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MEMBERSHIP
Our
records indicate that you aren't currently a Software Council
member. The Software Council is a membership-driven organization,
and we need your support to thrive and continue serving you.
If you haven't sent in an application for membership, please
support the Software Council and submit your application today.
Now
through December 31st, take advantage of our special offer to
attend an event on us! Become a member within 10 days
of attending one of our regular events, and we will discount
your membership fee by the amount you paid to attend the event
(up to $60).
The
Software Council is a membership-driven organization, and we
need your support to thrive and continue serving you. If you
haven't sent in an application for membership, please support
the Software Council and submit your application today. Reference
discount code FREEEVENT.
Get
involved: Have an interest in growing the software community
in Southern California? Join other industry leaders by getting
active on one of our committees.
Volunteer
participation requirements are:
1. attend monthly committee meetings,
2. attend events your committee manages
3. maintain a current Software Council membership
Contact
Catrina Luedtke at the Software Council office at (310) 325-4000
or Catrina@scsc.org for
more information.
SPECIAL
THANKS TO OUR VOLUNTEERS
We live in a world where highly materialistic standards
of achievement often base value on how much something costs.
Since volunteers are not highly compensated, it is not surprising
that they are often not recognized for the true value they bring
to the organization and the community.
The
Software Council also wouldn't be the same without our loyal
volunteers. So, in this season of giving thanks, we want to
take a moment to recognize all of the volunteers that make this
organization possible:
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VENTURENET
2005, A SOLD OUT PERFORMANCE
By Joseph Marks, Software Council Board Member and Managing Partner,
Smart Technology Ventures
The
tenth anniversary of VentureNet was an enjoyable event, its
success partly owing to the growing maturity of Southern California's
tech community and the Software Council's hard work. The Software
Council has supported the growth and unity of our tech community
for many years now, with each year's programming building upon
the success of previous years. Thus, VentureNet has become the
region's premier capital conference for software and information
technology companies.
This
year's VentureNet, which took place on September 8, was sold
out with more than 330 attendees present. Attendees came for
a full day of company presentations, venture capital panels
and of course, the keynote address by Tim Draper, who kicked
the day off by educating and entertaining the audience with
an anthem to the spirit of the entrepreneur and start-up culture.
Tim's message encouraged innovation and support of entrepreneurs,
noting that they are a special group that can contribute great
ideas for the good of our industry as well as the active economy.
The
audience heard from ten exciting start-up companies that had
been carefully hand-selected by the VentureNet committee from
a competitive pool of applicants.
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MEMBER
SPOTLIGHT: INTERVIEW WITH VIGILISTICS, VENTURENET BEST OF SHOW
WINNER
Interview by Jennifer Beever
This issue's Member Spotlight features Craig Nelson, Founder
and CTO of Vigilistics, Best of Show winner for VentureNet 2005.
Tell us what Vigilistics does.
In most manufacturing environments, when operators in the plant
do their job, they write down what they did, and then later it
gets entered into an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.
There is lag time between the operation and the recording, and
with manual data entry, you sometimes have inaccuracies. Vigilistics
eliminates the lag time and possible inaccuracies by connecting
the plant floor computers that control processing to the ERP system
on a real time basis.
What
is this marketplace like? Is there a lot of competition?
The competition is still building tools that engineers can use
to go into and customize for their plant. Vigilistics has the
first completely configurable product that doesn't have to be
customized.
Recently
you won Best of Show at the Software Council's VentureNet. What
was that experience like?
That was a great experience. It brought attention of VC firms
as well as interest from angel firms that we had already started.
We are 2-3 weeks from closing. 2 partners and I (I own another
company that's been around for 9 years) funded most of what
we needed already, so now we're just ready to launch into the
full market. We're pretty far ahead with this. We don't really
need a lot of money to launch, so it looks like an angel round
is going to do it.
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REVENUE
GROWTH THROUGH ALLIANCES
By Steven Mednick, President, Plenum Revenue Group, LLC
Any company in today's global economy must eventually face
the issue that if it is not growing, it will be expiring. For
most companies, mergers and acquisitions are too risky to be a
revenue growth option. Organic growth, though low risk, may have
some considerable limitations. A third option - alliances - just
may be the right blend of risk and reward to accelerate your company's
revenue engine.
Over the past 15 years, the successful formation of alliances
has emerged not only as a critical management competency but a
revenue weapon as well. The top 500 global companies average 60
major alliances each. In 1999 Andersen Consulting Global Alliance
Survey stated that alliances account for an average 26 percent
of Fortune 500 companies' revenues, up from 11 percent just five
years earlier. What is more, companies estimate that alliances
contribute 35% to market value with an expectation that alliances
will contribute 48% to market value by 2007. Clearly, being a
good business partner, regardless of the duration and objective
of the alliance, has become a key corporate asset and competency.
If your firm has not successfully engaged in collaborate alliances,
or if it has tried and failed, this article is for you.
MORE >>
HIGHLIGHTS
FROM THE 2005 DELOITTE STOCK COMPENSATION SURVEY
A
survey conducted by Deloitte & Touche LLP addresses future
equity compensation practices and implementation issues as it
relates to the adoption of the Financial Accounting Standards
Board's (FASB) newly revised accounting standard for stock-based
compensation, FAS 123(R)*. The 2005 Deloitte Stock Compensation
queried 343 companies (69% public, 31% private) which represented
most major industries. Surveys were conducted during the second
quarter of 2005.
Five
years after the economic boom ran out of steam, giving way to
a stock-market rout and a wave of corporate scandals, the world
of business accounting is still feeling the shock waves. New
rules designed to protect investors are transforming the ways
in which companies state their income and expenses, reward executives
and balance the interests of employees and shareholders.
Some
of the most dramatic changes are brewing in the area of equity
compensation. Barring a last-minute reprieve, all companies
will soon have to expense stock-option grants (including Employee
Stock Purchase Plans (ESPPs)) to employees at grant-date fair
value.
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SMARTER
EMAILING THROUGH ANALYTICS
By Chris Baggott, ExactTarget
In
the early days of email marketing, generating high response
rates was relatively easy. The costs were low and the returns
were high. A generic email message sent to thousands of subscribers
resulted in response rates that no other medium had ever achieved,
including direct mail. High returns with minimal investment
lulled many marketers into a habit of batch-and-blast email
marketing tactics. Yet marketers soon found that the long-term
drawbacks soon outweighed any short-term benefits, as subscribers
left in droves and response rates plummeted.
Email
marketers now are learning that the key to success is a customer-centric
email strategy that recognizes each customer is distinct and
will react in a unique way to email.
An
effective way that marketers can target email campaigns is through
the use of analytics. In fact, a recent JupiterResearch report
found that using web analytics to target email campaigns can
produce nine times the revenues and 18 times the profits of
broadcast-or batch-and-blast-mailings. The report also shows,
however, that most marketers still rely on broadcast and basic
personalization tactics that do little to make email messages
relevant. Why?
MORE >>
EMPLOYEE
BENEFIT HEALTHCARE TRENDS - HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS
By Jim Wisdom, CFP
Since Consumer Driven Health Plans were introduced in the
last few years, there has been relatively little data regarding
the success and satisfaction of these plans. However, recent studies
are beginning to show why these new health insurance plans (particularly
Health Savings Accounts or H.S.A.'s for short) are now the fastest
growing plans in the U.S.
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THANKS TO OUR NEW AND RETURNING MEMBERS
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CONTENTS
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