News & Events — Page 2

Vugonauts’ “No Guts, No Glory”

June 9, 2016 By Steve Borsch

A few weeks ago we interviewed one of the co-founders of Vugo, CEO Rob Flessner, on our podcast (see Minnov8 Gang 363 – You Go with Vugo). We came away with a new and deeper appreciation for this intriguing startup delivering advertisement technology for ridesharing (e.g., Uber, Lyft) and you can get an instant idea of what they do by watching the short video at the bottom of this post.

As such, we were delighted to see that Vugo made it on the list of High Tech startups for the Minnesota Cup (see Minnesota Cup Names 2016 Semifinalists). Then co-founder James Bellefeuille, the guy who initially reached out to us at Minnov8 and led to having Rob on the podcast, pinged us again since they were about to release the press release below about making the cut for MN Cup.

No Guts, No Glory

The Vugonauts return to The Minnesota Cup with a bold vision,
continuing a track record of success with string of events and recognition.

Minneapolis, Minnesota – June 8th, 2016 – Vugo’s persistence continues with a string of recognition. Yesterday, the Minneapolis-based startup was selected as a top ten Semi-Finalist in the High Tech Division of the Minnesota Cup for a second year in a row. After last year’s disappointment of not advancing past the Semi-Finalist round, the Vugonauts and their Minnesota work ethic are determined to win this year’s top prize.

“Bringing new products to market is always challenging, and entrepreneurship is a lot about persistence and hard work. I think our team has done a great job over the past year doing that, and it shows with the traction we’ve made.” indicated Vugo’s CEO, Robert Flessner. “Last year during this time we had just released our minimum viable product during our beta launch and used the MN Cup as an opportunity to help us refine who we were. This year, we like our chances to win it.”

Vugo is a mobility media network placing media content and advertisements in for-hire transportation services like rideshare vehicles and taxicabs. Vugo’s TripIntent® technology allows advertisers and content providers to target specific trips based on available information. Vugo works with small businesses and major advertisers including a handful of Fortune 500 companies to help them reach the right audiences. During the MN Cup last year, Vugo was able to raise a seed round to assist the initial launch.

Despite being a homegrown startup with founders from the University of Saint Thomas and Metropolitan State University, Vugo’s largest market is Los Angeles where the company has hundreds of rideshare drivers from Uber and Lyft using the service. Co-Founder and LA Market Manager James Bellefeuille spoke recently at Startups in The Sky on May 19th. The event discussed innovations in transportation with panelists from HyperLoop One, EverCar, SKURT, Vugo, and Fixing Angeleno’s Stuck in Traffic (FAST).

James described Vugo’s focus on the passenger entertainment experience. Vugo believes that people are no longer going to be preoccupied with driving due to ridesharing and autonomous cars. Passengers are already engaging automobiles through the entertainment system, instead of the steering wheel with services like Lyft, Juno and Uber as riding is becoming the new driving.

“Although self-driving cars are improving efficiency and creating a safer transportation option for the masses, Vugo believes what autonomous shared cars will really help with is free passengers up to do other things like engage with media content.” said James Bellefeuille. “The average American driver spends an hour in the car daily, and Vugo is going to help make it worthwhile by turning the car into a mobile entertainment room, the ideal passenger entertainment experience.”

Vugo’s goal is to be the largest in-car media network in the country by the end of 2018. If you’re curious in learning more about Vugo’s bold new vision for mobility media & entertainment, James Bellefeuille will be speaking at CoCo’s NextNext Media and Adtech Summit at the Garage at COCO’s Uptown Co-working and event center on June 30th, with 20 other leaders debating the future of media, journalism, entertainment and advertising.

Vugo was also recently recognized as a recipient of the Eureka! Innovations Awards by the Minneapolis – St Paul Business Journal for its work revolutionizing media and advertising. The award was announced on May 6th, with the Awards ceremony scheduled for June 16th in Downtown Minneapolis at the Aria Event Center.

“Vugo would fit in perfectly in Silicon Valley, but we want to help be a part of a new and thriving startup ecosystem home to the Twin Cities. Minneapolis is a great place to start a business because of the great business network, Universities, and big companies that develop talented people with an uncompromising Midwestern work-ethic. We have big things happening at Vugo that we are looking forward to sharing as the year progresses. We intend to count winning the Minnesota Cup as one of them.” said CEO, Robert Flessner.

Contact:
James Bellefeuille
Co-Founder
James@GoVugo.com

For more on Vugo:

Honeywell Creates New #IoT Division

May 3, 2016 By Steve Borsch

Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS), has established a Digital Transformation unit to help manufacturers harness the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and more rapidly deploy the technologies that will allow them to better manage and analyze data, according to Automation World.

As manufacturing systems grow more complex, it has become more important for automation suppliers to provide not only the components but an easier means to a complete solution. This trend carries over into the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), where it’s not always easy for production operations to make the best use of the data that’s being gathered to improve their processes.

So automation suppliers are increasingly creating business units and systems dedicated to digital deployment to best leverage the IIoT technologies they’re offering.

Read the full article here.

NativeX Acquired by Chinese Mobile Ad Firm Mobvista

February 29, 2016 By Graeme Thickins

Ryan (left) and Rob Weber, cofounders of NativeX.

Minnesota’s NativeX announced today it is being acquired by Guangzhou-based Mobvista, Asia’s largest mobile advertising company. The company said the all-cash deal is valued at 160 million yuan, or 25 million US dollars. Once the transaction is completed, NativeX will become a subsidiary of Mobvista.

