Archive for February, 2011
Thursday, February 17th, 2011
 Nelson Chu By Allan Maurer
ATLANTA – The venture industry is recovering from the recession and both institutional investors and angels are putting money in new deals, not just keeping their powder dry for existing portfolio companies, says Nelson Chu, a managing director with Kinetic Ventures. But one of the things entrepreneurs should do to prepare for funding is to make sure a venture firm they’re approaching is actively investing, he adds.
Chu joined Kinetic Ventures in 1998. His investment activities focus on information and infrastructure technologies, enterprise and Internet software, and other emerging software and hardware technologies. He has led a broad range of Kinetic investments including BroadWare, VerticalOne, FoodBuy, Vertical Acuity, Alereon, and Tower Cloud.
Chu is one of a host of venture capitalists, angel investors, entrepreneurs and presenting companies slated to participate in the fifth annual Southeast Venture Conference in Atlanta March 2-3. Two of Kinetic Venture’s portfolio companies, Tower Cloud and Vertical Acuity are among the 50 companies presenting their business plans at the event.
Understand potential investors
Chu says it is imperative for entrepreneurs to understand who their potential investors are. “Start by reading their website, focus on how long they have been around, who the partners and portfolio companies are. Then they can better understand the appropriateness of their opportunity for that firm. It shows good discernment on the part of the entrepreneur if they’re aware of the firm’s investing focus and style.”
It’s also a good idea to talk to CEOs of the VC’s portfolio companies and others who may have had interactions with the firm, he adds. “Talk to people who received funding and to people who didn’t, lawyers and accountants who know the firm. Get a feel for the partners: if you have an Internet media platform and want to know if you should talk to Sally, Mike or Sue, and Sue focuses on package goods, she may not know social marketing tools. You want to go in with the best foot forward, knowing their investing philosophy.”
With exits improving for venture backed companies both in merger and acquisition and IPO activity, there is a high level of excitement and activity in Atlanta right now, Chu says. “There is so much money on the sidelines in the private equity industry: people are ready to deploy capital.”
Kinetic, which raised a fund in 2009 is still making new investments and hopes to close a new deal before mid-March. “We’re not a huge fund. We like getting in early. A company doesn’t necessarily need revenues, but it’s nice if they have some type of technology product we can put in front of folks we know, such as potential customers or investors.”
Listen to feedback
The way to attract an investor, he says, “Is to focus on how you can build a compelling story. It does help to get early customers willing to try out the product. “That could be a handful of enterprise folks trying it who are willing to take calls from potential institutional investors,” he says.
“Sometimes entrepreneurs find it is easier solving technical problems but it can be much more challenging or worrisome to talk to customers. We love entrepreneurs who are relatively fearless in soliciting customer feedback, who are scrappy.”
Chu suggests that entrepreneurs attending events such as the Southeast Venture Conference should have “A fairly clear set of objectives, but on the other hand, be open to listening to what others are saying and how you can use that information. Speak to people who might have something new to say.”
Chu says it is a real turnoff if he tries to give an entrepreneur feedback on what they’re attempting and he doesn’t listen. “Don’t just tell me the same thing over and over if you’re not willing to have a conversation and take feedback,” he says.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: advice to entrepreneurs, Events, Kinetic Ventures, Nelson Chu, Southeast Venture Conference, Tower Cloud, Vertical Acuity
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Thursday, February 17th, 2011
 RALEIGH, NC – The Triangle Technology Executives Council (TTEC) has announced the 2011 Innovation Scholarship program. Students enrolled in college or graduate programs in North Carolina are eligible for awards of $6,000 and $4,000 for proposals judged the most innovative use of technology.
All North Carolina universities and many community colleges will qualify.
There is no GPA requirement but a transcript – official or unofficial – is required for submission. Applicable technologies used in innovative solution are those that fall into the categories of Software or Information Technology (IT). This would include, but not limited to:
- any software application, new, extended, integrated or repurposed,
- integration and/or use of IT infrastructure and systems, at the box level, not the circuitry level
- mobile computing and the use of wireless
Technologies not applicable are those in the areas of molecular, chemical, biological, electronic circuitry, nano, mechanical or the like.
Submission deadline is March 15, 2011 and the awards will be presented May 1.
Students can appy here: www.ncttec.net/?page=ScholarshipApp
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: 2011 Innovation Scholarship program, The Triangle Technology Executives Council
Posted in Carolinas, Internet/New Media, IT, Money, North Carolina | Comments Off
Thursday, February 17th, 2011
 Scott Case WASHINGTON, DC – The Startup America Partnership, the private sector alliance launched at the White House on January 31st to celebrate and accelerate entrepreneurship, has named Timothy “Scott” Case CEO.
Scott is currently CEO of Malaria No More (www.MalariaNoMore.org), a public-private partnership he helped start in 2006 to end malaria deaths in Africa by 2015, and will remain with the organization as a Vice Chair.
“I’ve been an entrepreneur my entire life and have helped build hyper growth companies that transformed the lives of employees, customers, and clients.” said Scott Case. “I’ve also experienced the challenges entrepreneurs face firsthand as they seek to build great companies. I’m delighted to lead the Startup America Partnership as I believe driving American entrepreneurship is critical to creating jobs and sustaining our nation’s global leadership.”
Prior to Malaria No More, Scott was involved in several entrepreneurial startups, including Priceline, the “name your own price” company that was one of only a handful of startups in US history to reach a billion dollars in annual sales in less than 24 months.
