Tonya Turrell is the Founder and CEO of TechnologyMatch.com, who is reshaping the way IT leaders connect with tech vendors. Her journey started with big dreams and great success-turned-risks. She has been a founder more than once. Her first company, Leads OnDemand, reached #209 on the Inc. 5000 list in 2015 and achieved a multimillion-dollar acquisition. She then went on to lead TechnologyMatch.com (previously known as The Launchpad), which ranked #123 on the Inc. 5000 list with explosive growth. In 2024, she was named to the prestigious Inc. Female Founders 250 list.
Today, Tonya leads TechnologyMatch.com, a platform that flips the traditional tech sales model. It puts IT leaders in control, allowing them to explore vetted vendors privately and make connections on their terms. Her platform has already facilitated over 20,000 matches, proving that a thoughtful, buyer-led approach works.
In this interview, Tonya shares how she turned bankruptcy into growth, why matchmaking beats cold outreach, and her vision for a more efficient tech procurement process.
Tonya, TechnologyMatch.com has been described as “innovative matchmaking” for the tech sector. Can you share in your own words what this means and how it differs from traditional procurement approaches?
Tonya Turrell: Today’s IT buyers are different from a decade ago. The majority are Gen Z and millennials, digital natives who research online, vet solutions across channels, and expect authenticity. The old model of lead generation with cold calls, spammy emails, and generic pitches no longer works. It creates noise and erodes trust.
TechnologyMatch.com was built to reflect how these buyers actually want to purchase. We start with listening. What problems are they trying to solve? What are their priorities right now? Then we connect them only with vetted vendors who align with those needs. It is faster, smarter, and built on trust.
Our newest product, MatchIQ, takes this even further. MatchIQ analyzes campaigns and sales performance, then coaches vendor reps on how to engage more authentically. It trains them to ask meaningful questions, listen closely, and show how their solution fits the buyer’s real challenges. It even rates reps on authenticity and value delivery versus pitching and selling.
The result is a model that creates authentic connections in a digital-first buying world. Buyers get trusted matches without noise. Vendors learn to engage with empathy, context, and substance. The entire process feels more human, which is exactly what the tech sector needs now.
Many business owners see procurement as purely transactional. How does TechnologyMatch.com introduce strategy, personalization, and long-term value into that process?
Tonya Turrell: If you treat procurement as just a transaction, you miss the bigger picture. Modern buyers don’t want to be “closed.” They want partners who understand where they’re headed and can grow with them over time.
That’s how we approach it at TechnologyMatch.com. Every match is about the bigger strategy, not just the immediate deal. We focus on building trusted, authentic connections. We ask, “What are you really trying to achieve, what’s holding you back, and how do we make sure this solution fits your long-term goals?” That’s where personalization comes in.
One of my favorite stories is from a sales manager at Hitachi. A lead my team generated more than five years ago started as a midrange opportunity with a $75k budget for storage. That relationship has since expanded into a $10M+ partnership. That’s what happens when you land with trust, serve the customer well, and grow with them.
MatchIQ adds even more depth to this by coaching reps to have those kinds of conversations. It helps them ask meaningful questions, listen closely, and connect value to the customer’s bigger picture. It even scores reps on authenticity and value creation, not just how well they pitched.
When you put all of that together, procurement stops being transactional. It becomes strategic. And that’s exactly why we’re moving toward Service as Software in 2026—because the future is about relationships that scale, not one-off deals.
Innovation often faces resistance in established industries. What challenges have you encountered in shifting IT leaders and vendors toward your matchmaking system, and how did you overcome them?
Tonya Turrell: Any time you challenge the status quo, you’re going to get pushback. The old model of lead gen is familiar, even if everyone secretly hates it. IT leaders are used to being bombarded with sales outreach, and vendors are used to measuring success by volume instead of value. Shifting mindsets from noise to authentic connection has been one of our biggest challenges.
With IT leaders, the hurdle was trust. They’ve been burned by endless pitches, so we had to prove that our model would cut through the noise and only connect them with vetted partners who are truly aligned with their needs. Once they saw how much time and frustration that saved, the resistance disappeared.
For vendors, the challenge was teaching them that this isn’t about throwing more leads at the wall. It’s about quality, fit, and long-term growth. That’s where MatchIQ is becoming a game-changer. It doesn’t just show them the data; it coaches their reps on how to engage better. It helps them ask smarter questions, listen more closely, and build relationships based on value. And it actually scores reps on how authentic they’re being, which flips the old mindset of “just pitch harder.”