NativeX was founded by Minnesota twin brothers Rob and Ryan Weber and traces its beginnings to a former company they and a third brother, Aaron, founded in St. Cloud more than 15 years ago, called Freeze.com. The firm later changed its name to W3i, then made a major transformation to mobile ad technology in early 2013, rebranding as NativeX. It specializes in monetization and advertising through proprietary native ad technology for mobile games and apps.

Mobvista also has offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, New Delhi, Singapore, and San Francisco. NativeX has offices in St. Cloud (Sartell), Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Finland.

Rob Weber will continue as CEO of NativeX, and serve as a vice president of the Mobvista Group. “We currently have 40 employees in Minnesota,” said Rob, “and we’re planning for all of our current employees to stay on. Also, as part of the growth opportunity presented in light of the merger, we plan to hire additional employees at both our Sartell and Minneapolis locations.”

Rob continued: “Ryan and I are very excited with our new partnership. Strategically, it makes sense to combine forces with a strong force in Eastern markets. We are planning to stay on board in the same roles we have now.”

The full text of the press release follows:

Mobvista Acquires NativeX Accelerating Global Growth for Mobile Advertising and Monetization

NativeX Native Video Monetization Technology Combined with Mobvista’s Mobile Advertising Market Reach Opens New Revenue Opportunities For Publishers and Advertisers

Guangzhou, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Beijing, New Delhi, Singapore – March 1, 2016 – Mobvista, Asia’s largest mobile advertising company, announced today that it has acquired NativeX, which specializes in successful monetization and advertising through their innovative native ad technology for mobile games and apps. This includes NativeX’s robust native video advertising platform which includes Lightning Play™ video, offer walls, interstitials and other rich media formats. The deal is valued at 160 million yuan (an all cash transaction of 25 million USD). Once the transaction is completed, NativeX will become a subsidiary of Mobvista. Rob Weber will continue as CEO of NativeX, and serve as Vice President of the Mobvista Group.

Wei Duan, founder & CEO of Mobvista says, “NativeX is a solid, sustainable business and our technology focus and values are perfectly aligned to deliver rich growth opportunities to the mobile market and to further secure Mobvista’s international goals and success, especially to speed up our ability to supply substantial audiences in Western markets. Acquiring NativeX is another key step in realizing our global ad-tech vision to develop a multi-dimensional global ecosystem of mobile traffic.”

Mobvista operates a worldwide mobile ad network, receiving more than 10 billion daily impressions from integrated ad spots and websites across more than 240 countries. Founded in 2013, Mobvista has successfully developed billions of overseas users for thousands of clients. Mobvista has also been instrumental in helping many mobile games achieve significant success in Southeast Asia. In November 2015, the company had a listed market value of more than 6 billion yuan.

Wei continues, “Between Mobvista and NativeX, publishers and advertisers can expect to have the combination of the highest growth categories in mobile marketing including native advertising, video and other innovative ad formats — all with strong data driven technologies.”

NativeX has an audience reach of over 1 billion mobile users and works with more than 1,000 publishers including Yodo1, Square Enix, Fingersoft, MADFINGER Games, Mag Interactive, Outfit 7, and Play With Games, as well as hundreds of top advertisers including Disney, King, Zynga, Rovio, IGG, and Machine Zone.

“We look forward to a successful future as part of the Mobvista family and are exceptionally pleased with the many benefits this acquisition will bring to both our publisher and advertising partners as well as to our employees,” says Robert Weber, CEO and co-founder of NativeX.

“The MobVista acquisition of NativeX allows us to expand the distribution of our native ad technology throughout the world for an even greater international presence. We are excited to bring Mobvista’s leading global demand to NativeX’s monetization partners and it’s strong global supply, especially in APAC, to our advertising partners.

As part of our merger with Mobvista, we will also be expanding our team to take advantage of the large opportunity in front of us.”

About Mobvista

Mobvista specializes in global mobile advertising and overseas game publishing. As an industry leading mobile advertising platform, Mobvista covers users from more than 240 countries and regions, reaching over 10 billion daily impressions through boosting technology innovation and excellent customized service. It also owns a user database covering over 2 billion devices and 3000+ user targeting labels.

Mobvista ranked No.3, following Facebook and Google AdWords, in the Global Android Power Ranking released in 2016 by AppsFlyer, a leading mobile analytics platform. In AppsFlyer’s gaming and non-gaming performance index released in April and October in 2015, it also ranked top3 for both. Mobvista got listed on NEEQ in 2015, with a market value of around USD 10 billion.

Mobvista has over 300 employees, with global offices in Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Beijing, San Francisco, New Delhi, and Singapore.

Join Mobvista here: http://mobvista.hasoffers.com/

Official Website: http://www.mobvista.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mobvista.official

Twitter: @MobvistaInc

About NativeX

NativeX is the leading native ad technology for mobile apps and games, providing effective user acquisition and smarter mobile app monetization through a wide range of both reward and non-reward rich media ads, including Lightning Play™ video, multi-offer walls, interstitials and other innovative ad formats. A feature-rich SDK which allows publishers to balance their monetization and make a wide range of changes in placements, rewards and ad formats delivered is one of many integration options available to publishers.

NativeX has 12 consecutive years of profitability under its belt and has acquired more than 1 billion users across 178 countries through multi-year partnerships with top app developers

NativeX continues to be recognized as a top User Acquisition and Monetization provider from multiple industry publications including AppsFlyer, MobyAffiliates, VentureBeat and more, with leading publishers and advertisers voting NativeX as “Top 10 Most Effective Monetization Company” and “Top 5 Best Company for User Acquisition.”

With a team of 50 employees in Minnesota, California, and Finland, NativeX headquarters will continue to be based in Minnesota.

