We sat down with Upper Spire’s CEO to discuss his personal journey, the vision behind Cartularius, and how passion drives the product forward.
Marco Janssen is the CEO and co-owner of Upper Spire. With over two decades of experience in digital transformation (including CRM projects), he’s known for his strategic mindset and hands-on leadership.
A natural connector and problem-solver, Marco’s enthusiasm for innovation is balanced by a down-to-earth focus on solving real business problems.
Interviewer: Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you found your way to Upper Spire?
Marco: I’ve spent most of my career leading digital transformation initiatives – essentially helping companies modernize their processes with technology. I started out at large firms but soon ran my own consultancy, Extrico, focusing on guiding companies from A to Z through digital transformation programs, such as ERP, eCommerce and CRM implementations (Salesforce included) for many years. In that journey, I kept running into the same challenge at client after client: managing documents in Salesforce was a pain point. I first got to know Joris and Upper Spire when they were still a boutique Salesforce consultancy tackling exactly that kind of problem. We knew we were on the same page immediately. I was excited about the solution they were incubating and the vision behind it. So, a couple of years ago, I decided to come on board as co-owner and not much later as CEO as well. It felt like the perfect chance to take all that experience in transformation projects and channel it into building a product that could benefit every Salesforce customer, not just one consulting client at a time.
Next to my role in Upper Spire, I continue to run my other business Extrico Digital Transformations.
Interviewer: What drives you personally and professionally?
Marco: At the core, I’m driven by impact. I love seeing technology make people’s work lives easier. One of my mantras is that “innovation starts with solving real problems” – in other words, don’t innovate for innovation’s sake, do it to eliminate a real headache for the user. That’s exactly what drew me to Cartularius: it tackles a very concrete problem – that is, document chaos in Salesforce – so businesses can focus on what truly matters instead of wrestling with files.
Professionally, I get a lot of energy from building teams and watching them achieve great things together. Personally, I’m a lifelong learner – I enjoy picking up new perspectives, whether it’s through travel, reading, or meeting new people. That curiosity keeps me motivated to constantly improve our product and our business.
Interviewer: Upper Spire started as a consulting firm and then transformed into a product company. What have been some key milestones or lessons learned in building Cartularius?
Marco: There have been a few pivotal moments. Becoming an official Salesforce ISV partner in 2021 and launching the first iteration of the app was huge for Upper Spire. That early version – back then known as Virtual Private Storage – validated that the solution was on the right track. The potential of this early version of the product was the reason I joined the business as a non-executive board member a few years later. We focused on innovation first and after gathering tons of feedback and enhancing the solution, we decided to rebrand the app as Cartularius to reflect its evolution into a full-fledged document management platform. That rebranding late last year (with a new website and identity) was a major milestone for us – what was once a storage plugin became a comprehensive document management powerhouse. This result made me decide to step in as CEO.
Lesson-wise, one big takeaway has been the importance of staying true to the Salesforce-native approach. By building directly on Salesforce, we avoid forcing users to learn a new tool from scratch; Cartularius slots right into their existing workflow. We also learned to listen closely to our customers. Our best improvements came from client feedback or even pain points we observed during implementations. And of course, assembling a great team has been key – you need the right people to turn a good idea into a great product.
Interviewer: What’s something about you outside of work that helps shape how you lead or build products?
Marco: Outside of work, I’m an avid traveler and a (growing) sports enthusiast. In fact, because of my son choosing to play rugby, my eyes have been opened to that sport. Since then, I’ve become more and more of a rugby fan and, through another business I own, I sponsor the local rugby club. You might not think rugby and software have much in common, but being involved with various team sports has taught me a lot about leadership and teamwork. Case in point, rugby is all about strategy, trust, and each player doing their part in an organization if you will – and it’s the same with running a company. I’ve learned to value diverse skills and to ensure everyone on the team understands the game plan. Also, having lived and worked internationally (I spent time studying abroad and working with global teams), I’ve gained a real appreciation for different perspectives. That helps me lead a company with clients and partners all over the world – it’s made me adaptable and open-minded, which I think reflects in how we built Cartularius to be flexible for any industry or region.
Interviewer: What excites you about the future of Cartularius and Salesforce in general?
Marco: I’m excited on multiple fronts. For Cartularius, I see it becoming an indispensable part of the Salesforce ecosystem for any organization that deals with files – which is practically everyone. The future is all about smarter automation and integration. Salesforce is heavily investing in AI and workflow automation, and because Cartularius is native, we can ride that wave seamlessly. Imagine intelligent document filing, automated tagging, content analysis – features that make managing documents almost hands-free. In fact, most of that is already part of our app with further improvements being planned on our roadmap, like AI-driven workflows to categorize and find files faster.
More broadly, Salesforce itself is ever-evolving; the platform is expanding with things like AI (Einstein) enhancements, Agentforce, Slack integration, and industry-specific solutions. That evolution opens up new possibilities for us to enhance Cartularius. It’s really exciting to think about how we can help customers not just store documents, but actually derive insights from them. On a personal level, I’m also thrilled about growing our customer base. Each new customer is a chance to see Cartularius solve problems in a new context, which is very rewarding.
Interviewer: How do you see your role evolving as the company grows?
Marco: As we continue to grow, my role as CEO will shift more towards steering the ship strategically and nurturing the company culture. Currently, all of us in leadership are wearing multiple hats – from sales to support to sometimes even hands-on configuration. But as our team expands, I’m increasingly focusing on the bigger picture: forging partnerships, ensuring we stay aligned with Salesforce’s direction, and scaling the organization in a healthy way. I anticipate spending more time with our larger customers and in the ecosystem community, evangelizing the benefits of native document management. Internally, I see myself as the one who keeps everyone aligned on our mission and values. I’ll still be very involved in product strategy (I can’t help it, I love that part of the business), but I’ll also be empowering our growing team to take ownership. In short, I’ll move from being in the day-to-day trenches to being more of a coach and strategist – making sure the team has what they need to succeed as we enter the next phase of Upper Spire’s journey.
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