As co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, he was responsible for building the technology that enabled Priceline’s hyper-growth. Previously, Scott helped build a portfolio of intellectual property at the Walker Digital Invention Laboratory, and is a named inventor on dozens of U.S. patents. Scott also co-founded Precision Training Software, a software company that developed the world’s first PC-based simulated flight instructor and photo-realistic flight simulator.
The Startup America Partnership is an alliance of the country’s most innovative entrepreneurs, corporations, universities, foundations, and other private sector leaders working to dramatically increase the prevalence and success of high-growth enterprises in the U.S.
The Partnership was created as an independent, private-sector response to President Obama’s Startup America initiative, a White House campaign to celebrate, inspire, and accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship throughout the nation. AOL co-founder Steve Case chairs the partnership and the Kauffman and Case Foundations are founding partners, providing initial funding and strategic guidance. For more information on the Partnership, visit www.startupamericapartnership.organd follow at www.twitter.com/startupamerica and www.facebook.com/startupamerica.
The Startup America program has already been criticized as too much hype and no beef, although it has just launched.
Personally, we think anything that helps focus attention on the job creation potential and critical innovations of startup companies as opposed to say, pumping money into financial institutions that helped cause the recent recession, is a good thing.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Case Foundation, Kauffman Foundation, Scott Case named CEO, Startup America, Steve Case
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Thursday, February 17th, 2011
 RALEIGH, NC – Axial Exchange, a company selling technology to increase medical efficiency by making sure doctors and patients have the information they need, has raised $1.15 million from a $1.5 million share offering, according to a regulatory filing.
The company disclosed the raise in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which lists Stephen Block of California-based CAnaan Partners as a principal.
According to the company website, it developed its technology “Drawing from experience in other more automated industries, and combining the principles of open standards and open source, we seek to enable providers’ access to the data from their legacy systems facilitating new integrated applications and the future of true health information exchange.”
CEO Joanne Rohde says on the site that the company evolved due to experiences she, her mother and her husband had dealing with chronic and acute illnesses in the healthcare system.
The company sells a communications platform, clinical dashboard, and data platform to get patient information to healthcare professionals on whatever device they choose, including data from legacy IT systems.
Tags: Axial Exchange, Canaan Partners, healthcare IT, Joanne Rohde, Stephen Bloch
Posted in Carolinas, IT, Money, North Carolina | Comments Off
Thursday, February 17th, 2011
 COLLEGE PARK, MD – The Maryland Industrial Partnership Program (MIPS) has authorized 16 high technology and biotech product development grants totlaing $3.7 million.
MIPS, an initiative of the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech) at the University of Maryland, fosters technology innovation and creates jobs in Maryland by funding commercially promising product development projects that partner Maryland companies with University System of Maryland researchers. Both companies and MIPS contribute money, all of which supports the work of faculty and graduate students.
The projects combine $2.4 million from participating companies and $1.3 million from MIPS. Funding from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Environmental Protection Agency and the Maryland Biotechnology Center supported select MIPS projects.
New technologies approved for funding include: a new, biofuel-producing scrubber to remove CO2 from smokestacks, biofouling screen systems that remove harmful nutrients and sediment from the Chesapeake Bay, a variable-torque wind turbine with a speed converter, pest-resistant soybeans, ultra-thin rechargeable batteries, a system that speeds Internet-via satellite communications and more.
Five are in the Baltimore area, four are in College Park, two are in western Maryland, two are in Frederick, one is in Silver Spring, one is in Dayton, and one is on the lower Eastern Shore.
Companies getting grants include:
Frederick-based Cerona Networks ( www.cerona.com ), which gets $268,600 and is developing a broadband Internet-via-satellite system with two-way performance approaching terrestrial Internet connections that saves costs for providers and can be retrofit to existing systems.
Owings Mills-based Differential Dynamics Corporation ( www.ddmotion.com ), $160,000 for developing a new type of wind turbine with a speed converter and a variable-torque generator that can reduce the failure rate and maintenance cost, harness more energy, and reduce unit cost.
College Park-based FlexEl LLC ( www.flexelinc.com ), $141,025, for developing an integrated battery management system for FlexEl’s thin-film batteries incorporating upstream energy scavenging circuitry and downstream load management circuitry to give end-users an ultra-thin, plug-and-play power solution.
The others are biotech related.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Baltimore, Blackrock Algae, Cerona Networks, College Park, Differential Dynamics Corp., Frederick, Maryland, MIPs grants, Owings Mills
Posted in Economic Development, Internet/New Media, IT, Maryland, Money, Potomac | Comments Off
Thursday, February 17th, 2011
 ATLANTA – Vitrue, a company selling social media management software to businesses, has raised a $17 million Series C financing led by Scale Venture Partners and Advent Venture Partners. Existing investors General Catalyst Partners, Comcast Interactive, and Dace Ventures participated.
Vitrue’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform enables brands and marketing agencies to communicate with 450 million fans in 47 countries across more than 2,500 Facebook and Twitter accounts, emerging social media avenues, and mobile applications.
The company said it will use the new financing to open offices in seven domestic markets, New York, San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, Detroit, Cincinnati and Los Angeles and three international ones in London, Toronto and Singapore.
It plans to hire between 100 and 150 new employees.
“With the explosion of Facebook, Twitter and mobile location-aware applications, the opportunity for brands to effectively engage and deepen relationships with consumers has never been greater,” said Reggie Bradford, CEO of Vitrue.
“We will aggressively scale the company and continue delivering best in class solutions to our customers, enabling them to connect with consumers any time, any place.”
Silicon Valley-based Scale Venture Partners has funded some of the most well-known SaaS-based businesses, including Omniture and Exact Target.