Official Website: http://www.nativex.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nativex

Twitter: @nativex

Uneeq Company Launches in Minneapolis

December 8, 2015 By Steve Borsch

A new company launched yesterday called Uneeq. Their focus is an online technology marketplace for gadgets. Lots of competition in this space, but we are rooting for them! Their press release is below:

Uneeq Company Launches
Online Technology Marketplace Opens for Business

Minneapolis, MN – With a goal to help software developers and hardware and gadget manufacturers reach a broader audience and at the same time help consumers find the best and most “uneeq” products on the planet, Uneeq Company opened its online doors today.

“Our company is exclusively focused on technology, and more to the point, unique technology products,” said Michael Wray, President & CEO of Uneeq.”For now, we’d rather have a small, selective offering of really cool products opposed to a gigantic catalog of ‘whatever’ like some of the behemoth daily deal sites have.”

Uneeq’s marketplace is launching with an inaugural software bundle for the Mac platform. Eight unique, diverse titles chosen by Uneeq and offered for one phenomenally low price of $29.95, almost a $200 savings.

“Not only does our launch include an incredible bundle, but we are also going to be adding special hardware and gadgets deals every week,“said Wray. “We love the technology aspect of our company but the long term relationships with customers and with vendors is really what makes Uneeq worthwhile.”

To celebrate the occasion, Uneeq has created an online drawing for an Apple Watch to be given away on New Years Eve. Anyone can sign up on the Uneeq website until December 26, 2015. Visit https://uneeqco.com/giveaways/ for a chance to win.

About Uneeq Company
Uneeq Company is a technology marketplace for software, hardware, and tech gadgets. Based in Minneapolis, MN, Uneeq Company specializes in finding and procuring outstanding tech products with an emphasis on total customer satisfaction.

White House Announcement: Prime Digital Academy Scholarships

November 17, 2015 By Steve Borsch

White House Announces Prime Digital
Academy Scholarships for Students of Color
$500 scholarships part of national TechHire initiative

Minneapolis, November 17, 2015 – The White House and U.S, Department of Labor today announced several nationwide initiatives as part of its TechHire program, including a new $500 scholarship offered by Prime Digital Academy (Prime) for students of color.

Currently, 15% of Prime’s students identify as non-white – but the bootcamp for aspiring software engineers believes scholarship support will move the needle on diversity. “Scholarships for women offered by The Nerdery – Prime’s sister company – have contributed to 35% of our applicants being women and 38% of our students being female,” said Mark Hurlburt, President of Prime Digital Academy.

The White House reports that among America’s 5.5 million open jobs, over half a million are in information technology fields such as software development – and that the average salary in a job that requires IT skills is 50 percent higher than the average private-sector American job. The new scholarship for students of color is funded by Prime to support minorities looking to start careers in software development.

From White House fact sheet: “In Minneapolis, Minnesota the first class of graduates from the Minneapolis partner Prime Digital Academy are being hired. Additionally, they have launched a $500 scholarship for any student of color applying to participate in the program this year.”

You can find the full announcement on the White House website here.

We Need Women Who Can Code

November 11, 2015 By Steve Borsch

The crew over at The Nerdery are hosting an interesting event this Friday, November 13th. It’s an open discussion on how we in the tech community can close the gender gap and get more women in the development game.

Here is what they sent us about the event:

Nerdery event: Why we all need more women who can code

Leaders from women-in-tech orgs will come to The Nerdery Friday, November 13 for an open discussion on closing the gender gap. Women are underrepresented in the tech industry, yet our world demands more and more makers of software – for these reasons and more it’s in everyone’s best interest to work together toward developing female developers.

At The Nerdery, one-third of our executive team are women, and our sister company Prime Digital Academy offers scholarships for female students applying to our school for software engineers. Our Director of Software Development and KC Branch Director are also both women. That’s all good. It’s not enough.

Led by Nerdery Senior Software Engineer Sarah Olson, we’re bringing together these eight organizations dedicated to advocating for women seeking learning and leadership opportunities in today’s code-driven world of business technology:

Geekettes believe that the more women get involved with tech design, development and leadership, the more successful and diverse our companies and products will be in the future.

Girl Develop It provides affordable programs for adult women interested in learning web and software development in a judgment-free environment.

Girls in Tech is a social network for women in technology-based fields focused on connecting, educating and empowering.

PyLadies has a mission is to promote, educate and advance a diverse Python community through outreach, education, conferences, events and social gatherings.

R Ladies gathers and fosters a community focused on learning R for statistical computing.

Twin Cities Women in Tech Meetup Group is an open source for sharing knowledge, information, and creative ideas – focused on encouraging all women in the field of technology, novice to ninja.

Women Leading in Technology is a Minnesota High Tech Association program that works to promote, educate and empower women in technology – their goal is to “connect, educate and reach back.”

Women Who Code has a mission is to inspire women to excel in technology careers with the belief that the world of technology is better with women in it.

Leaders from each of these organizations will introduce the types of events they hold, and ways in which people (male & female) can become advocates for opportunity and diversity. Attracting candidates is one thing, but retaining female tech talent is its own challenge: Women are twice as likely to leave tech careers than men, and more than half of women leave before reaching a senior level.

This event is open to the public; guests are asked to register.

When and Where:
The Nerdery: 9555 James Ave S. Suite 245, Bloomington, MN 55431
4pm – networking
4:30 – 6pm – program, social

Wait, Was That My iPhone That Just Flew Over Your Head?

November 4, 2015 By Graeme Thickins

It could have been if I had a “PhoneDrone Ethos” prototype — I could be buzzing you! But, sigh, I don’t have one … and none of us mere mortals will until they ship in September 2016. That’s as soon as the Kickstarter page promises. Nonetheless, as I write this, the product boasts some $238,000 pledged (well exceeding the $100,000 goal), and more than 900 backers — who apparently have no problem waiting for 11 months.

