Posted by Tom Blue on November 9, 2009 under Companies, Executives, Profiles | 
Allen Stern is the owner/founder of CenterNetworks and CloudContacts. CenterNetworks is a blog focused on internet news, reviews, interviews and conference coverage. CloudContacts takes your business cards and converts them into usable technology files for importing into Outlook, Salesforce, etc. He is a bootstrapped entrepreneur so I decided to ask him questions about how he multi-tasks in between his businesses.
1. I see you have 2 companies, what do each of them do?
I run a variety of blogs – CenterNetworks, InsideTransit and HTMLCenter.
HTMLCenter started in 1996 and in the late 90s was one of the most
popular HTML help sites. In late 2008 I launched CloudContacts which
provides a business card scanning and transcription service and allows
people to connect with their contacts on a variety of chat, business and
social networks. I also provide some consulting services although I’ve
had to turn down several jobs to focus on CloudContacts (turning down
work absolutely kills me).
2. On the average week, what percentage of time is spent on
CloudContacts and what percentage of time on CenterNetworks?
Each week more time is being devoted to CloudContacts. As of now I would
guess the split is somewhere around 85% CloudContacts and 15% on the
other blogs including CenterNetworks
3. What are your biggest challenges between these 2 companies?
Splitting my time is the biggest challenge today. I enjoy working on all
of the projects I am currently involved in.
4. Which marketing tactics/strategies have produced the most readers/subscribers for your blog/company? Any new and innovative strategy that has really increased your business?
The most important advice I can provide is to get out from behind the
desk and get out into the community — both online and offline. Writing
content on your own blog is great — the key is to get out and interact
with the community. Leave comments on other blogs and make sure you note
your full name and URL in the appropriate boxes. Never spam other blogs,
instead provide valuable content. Once in a while a person will click on
your link and over time you will build an audience.
5. How long has CenterNetworks been in business?
The original form of CenterNetworks began in 1998 and the current form
of CenterNetworks began as a blog in late 2006.
6. Do you sell your own advertising on CenterNetworks?
To be honest I haven’t spent much time on sales for CenterNetworks and
the other blogs over the past couple of months. As a result the in-house
ad sales are lower than previous months. Naturally the goal is to sell
all of the slots in-house but that rarely happens for any blog. I would
guess that currently the split is somewhere around 35% in-house sales
and 65% ad networks. It’s important to note that some part of the 65% is
also direct ad sales through the ad networks and the balance are remnant
ads.
7. How much do you expect to grow/lose this year in revenues?
I would guess that the websites will generate about the same income as
in 2008.
1. I see you have 2 companies, what do each of them do?
I run a variety of blogs – CenterNetworks, InsideTransit and HTMLCenter. HTMLCenter started in 1996 and in the late 90s was one of the most popular HTML help sites. In late 2008 I launched CloudContacts which provides a business card scanning and transcription service and allows people to connect with their contacts on a variety of chat, business and social networks. I also provide some consulting services although I’ve had to turn down several jobs to focus on CloudContacts (turning down work absolutely kills me).
2. On the average week, what percentage of time is spent on CloudContacts and what percentage of time on CenterNetworks?
Each week more time is being devoted to CloudContacts. As of now I would guess the split is somewhere around 85% CloudContacts and 15% on the other blogs including CenterNetworks
3. What are your biggest challenges between these 2 companies?
Splitting my time is the biggest challenge today. I enjoy working on all of the projects I am currently involved in.
4. Which marketing tactics/strategies have produced the most readers/subscribers for your blog/company? Any new and innovative strategy that has really increased your business?
The most important advice I can provide is to get out from behind the desk and get out into the community — both online and offline. Writing content on your own blog is great — the key is to get out and interact with the community. Leave comments on other blogs and make sure you note your full name and URL in the appropriate boxes. Never spam other blogs, instead provide valuable content. Once in a while a person will click on your link and over time you will build an audience.
5. How long has CenterNetworks been in business?
The original form of CenterNetworks began in 1998 and the current form of CenterNetworks began as a blog in late 2006.
6. Do you sell your own advertising on CenterNetworks?
To be honest I haven’t spent much time on sales for CenterNetworks and the other blogs over the past couple of months. As a result the in-house ad sales are lower than previous months. Naturally the goal is to sell all of the slots in-house but that rarely happens for any blog. I would guess that currently the split is somewhere around 35% in-house sales and 65% ad networks. It’s important to note that some part of the 65% is also direct ad sales through the ad networks and the balance are remnant ads.
