Search Results - service providers

Topic: Meet Jim Fowler, CEO of Jigsaw: "Cloud-Based, Database Automation As A Service": I was sick and tired of the expensive and crappy lists the marketing team would buy for my sales teams ... Twelve years in sales left me frustrated with the time-consuming practice of finding contact details. I said, ‘There’s got to be a better way.’” We live in an economy now where people make a living with their brains as much as with their hands. I spend a lot of time creating and working with people" “We are on a path to go public. We have the chops to become a billion-dollar company” • Jim Fowler • CEO, Jigsaw "The Crowd-Sourced Business Directory" • San Mateo, CA • RecruitingBlogs Profile • Linkedin • Twitter • Jigsaw Tweets • Facebook • Corporate Website • Join Jigsaw and earn 20 free passive contacts Over the last several years, I have had the pleasure of getting to know Jim Fowler at the various staffing industry conferences. He will spontaneously offer to find a bench to catch up, and is one of those executives without any pretentiousness. In fact he is a rare breed among the approachables: he will speak to you and recollect from the mundane to the significant that you have shared with him, and in each response he is direct, substantive and charismatic. For a CEO, he is less about watching the clock than he is more about getting to know you and the topic at hand. He didn't build a business simply for a dollar's glance - he truly wants to contribute to what we consider Game Changing ideas in the art of commerce. Prognosticators will tell you Information is the most powerful weapon of the 21st century. It isn't simply about hardware and software - it's also about field entries. The market for Database information is a $50 Billion dollar business. Billions within it are likewise exceptionally relevant in how our staffing industry generates and collates that data to produce and introduce prospective passive and active candidates to employers of choice. What more relevant subject for today's feature than someone whose daily effort is to find knew ways to vett quality and quality utilizing the social aspect of community data sharing? For me personally, I cannot think of a more valuable way to verify my name generation leads and to contribute them to the broader concept of community. It's a pleasure to introduce you to my friend, Jim Fowler. As Chief Executive Officer of Jigsaw Corporation, Jim Fowler provides direction and leadership toward the achievement of goals and objectives at Jigsaw, a leading provider of business information and data services that uniquely leverages user-generated content contributed by its global business-to-business (B-to-B) community. A veteran sales executive, Jim has more than 12 years selling software for marketing and collaboration applications. Before starting Jigsaw, Jim served as VP of Sales at Digital Impact (DIGI), Paramark and TightLink. In these roles, he built sales departments from the ground up focusing on sales strategies and processes. He was able to leverage his experience as an outstanding sales manager at Personify and NetGravity. Prior to his career in software sales, Jim owned and operated Lookout Pass, a ski resort in Idaho. He also served in the US Navy as a Diving and Salvage Officer. Jim graduated from the University of Colorado. Q&A with Jim Fowler, CEO of Jigsaw Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world. Jim: I have been married Holly Wiebe for ten years. We met through my wife's best friend who was dating one of the ski instructors I knew and we were introduced to one another. We have a son named Six (who is eight years old) and a Labradoodle named Comet. Our family skis/snowboards all winter and camps all summer. Our favorite type of camping is canoe camping. You go to really beautiful and remote places and still carry enough stuff to eat and drink really well. There is nothing better than an after dinner cigar around a campfire beside a high Sierra lake! Six Degrees: Tell us about your Company, Jim JIM: I am the CEO and Co-Founder of Jigsaw.com. We have 120 employees. Most of our employees are software developers or sales people, but we do have a full time recruiter! Jigsaw is a Global Business Directory of company and contact information. Jigsaw was in Beta through summer of 2004 and officially launched in December 2004. We have over three million complete company records and 19 million complete contact records. Members get contacts they need to recruit, sell or market by adding, updating or graveyarding records. Jigsaw Pioneers Data-as-a-Service. The ability to quickly find people in a target organization and contact them directly is an essential means to gain an edge in a very competitive marketplace. Jigsaw provides very simple, but required data that every single recruiter needs to do their jobs – company and contact records. Jigsaw is essentially an open database, along the lines of Wikipedia. Salespeople looking for say, a