This issue of Startup Outlook features five companies from Greycroft Partners, a venture capital firm. It evaluates Adly, Livefyre, Media Armor, Pulse, and provides a 360i qualitative Startup Scorecard assessing each company's value, applicability, prominence and ingenuity based on their technologies and business models. The document also invites feedback and suggestions for future startups to feature.
101 guide to the basics of paid social media, complete with platform (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Vine, Outbrain, Tumblr & Snapchat) average spend and content size requirements for campaigns.
This playbook tells you all you need to know about app marketing from the experienced team at Performance Revenues. Covering how to get ROI on app marketing, choosing the right ad network and how to avoid fraud this is an indispensable guide for any app marketer.
Presentation developed for the EGB Mobile & Social Media Conference 2011 in Paris. It outlines two strategic approaches to generate buzz for mobile apps.
With app store overpopulation becoming a real
problem for developers, we look at how app install
advertising on Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter
could make a significant difference.
101 guide to the basics of paid social media, complete with platform (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Vine, Outbrain, Tumblr & Snapchat) average spend and content size requirements for campaigns.
This playbook tells you all you need to know about app marketing from the experienced team at Performance Revenues. Covering how to get ROI on app marketing, choosing the right ad network and how to avoid fraud this is an indispensable guide for any app marketer.
Presentation developed for the EGB Mobile & Social Media Conference 2011 in Paris. It outlines two strategic approaches to generate buzz for mobile apps.
With app store overpopulation becoming a real
problem for developers, we look at how app install
advertising on Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter
could make a significant difference.
The Brand Marketer's Guide to In-Image AdvertisingTony Winders
Traditional display advertising has remained static for several years, while its performance has steadily declined. With relatively few alternatives to combat low engagement rates and "banner blindness," in-image advertising gives brands a scalable way to present targeted advertising as consumers view contextually relevant photos in-line with editorial content.
A comprehensive overview of the burgeoning in-image advertising category, the Brand Marketer's Guide to In-Image Advertising demonstrates how photos have become an important part of display advertising plans for the world's leading digital brands.
9 Things I've Learned About Content While Running A Content AgencyThe Story Lab
Having helped many brands steer their way through the often confusing world of content marketing, I've noticed some common themes, myths and misunderstandings about content. The word itself is confusing! Here are 9 things I've learned about content that might help you on your journey.
How we helped give birth to Vodafone Social, the official blog for Vodafone UK, and nurture it into one of the most powerful tools in company’s communications arsenal.
DoubleClick give us an important data on what types of rich media are being served. They have conducted real live brand surveys to study the brand metrics that matter to advertisers such as brand awareness, brand favorability, message association, and intent to purchase.
"For millions of years, human beings have been
part of one tribe or another. A group needs only
two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a
way to communicate”- Seth Godin
Conversations that were once limited to physical
proximity have expanded to multiple platforms online.
With the evolution from desktop to mobile, these
conversations can take place almost anywhere. It’s
important for brands to be there to feed fans what
they crave, when and where they want it to have the
most success in changing purchase behaviour. New
platforms that empower fans to connect along with
advancements in ad technology also enable better
tracking abilities.
Paid media
Search engine marketing
Display advertisement
Social media advertisement
Campaign planning
Cookies
Display banner
Video display ad
Text link advertisement
Mobile advertisement
Gamification
Video games
Native advertising
Instagram
Ephemeral content
How to use hashtags
Run contests
Shoppable tags
Influencers
How to find influencers
The use of emojis
Lead magnet
The Brand Marketer's Guide to In-Image AdvertisingTony Winders
Traditional display advertising has remained static for several years, while its performance has steadily declined. With relatively few alternatives to combat low engagement rates and "banner blindness," in-image advertising gives brands a scalable way to present targeted advertising as consumers view contextually relevant photos in-line with editorial content.
A comprehensive overview of the burgeoning in-image advertising category, the Brand Marketer's Guide to In-Image Advertising demonstrates how photos have become an important part of display advertising plans for the world's leading digital brands.
9 Things I've Learned About Content While Running A Content AgencyThe Story Lab
Having helped many brands steer their way through the often confusing world of content marketing, I've noticed some common themes, myths and misunderstandings about content. The word itself is confusing! Here are 9 things I've learned about content that might help you on your journey.
How we helped give birth to Vodafone Social, the official blog for Vodafone UK, and nurture it into one of the most powerful tools in company’s communications arsenal.
