Successful Marketing Strategies for Different Types of Startup Companies

There is not a one-size-fits-all strategy for marketing innovative products and services. Are you targeting enterprise customers or individuals? Is your product a luxury or budget item, specialized or commoditized? What are the marketing channels in your target industry? Do you have a small or large marketing budget? Sooo many alternatives and how do they all work together and be most effective?  What about PR? To help you solve this marketing puzzle, we have invited expert speakers in startup marketing to share with you their experience, their strategies and success stories.

Agenda:  

6:30-7:30 PM – Registration & networking 

7:30-7:40 PM – ENET Chairman’s announcements

7:40-7:55 PM – E Minute – Up to 3 Startup companies’ presentations

7:55-8:45 PM – 3 expert speakers on the night’s topic

8:45-9:00 PM – Audience / Speakers Q & A

9:00-9:30 PM – Final networking includes meeting presenting speakers

A question and answer session follows the presentation, and panelists will be available afterwards for responses to individual questions.  As with every ENET meeting you will also get the chance to network with the panelists and other meeting attendees, both before the start of the meeting and afterwards.

Speakers:

Steve Lesser, VP of Sales and Marketing, Zymplify, Angel Investor

Steve Lesser has been involved in the Boston high tech community since beginning his career at IBM in 1979. He was President of the IBM 100% Club in 1983 and attained 3 IBM Golden Circles in his six years in the General Systems Division. He spent 13 years with Marcam Corporation, a leading provider of ERP software, and was a part of their IPO in 1990.  He ran North American Sales at Marcam, and then at MAPICS after its acquisition by Marcam in 1994.  He ran Worldwide Sales at Centra Software (elearning platform), and at Imprivata (Identity Management Solutions).  Both companies had successful public offerings on NASDAQ.   He also was an investor in and responsible for Worldwide Sales & Marketing at Software Secure (Remote Proctoring for online learning), which was acquired by PSI Online in 2016. In May of 2017 he became a lead investor in Zymplify, a Northern Ireland based provider of a marketing automation platform and also runs Worldwide Sales & Marketing out of Boston.  He believes that the Marketing Automation Software space led by local company, Hubspot, is still in its early stages and that Zymplify, the only European based vendor and its unique approach of Marketing as a Service can be one of the players in the long run.  

Steve was one of the original 3 angel investors in Constant Contact and is passionate about stock investing.  He has enjoyed his 7 trips since May to Portstewart, Northern Ireland since last May and is beginning to feel more comfortable driving on the left side of the road.  He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration and an MBA.

Nina McIntyre, Marketing Strategist, Interim CMO

Nina McIntyre has served as Chief Marketing Officer of several high growth technology companies in the Boston area.  Nina has over 25 years of operational and executive leadership experience, and she has a track record of defining successful corporate and product marketing strategies resulting in industry leadership, bookings growth and positive acquisition outcomes. Her public company CMO roles include ATG (acquired following a successful company repositioning by Oracle in 2011) and Carbonite.  She helped start 3 venture backed companies including Centive, Kubi Software and Bluetrain.io.  Nina began her technology career as a product manager, working at IBM/Lotus on new product development.  Nina holds a BA from Brown University and a Master of Science in Management (MBA) from the Sloan School of Management at MIT.

Sean Horrigan, Principal and Founder of PR Guy

Sean Horrigan is the Principal and Founder of PR Guy, a contemporary consultancy that helps small to midsize businesses grow and prosper through powerful PR, better branding, and strategic social media. Sean’s startup clients have included ISeeBell, Just Add Cooking, Smartick, DestinationWeddings.com, NOLA’s Salsa, MOJO Cold Brewed Coffee, and Waxing the City. Prior to founding PR Guy, Sean worked with a number of agencies and nonprofit organizations. Sean holds an M.A. in Marketing Communications from Emerson College.

Moderator:

Kathy Yenke, Founder, Sales Catalyst Solutions

Kathy is the founder of Sales Catalyst Solutions, a sales consultancy specializing in revenue growth and sales excellence. Utilizing the proven Sales Xceleration platform, Kathy helps clients exceed their growth and sales targets across a range of industries by creating a tailored sales strategy, developing effective sales processes, and assuring that sales execution ignites growth.

Starting her sales career at IBM, Kathy quickly rose through the executive ranks running $1B billion business for IBM.  She has best in class sales and executive training along with a career history of varied sales and business responsibilities. Building upon this foundation, Kathy’s entrepreneurial spirit led her to start-ups and smaller companies where she always delivered outstanding performances.

Kathy earned a BA in Economics and German from Bowdoin College and the Wharton Executive Management Program. She resides in Sudbury, MA with her husband and three children. In her spare time, Kathy enjoys downhill skiing, golf, and spending time with her family.

Organizer:

Millie Kwan, President, The WSI Touch (https://thewsitouch.com)

Millie is Founder and President of The WSI Touch, a digital marketing agency that has been serving small to medium-sized businesses in Greater Boston since 2009. She has over 20 years’ experience in IT development, management, education and research. She received her Doctor of Business Administration degree from Boston University and M.S. in Computer Science from Washington University in St Louis. She has taught at Babson College, University of Hong Kong and Boston University and published research on knowledge management, process redesign and workflow management. In her early career, she specialized in library automation and has led the implementation of various library systems for the University of Rhode Island, the HELIN Library Consortium of Rhode Island, and Washington University in St Louis. Millie is also a Vice Chair of ENET.