Sramana: You are more than just an email marketing company, and more than a marketing automation company. How do you pitch your product? Raghu Raghavan: If you know what marketing automation is, then we just tell you that we offer marketing automation for everyone. If you understand the value proposition then the pricing is very
Sramana: Did your conversations with Subrah about that WebEx problem set lead you to start Act-On? Raghu Raghavan: We talked about starting a company although I was not sure if it would be a big one or a small one. We started talking to a few of the venture firms in the Valley, and after
Sramana: How were you able to keep Responsys above water when so many of your customers were going bankrupt? Raghu Raghavan: I believe there are two reasons why, and I will explain them with examples. First, by working with eToys we discovered that if a company has a marketing system, it will place tremendous value
Sramana Mitra: Where did you go after Mentor Graphics? Raghu Raghavan: By 1999 the company had become quite large, so I left and joined the Wyatt Company,which was a HR consulting company. They wanted to build large HR systems on PCs. I could not get Mentor Graphics shifted over to PCs because they thought they
Raghu Raghavan is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO of Act-On Software, which provides a cloud-based integrated marketing platform. Prior he was the co-founder and CTO of Responsys, Inc., a market leader in on-demand email and life cycle marketing solutions for high-end retailers. Raghu holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Minnesota
Sramana: What are some of your key lessons learned from Glu and the other companies you have led? Niccolo de Masi: Over the years I have learned that it is important to be adaptable, that actions speak louder than words and that sometimes you just have to try things out. We are quick to try
Sramana: Let’s discuss your P&L. In general, I believe freemium is a capital-intensive strategy. The only way that strategy is viable is by raising a lot of capital. What are your thoughts? Niccolo de Masi: I think our industry has unique aspects. Our games monetize the day they are launched. Most of our users start
Sramana: It seems like your core markets would be North America, Western Europe and Japan. Is that where most of your revenue comes from? Niccolo de Masi: We do generate a lot of revenue there as well, especially for the smart phones. We also do very well in China. We have a strong presence there