Sterizon Founder Interview

Posted by Tom Blue on October 22, 2009 under Companies, Profiles | Be the First to Comment

sterizonlogo Below is our recent eInterview with Sterizon founder, Subba Ayyagari.

1. What do you do?
Sterizon specializes in wireless data collection for the purpose of Customer Retention, Loyalty and Satisfaction using Email, Mobile and Social Media Marketing. Sterizon’s targets market is brick and mortar businesses in the Restaurant, Retail, Hospitality and Service industries.
2. Who are your competitors?
FishBowl, mUrgent, Total Loyalty Systems, Constant Contact
3. What makes you different than your competitors?
All our competitors in the Email Marketing space lack the capability to capture customer information electronically while the customer is at the place of business. We are the only ones in the space who has the handheld device that is not only used for builing email lists, but also used for Surveys, Rewards programs, Mobile Marketing, Social Media Marketing etc making us a one stop shop solution for all their marketing and customer satisfaction needs.
4. What are your or your ceo’s biggest challenges?
It’s been hiring the right sales people to do direct to business marketing. Being a company in the South East (based in Atlanta, GA), the resource pool interested in working for startups is virtually not there!
5. Which marketing tactic/strategy has produced the most leads/revenue for your company?  E.G. A PR
We initially went with online only approach to reach our target restaurant industry. We did lot of press releases, good chunk on online content, blogging, twitter, facebook, restaurant community sites, etc. It certainly raised the awareness, and search engine rankings, but failed to lure customers for online orders.
The above techniques would have worked great if this was a software only product aiming at tech savvy audience. But, our product involves handheld device also. We still had to physically knock their doors, show the demo and then we were able to lock in the customer.
The cost of customer acqusition was very high with the knock on door approach. So, we decided to partner with our competitors, as our technology is complementing to their marketing platforms. We effectively filled the biggest gap in their solutions. We kicked off the reseller program with all the players in the email, mobile marketing space. In the last 30 days, we have 5 of the top 10 players in the space in our reseller program.
6. How long have you been in business?
We are 11 months old.
7. How many employees do you have?
2 full time.
8. What are your revenue estimates for 2009? Is that an increase from 2008?
We came out of beta in Apr-July timeframe in phases. We might end up with >20k in revenues this year. We are projecting ~600k in total revenues for next year.

1. What do you do?

Sterizon specializes in wireless data collection for the purpose of Customer Retention, Loyalty and Satisfaction using Email, Mobile and Social Media Marketing. Sterizon’s targets market is brick and mortar businesses in the Restaurant, Retail, Hospitality and Service industries.

2. Who are your competitors?

FishBowl, mUrgent, Total Loyalty Systems, Constant Contact

3. What makes you different than your competitors?

All our competitors in the Email Marketing space lack the capability to capture customer information electronically while the customer is at the place of business. We are the only ones in the space who has the handheld device that is not only used for builing email lists, but also used for Surveys, Rewards programs, Mobile Marketing, Social Media Marketing etc making us a one stop shop solution for all their marketing and customer satisfaction needs.

4. What are your or your ceo’s biggest challenges?

It’s been hiring the right sales people to do direct to business marketing. Being a company in the South East (based in Atlanta, GA), the resource pool interested in working for startups is virtually not there!

5. Which marketing tactic/strategy has produced the most leads/revenue for your company?  E.G. A PR

We initially went with online only approach to reach our target restaurant industry. We did lot of press releases, good chunk on online content, blogging, twitter, facebook, restaurant community sites, etc. It certainly raised the awareness, and search engine rankings, but failed to lure customers for online orders.

The above techniques would have worked great if this was a software only product aiming at tech savvy audience. But, our product involves handheld device also. We still had to physically knock their doors, show the demo and then we were able to lock in the customer.

The cost of customer acqusition was very high with the knock on door approach. So, we decided to partner with our competitors, as our technology is complementing to their marketing platforms. We effectively filled the biggest gap in their solutions. We kicked off the reseller program with all the players in the email, mobile marketing space. In the last 30 days, we have 5 of the top 10 players in the space in our reseller program.

6. How long have you been in business?

We are 11 months old.

7. How many employees do you have?

2 full time.

8. What are your revenue estimates for 2009? Is that an increase from 2008?

We came out of beta in Apr-July timeframe in phases. We might end up with >20k in revenues this year. We are projecting ~600k in total revenues for next year.

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