DoubleClick give us an important data on what types of rich media are being served. They have conducted real live brand surveys to study the brand metrics that matter to advertisers such as brand awareness, brand favorability, message association, and intent to purchase.
"For millions of years, human beings have been
part of one tribe or another. A group needs only
two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a
way to communicate”- Seth Godin
Conversations that were once limited to physical
proximity have expanded to multiple platforms online.
With the evolution from desktop to mobile, these
conversations can take place almost anywhere. It’s
important for brands to be there to feed fans what
they crave, when and where they want it to have the
most success in changing purchase behaviour. New
platforms that empower fans to connect along with
advancements in ad technology also enable better
tracking abilities.
Paid media
Search engine marketing
Display advertisement
Social media advertisement
Campaign planning
Cookies
Display banner
Video display ad
Text link advertisement
Mobile advertisement
Gamification
Video games
Native advertising
Instagram
Ephemeral content
How to use hashtags
Run contests
Shoppable tags
Influencers
How to find influencers
The use of emojis
Lead magnet
Brands today have an unprecedented opportunity to engage with consumers in more and more meaningful ways. The media landscape has been transformed. The industry has fragmented, digital channels and platforms have proliferated, and social networks have created an expectation among consumers that brands will engage them directly. In such a climate, business and marketing leaders have rushed headlong into publishing—they’d be foolish to stay on the sidelines—but few brands have been successful. One of the major reasons brands fail at publishing is they lack the strategic vision, talent, process, and technical infrastructure required to support the ongoing creation of effective content.
This report gives an overview of developments forcing brands to become publishers, outlines the signs of brand publishing success, and presents the key investments in capabilities needed to get there.
Content marketing is the process of planning, creating, sharing, and publishing the content through channels such as social media, blogs, websites, podcasts, apps, print publications, and more. The goal is to reach your target audience and increase brand awareness, sales, engagement, and loyalty.
Check out our most recent eBook which gives a comprehensive breakdown of the differences between Paid, Owned, and Earned media and how digital marketers can use this to amplify their content using LinkedIn and beyond.
The LinkedIn Brand and Demand Playbook highlights how to spread awareness, engage and convert the audiences across the user journey for brands and much more.
Digital marketing in B2B organization has become an essential mandate for Marketing organizations. A recent ITSMA report suggests:
·The most significant marketing budget change is in digital marketing, with 76% of marketers planning to increase their digital marketing budgets
·Marketers will continue to increase their content development and brand/communications budgets to support thought leadership marketing, while budget is flowing away from public trade shows, sponsorships, and traditional advertising
15 Effective Social Media Strategies Should Be Following In 2023.pdfShantnuSingh7
When it comes to social media, it is more important for marketers to understand and stay ahead of the curve. Let’s have a look at some of the important trends that you need to ensure you have the right tool at your disposal, and up-to-date strategy, and the required skills to make the best use of social media.
https://www.ezrankings.com/blog/effective-social-media-strategies/
360i's Digital Education for Nonprofits (the den) Recap Report360i
On May 12 we launched the den (Digital Education for Nonprofits) – a program thoughtfully crafted by the team at 360i, and designed to empower nonprofits to be smart marketers in the digital age through knowledge sharing, tools, and free resources.
With 2016 underway, we’re reflecting on Q4 2015 to better understand the changes that came with it in the social landscape.
As always, Q4 was a busy time in social due not only to the usual holiday priorities, but also to a slew of platform updates that gave users the ability to discover and engage with content in new ways.
The 2016 CES Report: The Trend Behind the Trend360i
Hot off the press, we’re bringing you our annual CES recap report. Our team scoured the showroom floor, and explored the week's hottest topics in social media, to bring you the best of the 2016 International Consumer Electronics & Technology Show.
With Q4 underway, we’re taking a look back at the past quarter to see what changes took place in the social landscape, and how platform growth, earnings and revenue over the past few weeks could affect the space in the future.
360i’s Marketing Leadership Playbook provides guidance to marketers on how they can reimagine their approaches to marketing to advance legacy infrastructure, pave the way for more progressive advertising and move the industry forward in this new digital era.
With SXSW Interactive just around the corner, 360i wants to
help you navigate the awesome chaos that lies ahead and
get the most out of what will be a truly inspiring experience.