[Note: This post first appeared earlier today on GraemeThickinsOnTech. I’m posting it here because the “Gang,” minus me, discussed the product on our most recent podcast, and I thought Minnov8 readers would like to hear more about the product.]

xCraft, the designer and manufacturer, is a drone company that scored a record-breaking $1.5 million investment on Shark Tank recently.

Quite simply, the PhoneDrone allows your smartphone to fly and follow you around. How about this line on the Kickstarter page? “Grant your smartphone access to the third dimension.” Yes, it would seem we’ll all be holding back our smartphones from their full potential if we don’t get one of these things! A smartphone’s potential is a terrible thing to waste…

That’s why the makers of the PhoneDrone Ethos say it “gives your smartphone wings, allowing you to deploy your iPhone or Android phone as an autonomous aerial camera.” Oh, the glories of innovation we can all partake in if we just pre-order on Kickstarter! … and then wait patiently for that far-off promised ship date to arrive.

The company claims their product is revolutionary because they’ve “leveraged the sensor, processor, and wireless capability of the smartphone” to give you “a powerful, cloud-connected aerial vehicle for a fraction of the cost of a typical drone.” Cloud-connected… oh, snap.

Of course they say no drone experience is necessary (!), and that their companion app is simple and intuitive. So, never fear: your phone will be out of your pocket and airborne in no time!

You can’t argue with the value proposition: “Your smartphone already has a powerful processor and multiple sensors. Why pay for all those things over again when buying a drone?” Seems reasonable.

It will work with your Android or iPhone inside, with a companion app that will be available for either platform. For the iOS version, you’ll be able to access it via the Apple Watch, too (as an extension of your iPhone), as shown in the video. And here’s a key point: for control and video streaming, the PhoneDrone can easily tether to another mobile device. And it has built-in charger, so you can charge from any USB source, or swap batteries for extended flight times.

A really cool feature is a camera mirror, which allows you to get three camera views — shoot straight down, forward, or to the side (as shown). Soo Hollywood…

Here are some other important points about the product, as stated on the Kickstarter page:

Does PhoneDrone require two devices?  No. PhoneDrone Ethos can be operated by a single smartphone in Mission mode. You set your mission by drawing a flight path over a map, setting altitude, time, any events (like snapping a photo) and then hit start. PhoneDrone will takeoff, fly your flight plan, and return home automatically.

How does “Follow-Me” work?  Follow-me uses two devices tethered through WiFi; a smartphone in the drone and another device as the “beacon”. PhoneDrone will automatically follow the GPS position of the “beacon” device at your selected altitude. We are also working on a partnership with another company to allow follow-me by image recognition through the smartphone’s camera. [My emphasis – cool!] Look for this capability in the future!

Worried about your phone? We get that. We know some of you are a little worried about sending your precious smartphone up into the air. That’s why we’ve developed
several safety features that will protect your phone in the event of the unexpected:

• Redundant Electronic Design: Borrowing techniques from full-sized aircraft design, we’ve built in redundancy into hardware and software design. This allows backup systems to take over if primary systems fail – and brings your smartphone home safely.
• Protective Universal Mount: We know (stuff) happens. That’s why we cradled the phone in a protective neoprene sheath that provides vibration isolation as well as the ultimate shock protection. It can even hold waterproof smartphone cases for some piece of mind over water.
• Still not convinced? PhoneDrone Ethos is compatible with many low cost smartphones – some as low as $50. So pick up an extra smartphone and you’ll still be flying the lowest cost cloud-connected autonomous drone on the planet.

Some other questions I would have:

1) Will my AppleCare pay up if I lose my $950 6S Plus iPhone in a crash, or if it takes a dive while cruising over water shooting awesome video of me paddleboarding?

2) If I did buy a cheap Android phone to put in the PhoneDrone, wouldn’t the quality of the images suck? But, for only $235 for the PhoneDrone body (cheapest price now on Kickstarter), plus as little as $50 for a cheap phone to insert into it, that’s a darn good deal for a drone and camera combo. Tons of would-be filmmakers can afford that.

So, what are you waiting for — ready to become a smartphone pilot? Order up right here.

Follow the latest from xCraft on Facebook and Twitter.

Secured2 at Cyber Security Summit

October 13, 2015 By Steve Borsch

Serial entrepreneur Daren Klum‘s company Secured2 will be participating in the Cyber Security Summit 2015 here in Minneapolis on October 20-21. This is a great opportunity for you to learn first-hand about Secured2’s solutions and also delve in to this growing cybersecurity category and hear from thought leaders in various areas. Looks to be a strong event.

Below is a press release on their participation in the summit.

Secured2 Brings its Thought Leadership and Unhackable,
Disaster-Proof Data Security Solution to Cyber Security Summit 2015

Minneapolis, MN (October 13, 2015) – In joining Minnesota’s efforts to establish a multi-stakeholder consortium for improving the state of cyber security on a national and international level, Secured2 Corporation will participate in Cyber Security Summit 2015, which is taking place October 20-21 in Minneapolis.

Daren Klum

Secured2 CEO Daren Klum will join Minnesota’s C-level executives, technology leaders, public policy makers, and other industry pundits to discuss the pitfalls of traditional backup / recovery methods, and present Secured2’s “shrink > shred > secure” methodology which mitigates hacking.

Secured2 is a data security company whose patented process and technology reduces data by more than 90% while simultaneously converting it into a secure format. It then randomly shreds the data into multiple locations, such as multiple clouds, hybrid or local storage environments. Its security solution has been tested, vetted, and refined in lab and real world environments, and is currently in operational assessment by healthcare, financial services and contract manufacturing companies.