buying manager in a given company, swap one of their contacts to access the lead they need or they can buy it for $1. Every one of its contact records is complete with email and phone number. (Note: 72% of Jigsaw records have a direct dial.) We make money by selling data and data hygiene services to corporations. Six Degrees: How was Your Company Founded? JIM: Jigsaw was founded by myself and Garth Mouton on Oct. 31,2003. We are venture backed and have raised $18M in venture funding. I came up with the idea for Jigsaw after 12 years in software sales left me frustrated with the time-consuming practice of finding correct contact details within a company. Prospecting lists were costly and usually full of outdated information. Six Degrees: How did you get started in the industry? JIM: Jigsaw was founded out of pain. I was sick and tired of the expensive and crappy lists the marketing team would buy for my sales teams. (I was VP of Sales at an email marketing company called Digital Impact). I knew there had to be a better way and the idea of a crowdsourced business directory popped into my mind. The idea for Jigsaw was germinated in the summer of 2003. We raised our first round of funding (of three total) in December of 2003 and formally launched Jigsaw in December of 2004. When I was vice president of sales at online advertiser Netgravity (now part of Google’s DoubleClick), I asked a sales rep nicknamed Tark “to cold call into Sprint PCS until he got us a meeting. It took him two weeks. I said, ‘There’s got to be a better way.’” Six Degrees: What is the broader picture of how the data business operates Each year, corporations spend over $50 billion a year on B2B marketing data. Your usual data acquisition avenues – list rentals, online data services like Hoovers, OneSource, and that old technique cold calling – are hard and expensive and don’t provide automatic updates, maintenance or net new records. Six Degrees: How/ where did you develop investors? JIM: We are located in the Silicon Valley. This is the land of venture capitalists. Just follow the signs to Sand Hill Road! Six Degrees: What is Your Company’s Value Proposition? JIM: Our value proposition is that we are the best source of data for recruiters who do passive recruiting. Every one of our 19M records is complete with name, title, business phone and business email. Our service is free. You can exchange business cards you have for business cards you need. If you don’t want to exchange you can purchase our records. Our data is the best available because we have one million members who clean and maintain the database (for credits). We are similar to Wikipedia in that many people build and maintain our database. Six Degrees: How do you plan to make Jigsaw into a Game Changer? JIM:The goal is to do the same exact thing to the data layer that salesforce has done to the software layer. Ten years ago, when Salesforce first got started procuring and managing software, Today if you look every company that sells B-to-B, they're procuring and managing the records that populate their CRM solution. the lead records. contact records, the account and the lead records. What Jigsaw DataFusion provides is unlimited access to Jigsaw's community vetted database. Overall, Jigsaw has established a robust database of over 19 million records, and it grows daily by 25,000. The Database as a service is their Game changing premise. It used to be known simply as a cool social aspect of keeping data fresh to make sure it is kept up-to-date, but now the concept has expanded by volume, accuracy and automation: With DataFusion, What we do nightly is that we take that data and put it in the cloud and every night compare our client's data to Jigsaw's. Given Jigsaw doesn't allow partial data - the data is refreshed and complete, coming in everyday, flagging records, piping all those changes every night in an automated way; Matching, filling in all the fields, flagging their dupes, a process of 'stare and compare' of records. We pipe in new data that matches the client's administrative criteria. In an SaaS mode. It will no longer will be a one off, and will transform the data business. Data Fusion comes as a monthly subscription service but companies can reduce the usage costs by contributing back to the Jigsaw system. It connects with a CRM system and automatically matches and updates records daily, with a dashboard to monitor activity and changes and the option of accepting or rejecting any specific updates. Administrators can pick which fields in each record they want to synch daily. After Salesforce, Jigsaw expects to add other CRM systems and databases this year and next. It has published an open API and a Developer Toolkit so any CRM or database vendor can integrate Jigsaw. Data Fusion comes on a per-seat, per-month basis just like Salesforce and other SaaS providers. A full license like a big OEM just bought runs $500,000. With Data Fusion, if you have 25 seats of Salesforce, then you buy 25 seats of