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- The Accelerator Conundrum
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mobile
Thought Leaders in Mobile and Social: Jim Ackerman, Founder of Ackermania Creative (Part 2)
SM: What is the barrier? JA: There are actually two barriers to entry in doing YouTube and doing it well. Number one is you must be creative enough to come up with something that will have an entertainment element to it. It’s not guaranteed that you always have to have that, but the likelihood is
Thought Leaders in Mobile and Social: Jim Ackerman, Founder of Ackermania Creative (Part 1)
A good marketing campaign is essential to the success of any business. Whether you’re selling a product or a service, if you don’t market it properly, it could go completely unnoticed. Veteran marketer, Jim Ackerman, founder of Ackermania Creative, sat down to talk with me about how he used his skills and experience and the
Thought Leaders in Mobile and Social: David Stone, CEO of CashStar (Part 7)
Sramana Mitra: This has been an interesting conversation. Do you want to give me a range of how large a company you’ve built with CashStar and probing into the unmet needs of the gift card industry? David Stone: We raised $28 million to date, which in the state of Maine is incredible. Most of the
Thought Leaders in Mobile and Social: David Stone, CEO of CashStar (Part 6)
Sramana Mitra: What about loyalty? We’ve talked a lot about the process of gift giving. Would you talk about loyalty? You said you’ve also worked quite a bit on the intersection of loyalty and payments. David Stone: Yes, there are obviously a ton of players in the loyalty space, and a lot of interesting companies
Thought Leaders in Mobile and Social: David Stone, CEO of CashStar (Part 5)
Sramana Mitra: What about returns? In the previous use case, you said you were in a Gap, saw a pink sweater, and decided to give that as a gift to a friend. Let’s say the friend receives that pink sweater and decides she wants a different color. How is that handled in your system? David
Thought Leaders in Mobile and Social: David Stone, CEO of CashStar (Part 4)
SM: Oh, I see. So, the electronic gift card can be used at a store. DS: Exactly. We’re connecting the online and physical world. In fact, most of the cards – and there are millions that we’ve done – can be used in the physical world. It has a bar code on it, and you
Thought Leaders in Mobile and Social: David Stone, CEO of CastStar (Part 3)
Sramana Mitra: That’s not what I want to know, though. I want to know what are the dynamics of the business model? David Stone: The dynamics of the business model are three core dynamics. First, you have to get the retailers that are offering the cards because without the retailers, you don’t have anything. The
Thought Leaders in Mobile and Social: David Stone, CEO of CashStar (Part 2)
Sramana Mitra: So, you’ve been following the payments industry and the digital loyalty industry quite closely. David Stone: Right, and it’s that intersection that is my sweet spot: the digital consumer, how people pay and build loyalty, and how they give gifts and reward, and the confluence of those circles. And let me just say
