Posted by Tom Blue on July 28, 2009 under Companies, Funding, Profiles | 
We just did an “eInterview” with Vineet Jain who is the CEO of Egnyte. Egnyte provides on-demand file servers for small businesses. They just received $6M in funding from Polaris/Maples yesterday…
What does Egnyte do?
Egnyte provides an On-Demand File Server for small and mid-sized businesses to store all corporate data, securely share files within and outside the company and backup employee computers in the cloud.
In March 2009, the company unveiled a complementary solution to its existing On-Demand File Server – Egnyte “Local Cloud”. Egnyte’s Local Cloud blends a hosted online solution with an on-premise solution, providing the benefits of unlimited storage, secure access anywhere, easy file collaboration, built in disaster recovery, fast access, off-line access and the ability to run client server applications locally.
Who are your competitors?
Within larger businesses we see Microsoft Sharepoint, some smaller consumer solutions such as Mozy address small components of our solutions such as backup.
What makes you different than them?
Egnyte allows small and mid-sized businesses to store all of their coproate data, securely share files within and outside the company and automatically backup employee computers. We are unique in that we allow businesses to move to cloud computing and replace their file servers but also have maximum flexibility and control through what we’ve termed the “local cloud.” Businesses can hold their data locally on off the shelf hardware or on their computer hard drive. This mitigates concerns some companies have over storing their data in the cloud on the internet. We also have mobile capabilities with the iPhone devices and have a strong following within the Mac community.
What are your biggest challenges as CEO?
Even though cloud based services are being accepted and adopted by businesses, there is still a high percentage of businesses that are uncomfortable with having their data in someone else’s servers. Based on a recent survey where we profiled our customer base, 99% of small business respondents validated that Internet outages can be detrimental to business. In fact, the survey showed that if the Internet was down for only one hour, over half (51%) would be moderately impacted and nearly a quarter of respondents (20%) severely impacted. Given the variety of bandwidth connections and lack of internet access in different scenarios, the challenge is to address THIS issue successfully for a group (and not just one individual).
From the operation perspective, a hosted solution like Egnyte successfully transforms the customer’s cap-ex problem into a simpler monthly op-ex charge. However, it is critical for the provider (Egnyte) not to inherit the cap-ex burden. This is addressed by a smart combination of right architecture and right hardware, which is a non-trivial problem.
Which marketing tactic/strategy has produced the most leads/revenue for your company?
Egnyte, right from its founding, was aware of limitations of pure cloud based solutions which can be germane for certain businesses. Local copy of data, team off-line access, latency challenges editing large files (25MB size) online are some of the limitations that a pure cloud based service can not address adequately. The Egnyte Local Cloud, released in March 2009 has been key to our strategy for larger class of customers. All sales data so far indicates that this has been a very successful product.
How long have you been in business?
Founded in 2006 and launched in 2008
How many employees do you have?
15
What are your revenue estimates for 2009? Is that an increase from 2008?
Growth is project to be 15% month over month—also average number of seats per customer is on the rise. We are optimistic that our growth will remain strong as our solution becomes mainstream for small businesses.
Posted by Tom Blue on July 22, 2009 under Companies, Investing |
Apparently Amazon has acquired Zappos for $880 Million in Amazon stock and $40 Million in cash. The link above links you to the letter Zappos CEO sent to their employees today. They have raised around $47 Million in funding over the years and began in January 1999. This is great news for Zappos equity holders.
Posted by Tom Blue on July 17, 2009 under Companies, Profiles |
We have recently did an eInterview with Vindicia’s CEO, Gene Hoffman. Prior to Vindicia, Mr. Hoffman co-founded eMusic. While at eMusic he was featured on the cover of Forbes Magazine as a member of the July 1999 E-Gang, and named one of the 100 most influential entrepreneurs in technology in Upside Magazine’s November 2000 Elite 100. Vindicia just landed $7.5M in funding this week. Please see the interview below…
What does Vindicia do?
Vindicia provides an on-demand billing and fraud management solution, specifically designed for online merchants. Our solution, Vindicia CashBox, helps merchants in the software, SaaS, online gaming, dating, and online content markets to increase customer acquisition and retention, which ultimately drives online profitability..
Who are your competitors?
Aria Systems, Zuora, Digital River
What makes you different than them?
We have focused our capabilities on maximizing customer retention and acquisition because we realize that, in the online world, maximing average customer lifetime value (ACLV) or average revenue per user (ARPU) is the key to long term profitability. Some of these features include our ability to minimize payment failures, provide automated retry logic and support Account Updater functionality for different payment processors. In addition we have incorporated fraud management capabilities into our core offering to help merchants recover lost revenue from friendly fraud and also prevent true fraud losses. We also support multiple languages, payment methods, currencies, tax regimes and compliance requirements (PCI and SAS 70) which in turn enables merchants to build and support global communities. Finally, the fact that we can support a wide variety of business models – pure subscriptions, freemium, microtransactions, hybrid models – creates a great deal of flexibility for merchants who may need to change models to reflect their current business reality.
What are your biggest challenges as CEO?
A.) Build the right internal processes to support our merchants; B) expand more deeply into our core markets with increased product functionality; and C) increase sales and marketing capacity to service our markets.