360i's 2015 International CES Hot List provides a comprehensive recap and essential takeaways from 2015 International CES. On the showroom floor this year marketers saw first-hand the dawn of the Connected Age, a new era of marketing powered by more accessible, affordable and applicable consumer technology
innovations that are changing consumer behavior and transforming brand marketing.
From connected homes to virtual reality, the following report provides an overview of the top trends and technologies from this year’s CES to help marketers position their brands for the future.
For marketers who juggle myriad aspects of business management and advertising, keeping tabs on the details of dozens of social networks is a daunting prospect. But for as overwhelming as it can often be, it’s also hugely important to making the right decisions and investments for your business. This one-pager maps the top 8 social networks against each other based on various criteria, taking into account things like user base, tactical applications, KPI’s and more.
In an effort to learn more about the timely and influential market that is Brazil, 360i’s Insights & Planning group set out to explore the role of culture when it comes to how, where and with what purpose Brazilians engage on Twitter.
Why Mariah Carey is a Better Brand Than You (or 5 Things Brands Can Learn fro...360i
We’ve all heard that today’s musicians are more than entertainers – they’re brands. If that’s the case then, as brands, they’re pretty damn good at generating conversation and making a gazillion dollars. So what can today’s brands learn from the music scene to better connect with their audience?
Maggie will speak to how brands can learn from musicians:
1. They create fans that want to create communities.
While brands are trying to develop communities, musicians are empowering fans who want to create communities on their behalf. How can a brand build real fans beyond the like button?
2. They diversify.
Jay-Z has diversified his roster beyond music to great success. How have brands like Nike, Apple and Hasbros diversified to introduce new revenue streams to their business?
3. Their craft is their message.
Musicians generally don’t have to wonder how they can be authentic or stand for something given that their songs, look, etc. are their message.
4. They respond to culture.
Longevity means being able to adapt and react. Hip hop mogul Diddy has been able to be a part of culture for so long by responding to change. How are brands becoming more responsive to culture?
5. They’re batsh*t crazy.
A healthy dose of insanity is a good thing – it keeps fans surprised. What happens when a brand is brave enough to follow their crazy whims, too?
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 3DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 3. In this session, we will cover desktop automation along with UI automation.
Topics covered:
UI automation Introduction,
UI automation Sample
Desktop automation flow
Pradeep Chinnala, Senior Consultant Automation Developer @WonderBotz and UiPath MVP
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Elevating Tactical DDD Patterns Through Object CalisthenicsDorra BARTAGUIZ
After immersing yourself in the blue book and its red counterpart, attending DDD-focused conferences, and applying tactical patterns, you're left with a crucial question: How do I ensure my design is effective? Tactical patterns within Domain-Driven Design (DDD) serve as guiding principles for creating clear and manageable domain models. However, achieving success with these patterns requires additional guidance. Interestingly, we've observed that a set of constraints initially designed for training purposes remarkably aligns with effective pattern implementation, offering a more ‘mechanical’ approach. Let's explore together how Object Calisthenics can elevate the design of your tactical DDD patterns, offering concrete help for those venturing into DDD for the first time!
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdfCheryl Hung
Keynote at DIGIT West Expo, Glasgow on 29 May 2024.
Cheryl Hung, ochery.com
Sr Director, Infrastructure Ecosystem, Arm.
The key trends across hardware, cloud and open-source; exploring how these areas are likely to mature and develop over the short and long-term, and then considering how organisations can position themselves to adapt and thrive.
Accelerate your Kubernetes clusters with Varnish CachingThijs Feryn
A presentation about the usage and availability of Varnish on Kubernetes. This talk explores the capabilities of Varnish caching and shows how to use the Varnish Helm chart to deploy it to Kubernetes.
This presentation was delivered at K8SUG Singapore. See https://feryn.eu/presentations/accelerate-your-kubernetes-clusters-with-varnish-caching-k8sug-singapore-28-2024 for more details.
DevOps and Testing slides at DASA ConnectKari Kakkonen
My and Rik Marselis slides at 30.5.2024 DASA Connect conference. We discuss about what is testing, then what is agile testing and finally what is Testing in DevOps. Finally we had lovely workshop with the participants trying to find out different ways to think about quality and testing in different parts of the DevOps infinity loop.
Transcript: Selling digital books in 2024: Insights from industry leaders - T...BookNet Canada
The publishing industry has been selling digital audiobooks and ebooks for over a decade and has found its groove. What’s changed? What has stayed the same? Where do we go from here? Join a group of leading sales peers from across the industry for a conversation about the lessons learned since the popularization of digital books, best practices, digital book supply chain management, and more.
