SAP Startup Spotlight: Cloverleaf

Cloverleaf brings team coaching to the entire enterprise. Cloverleaf integrates with the communication and productivity tools employees use every day like Google for Business, Microsoft 365 and Slack. It provides micro-coaching through these tools to improve work relationships that lead to better collaboration, more inclusive teams and improved leadership competency. In this interview, Darrin Murriner, CEO and co-founder of Cloverleaf, talks about what the company has to offer and what’s next for the startup.

E-3 Magazine: How does your solution work?

Darrin Murriner: Everyone starts by taking market recognized assessments like DISC or StrengthsFinder and can then get custom insights about their personal development. Anyone can create a team by inviting their teammates and then get custom insights about their unique roles on the team. Integrating their Cloverleaf account with Microsoft 365, Google Workplace or Slack will then open the door to custom coaching that improves work relationships.

What are the customer-side requirements?

Murriner: Anyone can get started with a web browser, no special client-side hardware is required. It can take as little as ten minutes to create your account and begin receiving custom coaching. 

Why did you start Cloverleaf to begin with?

Murriner: Kirsten Moorefield and I worked together at a digital video agency. During our time there we noticed the unique role that team interaction had on the success or failure of project-based work and wanted to bring transparency to the process of team formation and team performance. This started us on a quest to identify the right inputs, data visualizations and coaching opportunities to improve team development.

How could your solution potentially help customers navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and the different challenges of reopening?

Murriner: Even before COVID-19, Cloverleaf was a valuable tool for remote teams. It is hard to build team cohesion, trust and psychological safety when there are so few opportunities for remote teams to engage on a personal level. But Cloverleaf’s integrated coaching nudges insight and knowledge of how others work and how to work with others in a way that builds cohesion and trust. This has been even more valuable for teams that are going remote for the first time because of COVID-19.

Can your solution be integrated in SAP systems?

Murriner: The Cloverleaf app will be available in the SAP App Center in January 2021. This app will provide single sign-on with SAP and is a launching point for better onboarding by tapping into Employee Central (EC) as well as being an opportunity to order assessments and bring assessment data back into EC. Longer term, we can use organizational changes to enhance the level of customization of coaching content.

How has SAP.io’s involvement impacted your journey?

Murriner: The SAP.io team has been incredible at getting us access to some of the best talent and experience to help us scale our business. This means access to SAP leaders to help us improve our brand messaging, better comply with the needs of large enterprises, and connect us with clients that need our solution.

What’s next for Cloverleaf?

Murriner: Cloverleaf aspires to be the world’s first continuous, embedded performance development system. This would go beyond coaching to predictive development opportunities based on actual performance. We plan integrations with other tools in the enterprise such as Salesforce or Jira to further enhance the access to coaching opportunities and make an even bigger impact on teams.

Thank you for the interview.

Enjoyed this interview in our SAP Startup Spotlight Series? You might also like our piece on RandomCoffee, a SaaS solution that helps bring employees together.