Using Google Spreadsheets for Prospecting

by Nathan W. Burke on August 9, 2011

After reading that Google has made it easier to use functions within Google Spreadsheets, I thought I’d try out some of the functions that may make my life easier. The first one I saw was GoogleLookup.

From the GoogleLookup help page:

Using the Web, the GoogleLookup function attempts to find the values for straightforward facts about specific things. Keep in mind that while the GoogleLookup function knows quite a bit, it doesn’t know everything. Although not all of the formulas you try will work, we encourage you to experiment.

Hmmm. Interesting.

Let’s say I want to find companies that have over 500 employees out of a list. For instance, here’s a random sample of company names from a list:

Now let’s say I want to get the number of employees from each of these companies. Using the GoogleLookup function, I can find the number of employees each of these companies has*

The function:

To use the GoogleLookup function, enter the following formula in the desired spreadsheet cell:

Syntax: =GoogleLookup(“entity”; “attribute”) where “entity” represents the name of the entity that you want to access, like Kuala Lumpur, Audrey Hepburn, or oxygen, and “attribute” is the type of information that you want to retrieve.

Some examples:

Here are some of the types of entities you can access using GoogleLookup, and a few popular attribute names (some entities won’t have all these attributes, and some will have more, so feel free to experiment):

  • Countries and Territories (like “Burkina Faso”): population, capital, largest city, gdp
  • U.S. States (like “Tennessee”): area, governor, nickname, flower
  • Rivers (like “Amazon River”): origin, length
  • Cities and Towns (like “Chicago”): state, mayor, elevation

So in this case, we’d want our formula to be something like: =GoogleLookup(“Company”;”employees”). Easy. And in this case, we want to use a formula to grab the contents of the cell and add “employees” as well:

In addition, when the list has loaded, Google Spreadsheets will show you the source of the information along with other sources:

Why is this a big deal?

If you’re in a company that has strict prospecting criteria, this can really save some time. For instance, when it comes to prospecting, I’m interested in identifying companies using Google Apps that have over 500 employees. While identifying whether a company is using Google Apps is much more manual, automating the company size fetching is a huge time saver.

Additionally, I run stats each week on leads that have signed up for a trial of our product, and want to see the size of their company as well. You can’t really trust user input from a form, and if you can remove one field, that’s excellent.

Data Quality

Looking quickly at one company, it looks like the data sources are pretty good. For instance:

Though the first link is dead, the second and third are live….if a little bit dated. So for my purpose the quality is enough, as I don’t really need something granular.

Summary

If you’re looking to automate finding company size while prospecting, Google Spreadsheets can really save you some time.

* at least what Google think they have.

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The Secure Cloud Bundle: Teaming Up To Go To Market

by Nathan W. Burke on June 16, 2011

Today I’m proud and excited to announce the launch of the Secure Cloud Bundle, the first bundle of products from the Google Apps Marketplace. This project has been my baby for the last 2 months, and it feels good to finally put it out there.

We (CloudLock) teamed up with Backupify and LTech to offer three top Google Apps Marketplace apps together for one price, and at a big discount. Buying each separately would be $27 per Google Apps user per year, but when purchased together in the bundle, the price is only $9 per Google Apps user per year.

Why A Bundle?

1. Real Estate – Since we are a company that sells a product that is only relevant to Google Apps customers, we’re somewhat limited as to where we can market to potential leads.

One venue is the Google Apps Marketplace, which is a great source of highly qualified leads. The issue here is that we have no control over whether we’re featured on the home page, and we don’t control Google’s search algorithm. Though we’re very highly rated within the security category, there’s not much more we can do there to promote ourselves more.

Aside from the Marketplace, we have our own site(s) which are completely under our control. And adding another site for the Secure Cloud Bundle gives all 3 companies yet another customer acquisition source. It’s another door to get interested people in our (virtual) door.

2. Promotion – This one is a no brainer. When you have three companies working together to promote something, you have three blogs, three twitter accounts, three…..you get it. You have three times the resources to promote the same initiative.

3. Coverage - Getting three companies together to pull off a project like this is getting us coverage, and that’s not something you can get every day as a startup. Unless you’re Google or Facebook, there’s a good chance that the media doesn’t care about the new feature you’ve added to your product. You really have to do something big to get good coverage, and this fit the bill.

