Case Study: MapSherpa
"We have been fortunate enough to have worked over the past nine months with Francis Moran and Associates to deliver virtual CMO services for our company, and so far it has been highly effective. With this relationship, we get access to a level of experience and expertise which would be unaffordable to us if we were to hire a full-time equivalent." Dave McIlhagga, Founder and CEO
Case Study: Singletouch
"When I hired Francis Moran to lead our marketing efforts in 2011, I had very high expectations. We needed to completely rebuild our marketing from the ground up. Francis and his team not only met those high expectations but exceeded them. He brought a very high level of strategic thinking, professionalism and creativity to our organization that will be felt for many years to come in our quest to build a successful IT company." Marty Hilsenteger, Founder and CEO
By Chris Arsenault
It was a good news day for Canadian entrepreneurs yesterday. The Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, and Minister of Finance, the honourable Jim Flaherty, were in Montreal to announce their “Venture Capital Action Plan.”
Under this plan, the federal government will put $400 million to work under the leadership of private-sector fund of funds and venture capital funds.
This is the 10th article in a continuing monthly series chronicling the growth path of Screach, a startup based in Newcastle upon Tyne in England’s North East. Screach is an interactive digital media platform that allows users to create real-time, two-way interactive experiences between a smart device (through the Screach app) and any content, on any screen or just within the mobile device itself. We invite your feedback.
By Leo Valiquette and John Hill
They say the world is more connected than it’s ever been. You can push software to a global audience with the tap of a key, and serve customers worldwide from a desk in your living room.
Of course, the trade-off is that it’s loud out there. You’re immediately competing with the world, and you’ve got to be disciplined, dedicated or clever to be heard. So how do you go about building a market in a new country when you haven’t got millions of dollars to throw at it?
By Leo Valiquette
As a regular feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of some of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are TechCrunch, Polaris Venture Partners, Pando Daily, Gust and MarketingSherpa.
Median angel deal size rises as startups look for more runway amid a series A bottleneck
TechCrunch’s Kim-Mai Cutler writes about how the median size of angel deals rose to $640,000 in the third quarter of last year – a five-quarter high – as startups looked for more runway amid a bottleneck for Series A rounds. Silicon Valley Bank partnered with data company CB Insights and the Angel Resource Institute to survey different angel groups about activity in the fall of last year.
By Megan Totka
Traditionally, the work of social media-profile development has fallen on PR departments. Over time, social media efforts morphed into a department of its own in companies that could afford the manpower and saw the financial potential of a vast mobile following. Decision makers from companies of all sizes know the extreme value of a strong social media presence.
Beyond web platforms
In November, Flurry Analytics released some telling numbers on the ways Americans are spending time using electronic mediums. In 2011, Americans spent 72 minutes per day web browsing and 94 minutes per day using mobile applications. Both activities were dwarfed by television consumption, which came in at 168 minutes per day. Though the year is not quite over, the numbers for 2012 show stagnancy in web browsing and television watching, but a jump to 127 minutes per day in mobile application use.
Over the past two years, the number of events completed within mobile apps has increased tenfold to one trillion, or 1,000 billion. An event is an action completed by a user inside an app, such as completing a game level, making a restaurant reservation or tagging a song. While not all of these apps are social media based, these numbers should be sobering to all companies. Engagement with the marketplace through mobile apps is becoming increasingly important.
By Leo Valiquette
Back in the day when I worked as a business journalist and sparred with “those PR people” for a living, I did, on more than one occasion, run afoul of a source or a business that I was writing about.
This is simply par for the course. I’ve always said that a journalist isn’t keeping their foot on the gas if they don’t receive a demand letter from someone’s lawyer every now and again.
Sometime ago, Francis wrote about how the interview’s never over. But in these examples, it’s clear that missteps can easily occur even when both interviewer and interviewee agree that the microphone is still on.
January 08, 2013 by Francis Moran
Well, we dodged the Mayan doomsday, the solar flares that were going to scramble all electromagnetic systems on the planet and the first Times Square ball-dropping without Dick Clark in what seems like a century or two […]
Read more... -January 07, 2013 by Leo Valiquette
Though we took our usual holiday break in December, we still covered a lot of ground on the blog during the month. Scotland’s startup scene, the unintended consequences of Canada’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax credit program, and practical pointers for handing off a content marketing program were among the many topics we covered […]
Read more... -January 04, 2013 by Alexandra Reid
This is the second article in a continuing series chronicling the growth path of ..duo, a startup based out of Kelowna B.C. that creates simple keywords that use your name, brand, slogan or any other word combination as a shortcut to content on the web. By Alexandra Reid Daylin Mantyka, cofounder of ..duo, is reconsidering […]
Read more... -January 04, 2013 by Francis Moran
What we did Having previously tried and failed to enter the U.S. market, Singletouch retained Francis Moran and Associates as its virtual chief marketing officer to develop a more reliable understanding of its customers, their pain, the value of the company’s solution, and the sales and marketing strategy required to succeed. It was clear to […]
Read more... -January 03, 2013 by Leo Valiquette
I trust everyone has had a happy holiday season, even a, dare I say it, merry Christmas. It’s now back to work with depleted bank accounts, expanded waistlines and perhaps a few stories to share from another mad shopping season […]
Read more... -January 02, 2013 by David French
News reports have indicated that at least one of Apple’s patents which were the subject of the $1 billion jury verdict in California in August are in trouble with the U.S. patent office […]
Read more... -December 24, 2012 by admin
From all of us here at Francis Moran and Associates, happy holidays and the very best for 2013. We will resume our regular blog postings on January 2. . . . . . . . .
Read more... -December 21, 2012 by Alexandra Reid
As a regular feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of some of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are The Kernel, Both Sides of the Table, Venture Village, Business Insider and Financial Post […]
Read more... -
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