“Marketing in social media has become a compelling way for businesses to engage consumers, and is a growing line in brands’ budgets,” said Stacey Curry Bishop, partner with Scale Venture Partners. Bishop has joined the company’s board.
“Just as brands are investing here, ScaleVP wanted to catch this trend. We believe that Vitrue’s experienced management team and impressive performance to date positions them to scale globally on Facebook and beyond.”
Frederic Court, general partner at Advent Venture Partners, one of Europe’s most established venture and growth capital firms, said Vitrue has the potential to become the social media market platform of choice across Europe and globally.
“Social media is a global phenomenon and Facebook has reached a massive user base in Europe. To fully leverage this opportunity, marketers are turning to software delivered as a service to engage with their consumers, and Vitrue is at the leading edge of this trend,” Court said.
“Vitrue’s superior approach to connecting brands with consumers, and ability to massively scale its platform position the company for strong international growth.”
We suspect there will be considerable competition in the social media management space. The primary competition may be from companies that simply hire one or more people to handle their social media marketing. But Vitrue has solid backers and a running start, which should position them well.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Advent Venture Partners, Comcast Interactive, Dace Ventures, facebook, General Catalyst Partners, Scale Venture Partners, Series C financing, social media management for businesses, Stacey Curry Bishop, twitter, Vitrue
Posted in Georgia, Internet/New Media, IT, Money | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011
 With nearly 20 percent of the country out of a job, take the road less traveled: start a company. “Startup: The Complete Handbook for Launching a Company for Less,” is a new book that shows entrepreneurs how to start a business on a shoestring budget.
Edwards has written a modern textbook for entrepreneurship, covering all aspects of starting a business. In concise, plain English, “Startup” explains the finer points of branding, advertising, venture funding, grants, SBA loans, patents and business law.
Part manual, part manifesto, the nearly 400-page handbook is packed full of templates, do-it-yourself tools, and proven strategies for bootstrapping.
“I heartily recommend this book,” says Bill Payne, founding member of the Angel Capital Association, Tech Coast Angels, and an Entrepreneur In Residence at the Kauffman Foundation. “Elizabeth does a great job of explaining how to start your company for less – and why it costs less to start companies today than ever before. She offers great tips on personal finance and provides a detailed listing of sources of capital for startups,” says Payne.
“Startup” tackles both strategy and tactics – discussing high-level business strategy concepts and illustrating back-of-the-napkin calculations to help entrepreneurs make good decisions. Edwards offers three tests for feasibility (to minimize risk), 14 creative ways to finance a startup, and a formulaic approach to marketing (to grow revenue). The book also outlines a $20,000 personal financial makeover and tips for getting individual health insurance.
“On average, entrepreneurs are six times wealthier than their employed peers, so we know that the risk and the effort pays off. But most startups – and even mature businesses – are challenged with how to create a profitable business model, conserve cash, and get operational fast. That’s the focus of this book,” says Edwards.
“Most startup books are either not comprehensive or simply outdated, given the rapid change we’ve seen in the startup landscape in recent years. This is more than a guide; it’s a startup bible,” says Michael Cerda, VP of Technology at MySpace, former Entrepreneur in Residence at Venrock, and author of Cerdafied.
The book is available on Amazon.com, www.elizabethedwards.com, on the Kindle, and will debut in major bookstores in the spring.
Elizabeth Edwards serves on the board of the Greater Cincinnati Venture Association and teaches at Xavier University. She has been featured in more than 50 media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, and BoingBoing, and is a popular speaker at universities and conferences. Follow Edwards on Twitter @eedwards.
Tags: advertising, book review, branding, business law., Elizabeth Edwards, grants, patents, SBA loans, Starup: The Complete Handbook, venture funding
Posted in Reviewed, Tech Culture, TechLife | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011
 By Marietta Davis
One of the most widespread trends in technology these days, cloud computing is having an impact on everyone from the average home user all the way up to IT services departments at the world’s largest enterprise organizations.
The proliferation of this trend couldn’t have come at a better time, with people and businesses everywhere in real need of cost-efficient ways to manage resources. Cloud computing delivers on that need and more, making it easier for organizations to grow revenue, innovate and add to their workforces.
How can the shift from client/server-based systems to the cloud have such a profound and positive economic impact? For one, the cloud’s pay-as-you-go model eliminates waste, letting businesses pay only for the IT services they really need, when they need them most. This in turn frees up capital for established companies to start new lines of business and create new customer experiences or start-ups to launch more quickly.
What’s more, the cloud presents compelling opportunities for those in the IT services industry. Whenever any kind of business, regardless of its size, chooses to adopt cloud computing solutions, that organization must rely on vendor partners to assist in the migration. Consequently, instead of posing as a threat to IT, the cloud actually creates new avenues for growth within this industry.
Survey says: cloud caught on quickly in Atlanta
In Atlanta, the value of cloud computing has caught on quickly with IT decision makers. A recent online survey conducted by 7th Sense Research and sponsored by Microsoft assessed the opinions and attitudes of Atlanta IT decision makers (ITDMs) toward cloud-based services and found that our region stands out in its understanding of cloud computing and its benefits.
For instance, the survey found that enterprise ITDMs in Atlanta are more familiar (43 percent) with cloud computing than the national average and 57 percent of those surveyed in Atlanta view cloud computing as a way for IT to be more strategic.