Jigsaw. Six Degrees: Are you importing contacts from sites like LinkedIn, Hoovers and others? JIM: No. Every contact in Jigsaw has been added by a member. We started with 20K contacts and now have over 1.7M (and growing by 10K new contacts per day). Even if we wanted to import contacts from other sites we couldn't because Jigsaw requires every contact to have complete information including phone, email, title, etc. Phone numbers and emails are hard to get and are usually not provided on other sites. Six Degrees: How does Jigsaw use social media networks and your blog to connect with customers and prospects? JIM: Like Wikipedia, Jigsaw links out to the best possible information. Every contact record has a link to Google and LinkedIn for automated research on the contact – such as looking at a biography. Because Jigsaw is a community of sales professionals our blog and message boards are critical for communicating closely with our community. We also have large followings on Twitter and Facebook. Six Degrees: How do you control members from sending out spam emails to contacts in Jigsaw? JIM: Jigsaw's model isn't a good fit for spammers. Too much work or money is required to get information off in the quantity needed by a spammer. Jigsaw’s members primarily do one-to-one marketing versus one-to-many marketing. If a member is caught doing anything unlawful or against Jigsaw's rules, the member will be banned from Jigsaw permanently. Six Degrees: What is the pricing structure for your services/products? JIM: Most of our million members use Jigsaw for free (the add, update or graveyard records in exchange for the data they need). We sell subscriptions and lists that fit every budget. Six Degrees: How has your Company adopted to the economic downturn? What is the long-term future for Your Company? JIM: We expect to double revenue this year. We want to get companies out of the business of procuring and managing company and contact records. We want the Jigsaw database to power every CRM solution by providing all the prospecting data a company could ever need, and keeping those records up to date in real time. We are in heavy duty hiring mode. We’ve just released this product in beta and hope to see it take the market by storm! Six Degrees: How has your company promoted its brand and aligned itself with Staffing Industry communities, both virtual and on-site ? JIM: Not as well as we need to. We are getting ready to hire a marketing person who’s full time job will be to address the recruiting industry. Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your overall staffing industry expertise? JIM: I am an expert in only one narrow (but important!) part of the staffing industry – information. The single event that had the most impact on my expertise was founding Jigsaw and the people who I have met throughout the journey. I’ve learned an incredible amount over the past six years of Jigsaw’s life and it keeps feeding our passion to innovate. Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on modeling your career after? JIM: I really admire Steve Jobs. Not his management style, but his vision. The guy is just an incredibly talented individual. Six Degrees: Aside from simply the generic term “Networking” what specific efforts have you made on your own behalf, or on behalf of colleagues to broaden your opportunities. JIM: The single biggest has been to been as a “Featured Networker” listing with SixDegreesfromDave.com. We became more motivated to connect and reconnect with our following within the recruitment industry in a big way. The process gave us a more approachable introduction to both our users and those who have inquired about our utility as a passive talent database. We will continue driving home the message to the recruitment community and to our database of 19M business contacts to drive awareness of Jigsaw and to recruit passive candidates to organizations. Six Degrees: Given your own Trial and Error experiences as a Networker, what advice do you have for your peers on what NOT to do? JIM: Use extreme caution when sending out a single message to your entire network. Networking is generally about one-to-one communications. Mass messaging is irritating within a social or business network. Six Degrees: Do you blog? JIM: No – my Co-Founder Garth Moulton writes our company blog. Six Degrees: Reading up on you, I understand you are a Triathlete, a big time Giant's fan, who loves playing hearts and "No Limit Hold Em", and, not surprisingly, you are not a big fan of puzzles. Tell me something others may not know about you JIM: I’m a complete history geek. I unwind by reading history. Curiously, I find studying history helps me in business. The decisions politicians and generals have had to make since the beginning of history are not unlike the decisions you have to make as a start-up CEO. There is usually less actual blood involved. • Join Jigsaw and earn 20 free passive contacts …; Added by Dave Mendoza at 4:40am on January 18, 2010