Link to video recording: https://bnctechforum.ca/sessions/selling-digital-books-in-2024-insights-from-industry-leaders/
Presented by BookNet Canada on May 28, 2024, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
Slack (or Teams) Automation for Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Soluti...Jeffrey Haguewood
Sidekick Solutions uses Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Solutions Apricot) and automation solutions to integrate data for business workflows.
We believe integration and automation are essential to user experience and the promise of efficient work through technology. Automation is the critical ingredient to realizing that full vision. We develop integration products and services for Bonterra Case Management software to support the deployment of automations for a variety of use cases.
This video focuses on the notifications, alerts, and approval requests using Slack for Bonterra Impact Management. The solutions covered in this webinar can also be deployed for Microsoft Teams.
Interested in deploying notification automations for Bonterra Impact Management? Contact us at sales@sidekicksolutionsllc.com to discuss next steps.
JMeter webinar - integration with InfluxDB and GrafanaRTTS
Watch this recorded webinar about real-time monitoring of application performance. See how to integrate Apache JMeter, the open-source leader in performance testing, with InfluxDB, the open-source time-series database, and Grafana, the open-source analytics and visualization application.
In this webinar, we will review the benefits of leveraging InfluxDB and Grafana when executing load tests and demonstrate how these tools are used to visualize performance metrics.
Length: 30 minutes
Session Overview
-------------------------------------------
During this webinar, we will cover the following topics while demonstrating the integrations of JMeter, InfluxDB and Grafana:
- What out-of-the-box solutions are available for real-time monitoring JMeter tests?
- What are the benefits of integrating InfluxDB and Grafana into the load testing stack?
- Which features are provided by Grafana?
- Demonstration of InfluxDB and Grafana using a practice web application
To view the webinar recording, go to:
https://www.rttsweb.com/jmeter-integration-webinar
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...DanBrown980551
Do you want to learn how to model and simulate an electrical network from scratch in under an hour?
Then welcome to this PowSyBl workshop, hosted by Rte, the French Transmission System Operator (TSO)!
During the webinar, you will discover the PowSyBl ecosystem as well as handle and study an electrical network through an interactive Python notebook.
PowSyBl is an open source project hosted by LF Energy, which offers a comprehensive set of features for electrical grid modelling and simulation. Among other advanced features, PowSyBl provides:
- A fully editable and extendable library for grid component modelling;
- Visualization tools to display your network;
- Grid simulation tools, such as power flows, security analyses (with or without remedial actions) and sensitivity analyses;
The framework is mostly written in Java, with a Python binding so that Python developers can access PowSyBl functionalities as well.
What you will learn during the webinar:
- For beginners: discover PowSyBl's functionalities through a quick general presentation and the notebook, without needing any expert coding skills;
- For advanced developers: master the skills to efficiently apply PowSyBl functionalities to your real-world scenarios.
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...
Startup Outlook: Issue 3, July2012
1. Presented By:
Issue 3 - July 2012
Welcome to the third edition of Startup Outlook, 360i’s guide for how brands can better
evaluate emerging technologies and platforms. This issue features five companies from the
portfolio of Greycroft Partners, a venture capital firm investing in some of the world’s most
notable digital media companies. To learn more about how Greycroft works with startups and
how its companies connect with marketers, read our interview with Greycroft Co-Founder &
Partner Ian Sigalow at the end of this report.
If you have feedback, or if you represent a startup and want to be considered for a future
edition, contact us at startup@360i.com.
tweet this
Meet the Startups
Each Startup Outlook report measures five select companies against the evaluation criteria outlined in 360i’s
Startup Scorecard. To suggest a startup for inclusion in future updates, contact us at startup@360i.com.
StartupScorecard Here is 360i’s qualitative Startup Scorecard, presenting
the four criteria to use when evaluating startups:
Value: What consumer and brand needs does the Applicability: Which brands or verticals would find
technology facilitate? If a consumer application, why the startup most relevant? Even the hottest startups
would consumers use this, and why would brands aren’t right for every brand. Some startups are more
even consider participating? If the value is high for applicable for a certain season, campaign or goal.
consumers, brands will want to find a way to get
involved.