Additionally, more than 62 percent of enterprise ITDMs in Atlanta currently employ or plan to implement cloud-based e-mail and communication tools and 66 percent of those who have invested in the cloud have saved money. Those numbers will likely increase as 42 percent of Atlanta enterprise ITDMs have cloud projects planned for the future or currently underway.
Good for Atlanta business?
All of this bodes well for the local economy, since Atlanta businesses deploying cloud solutions are turning to local IT vendors for assistance, with 26 percent of Atlanta Enterprise ITDMs already doing so and 32 percent plan to moving forward. There is even internal growth at organizations, as 48 percent of Enterprise ITDMs say they consider cloud computing expertise a hiring prerequisite or are hiring more internal staff with cloud computing experience.
In many ways, the cloud is still in its infancy and contains a great deal of untapped potential for businesses of all sizes, a large number of ITDMs throughout this region see no reason to delay exploring what online services can do for their organizations. This will also be a catalyst for local economic growth in not only the IT industry, but other organizations looking to propel their business.
If you’re still on the fence when it comes to adopting cloud solutions for your business, take some time to dig a little deeper into the decision. When used wisely, the cloud can bring a whole new level of efficiency to your company, as well as inject growth and vitality into our local economy.
About the Author: Marietta Davis is the general manager for Microsoft’s Greater Southeast District. For more information on how to harness the power of the cloud, see: www.microsoft.com/cloud
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: 7th Sense Research, Atlanta cloud survey, Marietta Davis, Microsoft cloud, Viewpoint
Posted in Georgia, Internet/New Media, IT, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011
 ATLANTA – Despite constituting less than six percent of worldwide installations in 2010, the United States is well positioned to become the focus of the global photovoltaic (PV) industry in the coming year, according to a whitepaper released today by international solar power developer Enfinity.
Titled “The U.S. PV Market in 2011“, the report, produced in partnership with GTM Research, analyzes the key market drivers in the U.S. solar PV industry and predicts that 2011 will be a vital growth year for the country’s solar market.
“All eyes are on the U.S. PV market in 2011,” said Rafael Dobrzynski, Enfinity’s CEO in the Americas. “Being active in Europe as well as the Americas, we continually get questions—from both sides—about the U.S. market’s potential, demand ramp-up, and the reality of a national Feed-in-Tariff. Our white paper addresses these key issues as we delve into all these areas and provide valuable insights with hard numbers attached.”
Enfinity’s white paper identifies three factors that provide the United States with enormous, long-term potential for sustainable PV market growth:
- The United States is home to an excellent photovoltaic resource. While the Southwest provides the highest insolation, or exposure to the sun’s rays, even northeastern states offer insolation that is, at a minimum, equal to or greater than the resources of Germany.
- There is ample availability of land for PV development. The western states, in particular, have large tracts of open land that could support large PV installations.
- Electricity demand in the United States is the highest in the world. Electricity consumption in the United States is roughly 7.2 times the total in Germany and nearly 15 times as much as Spain. In 2010, U.S. PV installations more than doubled to an estimated 820 MW, up from 435 MW in 2009. While other markets such as Spain, Germany and the Czech Republic have faced drastic shifts, the United States has seen steady, if incremental, year-over-year growth
Shayle Kann, managing director of solar at GTM Research, said, “It is difficult not to be bullish about the U.S. PV market. The economics have never made more sense. As PV system costs fall, electricity prices rise, and project finance returns to the table, the U.S. market is inching closer to reaching its potential as the center of global PV demand.”
Download: “The U.S. PV Market in 2011″ white paper.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Atlanta, Enfinity, photovoltaic market, Report, solar power, U.S. PV market in 2011
Posted in Energy, Georgia, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011
 BOCA RATON, FL – Medimetrix Solutions EXchange, which provides health system management tools that health systems can buy online, has raised $1 million of a targeted $5 million mixed securities offering, according to a regulatory filing. The company raised $1.28 million in 2010.
The company’s website says The EXchange enables hospital and health system executives to quickly find proven solutions fitting their institutional needs, speed their implementation, reduce the learning curve and adoption while lowering costs, improving performance and increasing efficiency.
Leading health systems spendmillions of dollars developing Solutions to improve theirmanagement performance. The EXchange recognizes that these proven solutions have a large potentialmarket. Until now, only a few solutions have been successfully transformed into commercial products by third-parties andmost are not suitable for commercialization as stand-alone products. Through The EXchange, health systems have a platform to effectively commercialize their proven management solutions, the company says.
The EXchange also provides an access point for social networking via forums and blogs to promote discussions about healthcare innovation as well as review market acceptance of the solutions available for licensing.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Boca Raton, financing, FL, healthcare solutions platform, Medimetrix Solutions EXchange, online exchange
Posted in Florida, IT, Money | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011
 ATLANTA – Quofore International Inc. has closed a $5.25 million equity offering. It sells mobile solutions for consumer products companies’ field sales, marketing, merchandising, and direct store delivery operations.Quofore raised $15 million in 2009.
Founded in 1998, Quofore has deployed mobile solutions to thousands of field sales and marketing professionals in multiple languages. Its customers include manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers, distributors, and marketing service organizations.
Research firm Gartner has featured Quofore in their Marketscope reports since 2006. In the recent 2010 Marketscope report “Next-Generation Retail Merchandising and Execution Solutions for Consumer Goods”, Quofore achieved the highest ranking.
From 2007 to 2009 Quofore has been named “Editor’s Pick” in Consumer Goods Technology magazine. The “Editor’s Pick” section in the Annual Reader’s Choice Award issue profiles companies that are “key players in the field.