Blog Post: Product Suites vs. Best of Breed: Where is Recruitment Technology Headed?: One of the most popular events at the HR Technology conference was The Great Technology Debate…; Added by Chris Brablc at 7:51am on October 7, 2010

Blog Post: Not All Recruitment Analytics are Equal: If you’ve been to a HR conference the past few months, you more than likely have heard analytics and big data mentioned at least once or twice (and probably more than that.) And for good reason. …; Added by Chris Brablc at 3:53pm on October 23, 2013

Blog Post: Staffing/Recruiting Mgr. Available for hire - Start Up and Large Corporate experience, Onsite or Virtual - South OC or Nor San Diego, will relo to South SD: Rachelle Munson

http://www.linkedin.com/in/rmunson

www.guruwireless.com

San Clemente, Ca 92673

949.690.9947 – shellsanclemente@yahoo.com

Objective: Seeking…; Added by Rachelle Munson at 2:23am on October 30, 2008

Topic: Why you should increase your marketing and advertising budgets in a recession: As the CEO of my own organization, Vipe, I am lucky enough to have both the responsibility and opportunity to report to my own board and investors. Many recruiters I have met and gotten to know do not have this opportunity, yet at the end of the day, recruitment is not a hobby or a job, but a business. I believe our interests in running successful businesses are aligned, and I hope I can be of help with my column. Why you should increase your marketing and advertising budgets in a recession. Why on earth should you increase costs during a recession? There are several reasons, but the bottom line is twofold: First, there are 2 keys to running any business, maintaining and growing a revenue stream, and minimizing the costs you have. With news of the recession flooding our sensory input from the media, many people have been instilled with a fear that only allows them to focus on cutting costs. Yes, it is important to review your costs and minimize them, but simply cutting costs does not provide sustainability. You must also figure out how to maintain and potentially even grow the amount of money you are bringing in the front door. In a recession, that becomes easier said than done, which brings me to my second point. You need to increase your advertising and marketing budgets because your competition already is. Many very large organizations have already begun pumping a significant amount of dollars into marketing. Two weeks ago I was called by a Hilton telesales representative who was trying to convince me to book a trip, any trip, in the next 12 months. I have never been contacted by Hilton before. I was also chatting with the VP of a national staffing company last week who mentioned that he observes with the number of job orders available in the marketplace reduced, the clients supplying the orders are being bombarded by recruiters. How does he and how should you react to this phenomenon in the market? Get creative. Spend the time to brainstorm how you might be able to not only reach more prospects (we are all in sales and know how the numbers game is played), but stand out and impress them. Split your time between coming up with ideas and researching what tools exist in the marketplace that might help you. Three things to keep in mind when considering a marketing tool / program are: 1. What will get you the best bang for your buck? A rule of thumb for marketing is to shoot for a 10x return on what you spend for any particular program. 2. What will get you in front of an audience you don't already have access to? How can you get someone who hasn't listened to you before, to pay attention to your "pitch?" 3. How can you make the most of your existing contacts? In addition to trying to grow new business, it is imperative to not lose the business you already have. Consider how you can remind your existing customers that YOU are the service provider of choice. In the News There have been a few notable articles published in the last few weeks that if you haven't read already, might give you a perspective and provide you with ideas for how to successfully grow your revenue through marketing. 1. Monday of this week, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled "Ads to Go Leaner, Meaner in '09. Expect Shorter Spots, Video as Marketers Cut Glitz and Grow Combative." This was a great article that discussed how professional marketers are reacting to the recession and also listed key trends that will be seen this year including, ads that are "short are sweet," an explosion of video, and a lot of red (apparently red is the new color, replacing orange). 2. On December 15th, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled "The Secrets of Marketing in a Web 2.0 World." I think the title is fairly self explanatory. 3. Kevin Wheeler, a guru on human capital acquisition and development, posted an article on December 18th on ERE.net titled "Video is about to become King - Are You Ready?" with a section devoted to how video can help your Branding and Position promotion. In this section he talks about how "KPMG, Starbucks and Nike all incorporate at least one video on their careers’ homepage." 4. McKinsey published an article in December titled, "The downturn's new rules for marketers" (a great article and the subscription is free) with a self explanatory title. One notable comment made was a suggestion that "New communications vehicles such as the Internet, social networking, and mobile devices are gaining scale and delivering effective results." Solutions Here is a short list of a few solutions out there that you should consider as options to help you spread your brand awareness, generate leads and most importantly - close more deals! Video - Kevin Wheeler mentioned 3 companies in his article about Video that provide solutions for "Branding and Position promotion" 1. C-Looks - Clooks offers complete web-based video and software applications for e-recruitment. From recruitment right up to the presentation of one or more candidates to internal or external colleagues or customers. 2. RecruiTV - RecruiTV is a cost effective way to not just tell but show potential candidates what your company is all about. 3. Vipe (www.vipepower.com) - Vipe provides video marketing solutions allowing you to land more job orders, attract and retain top talent, and accelerate your placement process. Radio - When I was at the California Staffing Professionals owner's only retreat back in October of 2008, Linda Carchidi of JFC Staffing Associates gave a marketing talk and one of the ideas she mentioned that caught my attention was to utilize the radio for marketing. If you choose days like Sunday, Monday or Tuesday and you are not competing with night clubs during the the weekends, you can actually negotiate very reasonable deals. Timing The last thing to consider is when you should take action. Timing is important. Increasing marketing presence in response to competition is obviously not as efficient nor effective as being the innovator. Now is the time to make these changes. If you can survive through this recession, your recruiting business will be poised for significant success when things turn around. So hang in there and spend some time considering how you can get creative in marketing your brand, generating leads, and bringing in cash. Thanks and I hope this was helpful! I'll be writing a weekly column so stay tuned. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to shoot me a message (and if you aren't my friend on RBC yet, let's change that!) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Adam is the CEO of Vipe (www.vipepower.com). Vipe provides a B2B video marketing solution to the recruiting industry enabling recruiters to easily create, manage and distribute high-impact, short, video mail messages to enhance customer communications and drive increased sales.…; Added by Adam Peterson at 3:19am on January 6, 2009

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