In our last post, we explained why ETL and iPaaS aren’t substitutes for Salesforce-specific data loaders. They’re designed for “any-to-any” integration—and require enterprise engineers to build and maintain them.
Today, let’s talk about the opposite kind of product—one built just for Salesforce. Designed so well, it feels effortless.
Data I Am: Master of one
When we set out to build Data I Am, we made a conscious decision:
- One source — spreadsheet/CSV
- One destination — Salesforce
- One target user — the Salesforce Admin
That’s it.
We didn’t want to solve every data problem. We wanted to solve one problem phenomenally well—making life better for the people who keep Salesforce running. Salesforce Admins are technical, often certified, and deeply familiar with their org. But asking them to build complex ETL pipelines just to load a CSV? That’s not a great use of their time. They’re already juggling: System maintenance, user management, dashboards and reports, and automations and workflows.
Spreadsheets are messy. We embrace that.
Real-world spreadsheets rarely come clean. They usually look like this:
- Columns in random order with missing or unclear headers
- Mixed values like “$100K” and “USD 200M” for numeric (currency) fields
- Invalid picklist values
- Empty required fields
- Missing Record IDs (for update jobs)
Instead of forcing admins to clean the data beforehand—or learn dozens of transformation rules—Data I Am uses AI to do the fixing. Automagically. 🪄
But this isn’t generic AI. It’s tuned for Salesforce.
Here’s what Data I Am does:
- Understands the data in each column—even without headers
- Maps each column to the correct Salesforce field
- Reads your Salesforce org’s metadata (picklist options, data types, required fields)
- Suggests fixes like:
- Stripping currency symbols and normalizing numbers
- Converting invalid picklist values (see Invalid Picklist Values blog)
- Fetching missing Record IDs
- Shows a real-time preview of the fixed data (see Visual Data Fixes blog)
You stay in control—choose data fixes to apply. We believe users still want human oversight (for now)
Focus wins
Data I Am doesn’t try to do everything. It’s a tool purpose-built for Salesforce Admins—it fixes your spreadsheet so it’s ready not just for any Salesforce instance, but specifically for your Salesforce org.
Our users—Salesforce Admins, RevOps leads, and Marketing Ops teams—tell us it’s a game changer.
Because when the data is right:
- Reports are accurate
- Workflows behave
- Users trust the system
Until next time: If you’ve ever cursed at a CSV file, come see what we’ve built.
👉 dataiam.com
About the Author
Zeb Mahmood has spent his career unlocking business value by moving, fixing, and loading data—first as an engineer, then as a product leader, and now as a cofounder.
With 2 decades in product management, 9 years at Salesforce, and hands-on experience in early-stage startups, he’s learned a simple truth: data is the lifeblood of every business. But when it’s messy or trapped in spreadsheets, it can’t drive impact.
That’s why Zeb cofounded Data I Am — a Fix & Load AI built for Salesforce Admins and data handlers who just want their data to work. No frustration. No failed imports. Just clean, reliable data that loads seamlessly into Salesforce and delivers results.
Zeb believes great products don’t win on tech alone — they win through empathy. Empathy for users, buyers, partners, and the people building the product every day.