7. How much do you expect to grow/lose this year in revenues?
I would guess that the websites will generate about the same income as in 2008.
Posted by Tom Blue on October 27, 2009 under Companies, Profiles |
Below is our most recent eInterview with Caroline Mercado, HTI Sonar’s Marketing Director.
1. What do you do?
HTI is the world’s leader in scientific acoustic tag systems and portable, digital echosounder technology, training, and consulting for fisheries research. Track fish behavior in high-resolution 3D in real-time with remote access.
2. Who are your competitors?
Biosonics, Lotek, Vemco
3. What makes you different than your competitors?
Highest-resolution 2D and 3D fish tracks and digital echo sounders, real-time data, remote access from anywhere in the world.
4. Which marketing tactic/strategy has produced the most leads/revenue for your company?
Conferences and newsletters.
5. How long have you been in business?
22 years
6. How many employees do you have?
Staff of 35 and 4 managing owners.
7. What are your revenue estimates for 2009? Is that an increase from 2008?
12-13m, an increase from 2008.
1. What do you do? 2 sentences max HTI is the world’s leader in scientific acoustic tag systems and portable, digital echo sounder technology, training, and consulting for fisheries research. We help fisheries researchers track fish behavior in high-resolution 2D and 3D with remote access and with real-time capability. We work with researchers all over the globe doing amazing environmental studies.
2. Who are your competitors? (just the names) Biosonic and Lotek offer similar equipment, however, there aren’t any true apple-to-apple competitors. Because the variables are broad enough, often the best tool for a study is based on study objectives and potentially even long-term goals.
3. What makes you different than your competitors? HTI provides the most advanced tools, meaning the highest-resolution (fine-scale) 2D and 3D tag positions and the best resolution digital echo sounder data available. Additionally, both technologies offer data that can be viewed in real-time and remotely accessed from anywhere in the world! Not having to go to a receiver that’s in the middle of a large river or lake, or even out to sea is important. For us, the savings is more than time, or budget dollars, it’s fisheries data. And with smart phone technology, our biologists are watching their acoustic tag data real-time using iPhones. And if they aren’t viewing it, they still have peace of mind knowing they’ll get a “phone call” from the receiver if there is any power loss or interruption. Some project sites experience fierce weather and electrical activity. Knowing we’ll get a status call or text from deployed HTI gear is certainly helpful during data acquisition. OK, one last difference which many people don’t know, you can track 500 acoustic tags at a time, not 10’s of tags.
4. What are your or your ceo’s biggest challenges? One of our biggest challenges is teaching researchers how to optimize equipment settings for different aquatic environments. Because HTI’s systems are extremely versatile, it can be a catch 22. Versatility and flexibility don’t usually equate to plug-and-play scientific research tools. So, we’re working on ways to improve this online so that say a researcher in say, Antarctica will be able to immediately access assistance to optimize his/her settings when in the field.
5. Which marketing tactic/strategy has produced the most leads/revenue for your company? E.G. A PR Campaign, Please be specific as our users want to know how to grow their own business. I can’t say enough about contributing to professional organizations, such as the American Fisheries Society and its local chapters. We see the collective works and are inspired. We hope to inspire others with our work. Also, increasing involvement in conferences has continued to push HTI’s acoustic tag and hydroacoustic technologies farther. We’re fisheries biologists, too and we learn a lot from what other biologists are doing. Lastly, we keep informed via online newsletters and sites. It’s truly immediate gratification to get updates from new research as it happens from around world. We try to hold up our part of the deal by keeping people up-to-date and involved with quarterly publications. Ultimately, the key is collaboration.
6. How long have you been in business? HTI has been in business for 22 years and the managing owners, who are also senior scientists, average 25-30 years of experience.
7. How many employees do you have? Staff of 35 and 4 managing owners.
8. What are your revenue estimates for 2009? Is that an increase from 2008? I can’t estimate yet but, already it’s been a steady increase. I’d attribute it to a broader awareness of the technology and how it provides a clearer picture of the secret lives of fish, such as salmon. This awareness is helping us improve our understanding of aquatic ecosystems and to make better fisheries management decisions. It’s beyond cool.
Posted by Tom Blue on October 22, 2009 under Companies, Profiles |
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.
Posted by Tom Blue on October 6, 2009 under Uncategorized |
We have another eInterview available… Thomas Lynch is the CEO of the Creditors Resource Group. They have grown quite a bit this year and it seems to be coming from their affiliate program. See below for the q&a.
