Hi all, it's been a while since I last posted. With the market gyrating and Sequoia's famous powerpoint presentation scaring the bejesus out of everyone (btw, you should read this is you haven't already), I've been busy focusing on new business development activities and developing a new marketing initiative. I believe in the theory that companies that can invest in marketing to maintain positive cash flow and compete effectively in a downturn can take market share and drive some competitors out of business.
One company that seems to have the same approach is LinkedIn. They announced the launch of their applications platform today. I've been very impressed with the groups feature they added earlier this year. In terms of traffic to my website, and generating conversations, it's the best, most immediate return on my investment of time, I find.
I'm eager to explore the apps they currently offer and I'm excited to see what apps are developed down the road. My concern however is that LinkedIn will have to gradually loosen the restrictions on contacting people you don't know. Now, any email you receive is going to be legitimate and, most likely, worthwhile to read. It would be a shame if they killed the golden goose by letting LinkedIn turn into a spam machine.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Oscar Fuster! ePok! Straight to the Point podcast!!
Yes, it's very exciting! Last week, I was lucky enough to sit down with Oscar Fuster, the VP of Marketing and Strategic Alliances at ePok, an access management software company based in Bethesda, MD. Oscar is an experienced marketer having lead marketing teams at iGov, International data Products, SMS Data Products Group. He shares his experiences working in growth environments and the impact of social media. Oscar's been with ePok for less than a year- would you market ePok differently?
(In the interests of transparency, ePok and Strategic (my firm) are working together. We were picked to develop and run the social media/PR aspect of Oscar's marketing strategy.)
(In the interests of transparency, ePok and Strategic (my firm) are working together. We were picked to develop and run the social media/PR aspect of Oscar's marketing strategy.)
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Creativity and BMW GINA
At work, we talk a lot about creativity and creating content that has a "wow" factor. A PR agency, at heart, is about creating content that is entertaining a well as engaging and educational and then distributing it to the right audience at the right time. Being creative and/or innovative, however, is hard.
I think it's hard because it's so rarely seen. Our imaginations seem to have a difficult time re-imagining common things or creating entirely new things.
So, when I saw the following YouTube video from the folks at BMW, I thought, "this is a true example of re-imagining a known thing, playing around with the idea and seeing what it does." Usually, I think, you end up with something that has a "wow" factor.
Check it out for yourself!
I think it's hard because it's so rarely seen. Our imaginations seem to have a difficult time re-imagining common things or creating entirely new things.
So, when I saw the following YouTube video from the folks at BMW, I thought, "this is a true example of re-imagining a known thing, playing around with the idea and seeing what it does." Usually, I think, you end up with something that has a "wow" factor.
Check it out for yourself!
Links, Links, Links
I'm not sure the technology world is going to be hurt as much as the housing, finance and industrial markets are. Dealflow seems to be strong. However, given the impending collapse of western civilization, here are some interesting datapoints for the world to enjoy:
Blogging for Dollars: Slate's Michael Agger gives a overview (for dummies) of the blogosphere and how bloggers make $$ for all the people who are going to be laid off this year.
FDA Takes End Run to Award Contract to PR Firm A local PR agency continues its epic quest to be the scuzziest PR agency in America.
No Credit Crunch in the Channel According to eWeek, there is plenty of cash in the tech world and no signs of scarce credit, unlike our friends in finance, homebuilding or industry. Of course, this could change at any moment I guess
Pirates reveal new side with spokesperson Somali pirates contact NY Times to tell their side of the story, according to PR Week.
I'll be posting my notes from Interact08 later on, but check out Rohit Bhargava's Top 5 Takeaways here in the meantime.
Silicon Valley Goes Dry Lastly, Red Herring's Ken Schachter reports on the shutting of the IPO and M&A windows. Tech companies are going to have to grow organically a little longer than they thought before cashing out.
And the NASDAQ is only down 3.5% today!! Yay!
Blogging for Dollars: Slate's Michael Agger gives a overview (for dummies) of the blogosphere and how bloggers make $$ for all the people who are going to be laid off this year.
FDA Takes End Run to Award Contract to PR Firm A local PR agency continues its epic quest to be the scuzziest PR agency in America.
No Credit Crunch in the Channel According to eWeek, there is plenty of cash in the tech world and no signs of scarce credit, unlike our friends in finance, homebuilding or industry. Of course, this could change at any moment I guess
Pirates reveal new side with spokesperson Somali pirates contact NY Times to tell their side of the story, according to PR Week.
I'll be posting my notes from Interact08 later on, but check out Rohit Bhargava's Top 5 Takeaways here in the meantime.