Secured2 recently partnered with LiquidCool Solutions, marrying its data security software with LiquidCool’s Rugged Terrain (RT) liquid-cooled, high performance, ruggedized computing system. The combination of the two technologies provides protection from any form of catastrophe whether environmental or well-entrenched hacker groups.

“Cyber security threats that become more plentiful and sophisticated is an ongoing trend, and encryption simply isn’t enough,” said Klum. “Secured2 offers a technology that has not been seen before. Our Shrink>Shred>Secure process, which shrinks data and defeats hackers is rigorously tested, vetted and 3rd party validated by FBI-trained teams.”

Continued Klum, “As Minnesota collaborates on framework and program-based security approaches for threat intelligence, we’re certain Secured2 will stand out as the disruptive technology of choice.”

About Secured2 Corporation
Secured2 Corporation is a data security software company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Secured2 is the pioneer of new data security technology utilizing a ‘shrink > shred > secure’ methodology combined with new compression technology that reduces the size of data by up to 90%. The core product “Data Shredder” shrinks, shreds, secures and converts data into a random format. It then encrypts each shred using NIST certified encryption and randomly distributes the encrypted shreds across any multi-location storage a customer chooses (multiple clouds, hybrid locations or local storage destinations). Secured2’s simple solution: imagine a thief gets into your business and opens your safe. What they will find with Secured2 is shredded information. Your data is safe. Period. Secured2 continues to redefine the data security landscape and is in the process of rolling out several new products based on our core methodologies of data conversion, data shredding, randomized delivery of shreds into diverse storage and instant data restoration after multi-factor authentication. With over 17 patents Secured2 will continue driving innovation for its customers that require 100% security of their most critical and important data assets.

Raising Money You Don’t Need: Minnesota Startup Trend?

September 23, 2015 By Graeme Thickins

[UPDATE 9/28/15: At the bottom of this post, I include some great comments I got from a leading VC over the weekend.]

This thing about profitable startups raising money they don’t need is getting deafening around here. A few years ago, Code42 shocked us by taking their first VC money (a huge $52M round), which confused people because they knew they were doing fine without it. Then LeadPages raises a surprise A round in late 2013 that it soon was openly bragging it hadn’t touched — didn’t need it. Then, just months later, it takes yet more — another $27M. It’s growing crazy fast, so we wonder… do they not need that either? How about SportNgin, raising something close to $40M over four rounds going back to 2011? With the continuous growth they’re experiencing, why do they need all that cash and can they even spend it?

Now we learn about another rapidly growing Minnesota startup, Field Nation, which began as a young college grad’s idea more than a decade ago and now claims a $100M revenue run-rate, grabbing a huge (for this town, anyway) Series A round of $30M. Reading the recent news in the StarTribune and the MSP Business Journal, you had to be impressed. Another homegrown startup raises a huge initial round. Wow, yes, we say to ourselves, beaming with pride, the Minnesota startup community really is rockin’! But what’s going on here with this latest winner in the local VC stakes?

The one thing that struck me was that both the recent media stories about Field Nation said it was the company’s first outside money, when I knew it wasn’t. The first institutional (VC) money, yes, but this company was hardly undiscovered by smart investors. And it was growing just fine without using what little outside money it had previously taken in.

Field Who?
Just who is this company, you might ask? It’s true we don’t hear a whole lot about them. Well, they’re “the leading marketplace platform for contingent and on-demand workforce management” — as stated in their funding news release. (Which contains so many “Tweet This” links within it, I had to laugh. Kudos to their PR dude, Chuck Grothaus.)

Field Nation has been quietly toiling away for several years now building revenues like… well, apparently like mad if the aforementioned $100M run-rate it is any indication. Such a projection — and it is a projection — might make it seem more reasonable to understand why Susquehanna Growth Equity would inject $30M for only a minority position. Another perspective on the investment comes from a longtime advisor to the company, Ryan Weber, who told me “The market Field Nation is in is extremely hot, with well over mid-double digit growth rates expected for years to come.”

There’s no arguing the company has some impressive numbers, as stated in its funding news release: “During the past year, Field Nation has connected more than 1,000 organizations with its network of over 65,000 registered contractors.” Describing its growth rate, the company uses glowing terms: “Prior to securing this investment capital, Field Nation has been a self-funded business, growing profitably at more than 65% annually since its launch in 2008.”

There’s that insinuation again that it really hasn’t needed any outside investment.

Mynul Kahn, CEO, Field Nation

I wanted some further background on the history of the company. So, I first went to Ryan Weber, the well-known cofounder of NativeX (formerly W3i), and, later, to Mynul Kahn himself, Field Nation’s founder and CEO.

The Viewpoint of an Early Advisor
Ryan Weber met Mynul while they were both working on their BS in Computer Science at St. Cloud State University. “He graduated in 2003, one year ahead of me,” said Ryan. “At the time, I didn’t speak to him about my business; we were simply classmates. This was before he had the idea that started Field Nation. Mynul had been living in the Twin Cities for a while and we didn’t keep in contact after graduation. However, in October 2008 he reached out to me to catch up. Soon after, in December 2008, I joined as an advisor to the company. Mynul had a false start with this business in the past, but I felt he had a lot going for him and was the type of person that wasn’t going to give up on this incredible idea.”

