Contently’s new CEO Pearl Collings is focusing on moving the firm from break-even to full profitability by deepening its strengths in core subject areas, growing its services business and network of freelancers. Collings, who formerly served as the chief business and sales officer at Time Inc., was formally announced as CEO of Contently last week. […]
By all means, you can try cold-calling Box CIO Paul Chapman or sending him a hopeful e-mail. You can invite him to your event, webinar or roundtable. You could reach out on social media or other channels and see if he’ll download your white paper. None of these standard marketing tactics, however, will work as […]
Testfire Labs is applying artificial intelligence to one of the most challenging aspects of working in an enterprise — no, not finding, converting or retaining customers. Surviving the agony of office meetings. Based in Edmonton, Alberta, Testfire Labs’s initial product is bot dubbed Hendrix.ai, that captures and transcribes conversations from business meetings. Beyond acting as a […]
The variety of startups attending and exhibiting at Collision 2019 in Toronto this week might be dizzying for marketing, IT professionals and other potential buyers, but top venture capitalists said the B2B vendors with staying power will be vertically focused and architect their products in a very specific way. A panel discussion at the event’s […]
For all the enterprise product announcements being made, Dell Technologies World holds little of the drama you’d find on Dawson’s Creek, The Affair or Fringe, but if a good story unfolds, Joshua Jackson is ready to provide the technology and services to bring it to life. The actor and co-founder/chairman of Liquid Media Group was […]
Real-life robbers might not be impressed by the business software used to run a major retail chain, but a preroll ad from Lightspeed POS suggests it would be a crime not to invest in it. The 40-second preroll spot, which began running on YouTube earlier this month, starts with what looks like a very serious, […]
Michele Romanow knew she had to do something to help entrepreneurs better market themselves — and keep control over the companies they create — when she first saw the wooden iPhone cases. As a judge on CBC’s Dragon’s Den — a sort of Canadian alternative to the U.S. hit show Shark Tank — Romanow regularly […]
They may have been conceived as engines for producing innovative new technology companies, but experts told the first annual Drive Conference in Waterloo on Thursday that incubators and accelerators are largely failing the startups and scaleups who participate in them. Much of the Drive Conference, which was held at the Lazaridis School of Economics at […]
Most successful companies are not category creators – even though they may look like that to folks that come from large companies. Startups should be very, very wary of advice they get around this. I recently had two startups come to me talking about their attempts “category creation,” for example, when what they were really […]
The majority of B2B firms pursuing some kind of digital transformation projects are trying to improve customer experiences — particularly the ability for buyers to make purchases, according to research from configure-price-quote (CPQ) software maker FPX. Based on a survey of approximately 230 B2B firms with a strong focus on the manufacturing sector, the study […]
The competitive advantage offered by early enterprise XR use cases may make it difficult for other B2B professionals to learn how they can apply things like VR and AR in their own firms, a panel of experts told this week’s CES 2019 conference. Speaking from the week-long gadget showcase in Las Vegas via Livestream, several […]
A pair of former management consultants have created a company and service, NewtonX, that aims to address a problem they experienced first-hand: finding qualified B2B influencers to participate in market research projects. Based in New York, NewtonX was launched quietly in 2016 but is beginning to market itself more aggressively following a $3 million round […]
PathFactory’s CEO is betting the future of growth in B2B will come from adding more value through post-sale data and taking a more granular approach to customer advocacy programs. The Toronto-based company, which rebranded from its original LookBookHQ moniker earlier this year, recently landed on the Deloitte Canada Fast 50, a list of companies the […]
The digitization of purchase processes in the enterprise are creating a greater need for supplier management applications that work better together than allow chief procurement officers to get a “seat at the table” among senior decision-makers, according to a gathering of CPOs in Toronto on Thursday. Former procurement leaders from Google, GE and other large […]
Rangle has begun a rebrand that aims to show how an organization that began as a technical consultancy has the creative and strategic capabilities to help enterprises achieve digital transformation faster and more successfully. Based in Toronto, Rangle launched several years ago specializing in helping businesses create mobile-first web sites and other digital challenges, with […]
WeWork has already disrupted the traditional approach to setting up office as a startup or small company by offering a series of spaces where people can get things done together. Now Julie Rice wants them to become spaces where they buy from each other, too. The pioneering coworking provider has recently launched WeMRKT, a series […]
The Royal Bank of Canada will be starting with a focus on B2B startups with an accelerator program called RBC Reach that will offer $100,000 in funding to entrepreneurs from around the world. RBC Reach, which is accepting applications until the end of the month, is being launched in partnership with Highline BETA, a company […]
Watching two heavyweights in the Canadian startup sector wage war in the media should not go unnoticed, as there are major implications for the sector in general, especially in a newly uncertain and volatile provincial political environment. On one side is a MaRS-led contingent that is startup-focused, largely apolitical, (despite promoting a we’re- not-Trump-based new […]
As a means to foster innovation by giving developers and other smart people a creative challenge, there has arguably been nothing as popular as a hackathon — in fact, research suggests they may almost have become too popular. In its most recent Developer Marketing survey report, Santa Cruz, Calif.-based Evans Data showed a 13 per […]
It’s already one of most talked-about startups innovating in workplace productivity and collaboration, but Slack’s Michael Lopp is working hard to respond to enterprise decision-makers who say they just can’t let go of traditional e-mail. Though it is based in San Francisco, the firm’s vice-president of engineering has been making a series of in-person appearances […]
