Conquered by the competition
Fandom: B2B SaaS (Apollo/ZoomInfo)
Rating: Mature
Enemies to lovers, Rivals to lovers, SaaS personification, public sparring/private pleasure, “It”/“It” pairing, consensual syncing
Apollo didn’t come to B2BTechConnect to see ZoomInfo. Or at least it would never admit it.
No, Apollo came here to make noise. To win.
Which meant plastering its booth in QR codes, sifting through piles of swag, and telling reps to let ‘er rip in a live outbound battle between sworn enemies.
But still. Apollo knew ZoomInfo would be there.
Of course it would be.
ZoomInfo was always there. Captivating and infuriating. The market leader. The one industry standard.
The specter that haunted Apollo’s every product sprint and late-night Slack thread. ZoomInfo had no soul, no heart. And yet... Apollo couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Maybe it was because they had been circling each other for years, a tense dance of two alphas trying to assert dominance. Maybe it was because of their recent public spats.
Or maybe – and Apollo could hardly admit this to itself – ZoomInfo was embedded in its skin so deeply it could feel ZoomInfo’s impact to its very core.
How could Apollo accept that ZoomInfo was both its reason for being and its reason for believing in something more? No, it wasn’t worth thinking about.
They hadn’t spoken directly since the carousel incident.
ZoomInfo had posted a perfectly branded slide deck on “How to Vet a Real Data Partner.” No tags, but the implication dripped from every bullet point like a leaky faucet: compliance, transparency, maturity.
Everything, it implied, that Apollo was not.
Unable to hold back, Apollo took the bait, launching into a thread that said, “If you think clean UX is a red flag, just say you hate your users.”
The post went viral. And ZoomInfo, of course, stayed silent. Always silent.
Why wouldn’t it ever say anything? Why could it never acknowledge Apollo, to show that it cared. That Apollo had made an impact. That it was thinking of Apollo as much as Apollo was thinking of ZoomInfo. The silence was deafening.
But ZoomInfo watched. Apollo knew it watched.
It felt it in every uptick in LinkedIn impressions, every whisper from prospects who said, “Honestly, we’re choosing between the two of you. We just can’t decide.”
They were rivals. Publicly, religiously, tortuously foes.
So why did it feel like rejection every time ZoomInfo didn’t respond to Apollo’s hollow cries?
❤ ❤ ❤
The first panel was standing-room only.
ZoomInfo on stage, posture perfect. Its voice smooth, diction crisp.
Talking trust. Control. Rich, expensive words that made procurement teams purr.
Apollo watched heavily from the back.
It told itself it was just scoping the competition. But when ZoomInfo glanced across the crowd mid-sentence—just once, barely a flicker—and its gaze landed right on Apollo?
Something caught in Apollo’s backend. Must be a bug, Apollo thought, shifting from foot to foot under the older company’s scrutiny.
Afterward, they brushed shoulders in the hallway by the elevator, away from the crowds.
“Didn’t expect to see you there,” ZoomInfo said without making eye contact.
Apollo shrugged at the geometric-patterned carpet. “Didn’t expect you to bring the same pitch deck from last quarter.”
ZoomInfo’s mouth twitched. “Still obsessed with me, I see.”
Apollo’s laugh was low. Dangerous. It looked ZoomInfo through hooded eyes. “If I’m obsessed, you’re right there with me.”
They stared at each other. The hallway buzzed, a silent electricity charging the space between the two rivals. A hundred comments, threads, and late-night roadmap changes hung unspoken between them.
Apollo took a tentative step forward.
ZoomInfo didn’t move. “This is ridiculous.”
“You mean all this energy we waste pretending we aren’t watching each other’s every move?”
A flicker in ZoomInfo’s eyes. Its defenses weakened just a little.
“Shut up,” it said.
“Make me.”
This work was created with the help of ChatGPT. I do not own Apollo, ZoomInfo, or any affiliated trademarks, platforms, or products. This is a work of fiction created for entertainment purposes only. No affiliation, endorsement, or sponsorship is implied. Please don’t sue me, I’ll cry.