According to the filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission disclosing the financing, five investors participated. Ashoke Goswami and Laura Witt from Baltimore’s ABS Capital Partners are cited among the principals and directors as is Sherwin Krug from Atlanta-based TheDocClock.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: ABS Capital Partners, Asoke Goswami, Atlanta, financing, Laura Witt, mobile apps for products companies, Quofore Internations, Sherwin Krug
Posted in Georgia, IT, Mobile, Money, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
 By Allan Maurer
ATLANTA – Three major problems affect the ability of companies to generate new sales leads, says Greg Foster, co-founder of BrightWhistle. The new firm is intended to be “The sharp end of the stick in automated marketing,” Foster says.
This is Foster’s latest company. Foster is entrepreneur in residence at Chyrsalis Ventures. His experience includes founding or being part of the management team for three successful start-ups, and running corporate development for two public companies, including Turner Broadcasting.
He is on the board of the popular Internet satire site, The Onion, and Research Triangle-based StatSheet, which Foster says helped inspire founding of BrightWhistle because of its innovations in automation, and was a partner at Atlanta-based Noro-Moseley Partners.
BrightWhistle is one of 50 companies presenting to the more than 1,000 people expected at the fifth annual Southeast Venture Conference in Atlanta March 2-3. Foster tells us the company is in the process of raising a small round now that may close even before the event.
Generating really gualified leads
Founded in July last year, BrightWhistle started out when Foster and co-founder Chad Mallory started looking at ways to generate “Really well qualified leads” in a cost-effective way. “That’s the overarching question marketers deal with on a daily basis,” he says.
He sees three major problems with the way many marketers generate leads now. “Third-party lead generators are often pretty promiscuous,” he says. “They’ll sell a lead to you, to me and to three guys down the street. They’re also disloyal.”
By that he means that even if a company lands a prospect, the third-party lead generator might keep calling them to see if they’ll switch. Also, Foster adds, “There is not a lot of transparency on how their leads are created.”
The bolts come loose
The other approach: broad pay per click strategies with ads on Google and Facebook, has its own set of problems. “They may be able to build you a targeted ad, but they can’t put you somewhere with really compelling content once you click on the ad.”
Also, some digital marketers pay a lot of money to SEO consultants to push their corporate site up the ladder in natural rankings in Google, Bing and so on for certain key words or terms. Unfortunately, Foster notes, “No matter how hard you tighten the bolts down, they eventually come loose.”
He adds, “You may be getting good traffic and good conversions, but over time, they go down and you have to get the SEO consultant back in and pay him $500 an hour to get them back up.”
If money were no object…
So, Foster and his co-founder started asking people, “If money were no object, what kind of system would they create to help with all those issues?”
Foster says “We talked to a lot of different people and companies. They began with healthcare companies – which is BrightWhistle’s initial focus. “They have the greatest need for lead generation to find new patients.”
 Greg Foster Then, he says, “It dawned on us that if they had their druthers, they would want a system where they could create blogs that rank highly for natural search but would allow them to keep the leads generated exclusively for themselves.”
They would want the system flexible enough to take the same blog content and create customized landing pages for ads in Google or on Facebook. The increased relevancy of the pages they land on then produces increased conversion rates.
Already cashflow positive
They asked themselves, Foster says, “What if you could create multiple blogs, get them professionally written and published, manage all the SEO issues, and have the flexibility to create as many landing pages as desired, targeted at a very specific level – and all automated?
That’s the system BrightWhistle developed. “Essentially,” says Foster, “We’re taking something a digital marketer wouldn’t have time to do on their own and automating it.”
BrightWhistle doesn’t sell leads. It sells a software as a service platform, which users pay for based on the number of blogs or landing pages in the system at any given time.
“It’s time to insource lead generation,” he says.
BrightWhistle must be doing something right. The firm landed seven clients since November, but is taking a breather to raise money. “We’re already cashflow positive,” Foster says.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Atlanta, blogs, Brightwhistle, Chysalis Ventures, Greg Foster, lead generation, Marketing, Noro Moseley Partners, pay per click, Southeast Venture Conference, The Onion
Posted in Events, Georgia, Internet/New Media, IT, Marketing | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
 WASHINGTON, DC – TechAmerica is urging Congress to support items in President Obama’s 2012 budget proposal that promote innovation and lower corporate taxes.
TechAmerican President and CEO Phil Bond issued the following statement in response to the President’s FY 2012 budget proposal.
“The technology industry sees the President’s proposal as a strong start for innovation in the FY 2012 budget process. If our economy is to reach robust recovery, the ultimate outcome must include strong support and innovation incentives for research and development and government technology, as well as improvements to education and smart broadband policies, as proposed today.
“We’re hopeful that any final budget compromise with Congress will harness 21st century technology in order to help promote the fiscal responsibility and restraint that is needed to address the overall budget deficit. Increased investments in innovation will only serve to enhance government efficiency, savings, performance, productivity, transparency and effectiveness for all citizens.
“Specifically, we support funding in the proposal that promotes innovation investment. We commend the President for his interest in lowering the corporate tax rate. Congress and the Administration should enact comprehensive tax reform. A pro-innovation, competitive tax system is needed to level the playing field for U.S. firms that compete globally.
“We strongly discourage any piecemeal proposals that would raise taxes on U.S.-based firms that do business overseas. Such tax hikes will only hinder job creation, act as a disincentive to business investment and undermine U.S. competitiveness.