Ryan Weber
Advisor to Field Nation

How did Ryan participate? “I definitely did not have anything to do with the refinement of the business model. Rather, I provided feedback to Mynul on various organizational and business topics that had impacted my brother Rob and I in the company we had founded, as well as other startups we associated with. Mynul was already generating revenue when I got involved. He was very lean in getting the company started. After tracking the company a bit longer, Mynul and I agreed that I should approach Young Sohn (a board member at what was then W3i) about his potential involvement. Young had more business connections in Field Nation’s target markets, and was an occasional angel investor, a seasoned operator, and an incredibly strong leader. [Note: Young Sohn is now President and CSO of Samsung Electronics.] Ryan introduced Young to Field Nation in August 2009. “He was immediately interested in getting involved, and we worked out terms for a $200,000 seed investment, from Young Sohn and 32 Degrees, the angel fund I run with my brother Rob.”

How did Mynul fund the early days of Field Nation? “The company very early funded its own existence,” said Ryan. “It reminded me a lot of our company’s formation. Field Nation and W3i (now NativeX) were both bootstrapped to profitability and only raised a seed round to strengthen our savings, but, more importantly, to attract advisors — smart money.”

So, how was this $200K seed investment used? “He never actually spent the money we invested,” said Ryan. “I think the money helped Mynul feel more comfortable that he could spend the profits Field Nation was generating without worrying about taking on debt or having a bad month. He was also able to leverage Young, Rob, and I for any special projects and business advice.”

I asked Ryan, in regard to the platform Field Nation created, what made him think they could succeed in a market dominated by the likes of Odesk and eLance. “Mynul’s focus was very different than the others. I personally had been a customer of eLance and other services like those. I found they were useful for software type service work. But Field Nation was focused on helping companies with service needs that required on-site field work. It made total sense for a contractor marketplace of technicians.”

What does Ryan now see now as the company’s critical growth challenges? “Their market is not well penetrated by any player right now,” he said. “Field Nation has its work cut out for it to convert potentials into customers and help shape the market. The biggest challenge I see is multiple growth opportunities to consider, including expanding markets and expanding products. Choosing the right focus and building the right team that can execute it will be the most critical.”

Another Perspective, from an Acquired Company’s CEO
Longtime local tech-industry player Mac Lewis was CEO of Field Solutions before its acquisition by Field Nation earlier in 2015. I asked Mac about his take on the funding announcement.

Mac Lewis, CEO, Field Solutions (acquired by Field Nation)

“This $30M financing is a significant one, from a reputable firm, which I believe is an evergreen fund,” he said. “That might minimize pressure for a liquidity event in 5 to 7 years. It will provide resources to expand investment in sales and software.”

Mac is not an employee of the combined company, though does have an advisory relationship. “Field Solutions was a complementary addition for Field Nation. Although we were in the same business, we did not see them competitively very often. From Field Solutions they got a customer base that was, for the most part, non-overlapping. We had focused more on enterprise clients. They also got a full-service delivery capability — in addition to more automated, SaaS ‘self-service’ capabilities, which were offered by both Field Solutions and Field Nation. They kept about two-thirds of Field Solutions employees.”

The Founder’s Story
This morning, I was finally able to run down Mynul Kahn (whom I originally met in 2011) and get him to briefly describe the story of his company. “The idea first came to me right after I left college. I founded a site called ‘Technician Marketplace’ then sold it in 2006. Soon after, in 2008, I started Field Nation with a much broader vision than just technicians.”

So, how many years following your founding were you in the ‘pre-revenue’ stage? “The company had revenue in its first year,” he said. “Since we were not funded by VC, it was important to generate revenue as early as possible. We created a minimal product in 2008 that was effective and customers loved it.”

But you must have had some money to start — how did you fund the early days of Field Nation? “From my paycheck,” he said. Yes, he had a day job, working for several years at an analytics firm. So, Mynul proves you can build a startup on the side while working a full-time job — but of course you can’t expect to do that with VC funding. First you put your own skin into the game. Both sweat equity and hard cash in this case.

What role did Ryan and Rob Weber play after their angel investment with Young Sohn? “As my first angel investors, they were extremely helpful,” Mynul said. “They worked as my sounding board and help connect me with a lot of people who ended working for my company.”

When did you first envision your platform strategy to serve freelancers in general (not just field technicians), and what made you think you could compete and succeed in a market dominated by the big established players? “The early success in field services broadened our ambition.” I guess so, if his next statement is any indication: “What Amazon is for retail, Google is for search, we want to be known for work – the work platform.” Can you say Think Big?

Who were your early critical hires? And how many are still with you? “The founding team is still with the company. One person built the technology team, one person built sales, one person built customer service.”

Finally, I asked Mynul. what are your goals for the immediate future, through 2016? “Further development of the platform. We’re adding lot of capabilities so the platform can handle any type of work, any type of worker classification, and eventually anywhere in the world. We’re putting a lot of effort in building the sales and marketing team.”

But how much of that $30 million will be invested in all that, and how soon? He’s not saying. But, with Field Nation generating revenues and profits as they are, will they even need to tap it?

Which Raises the Questions…

If revenue growth and profit trump everything, why do you need VC? (Truism: customer money is better than VC money.)
Why do VCs deploy large sums of money that really just then…sits there?
If founders aren’t asking for all this big money, is it flowing because VCs are pushing it on them?
Does a startup take such funds as a war chest for acquisitions?
Or all of the above?

Discuss amongst yourselves.

———–

UPDATE: When I was planning this post, I reached out to Seth Levine of Foundry Group (no stranger to Minnesota) for his take on the concept for this post. It turned out he was traveling and didn’t get a chance to respond till a couple of days ago. Here’s what he had to say…

“The reality is that the old adage is at play here – raise money when you can, not when you need to. Ultimately, it’s a sign of strength to put capital on the balance sheet. The key is to spend according to your business metrics, not according to your balance sheet. That’s where some companies perhaps get in trouble. As a practical matter, there are lots of reasons companies raise these growth rounds: they may need the money for marketing; they may want to look at M&A to grow faster; they may want to derisk the business and make sure that if things slow down in the economy they have plenty of cash as a buffer, etc. All very good reasons to shore up the balance sheet.”