Which marketing tactic/strategy has produced the most leads/revenue for your company?
One of our most successful marketing strategies has been to launch a series of “Best Practice” webinars that help online merchants understand the various nuances of building a successful online business. Topics have included best practices around customer communications, chargeback management, customer retention and international payments – these have proven to be very useful even in archival form.
How long have you been in business?
We were formally incorporated in 2003 and actively began development in 2004.
How many employees do you have?
We have about 55 employees.
What are your revenue estimates for 2009? Is that an increase from 2008?
We estimate we’ll do between $6-8 million in revenue for 2009, which represents about double what we did in 2008.
What do you do?
Vindicia provides an on-demand billing and fraud management solution, specifically designed for online merchants. Our solution, Vindicia CashBox, helps merchants in the software, SaaS, online gaming, dating, and online content markets to increase customer acquisition and retention, which ultimately drives online profitability..
Who are your competitors?
Aria Systems, Zuora, Digital River
What makes you different than them?
We have focused our capabilities on maximizing customer retention and acquisition because we realize that, in the online world, maximing average customer lifetime value (ACLV) or average revenue per user (ARPU) is the key to long term profitability. Some of these features include our ability to minimize payment failures, provide automated retry logic and support Account Updater functionality for different payment processors. In addition we have incorporated fraud management capabilities into our core offering to help merchants recover lost revenue from friendly fraud and also prevent true fraud losses. We also support multiple languages, payment methods, currencies, tax regimes and compliance requirements (PCI and SAS 70) which in turn enables merchants to build and support global communities. Finally, the fact that we can support a wide variety of business models – pure subscriptions, freemium, microtransactions, hybrid models – creates a great deal of flexibility for merchants who may need to change models to reflect their current business reality.
What are your biggest challenges?
A.) Build the right internal processes to support our merchants; B) expand more deeply into our core markets with increased product functionality; and C) increase sales and marketing capacity to service our markets.
Which marketing tactic/strategy has produced the most leads/revenue for your company?
One of our most successful marketing strategies has been to launch a series of “Best Practice” webinars that help online merchants understand the various nuances of building a successful online business. Topics have included best practices around customer communications, chargeback management, customer retention and international payments – these have proven to be very useful even in archival form. http://www.vindicia.com/resources/webinars/archives.html
How long have you been in business?
We were formally incorporated in 2003 and actively began development in 2004.
7. How many employees do you have?
We have about 55 employees.
8. What are your revenue estimates for 2009? Is that an increase from 2008?
We estimate we’ll do between $6-8 million in revenue for 2009, which represents about double what we did in 2008.
Posted by Tom Blue on July 15, 2009 under Companies |
“Hacker Croll” has obtained hundreds of confidential documents from Twitter employees. Apparently he has sent them to multiple sources including TechCrunch whose first post on the subject already has 400 comments. Many people are upset and asking them not to release the confidential information, but this isn’t stopping them. They have wisely set it up so that they will be releasing the different documents one at a time which will really increase their viewership over the next few days. I even stopped by their site earlier today and it was down which was a first for me.
MarketingProfs just published an article I wrote on the concept of Freemium. Thanks!! Hopefully there will be more to come.
Posted by Tom Blue on July 6, 2009 under Profiles |
MarketSearch is a national executive search firm based in Boston. Here is our interview with David Honig who is the Managing Director.
What do you do?
MarketSearch is a nationally networked executive search firm whose sole area is marketing, advertising and marketing communication. Every member of the MarketSearch team has an extensive background in these areas enabling us to provide you with guidance and support when seeking and filling positions.
What makes you different than your competitors?
Our claim to fame is that everyone at MarketSearch has worked in Marketing or Advertising before starting our careers in recruitment. For our clients this means you have a trusted source who understands who fits where in the organization and we can provide you with the best-of-the-best from our current network. For our candidates it means that the opportunities we present are only ones that match your capabilities and career goals.
There are so many other Recruitment Firms who try to stick a square peg in a round hole; that’s not us.
What are you or your ceo’s biggest challenges?
The biggest challenge we see now is having our candidates be as proactive as possible so they understand how best to position themselves in a fiercely competitive, fiercely social media focused marketplace where now most all marketing positions have a ties into new business development whether it be organically or prospecting. We spend most days educating the importance to stay current and ahead of the curve and what it takes to break through the mass clutter of everyone else who wants that specific role.
Which marketing tactic/strategy has produced the most leads/revenue for your company?
Hands down SEO rooted in a PPC campaign has had the most immediate, positive impact on our business. Candidates need to find a great Recruitment Firm focused in Marketing or a client is looking for that specific marketing position to fill, type in a smart key words and presto, we are front and center. Off line media has proven unsuccessful countless times. Online advertising is quite fruitful if it’s done properly and the technology links well with your ROI. With Google Analytics you can see who is responding to what, which site page and tailor immediately & accordingly.
How long have you been in business?
MarketSearch was founded 9 years ago. It’s been a rollercoaster of a time however, very successful and wouldn’t change a thing.
How many employees do you have?
We have three other employees.
What are your revenue estimates for 2009? Is that an increase from 2008?
Year-to-date, we have increased revenue, amazingly enough over LY by close to 29%. This is mostly a direct reflection of repeat customers who have been long-term clients.