“Additionally, the industry particularly welcomes the innovation funding proposed in sections of the President’s budget that would support:
- A stronger, permanent R&D tax credit
- Wireless broadband for public safety and rural areas
- A new program office to lead the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace
- The use of smart technology in energy efficiency
- Recruitment and training of 10,000 science, technology, engineering and math teachers
- Improve speed and quality of patent examinations by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
- Increase investment in R&D towards transformational technologies; and
- Assistance for our small businesses in obtaining early-stage funding.
“We call upon Congress to support the these proposed innovation investments and take the concrete steps proposed here for improving government technology acquisitions and management.”
Tags: lowering corporate taxes, Obama budget proposal, supporting innovation in US budget, TechAmerica
Posted in Government/Defense, Viewpoint | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
 BOCA RATON, FL - Managed Maintenance Inc., which sells a suite of complete contract management process optimization solutions, has promoted Tina Lux-Boim CEO.
Lux-Boim served as president of the company since its founding in 2007. Lux-Boim brings nearly 20 years of experience in the technology industry, with in-depth expertise in hardware service and maintenance and software licensing.
She was recently named one of CRN’s “2010 Women of the Channel”, which celebrates the accomplishments of those female executives making their mark in the IT channel. Lux-Boim is a noted featured speaker at both maintenance and support conferences and SaaS provider events.
MMI says its solutions enable technology manufacturers (OEMs), their channel partners, distributors and service providers to maximize service contract and equipment replacement revenues, and help end user organizations ensure uninterrupted maintenance and support coverage.
Tags: Boca Raton, FL, IT, Managed Maintenance, Tina Lux-Boim named CEO
Posted in Florida, IT | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
 DURHAM, NC – EvoApp Inc., which includes former Inspire Pharmaceuticals CEO Christy Shaffer and iContact’s Ryan Allis among its directors and investors, has raised $1.1 million of a targeted $1.5 million share offering, according to a regulatory filing.
Founded in 2009 by North Carolina School of Science and Math alumni Joe Davy and Alexey Melnichenko, the company develops collaborative tools to help companies interact with customers.
A recent McKinsey Quarterly report said companies using Web 2.0 technologies to communicate internally and externally are seeing a variety of measurable benefits, including higher profit margins. The findings suggest that firms such as EvoApp will be able to demonstrate strong ROI for their products and services.
Other investors in the Durham, NC-based firm include Rick Stone, chair, NCSSM and Tom McMurray – a former partner at Sequoia Capital.
The company says its software:
- Identifies key customer relationships
- Creates transparency with customer service operations
- Proactively detects upsale opportunities
- Quickly highlights change in sentiment value for existing and new product offerings
- Collects and analyzes competitive intelligence
- Analyzes customer feedback postings in social media sites
The company disclosed the financing in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Alexey Melnichenko, business collaboration tools, Christy Shaffer, Durham, EvoApp, financing, icontact, Inspire Pharma, Joe Davy, McKinsey Quarterly, NC, NC School of the Arts, Rick Stone, Ryan Allis, Sequoia Capital, Tom McMurray
Posted in Carolinas, Internet/New Media, IT, Money, North Carolina | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
 ATLANTA – Damballa Inc., a company selling protection against cyber threats, says its “Top 10 Botnet Threat Report – 2010” shows a dramatic increase in Internet crime and targeted botnet attacks. At its peak in 2010, the total number of unique botnet victims grew by 654 percent, with an average incremental growth of eight percent per week.
“Prior to 2010, many people thought in terms of spam and DDoS whenever the term ‘botnet’ was discussed,” said Gunter Ollmann, vice president of research, Damballa. “By the end of the year, botnets such as Mariposa, Aurora, Koobface and Stuxnet had become household names – revealing the breadth of crime commonly being facilitated with remotely controllable bot agents.”
The eight-page Damballa report reveals that many new botnets were discovered in 2010. The report can be downloaded at: www.damballa.com/knowledge/Feb2011report.php
Additional highlights include:
- Of the Top 10 largest botnets in 2010, six of these botnets did not exist in 2009, and only one (Monkif) was present in the 2009 Top 10 largest botnets.
- The biggest botnet of 2010 (a botnet associated with the TDL Gang), dramatically rose to international attention in the second half of the year – claiming nearly 15 percent of all unique infected victims in 2010.
- The Top 10 largest botnets in 2010 accounted for approximately 47 percent of all botnet compromised victims – down from 81 percent of the 2009 Top 10. This decrease was not unexpected as the number of new criminal botnet operators increased, as did the average number of botnets owned and managed by each botnet master.
- Of the tens-of-millions of infected systems identified in 2010, Damballa ascertained that more than 35 percent of unique IP addresses infected were simultaneously victims of two or more different botnet campaigns.
It is important to note that the substantial growth in botnet infections observed by Damballa is a reflection of the following:
- The second half of 2010 saw the rapid evolution of many popular botnet do-it-yourself (DIY) construction kits and the increased availability of feature-rich browser exploit packs.
- Cyber criminals providing specialized malware distribution services became more proficient at installing bot agents on behalf of their customers (i.e. botnet operators).
- The last quarter of 2010 was heavily influenced by the rapid growth of botnets utilizing the TDL master-boot-record (MBR) rootkit technology.
- Damballa developed and deployed multiple new command-and-control detection technologies that increased its ability to detect additional categories of stealthy botnet deployments.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: 2010 saw dramatic increase in botnet attacks and Internet crime, Atlanta, Damballa
Posted in Georgia, Internet/New Media, IT, Security | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
 FERNANDINA BEACH, FL -More and more educational opportunities now have online options. Now, doctors can train in 3D imaging via MDTraining@Home, which just landed new funding.
