SM: If I were to publish books through Blurb based on my blog writings, I would need to be able to have a paperback that sells for $5-6. I would also need to have a customized storefront on my site that seamlessly ties into yours, so that you can fulfill the order. Can I do
SM: What are your top target segments? KR: We are finding a lot of success with Sales Operations managers, VP of Sales and also the CFO or Director of Finance at small and medium size companies. Those with a slightly distributed workforce and who don’t want the hassle of managing the cost associated with traditional
SM: Describe the value proposition of LucidEra, including differentiation versus the rest of the market. KR: LucidEra combines sales and financial data to give users at small-to-mid sized businesses powerful insight into the effectiveness of their entire sales operations process (including quotas, pipeline, revenues, and expenses). We firmly believe that just like the everyday consumer
SM: How did you penetrate the market and get early traction? EG: Word of mouth driven by a great and viral product and turbo charged with amazing PR. SM: What stage are you at now? Revenue? Profitability? Traffic? Titles? Any other metrics you track? EG: Blurb expects turnover between $5-10MM in 2007, its first full
SM: What was the market landscape like when you founded the company? KR: When we founded the company in 2005, the BI market was pretty stagnant. Not much innovation had happened in that market in the prior 10 years. It was basically a lot of vendors selling expensive solutions that were difficult and time consuming
SM: What are your top target segments? EG: We segment the market very broadly into Consumer/Prosumer and Professional. Top segments within consumer/Prosumer are: * photography books of all kinds including travel, fine art, compilations from photo enthusiast communities * wedding (participant books) * yearbooks, student/class books * family histories * cookbooks Top segments within Professional
SM. Where did you get the idea for LucidEra? What is your domain experience in the Enterprise 3.0 business? KR: The idea developed in two stages. First, when I ran my Business Intelligence consulting company many years, it became obvious that while Business Intelligence solutions were common in large enterprises, they were rare in small
SM: Describe the value proposition of Blurb, including differentiation versus the rest of the market. EG: Blurb is bringing book publishing to the masses by providing an affordable publishing platform that’s accessible to anyone with a broadband connection and modest computing skills. Every family, traveler, photographer, bride, cook, poet, teacher, blogger, and artist has a