The result is that both sides start to experience what authentic matchmaking feels like. IT leaders feel heard, vendors see higher conversion and stronger relationships, and the whole system shifts toward trust and long-term value. That’s the foundation we’re building on as we move toward Service as Software in 2026.
Trust is crucial in procurement decisions. How does TechnologyMatch.com ensure both vendors and IT leaders feel confident that the matches are in their best interest?
Tonya Turrell: Trust is the foundation of what we do. If IT leaders don’t feel like we’re saving them time and bringing them real value, or if vendors don’t feel like they’re being connected with the right buyers, then none of it works.
IT leaders tell us all the time that we save them hours of research and help them find better partners than they could on their own. One shared, “You provide access to potential products that save me an immense amount of time searching. Over the past five years, we’ve purchased more than a dozen products and services from the tech partners you’ve connected us to, and we’ve added new vendors to our list that we now buy from on a regular basis. You’ve simplified my job in every possible way, and I like it.” That kind of track record proves that when you start with trust, you can build relationships that expand and grow year after year.
On the vendor side, it’s about confidence that the introductions are qualified and meaningful. And the data backs it up. In B2B tech, the average lead-to-pipeline conversion rate has dropped to around 5 percent. Our model consistently delivers 25 to 50 percent conversion. That means vendors aren’t just getting “leads,” they’re getting real opportunities that turn into revenue.
MatchIQ strengthens that even further by showing vendors exactly what’s working in their campaigns and conversations. It also coaches their reps to engage differently: listening first, asking meaningful questions, and tying their solution to the buyer’s actual needs. It even scores reps on authenticity and value, not just how hard they pitch.
That’s how we build trust. Buyers know they’re getting vetted, high-fit partners. Vendors see their conversion rates soar and their relationships deepen. And both sides walk away confident that the process is designed for them.
Looking ahead, how do you see TechnologyMatch.com shaping not just the future of tech procurement but also the broader landscape of B2B partnerships in the next five years?
Tonya Turrell: AI is going to reshape everything about the way businesses connect and buy over the next five years. Most of the noise in B2B right now is going to get even louder as more companies flood buyers with AI-generated outreach. But here’s the shift: the real winners will be the ones who use AI not to spam harder, but to listen better, respond faster, and build more authentic connections.
That’s exactly how we’re building at TechnologyMatch.com. MatchIQ is already coaching vendor reps on listening, asking smarter questions, and showing value. In the future, AI will power every layer of what we do. It will analyze conversations in real time and guide reps toward empathy and relevance instead of canned pitches. It will spot intent signals across digital channels and match buyers with vendors at the exact right moment. It will help requalify and recover leads that would normally be lost. And it will keep scoring reps on authenticity and trust so we can scale human-first behavior across entire sales teams.
For IT leaders, AI will streamline discovery and reduce the friction in finding the right partners. Imagine being able to articulate a challenge in plain language and instantly see a curated set of vetted solutions that fit their needs, backed by data and context. For vendors, AI will surface the patterns that actually drive conversion, help onboard new reps quickly with playbooks tailored from real conversations, and eliminate the waste that comes from chasing low-fit leads.
And then there’s the bigger vision. By 2026, we’ll move from being just SaaS to Service as Software — blending AI, data, and human expertise into a single experience. That means every match, every conversation, every partnership will be powered by AI intelligence but grounded in trust and human connection.
In five years, TechnologyMatch.com will be more than a marketplace. We’ll be the operating system for authentic B2B partnerships—using AI to strip out the noise, amplify trust, and make sure the right people and companies find each other when it matters most.
Conclusion
Tonya Turrell shows the possibilities that can occur when vision meets persistence. Her platform, TechnologyMatch.com, is a shift in how IT leaders approach vendor discovery. It is helping companies build real partnerships rather than wasting time on mismatched pitches. Her achievements speak volumes. From landing on the Inc. 5000 list twice to being named Orlando Woman of the Year, Tonya has become a recognized leader in tech. She knows the weight of setbacks and the resilience it takes to rise again. That experience gives her the ability to see opportunity where others see chaos.
Tonya’s goal is to make tech buying smarter, faster, and more respectful of decision-makers’ time. This interview proves how innovation is often born from frustration and driven by vision.
