-meeting, where your current model is leaking efficiency, and how graph8’s AI platform would change the economics.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

What is UpCity’s Best of California Award?

UpCity’s “Best of” Awards recognize the top 50 B2B service providers in each U.S. state and Canadian province. Winners are selected based on UpCity’s proprietary Recommendability Rating, which evaluates review quality, search engine presence, domain authority, and overall brand integrity. CIENCE earned this alongside National Excellence recognition.

How does CIENCE serve clients outside of California?

As a graph8 company, CIENCE deploys Forward Deployed Engineers backed by AI infrastructure that works across any geography or industry. FDEs use 300M+ validated lead records, multichannel campaign orchestration, and programmatic advertising to build pipeline for clients in 250+ B2B industries worldwide — no regional limitations.

What does a CIENCE engagement cost?

Engagements start at $5K one-time setup + $2,499/mo managed, 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 digital advertising. The full graph8 platform subscription adds $499/mo. Clients typically see cost-per-meeting drop 40-60% in the first two quarters.