4. Revenue - An important part of any business, we want to make money. And offering a deal like this makes it easier to justify the spend if you’re in a small company that is strapped for cash. Even before we “officially” launched the bundle, a handful of companies found the site and bought the bundle.

And now for an image representing the bundle:

What’s In The Bundle

From the press release:

The Secure Cloud Bundle includes the following:

  • CloudLock - enterprise-class data protection, access controls and security for any organization looking to retain control of their data while gaining the collaboration and cost-savings benefits of the cloud
  • Backupify – secure, automatic daily backups for Google Docs. Backupify provides the peace of mind IT administrators need knowing their data will always be available
  • LTech – advanced IT management and end-user capabilities including macros, user templates and email monitoring

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Link: A Startup Marketing Framework V2

by Nathan W. Burke on June 10, 2011

One of my favorite places to read about startups is reddit’s startups subreddit, and today I found a really interesting link. I found a site called Rocket Watcher, which focuses on product marketing for startups by April Dunford.

The post I found was called A Startup Marketing Framework Version 2. From the post:

This Framework makes the assumption that you have a product in market, you feel fairly confident that you have a good fit between your market and your offering and you are ready to invest in lead generation. If you aren’t there yet, there is a lot here that you won’t need to (and more importantly, shouldn’t) worry about yet.   Lastly, my background is more Business to Business marketing so like everything else on this site, this has a B2B slant to it.  That said, I think most of it is very applicable to a B2C startup.

It’s a very good post, and since I focus more about tactics here, I thought the post was definitely worth sharing for those that are interested in taking a step back to think more about strategy.

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First Look: Fundraise.com

by Nathan W. Burke on May 25, 2011

My latest column for VentureFizz, First Look: Fundraise.com is now available. This month I talked with Nate Drouin, founder of fundraise.com to discuss how he got the idea for his online giving startup, what differentiates fundraise.com from its competitors, and what’s coming soon. Oh, I also was able to sneak in a Horatio Alger reference, which has always been a goal of mine. Check that off the list.

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Startup Marketing Jobs – Want One? Have One? Get One. Fill One.

by Nathan W. Burke on May 20, 2011

In the past few weeks I’ve been hearing from a few recruiters and HR people from startups that are looking to fill startup marketing jobs. <shameless plug>Since I run the Boston-area Startup Marketing Meetup </shameless plug> I’ve been sending emails to the entire group whenever I hear of a job.

A few issues with that:

  • Not everyone in the group is interested in hearing about startup marketing job openings
  • Those that aren’t interested might unsubscribe from the group so they stop hearing about the openings
  • It feels kind of spammy

So I came up with an idea. Okay, two ideas.

1. StartupMarketingJobs.com – It’s a quick and dirty job board using Jobberbase that I’ve set up to post jobs that are strictly related to startup marketing. The site is incredibly slow and only has a handful of jobs on it right now, but it’s brand new.

2. A Mailing List – Retro as all hell, I’ve set up a mailing list. If you want to be notified when a new startup marketing job is available (or posted), send me an email at nathan (at) startupmarketingjobs.com with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject line, and I’ll let you know when I hear about a new job opening.

A couple of quick notes:

  1. I won’t share your email address with anyone.
  2. I’m only going to use this list to send emails when I hear about an opening that is relevant.
  3. A giraffe’s heart is 2 feet long and weighs about 25 pounds.
  4. If you’re a recruiter or are from a company looking to hire for a startup marketing position, email me at nathan (at) startupmarketingjobs.com and I’ll post your job on the site. It won’t cost you anything.

TLDR; I’ve been hearing about open startup marketing jobs. If you want to hear about them, send me an email or check out the site.

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Taking Advantage of Email Fail: Opportunistic of Spam?

by Nathan W. Burke on May 6, 2011

Yesterday I received an email that looked like a mistake. Which said:

I wanted to share a great opportunity just released.
Here is a GREAT way to get 250 leads ASAP!
Let me know if you are interested!

The problem? Judy sent this to a list of 125 people, and instead of bcc, she used cc, thus exposing the entire email list to everyone on it.

This kind of thing happens all the time (see TechCrunch’s recent self-effacing article TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon BCC Fail. We Apologize #TCLeakers). But this is the first time I’ve ever seen someone take advantage of the exposed list to plug a product/service directly. This morning, I received this email:

Good morning.