Prominence: How can the brand stand out and create Ingenuity: What is exciting right now? In some cases,
its own experience? A rotating banner ad within a site a brand will seek out ingenuity because it’s looking to
or application won’t give the brand a prominent hook, attract media attention and get recognized as an
while sponsorships, white label offerings and product innovator. It’s also important to discern whether the
integration will score high here. offering is truly unique, or if there are more established
competitors with similar offerings that can better
achieve a marketer’s goals.
1
2. Adly www.adly.com
• Value: Adly provides a distribution channel where marketers can serve messages through people on
Twitter with at least 150,000 followers. For instance, an advertiser can pay to have rap artist Snoop
Dogg or television star Tori Spelling tweet branded messages on his or her behalf. Advertisers should
consider this akin to a media buy, as marketers pay based on the reach of the promoters. Note that
360i does not advise buying into Adly’s messaging around calling these promoters “influencers,” as
Adly should not be seen as a replacement for or component of an influencer marketing program. This
is a pay-per-post model (sometimes called “sponsored conversations”), which may be effective in
generating views and clicks – and perhaps even conversions. Still, it is far different from one-to-one
outreach designed to generate earned media. Instead, the sponsored Adly posts are all labeled as
ads, and they should be planned and bought as such.
• Applicability: Brand marketers will be most interested in Adly, but for the right sale or product launch,
it’s possible to craft promotions that will generate direct revenue along with clicks. Adly will generally be
used to generate awareness, interest, and engagement.
Sample Adly placement by hip hop artist Snoop Dogg for Toyota. - adly.com
• Prominence: With Adly, ads take the form of a tweet, so the advertiser will be exclusive within a given
post. Like any tweet, however, it will compete with all other Twitter activity viewed by a given user,
including the increasingly frequent and prominent ads brokered through Twitter itself.
• Ingenuity: Adly is arguably the best known and most established business focusing on sponsored
conversations through Twitter. There are others, such as Sponsored Tweets by Izea, which has
celebrities like Paris Hilton and Mario Lopez, but also lower-reach promoters. Adly’s selectivity of
promoters should make it a safer bet for large brands.
2
3. Livefyre www.livefyre.com
• Value: Livefyre, which calls itself a “real-time conversation platform,” is a commenting engine for blogs
and websites. Instead of simply allowing readers to comment on content, posts on sites using Livefyre
will incorporate public comments people share through social networks like Facebook and Twitter,
with comments updated in real-time. People can also tag their friends from their social networks within
comments, and share comments back through their networks.
The Livefyre conversation platform aggregates conversations
across platforms in one central thread. - GigOM
• Applicability: Media and entertainment companies are Livefyre’s primary customers, but any
brand creating content that incorporates comments could be interested.
• Prominence: The enhanced Livefyre Professional version, which would be the likely choice
for any major brand (as opposed to the free version), allows for various forms of customization.
For users though, all that matters is that it works, and it has an intuitive interface that enables
people to easily comment using logins from other properties such as Facebook and Google.
• Ingenuity: There are many commenting platforms, with Disqus the closest competitor to
Livefyre. The key differentiator for Livefyre is including live comments from social networks in
line with other comments on the post. This in turn makes the site hosting such posts feel even
more vibrant and current.
3
4. Media Armor www.mediaarmor.com
• Value: Media Armor unifies data across channels, including mobile, online, email, in-store and
catalogs. As such, consumers can then be reached through mobile display advertising that’s targeted
to their profiles. This should appeal to marketers who have had a difficult time targeting their audiences
through mobile channels and linking that activity to other online and offline behavior.
• Applicability: Media Armor’s solution holds broad applicability across advertisers. Campaigns can be
run for both retention and acquisition goals. The key metric it focuses on is return on advertising spend
(ROAS).
• Prominence: The goal for Media Armor will be scale, as media is bought on a CPM basis. In doing so,
that means Media Armor will amass as much inventory as possible across a range of sources: direct
publishers, supply-side platforms, ad networks and ad exchanges. Prominence thus is not the goal,
though Media Armor does need to ensure its ads are noticed.
• Ingenuity: Media Armor is addressing a problem that marketers probably don’t think can be solved.
There are other approaches emerging to identify consumers across channels, such as identifying
various devices using the same WiFi network. Some of those approaches often come into conflict with
marketers’ privacy standards, so it’s important for marketers to fully understand how such technologies
handle personally identifiable information (PII).