MD Training@Home, a provider of interactive home and web-based medical training programs, received an investment in an undisclosed amount by BroadReach Capital Funds of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
“Realizing the success of our MD Training@Home/CTC module and the response to the requests for a CTA program, we strategically decided it was in the company’s best interest to secure working capital and a line of credit to have the ability to speed up the introduction of several more training modules in the first half of 2011,” said Jeff Williams, Chief Operating Officer of MD Training@Home.
“With the constant budget cuts hitting continuing education at most facilities, the timing is perfect to launch additional training modules including the CTA/CME board review and CTA/CME lecture series next month.”
Medical education, more specifically 3-D imaging, is in the early stages of what many believe to be one of the fastest growing medical areas. Having the opportunity to position ourselves with the pioneers in Virtual Colonography education and certification has been an easy decision for BroadReach Capital.
“MDT’s systems, platforms, and technology have put us in a unique leadership position in 3-D image training and certification. The future modalities MDT has on their agenda positions this company for incredible growth,” states J. Scott Wolter, president of BroadReach Capital.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: BroadReach Capital Funds, Fernandina Beach, financing, FL, MDTtrainingatHome
Posted in Florida, Internet/New Media, IT | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
By Gene Siciliano
 Gene Siciliano Much has been written about the value of having a budget to manage the financial affairs of a business. And the premise of all those paragraphs of prose is correct: A budget is the most powerful way to achieve profit goals. However, the assumption seems to be that once you have a budget, your work is done and your staff will inherently know what to do with it. This is because:
- They were born knowing about budgets,
- They learned about budgets in kindergarten, or
- Their parents taught them about budgeting their $5 a week allowance.
Of course, virtually none of these assumptions is true. As a result, the actual steps to managing a budget often get overlooked, and therefore under-learned. Aside from the obvious, like accurate bookkeeping and understandable reports, here’s a quick checklist of six basic techniques for managing the details of a budget. And by managing, we mean sticking to the budget, not creatively explaining why you didn’t.
1. Look at the budget before you commit funds. It seems logical to assume that you have to know what you’ve budgeted to spend before you make a spending decision, but it rarely works that way. Look first, then commit.
2. Use “that’s all I have in the budget” to negotiate price. Your budget is a perfectly legitimate objection to a vendor proposal that exceeds the budget. If you’re not authorized to spend more than is in the budget, tell your vendor—this isn’t unfair or illegal. They may want the sale badly enough to meet your constraint.
3. If you absolutely have to spend money for something that’s not in the budget, remove or postpone a like amount of money from something else that is in the budget. This is called a trade-off. Spend a little more here, a little less there, and make things balance at the bottom. Almost never does every dollar have to be spent the way you originally planned it.
4. If revenue doesn’t develop as planned, plan to under-spend accordingly. The budget is about the bottom line, ultimately. If revenue is less than planned, you likely don’t need as much expense to support it. So determine what was planned to support revenue that didn’t come in—and don’t spend it.
5. Timing is not trivial—don’t spend ahead of schedule. If you must spend before you planned to, postpone something else in the same time period until you can catch up. This is another trade-off.
6. “Oops!” is not a good explanation for overspending. If you inadvertently overspend, drop something else that’s in the budget, or at least defer it until you can make up the difference, even if it’s a later period. This is still another form of trade-off, best avoided by referring to technique #1 above.
Most CEOs would agree that these steps will make their company budget more effective. That is, most CEOs of companies that actually have budgets, which is not most companies. Most CEOs will also say their managers should do a better job at budgeting, while others might say these CEOs should do a better job of training their managers. Me? I’m just sayin.’
Gene Siciliano, CMC, CPA, is an author, speaker and financial consultant who works with CEOs and managers to achieve greater financial success in a dramatically changing economy. As “Your CFO For Rent” and president of Western Management Associates, Gene has spent more than 20 years helping his clients build financial strength and shareholder value through applied knowledge and process improvement. More information is available at www.GeneSiciliano.com
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit:www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Gene Silicano, tips for managing your budget
Posted in Business advice, Viewpoint | Comments Off
Monday, February 14th, 2011
 RESTON, VA – Mobile took a powerful leap forward as an integral part of the personal and business life of many of us in 2010, says the comScore 2010 Mobile Year in Review report. And, it says, 2011 has the potential to see more of the same.
“2010 was a game-changing year for the mobile industry,” said Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile. “Smartphone adoption, 3G penetration and unlimited data plans drove a surge of mobile media consumption across geographies and deepened the integration of mobile devices into everyday life. And, the coming year has the potential to be even more exciting.”
He added, “As the mobile ecosystem continues to develop, including progress in mobile advertising and commerce, it’s clear that mobile is destined to become an increasingly important platform for digital marketers across all industries.”
Mobile Media Consumption Intensified in 2010
Smartphones aggressively penetrated the mobile market in 2010, driving an escalation in mobile media consumption by subscribers worldwide. Technological innovations enabled an extraordinary number of new capabilities for mobile devices, even expanding the definition of what it means to be ‘mobile’ through the introduction of tablets, e-readers and other connected devices. As more subscribers access the mobile web in 2011, it will become essential for marketers to reach this rapidly-expanding segment of consumers.
comScore’s report provides insight into the year’s most important trends. Key findings highlighted in the report include:
- Smartphone adoption accelerated in both the U.S. and Europe. U.S. smartphone adoption reached 27 percent of mobile subscribers in December 2010, an increase of 10 percentage points from the previous year, while European adoption reached 31 percent, also up nearly 10 points versus year ago.
- Network quality and cost of monthly plan were the top 2 purchase consideration factors for mobile subscribers in the U.S. and UK.