Sometimes it’s good to take advantage when a sales person yesterday doesn’t BCC her respondents, so here goes:

I’m Paul Mosenson, founder of NuSpark Marketing, a lead generation firm outside Philly.  I help clients manage all aspects of traditional and digital strategies.  As a former Media Director, I can contribute to traditional media, digital media, search marketing (pay per click and SEO) and social media, and track all of it with analytics.

Our system helps you find customers and customers find you.

Among our core competencies:

  • Generating leads via a cost-efficient traditional and digital media strategy, all measured with analytics
  • Social media management; how to utilize social media for lead generation
  • Review of your website and landing pages; are they optimized for conversions or purchase
  • Content marketing; from branding and messaging to white papers, blogs, and articles
  • Lead nurturing, lead scoring, and marketing automation; tactics to transform leads into sales with drip campaigns

I’m assuming that those on this list or B2C buyers, so I’ve attached one of my eBooks; How to measure online and offline media with analytics.

All I ask for, is if you’re interested in exploring some or all of my services, that we have a phone conversation.  By building a relationship, we can create a win-win partnership.

Below my signature is my bio.

Thank you.

Paul

Paul Mosenson
President
NuSpark Marketing, Lead Generation, Lead Management, Custom Marketing Solutions

So, I’m wondering: Do you see this as clever opportunism or spam? On the one hand, he’s capitalizing on someone else’s mistake. On the other, it’s still an unsolicited commercial message.

BTW: I decided to leave Paul’s information intact, as it seems that he has no problem sharing his contact information with those on the list.  As for Judy, she works at a vendor that I’ve talked with before, and therefore I could have unsubscribed from their list.

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First Look: Springpad

by Nathan W. Burke on April 28, 2011

My latest column for Venture Fizz is now live. This month I talked with Springpad CEO Jeff Janer in First Look: Springpad.

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Selling the Dogfood: Startup Marketing Before & After Product/Market Fit

by Nathan W. Burke on April 15, 2011

It’s finally time to have another meetup. On May 5, we’ll be holding our Boston-area startup marketing meetup at the Foley Hoag Emerging Enterprise Center in Waltham.

And this ought to be a good one. The details:

Selling the Dogfood: Startup Marketing Before & After Product/Market Fit

Startups fail because the dog won’t eat the dogfood. Not because they can’t make the dogfood, or price the dogfood, or even sell the dogfood. They fail because – having solved all those problems – the dog doesn’t want to eat it.

So how can you approach Marketing in way that evolves your “dogfood” in the direction your “dog” wants? And having done so, how do you get the other dogs in the neighborhood interested?

Join 5-time startup veteran and brand guru Mike Troiano (@miketrap) for an exploration of the marketing challenges unique to venture-funded startups, at the intersections of entrepreneurship and branding, product strategy and communications, new technology and enduring truths.

No dogs, please.

Thursday, May 5, 2011
6:30 PM

Emerging Enterprise Center at Foley Hoag
1000 Winter Street – Suite 4000 Waltham, MA

And make sure to check out Mike’s site, SellingTheDogFood.com

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Behind The Scenes Of A Startup Name Change

by Nathan W. Burke on April 7, 2011

On Tuesday, April 6th, our company officially changed our name. To make a long story short, the name “Aprigo” didn’t really say anything about what we do, and our product name, CloudLock definitely does. So we decided to make the switch.

And today, we got some very good coverage:

From xconomy: “Do we really need another tech company with “cloud” in its name?

Apparently the answer is yes. But Waltham, MA-based CloudLock offers lessons far beyond the merits of its name. The company, formerly known as Aprigo, has officially changed its product focus as well as its moniker. All told, this is an interesting snapshot of a young tech startup navigating the turbulent field of data storage and security while making some tough decisions about its future.”

From Bostinnovation: “When working at a startup the ability to adapt and turn on a dime is imperative to the success of the company. Most startups start out with an idea and iterate on it constantly until a business can be formed. For Waltham based Aprigo a successful business was already formed, but an even bigger opportunity showed its face prompting a pivot and re-branding.

CloudLock‘s (previously Aprigo) flagship product Aprigo Ninja managed client’s on-premise data, but after building an enterprise cloud solution and seeing massive growth with it, the company decided to shift focus. With the shift came the decommissioning of Ninja and upsetting plenty of existing customers.”