[Note: This post first appeared at Graeme Thickins On Tech.]

The State — or Lack of a State — of Marketing Analytics

September 13, 2015 By Graeme Thickins

(Note: this post first appeared on Graeme Thickins On Tech.)

How does one assess the landscape for an exploding technology category like marketing analytics? There’s so much confusion and hype around the topic. You’ve heard it all — too much data, we’re drowning in it, woe is us. And, along with that, too many vendors trying to sell us the latest cure. First we were shocked to hear the number of vendors was 1000, now we’re told it’s 2000! The argument that all these vendors create too many data silos is now a refrain we’re hearing more often. Hard to argue with that.

With such high numbers of players comes confusion, and complexity.

But it begs the question: how in the world do you unify all your marketing data to understand it and gain a competitive edge for your organization? Will a platform or single vendor solution emerge? Some of the big players like Oracle, Adobe, and Salesforce are certainly trying, opting in a big way for buy vs. build. (These three have led a frenzy of acquisitions in the marketing technology space.)

Yet significant roadblocks still exist to widespread adoption of marketing analytics in business today — and for companies to extract real value from it. The lack of data science skills we’ve all heard about by now till we’re blue in the face — it’s the “sexiest job title in the country,” blah blah blah. Big shortages, universities scrambling to launch graduate programs, etc, etc. But should this technology really require a PhD in every marketing department and agency in the land? That simply doesn’t compute! Why can’t there be more solutions, more tools, that marketers and general business folks — regular Joes and Janes — can use? Why does it all have to be so complex?

Well, I’m confident more answers will be forthcoming, or at least some enlightenment along the way. It’s still the early innings in this game. An attempt to dissect the landscape was recently undertaken by VentureBeat Insights. It’s a lengthy report, months in the making, which they were kind enough to let me get a look at. It’s entitled “The State of Marketing Analytics: Insights in the Age of the Customer.” Here’s a link to the summary. It provides a good overview of vendors and tools available today across all areas of marketing analytics use cases.

Pity the CMO

The report begins: “There’s more data available than ever, and that’s exactly why it’s so challenging to truly make sense of marketing data. While cloud-based data platforms have accelerated the availability and access of marketing data, it hasn’t made the marketer’s job any easier. It’s just the opposite. ‘Mo’ data, mo’ problems.’”

The VentureBeat report author goes on: “CMOs are more challenged than ever. If they’re going to spend more, they need to deliver more. The latest Duke CMO Survey clearly shows that marketing organizations feel more pressure than ever to prove their value. In fact, 65% of respondents report that pressure from their board or CEO is increasing. At the same time, 65 percent say they lack the ability to really measure marketing impact accurately. That means a huge opportunity is buried in the data, waiting to be uncovered.”

An opportunity, and also a warning: “Budgets are shifting to the CMO to take advantage of this opportunity — but those who can’t manage the data will simply be taken advantage of”… and that would be by the technology vendors. So, fair warning: they’re always happy to sell you another point solution to add to the pile you may already have. But, cruelly, that can just add to the the complexity — which is the problem.

Just Give Me the Data That Matters

Two of the insights from the VentureBeat report that I found interesting:

1) Today, there’s a “general lack of ability to prove which data matters” — which it attributes to a skills gap. And that lack of ability can be at least partially ascribed to a lack of “self serve” tools — those that are “marketer ready.” I take that to mean tools that a non-technical marketing person can use. Or at least that a data scientist, whom you must train in marketing, could easily use. (But first you must recruit and hire that person in an extremely competitive talent marketplace. More on that later.)

2) Measuring marketing ROI is not getting easier, as you might think. It’s actually getting more complex and challenging. Why? Because “the answers to these performance metrics are buried in marketing data from dozens, if not hundreds of data sources. And the first step is understanding what those data sources are all about.”

Sounds like a ton of work, huh? It is.

More on that last point, this from a post called “Marketing technology is eating the customer journey”):

“Today’s marketers own more customer data and touchpoints than ever before, and more than any other department. New digital channels and devices — including search, social media, and mobile — have empowered consumers and complicated the customer journey. On each of these, consumers create unprecedented amounts of data about themselves and their interests. And as a result, both the process and technology of modern marketing have expanded as a result of these changes in consumer behavior… Today, digital offers new channels for engagement and accurate measurements to learn from. What’s more, as marketing’s reach has grown, the traditional roles of sales and support have diminished because consumers increasingly inform and support themselves.”

And more — this from “Building a marketing tech stack that drives retention,” a post by martech vendor Sailthru:

“With more than 2,000 companies across the marketing technology landscape, it’s daunting to figure out exactly which products and services you really need… Unlike more mature technology sectors, marketing tech does not yet have a consistent, established ‘stack’ of components.”

The importance of measuring marketing performance in today’s enterprise is further emphasized by a finding in the VentureBeat “State of Marketing Analytics” report:

“Despite marketer confidence in their ability to use the data effectively being relatively low, marketers across all levels, including CMOs, view marketing analytics as being extremely important to the financial success of the firm, not just the marketing organization.”

There’s a lot riding on the shoulders of the CMO. And marketing performance or ROI — the by-product of marketing analytics technology — is a huge part of that weight.