- Nokia was the top OEM in the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain. Samsung took the top spot in the U.S. and France, and also ranked in the top three in the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain.
- 36 percent of mobile Americans and 29 percent of Europeans browsed the mobile web in December 2010, with access through an application reaching 34 percent of Americans and 28 percent of Europeans. Across regions, mobile browsing and application usage is growing in the range of 7-9 percentage points per year.
- More than 75 percent of mobile subscribers in Japan are connected media users (used their browser, accessed applications or downloaded content) far surpassing the U.S. and European countries in this regard. Japan also saw nearly 10 percent of its mobile audience make a purchase with their mobile wallet in December 2010.
- Over the past year the number of mobile users that accessed a social networking site at least once a month via their mobile device increased by 56 percent to nearly 58 million users in the U.S. Even stronger growth occurred in Europe, with a 75-percent increase in the number of users over the last year to 42 million in December 2010.
- To download a complimentary copy of The comScore 2010 Mobile Year in Review, please visit: www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2011/2010_Mobile_Year_in_Review
Tags: 2010 mobile year in review, comScore, telecom
Posted in Internet/New Media, Mobile, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Monday, February 14th, 2011
By Allan Maurer
ATLANTA – Pandora, the popular make-your-own-stations Internet radio service, plans to launch a $100 million initial public offering of stock, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Reports say the offering is not expected for at least three months and the amount it plans to raise could change.
Joe Kennedy, president and CEO of Pandora, was a speaker at TechMedia’s 2009 Internet Summit in Raleigh, NC. TechMedia’s next event is the Southeast Venture Conference in Atlanta March 2-3, followed by its first Atlanta-based Digital Summit, May 16-18.
We interviewed Kennedy, who has been CEO of the company since 2005, prior to the 2009 event.
He told us that when innovation strikes in media, winners are those who see the unique possibilities of the new medium, not those trying to replicate existing media.
When it comes to Internet radio, says Kennedy, “Much of it simply took broadcast radio and transferred it to the net. Then we came along giving people the unique capability to personalize it.”
Pandora allows users to enter the name of a song, band, or performer to create his own radio stations themed similarly to them.
“So now, Internet radio is something different than broadcast radio. The challenge for everyone as new capabilities develop is how they can truly change the game rather than extending what came before.”
We’ve used Pandora for several years now and while it does have competitors in the space, it seems to be the best known. We use it even more now that we have a stand-alone Internet radio which includes Pandora (among other services) among its apps.
The digital media space is hot. Successful exits for venture-backed digital and social media firms with a strong user base are piling up. We spoke to Atlanta-based Greg Foster, a founder of BrightWhistle, a digital media specialist on the board of The Onion, another digital media firm in the news lately, and co-founder of online lead generation firm, BrightWhistle, which will present at TechMedia’s Southeast Venture Conference in Atlanta March 2-3. We asked Foster if all this digital media excitement is hype.
“Every market has the potential to be over-hyped,” he says. But he doesn’t think that’s true of the digital media space. “I think there is a simple explanation,” he says. “We’ve been going up this curve since 2006-2007, but the macro economic impact of the last few years had a huge effect. Now we’re taking up where we left off.”
In the intervening years, he notes, some of these companies “Continued to build business to a critical mass.” Now, he adds, there is a convergence of ad dollars flowing to the space, sophisticated targeting with Twitter and Facebook, the ability to use people to influence decisions, online reputation management. “All these things are creating enormous opportunities,” he says.
“The really big news for digital media companies is that the IPO market opened a bit.” That’s borne out by Pandora’s move toward an IPO, which follows the successful IPO of online content producer Demand Media last month, and LinkedIn Corp.’s filing for an IPO last week.
“That’s great news for the early stage market in digital media,” Foster says. “It compels buyers to spend more and drives up valuations. Buyers have to compete with the threat of a company going public. That’s where you want to be.”
That seems to be working already for established players.
AOL bought The Huffington Post for $325 million, Yahoo bought Associated Content, and the secondary market for shares in Twitter and Facebook seem almost over-heated. “We’ll continue to see big acquisitions,” says Foster.
Cool Iris funded
Another popular digital media firm, Cooliris, which has had more than 35 million downloads of its 3D wall, essentially a visual browser, has raised $9.6 million in third round funding from its existing investors.It is also launching a new service, LiveShare 1.2, a way to communicate online or mobile devices via live, shared photo streams.
They include: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, DAG Ventures, The Westly Group, and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Venture. It previously raised more than $20 million.
“With over 35 million downloads of our iconic Cooliris 3D Wall, we’ve established a good beachhead in media browsing, and now with our newest release of LiveShare we are transforming the group media sharing experience,” commented Soujanya Bhumkar, CEO and co-founder said.
Cooliris is a quick, fun way to see the latest videos and hottest photos and trending stories on the web, but we don’t use it as much as we do many other services. Its Gallery app for the Android mobile operating system and other visual browsing and sharing platforms may increase its popularity, though.
LiveShare is now available free on iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone 7, as well as at www.liveshare.com.
Email TJS Editor Allan Maurer: Allan at TechJournal South dot com.
Tags: Atlanta, Brightwhistle, Cooliris funded, digital media hype, Digital media on a roll, Greg Foster, Internet Summit, Joe Kennedy, NC, Pandora CEO, Pandora files for IPO, Raleigh, Southeast Venture Conference
Posted in Carolinas, Georgia, Internet/New Media, IPOs, IT, Marketing, Money, North Carolina | Comments Off
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