From MassHighTech: “Aprigo’s three co-founders appear unafraid of a cliché: the Waltham data storage startup announced in a blog post this morning it will “pivot,” and add the word “cloud” to its name.

Now doing business as “CloudLock,” the company is adopting the name of a new product it announced in January – a protection offering for web-based data. At the same time, Aprigo announced it would retire its initial product, Aprigo Ninja, data storage analytics software designed to estimate costs and catch redundant data.”

Changing Our Name

Aside from buying the domain and getting the trademark, here’s a list of what we did to change our name.

1. Land Grab! After getting the domain and trademark, it was time to register our new name on all the services we use. This included:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Viddler

And more.

2. Switching our name- There are a few services that let us simply change our company name rather than starting from scratch (like we had to do with YouTube and Twitter). A prime example is LinkedIn. In the case of LinkedIn, I simply had to submit a helpdesk ticket and ask to have our name changed. A LinkedIn rep responded within 24 hours and changed our name immediately. The only thing we had to do was have each employee go into their profile and change their current company name.

3. Setting up the site- Our site is built on WordPress, and was developed by Fresh Tilled Soil, so we had them do a full backup of aprigo.com and create a new instance for cloudlock.com.

4. Search and replace- Using a search and replace plugin, I simply searched for every mention of Aprigo and replaced it with CloudLock. And since we had many mentions of Aprigo CloudLock on the site, I ended up with a bunch of “CloudLock CloudLock” on pages. That was dumb.

5. Changing logos and images- We have an incredible graphic designer, and he updated all the Aprigo images with CloudLock replacements.

6. 301 redirect time- This was the fun part, and I mean the opposite. As we’d built up a great deal of link juice and highly ranked pages, I didn’t want to just throw away our search equity by doing a full domain redirect. Instead, I used a 301 redirect plugin to redirect each individual page on aprigo.com to its corresponding page on cloudlock.com. We’re talking about hundreds of pages. A pain, but totally worth it.

7. Changing our Google Apps Marketplace listing- Since CloudLock is on the Google Apps Marketplace, I had to change our listing and our vendor page.

8. Write a blog post explaining the name change- Did that here.

And that’s about all. The whole process took about a day to execute (after a few days of planning).

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Where Can You Find A Co-Founder?

by Nathan W. Burke on April 7, 2011

Just about everyone has an idea that they’d love to turn into a startup. But how do you find the right co-founder(s) to get started?

Recently two new sites have launched (or have launched betas) with exactly that problem in mind.

The first one is called fowndr, which is currently in invite-only beta. From their site:

Fowndr brings together founders, co-founders and investors from all over the world to share ideas, thoughts, link, get feedback and even share files.

Once you become a part of the network you can start building relationships with like-minded entrepreneurs, form private networks, post comments, and share files with the wider network.

There’s a lively conversation thread on Hacker News about fownder, where commenters are debating the choice of the site’s name, the definition of a “founder”, and the development of cliques in the startup community.

The second is called StartupCrave, which is currently open for registration for early adopters. I spoke with StartupCrave’s founder, Dan Cote to see what his site is all about.

At its core, StartupCrave is a place for people to find co-founders, employees, funding, etc. to start an internet business. Dan Cote describes the site as “specifically focused on internet entrepreneurs that know they need someone else to get going.”

The Marketing Challenge

Fowndr beta signup

As is the case with any site that depends on a quantity of users and content to provide value, both fowndr and startupcrave face the “chicken and egg” problem. Since there are very few users to start with, there’s little value. Since there’s little value, there’s little incentive to sign up.

Fowndr and StartupCrave have taken different approaches to try to solve the chicken and egg problem and boost registration.

Fowndr has gone with the “request invite” method of pre-launch demand generation. They’ve decided to target sites like Hacker News and Reddit’s /startups subreddit to create initial demand.

StartupCrave instead is offering free registration for its (eventual) paid membership services:

Those that sign up for StartupCrave during the beta become “Pro-level members for life”.

StartupCrave was created to solve the problem Cote faced: as a marketing guy, he had plenty of startup ideas, but lacked the technical background to make those ideas happen. He met StartupCrave’s co-founder a year ago while working on another idea, and decided to create a site that helps would-be entrepreneurs share ideas and find a complimentary business partner.

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