Web 2.0

August 3, 2012 by Marc Hausman

Does Eloqua's IPO Foreshadow Frothy Times for Marketing Automation?

Many industry watchers consider August 9, 1995 the day that spawned the Internet economy.

Netscape, a somewhat obscure developer of a Web browser called Navigator, issued its initial public offering at $28 per share. Frothy investors enthralled by the promise of the Web bid the stock price up to as high as $75 on the initial day of trading, a near record for first-day gain.

Nine years later the equivalent success of Google’s IPO validated the relevance and growth prospects of the Web search industry. The company started as a research project by a couple of Stanford PhD students now sports a market cap of more than $200B.

At some future point in time will champions of marketing automation look back at August 2, 2012 with comparable reverence?

Yesterday marked the public debut of Eloqua, the recognized industry leader in marketing automation solutions. The company’s software is used by thousands of corporate marketers to run more effective, efficient and measurable lead generation and prospect cultivation campaigns.

Although the stock failed to spike like Netscape or Google, it began the trading day at the high end of its projected range and then rose more than six percent. The offer raised $92M for the company.

Plus, Eloqua’s private equity investors remained in demonstrating a belief that better days for the company (and the industry) lie ahead.

Successful financial events galvanize a community of entrepreneurs and investors. The prospect of monetary return stimulates product development and innovation, and provides access to capital at acceptable valuations.

Moreover, customers may grow more eager to buy as they recognize that market adoption is accelerating. No organization desires to be a laggard, especially when it comes to sales and marketing.

So as Eloqua CEO Joe Payne and his senior team rang the bell at NASDAQ yesterday they may have been doing more than announcing the company’s stock debut. It might have also been the sound of a market sector shedding its niche status.

Disclosure: Strategic Communications Group (Strategic) is an Eloqua referral partner. I’ll be speaking at the company’s North American user conference in November and recently launched a section on this blog entitled All About Experience. Its content will focus on the issues, trends, topics and best practices to be discussed by speakers at the conference.

August 3, 2012 by Marc Hausman

Does Eloqua’s IPO Foreshadow Frothy Times for Marketing Automation?

Many industry watchers consider August 9, 1995 the day that spawned the Internet economy.

At some future point in time will champions of marketing automation look back at August 2, 2012 with comparable reverence?

Although the stock failed to spike like Netscape or Google, it began the trading day at the high end of its projected range and then rose more than six percent. The offer raised $92M for the company.

Plus, Eloqua’s private equity investors remained in demonstrating a belief that better days for the company (and the industry) lie ahead.

Moreover, customers may grow more eager to buy as they recognize that market adoption is accelerating. No organization desires to be a laggard, especially when it comes to sales and marketing.

July 23, 2012 by Marc Hausman

A Bubbly Education: How a Web 2.0 Collapse Will Create a Stronger Set of Entrepreneurs

People mark time personally and professionally by defining moments.

As a sports fanatic growing up in Washington, DC, I vividly recall the Washington Redskins three Super Bowl victories in the 1980s, as well as the crushing defeat to the Los Angeles Raiders in 1983.

Professionally, Q2 2000 was my initial bitter taste of reality. Strategic Communications Group (Strategic) rode the dot com bubble to our first-ever million dollar revenue month in March 2000. The technology correction changed all of that and in 12 years we have yet to make it back to that level.

Sean Parker Photo — Hired Snoop Dogg to play a company party.

Two articles I read this morning have me thinking about bubbles. This NY Times article by Nick Bilton reports on the current go-go days in Silicon Valley fueled by the public and private equity investor hype around Web 2.0.

One industry party I attended had a jungle theme. This included a real, 600-pound tiger in a cage and a monkey that would pose for Instagram photos. A prominent Googler’s Christmas party in Palo Alto had mounds of snow in the yard to round out the festive spirit. It was 70 degrees outside. Sean Parker, a founder of Airtime, threw a lavish, $1 million party that included models he hired to roam the room and a performance by Snoop Dogg.

The second piece is a Washington City Paper profile of social networker Peter Corbett and his efforts to champion the Washington, DC technology community.

Corbett has been the new economy’s biggest cheerleader, spokesman, and advocate. Part of the reason why is that Corbett sells cool for a living and sells the tech scene on the side, in ways that don’t always seem entirely separate.

Make no mistake…this is absolutely a bubble! Jungle themed parties…Snoop Dogg spinning tunes…selling cool for a living…I was here before in 1999 and 2000, and I promise you the dance track will soon end.

That’s because this enthusiasm is funded by the unrealistic expectations of public shareholders and private equity investors. They’ll soon get hip to the lack of financial return and refocus their money and interest on something else.

I actually believe technology bubbles are a critical component to the long-term health of the industry. They attract talent to the market and spur innovation.

Plus, the ultimate “pop” educates a new generation of entrepreneurs that a viable and sustainable business is based on a simple concept: you have to create and provide a product or service to paying customers, at a profit.

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