Pulse www.pulse.me
• Value: Pulse is a popular news reading application for mobile devices and tablets; it had 11 million
users as of the start of the year and continues to grow rapidly. Pulse considers advertising just another
form of content. On Pulse, news sources (generally from top publishers and blogs) appear in rows,
and users scroll across the rows to read story thumbnails. Clicking a story opens it so that readers can
access some or all of it within the app; some publishers direct readers to their sites to read the full story.
Ads can appear like any other news story, with an initial thumbnail and headline that expands to richer
content. Ads can be targeted to specific publishers.
• Applicability: The ads within Pulse tend to be a better fit for brand marketers, as the best performing
ads will likely be those that readers consider a welcome addition to the editorial content.
• Prominence: Ads appear as part of the content stream, so the initial exposure is limited to the image
and headline. From there, brands can create customized content that resembles other stories with text,
images and video. Like other Pulse content, ads can also be shared on Facebook and Twitter, giving
ads the potential for broader exposure.
4
5. • Ingenuity: There are other mobile news readers, but Pulse continues to win over fans with its intuitive
design optimized for touchscreen devices. The big difference this year is that ads are now part of the
content mix, with Pulse joining Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and others in offering native formats rather
than standard banner ad units. As targeting, planning and reporting offerings evolve, this should benefit
both Pulse’s advertisers as well as its readers.
Pulse interface showcasing content across a range of publishers. -
Mashable
uSamp www.usamp.com
• Value: uSamp is a technology-driven market research company that can deliver surveys to an online
panel of up to 8 million respondents worldwide. It also powers Instant.ly, a self-service survey builder
with on-demand panel access. Using Instant.ly, marketers can create polls that are shared with their
own audiences, whether it’s emailing customers or sharing the link socially. Marketers can also pay
for credits on the site to get instant answers from specific demographic and geographic targets.
Responses can arrive within seconds.
• Applicability: Given that it’s a market research service, uSamp is used by a diverse array of brands
spanning a wide range of verticals.
• Prominence: Brands run their own custom market research campaigns. While brands can add logos
to surveys, marketers will often prefer to remain anonymous, and the value here is the research itself.
• Ingenuity: There are many online market research companies, including Google with its Consumer
Surveys product. uSamp and Instant.ly aim to stand out with a combination of their ease of building
surveys, speed of responses, detailed respondent information and reporting. There are inherent
advantages with Instant.ly over Google, such as Instant.ly’s detailed panelist information rather than
inferred data Google collects from cookies and IP addresses. At the very least, Instant.ly is a strong
contender for market research needs as it is fast, robust and competitive on price.
5
6. Point of view:
Ian Sigalow, Co-Founder & Partner Greycroft LLC
A venture capitalist since 2001, Ian has spent his entire career working with
early stage technology companies. He currently oversees a number of Greycroft
investments, including industry leaders such as Buddy Media, Collective,
Extreme Reach and NimbleTV. We spoke with Ian to get his thoughts on today’s
startup landscape.
• What excites you most about the startup space today? Mobility is the big trend today. You can have
a full power PC with a dual core processor, touch screen (in any size you want), 4G Internet access,
250GB of storage and more – all for under $500. The ability to make both your computer and the
Internet portable is quickly changing user behavior.
• How do you identify promise in the startups you ultimately include in your portfolio? What
are the key attributes you look for? We are old fashioned and judge mostly on customer traction and
revenues. The day a company becomes profitable is the day that you can sleep better at night.
• What advice do you give your portfolio companies when they’re seeking brand partnerships?
What are some of the main challenges they have voiced in this process? I tell them to go direct
to a handful of brands and build test cases, ROIs and whitepapers. It can take a long time to sell direct,
but that is a rite of passage for all startups. The main challenge is that they will get have contact with
agencies who ultimately want to own the vendor relationships, but that never works in the beginning.
You have to be able to sell your own product before anyone else can sell it on your behalf.
• What’s a great example (or two) of a successful brand partnership with any of your portfolio
companies? What were the keys to success in these partnerships? The two best cases are Buddy
Media and Tagman. Buddy Media was able to win a competitive RFP process to get a master contract
with Unilever and P&G, and then upsold individual brands over time. Tagman has had similar success
with Virgin in the UK, which unlocked many large brands as well as other competing airlines. The key is
having an enterprise grade services team capable of helping with implementation and support. There
is an antiquated model of software in Silicon Valley that believes that all software should be self-service,
which means it is sold into the enterprise and then the company moves on. That doesn’t work in the
marketing software space. With the new software approach, the work starts after you win the deal. You
have to build your company with a significant number of people dedicated to client success.
6