Silicon Valley Goes Dry Lastly, Red Herring's Ken Schachter reports on the shutting of the IPO and M&A windows. Tech companies are going to have to grow organically a little longer than they thought before cashing out.
And the NASDAQ is only down 3.5% today!! Yay!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
The Top Trends in the Software Industry
It's after Labor Day, so we're in full swing now. Aside from hitting the phones and banging out emails, blog posts and podcasts, the event and trade show fall season is filling up my calendar. Good networking isn't hard to find, that's for sure. I posted earlier about the AMA's Mobile Marketing event. Now I'd like to share my notes from last Friday morning's Potomac Tech Wire's event on The Future of Software held at the Ritz in Tysons.
There were two panels- one, software company executives and the other, venture capitalists. I'll list the panelists for each and bullet the main talking points.
Panel One-
Andre Boivert, Chairman, Zenoss and Infobright
Todd Bramblett, CEO, LeverPoint
Greg Gershman, VP Search and Engineering, Odeo
Barg Upender, President, Intridea
Panel Two-
Carter Griffin, Partner, Updata Partners
Harry Gruner, General Partner, JMI Equity
Don Rainey, General Partner, Grotech Ventures
Janet Yang, principal, Novak Biddle Venture Partners
Paul Sherman was the charming moderator, as usual for PTW sponsored events, for both panels.
The panels had a lot to say about the relative strengths and weaknesses of the SaaS versus the traditional enterprise software package, the open source model versus the proprietary model, the ad-supported versus paid license model, and how each kind fits into the needs of different customers. The software market is fracturing and how that affects how companies buy and how VC's make investments. Today's software market is different than in the past because:
Coding used to be difficult. As software development packages get easier to use (Ruby on Rails as an example) there is a lower barrier to entry for new software companies. The time to value for the customer becomes more of a differentiator. That requires domain expertise. And a focus on execution.
New software has a hard time differentiating itself- it has to focus on vertical, or niche, markets and show a deep understanding of that market. Don't bother trying to differentiate. Focus on intangible assets. For example:
What models are working, given the commoditization of software?
There were two panels- one, software company executives and the other, venture capitalists. I'll list the panelists for each and bullet the main talking points.
Panel One-
Andre Boivert, Chairman, Zenoss and Infobright
Todd Bramblett, CEO, LeverPoint
Greg Gershman, VP Search and Engineering, Odeo
Barg Upender, President, Intridea
Panel Two-
Carter Griffin, Partner, Updata Partners
Harry Gruner, General Partner, JMI Equity
Don Rainey, General Partner, Grotech Ventures
Janet Yang, principal, Novak Biddle Venture Partners
Paul Sherman was the charming moderator, as usual for PTW sponsored events, for both panels.
The panels had a lot to say about the relative strengths and weaknesses of the SaaS versus the traditional enterprise software package, the open source model versus the proprietary model, the ad-supported versus paid license model, and how each kind fits into the needs of different customers. The software market is fracturing and how that affects how companies buy and how VC's make investments. Today's software market is different than in the past because:
- Users are sophisticated now. They know about the downside of the traditional software and want better interfaces, slicker graphics, better speed, easier implementation, etc.
- Users are buying software. They are not being sold. Buyers across the enterprise are educated on quality and functionality.
Coding used to be difficult. As software development packages get easier to use (Ruby on Rails as an example) there is a lower barrier to entry for new software companies. The time to value for the customer becomes more of a differentiator. That requires domain expertise. And a focus on execution.
New software has a hard time differentiating itself- it has to focus on vertical, or niche, markets and show a deep understanding of that market. Don't bother trying to differentiate. Focus on intangible assets. For example:
- the old sales model for software was extremely labor intensive
- the new open source model keeps the sales cost low
- users try it for free, then pay for additional levels of sophistication
- aim to convert 1% of downloads
- users only contact company when they've reached the point of conviction and are ready to pay
What models are working, given the commoditization of software?
- buyers are out of the control of the IT departments
- cloud computing/SaaS allow software companies to sell directly to operational units at a low price point ($25-50k) without IT department involvement
- the SaaS model is a small (1-2%) of the whole market but is growing fast
- especially fast penetration of the SMB market
- open source is allowing sophisticated developers to execute custom projects quickly and cheaper
- SaaS is bringing turnkey, easy to use and implement applications to organizations that have had the resources in the past- "the local church group using Google Calendar"
- startups can have huge scale from day one- from a investing perspective cloud computing plus SaaS equals low initial capital expenditures to get alpha and beta versions built
- the middle area is getting squeezed
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