CIENCE ranked #6 on Fortune's Best Workplaces for Women: selected from over 640,000 survey responses: with 97% of employees calling it a great place to work, nearly double the 57% U.S. average. Making its debut on this list, CIENCE placed among the top ten from over a hundred distinguished companies. The team that earned this recognition helped design what came next. So why did we rebuild the model that a top-six workforce built?
Last Refreshed: March 2026: Updated to reflect CIENCE's transformation into graph8, the Forward Deployed Engineer delivery model, and current pricing.
From Thomas Cornelius, Founder & CEO, graph8: "The culture we built at CIENCE: where talented people are given real ownership and hard problems: didn't disappear when we rebuilt the model. It became the operating system for everything graph8 does today."
What the Fortune Award Taught Us
Great Place to Work doesn't hand out this recognition lightly. They analyzed survey responses from 640,000+ women at certified companies, measured the differences between women's experiences and their peers', and weighted statements according to their relevance in describing equitable workplaces. CIENCE's #6 ranking meant our team wasn't just satisfied: they were thriving in a genuinely meritocratic environment.
That culture produced results. Our women leaders and team members were running sales development campaigns, managing client relationships, and driving the execution that led to 668% three-year revenue growth and recognition as a 4x Inc. 5000 honoree. They were exceptional at their jobs.
But being exceptional at execution inside a broken model is a dead end. The outsourced SDR model: even when powered by the best people in the industry: hits a ceiling. More clients require more people. More people require more training, more management, more overhead. The team that Fortune recognized as #6 for women was the same team asking hard questions about whether the business model deserved them.
Does This Sound Familiar?
You've probably built a strong team too. Maybe your SDRs are some of the best you've managed. They're disciplined, coachable, and committed. But they're spending their talent on work that's becoming commoditized: manual prospecting, generic sequences, cold email volume that yields diminishing returns.
Your cost per meeting is climbing. Your best reps leave because the work doesn't challenge them anymore. You keep hiring, but pipeline growth stays flat because the B2B lead generation model has structural limits that no amount of talent can overcome.
The heartbreak isn't that your team is underperforming. It's that they're overperforming inside a model that can't reward it.
"CIENCE increased our monthly appointments over 500%: and they did it faster than we thought possible.": Silicon Valley Insight
If your best people are outgrowing a model that can't keep up with them, the answer isn't more hiring: it's a better model.
From People to Platform
The team that won Fortune's recognition helped design what CIENCE became next. When we joined graph8, the transformation wasn't imposed from the outside: it was driven by the same people who'd proven the old model's limits.
Graph8's approach borrows from Palantir's Forward Deployed Engineer model. At Palantir, FDEs embed into client organizations with proprietary technology and domain expertise to solve problems no generic tool can handle. Graph8 applies that same principle to go-to-market: instead of staffing SDR teams, we deploy Forward Deployed Engineers who combine AI-powered targeting with deep sales development expertise.
These engineers work with our database of 300M+ validated lead records, deploy multichannel campaigns across email, LinkedIn, phone, and programmatic advertising, and optimize based on real-time conversion data. The inclusive, collaborative culture that earned CIENCE a #6 ranking for women didn't disappear: it became the operating system for a fundamentally different delivery model.
The women who helped build CIENCE's reputation aren't running SDR scripts anymore. They're engineering pipeline. And the results show: clients see cost-per-meeting drop 40-60% in the first two quarters, because graph8's platform replaces manual volume with intelligent precision.
"60% of our early sales were directly attributed to CIENCE: they were a critical part of getting Armatic off the ground.": Armatic (FinTech)
Why This Matters Now
In 2026, the companies winning B2B pipeline aren't the ones with the largest teams: they're the ones where talented people work alongside AI-powered systems instead of competing against them. That's what graph8 built, and it's what CIENCE delivers today.
We've 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. But the model behind those numbers has been rebuilt from the ground up: by the same culture that Fortune ranked #6 for women.
Engagements start at $5K one-time setup + $2,499/mo. You work with Forward Deployed Engineers, not entry-level reps. And the graph8 platform gets smarter with every campaign it runs: because great culture and great technology compound together.
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 deck: just math. They'll map your true cost-per-meeting, identify where your funnel leaks, and show you exactly how graph8's AI would change the numbers.
Whether or not you work with us, you'll walk away with a clear picture of your pipeline math.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was CIENCE's ranking on the Fortune Best Workplaces for Women list?
CIENCE ranked #6 on Fortune's Best Workplaces for Women list, selected from over 640,000 women's survey responses at Great Place to Work-Certified companies. Among CIENCE employees, 97% said the company is a great place to work: compared to the 57% average at a typical U.S. company.
How does CIENCE's workplace culture connect to the graph8 transformation?
The meritocratic, inclusive culture that earned CIENCE a top-six ranking for women became the foundation for graph8's Forward Deployed Engineer model. The same team that proved exceptional at sales development execution helped design a model where talented humans work alongside AI: rather than being replaced by it: to deliver better pipeline results at lower cost.
What results can clients expect from CIENCE today?
CIENCE clients typically see cost-per-meeting drop 40-60% in the first two quarters. Engagements start at $5K one-time setup + $2,499/mo and include a Forward Deployed Engineer, access to 300M+ validated lead records, and multichannel campaign execution across email, LinkedIn, phone, and digital advertising.
The award remains the proof point. The rebuilt system turns the culture behind that proof into a controlled delivery model: graph8 runs the platform, CIENCE delivers the outcome, and customers get pipeline without the old manual load.