1. What do you do?
CRG provides accounts receivable management software and debt collection programs
2. Who are your competitors?
There are over 10,000 collection agencies in the US. Trying to compete in such a crowded market place is challenging because if you’re not strategic about marketing efforts, your message can be lost in all the background noise created by your competitors.
3. What makes you different than your competitors?
In designing solutions for both vendors and debtors CRG takes a holistic approach to curing the underlying causes of delinquency. For example, CRG offers its clients a computer software solution that was specifically developed to help them manage and improve their internal collection efforts… speeding their cash flow and reducing their exposure to bad debt losses. Another is the CRG Debt-Fund which blends traditional collection efforts with commercial lending sources to help capitalize debtor companies struggling with cash flow problems.
4. What are your or your ceo’s biggest challenges?
Each major innovation we bring to the market creates its own large-scale opportunity which often comes with significant infrastructure challenges. Scaling our organization to the level of our growth continues to be a major challenge.
5. Which marketing tactic/strategy has produced the most leads/revenue for your company?
By far, our greatest successes have come from our affiliate marketing relationships. The strategy here is to find very large companies that have their own client list. Then you approach them with a joint marketing proposal that has a high perceived value to their customers and a new revenue stream for their own company. Instead of thinking WIN/WIN, you need to approach this from a WIN/WIN/WIN perspective (you win, they win, their customers win).
6. How long have you been in business?
2006
7. How many employees do you have?
10 currently, with plans to add 12-15 more in January 2010 when our new call center is complete in Tucson, AZ
8. What are your revenue estimates for 2009? Is that an increase from 2008?
2009 revenues estimated at $550,000, which represents a 69% increase over 2008 revenues
9. Have you had any new press recently?
In October 2009 CRG will be announcing two new affiliate joint-ventures that will change the face of the company going forward. First, CRG has entered into a multi-year contract to be the exclusive collection agency provider for business subscribers to CollectPro Software (collectprosoftware.com). In a similar deal, CRG will soon announce its new endorsement and partnership with iLumen and Sage Corp (makers of Peachtree and MAS accounting software platforms) which will promote CRG to approximately 500,000 Peachtree Analytics users monthly.
1. What do you do?
CRG provides accounts receivable management software and debt collection programs
2. Who are your competitors?
There are over 10,000 collection agencies in the US. Trying to compete in such a crowded market place is challenging because if you’re not strategic about marketing efforts, your message can be lost in all the background noise created by your competitors.
3. What makes you different than your competitors?
In designing solutions for both vendors and debtors CRG takes a holistic approach to curing the underlying causes of delinquency. For example, CRG offers its clients a computer software solution that was specifically developed to help them manage and improve their internal collection efforts… speeding their cash flow and reducing their exposure to bad debt losses. Another is the CRG Debt-Fund which blends traditional collection efforts with commercial lending sources to help capitalize debtor companies struggling with cash flow problems.
4. What are your or your ceo’s biggest challenges?
Each major innovation we bring to the market creates its own large-scale opportunity which often comes with significant infrastructure challenges. Scaling our organization to the level of our growth continues to be a major challenge.
5. Which marketing tactic/strategy has produced the most leads/revenue for your company?
By far, our greatest successes have come from our affiliate marketing relationships. The strategy here is to find very large companies that have their own client list. Then you approach them with a joint marketing proposal that has a high perceived value to their customers and a new revenue stream for their own company. Instead of thinking WIN/WIN, you need to approach this from a WIN/WIN/WIN perspective (you win, they win, their customers win).
6. How long have you been in business?
2006
7. How many employees do you have?
10 currently, with plans to add 12-15 more in January 2010 when our new call center is complete in Tucson, AZ
8. What are your revenue estimates for 2009? Is that an increase from 2008?
2009 revenues estimated at $550,000, which represents a 69% increase over 2008 revenues
9. Have you had any new press recently?
In October 2009 CRG will be announcing two new affiliate joint-ventures that will change the face of the company going forward. First, CRG has entered into a multi-year contract to be the exclusive collection agency provider for business subscribers to CollectPro Software (collectprosoftware.com). In a similar deal, CRG will soon announce its new endorsement and partnership with iLumen and Sage Corp (makers of Peachtree and MAS accounting software platforms) which will promote CRG to approximately 500,000 Peachtree Analytics users monthly.
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.