In its survey, VentureBeat asked the marketing execs it surveyed (sample size: 1000+) what were their use cases for marketing analytics. Here are the top five:

Customer acquisition
Customer retention
Ad/campaign effectiveness
Customer lifetime value
Customer behavior/audience insights

Duke Isn’t Only Good at Basketball

Another key source for understanding the field of marketing technology today, as mentioned earlier, is the Duke CMO Survey. This semiannual survey surfaces trends in the budgets and priorities of chief marketing officers at top U.S. firms. The February 2015 study was conducted across a sample of 2,630 marketing execs. Here are two key questions they asked those execs about marketing analytics; there are some surprising answers to the second one:

1) What are the areas in which you are using marketing analytics to drive decision-making?

Customer acquisition 37.8%
Customer retention 30.2%
Social media 27.4%
Product line/assortment optimization 26.4%
Branding 26.0%
Pricing strategy 23.3%
Promotion strategy 21.9%
Marketing mix 19.8%
Multichannel marketing 14.6%

2) What factors prevent your company from using more marketing analytics?

Marketing analytics does not offer sufficient insight 21.9%
Marketing analytics does not arrive when needed 19.8%
Marketing analytics is overly complex 19.4%
Marketing analytics are not highly relevant to our decisions 19.1%

Those negative answers should certainly be a wake-up call for the industry.

Two key bright spots in the Duke report (especially for vendors), courtesy of the TrackMaven blog:

1) Marketing budgets are expected to rebound to the highest point in more than three years. Top marketing execs have lofty budgetary expectations. Over the next 12 months, CMOs expect marketing budgets to increase by 8.7%, the highest forecasted increase since August 2011.

2) CMOs expect their spending on marketing analytics to nearly double. Over the next three years, CMOs expect their spending on marketing analytics — defined by the Duke survey as “the creation and use of quantitative data about customer behavior” — to increase by 83%, up from a 6.4% share of the overall marketing budget to 11.7%.

So there are some positives. But another big downer from the Duke CMO survey:

“Only 40% of CMOs report the ability to prove the impact of short-term marketing spend on their business, and even fewer (34%) can qualitatively prove that impact in the long term.”

The obvious conclusion, again: there is much work ahead.

Wait, What, There’s a Skills Gap? (Duh)

VentureBeat’s “State of Marketing Analytics” report says marketing organizations need to “cultivate hard data science skills to stay ahead of the curve.” It notes that Gartner predicted 4.4 million data science jobs will be available by this end of this year, but only one-third of them will be filled.

Here’s another view on the topic of the skills shortage (from “Marketers are about to make new friends — or not — with data scientists”):

“Data scientists will soon take a lot of jobs away from marketers. The reasons are simple:

1) There’s already more data produced and mined every day than anyone can make sense of. Business gets this and is moving to incorporate data analytics into every facet of the organization.

2) Virtually every marketing technology of note (and there are many) is either a data analytics solution or a solution almost wholly reliant on reams of data.

3) Marketers simply don’t have the required skills to leverage these techs, or the underlying data. Unfortunately, that seems to be true at every level of the marketing organization.

Net-net, the ecosystem is changing, and the winds do not favor marketers with no data science game.”

The writer cites three types of firms in which he believes traditional marketers will soon be displaced by a new breed of data scientists cum marketers: enterprises, agencies, and marketing technology vendors. Yep, that pretty much covers it all!

The implication isn’t that overall marketing employment will not be increasing (though it might) — but that its makeup will be reapportioned. Marketing will become more about science than art. (Not news to those of us marketers who’ve been following this shift for a while.) Lesson: sharpen up those analytics skills.

But all this talk about the need for more advanced-degree data geeks would be lessened if vendors could just develop tools that non-techies can use. It’s hard to argue that, in the software technology world, those that can make the complex simple always seem to win.

One category of marketing analytics software where this is already being seen was called out in the VentureBeat report: “Self-service analytics with a big focus on data visualization (like Tableau) has found its way into marketing organizations at many levels.” Other vendors are surely noticing that one (very successful) company is proving the point.

What’s a Marketer To Do, Now?

With all this change going on in marketing, and science gaining on art in job descriptions and resumes everywhere, you can’t sit still. But there is no simple, universal action plan. The VentureBeat reports says it well: “Marketing analytics is as complex as it is unique to the individual performing it. There is no one way of prioritizing the right kinds of metrics, for the right channels, for the right products, with the right people, under the right organizational model.” Here’s a summary of their recommendations:

Develop a completely custom digital marketing analytics roadmap that incorporates establishing a well-defined strategy for your analytics organization firmly aligned to business outcomes.
Then, establish your technology requirements.
Next, define all the messy organizational requirements for your analytics strategy.

And they rightfully end with this point: “Your metrics and KPIs will be completely unique to you, but consult with experienced marketing analytics agencies in your industry. They’ll help you figure out which metrics to track.“

Land of 10,000 Data Pros (well, almost)

It goes without saying that one big thing you need to do is keep learning. Soak in as much as you can. In that vein, I must mention an upcoming conference here in what myself and my data colleagues also like to call “The State” of analytics — Minnesota! (I’m co-organizing it with Lizzy Wilkins, a marketing-focused data scientist.)

It’s the 2nd Marketing Analytics conference from MinneAnalytics, so “MAMA2” for short, and it’s scheduled for January 22, 2016 in Minneapolis. It will be educational in nature, and we expect more than 600 attendees. MinneAnalytics is the largest local/regional organization in the country for data professionals, with more than 5600 members from the region (and growing), from startups to our many Fortune 500s, across a wide range of industries. It hosts free, sponsor-supported conferences. More details on MAMA2 will be forthcoming on the MinneAnalytics web site. (You may also follow the Twitter feed.)

One thing I can say about the conference: it will be keynoted by the leading voice in the country today on the topic of marketing technology. We have spots for up to 20 other experts to give presentations on a variety of marketing analytics technologies and case histories. Those speakers (and sponsors) are now converging. It’s sure to be an enlightening event.

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