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Posts Tagged ‘partners’

End of the Year Thank You to Friends of KikScore for a Great 2010

Monday, December 20th, 2010

As 2010 rolls toward a quick end, we at KikScore wanted to take this time to do something that so many people sometime neglect to do.  That is to say some important thank yous.  2010 has been a year of huge successes and new beginnings for us at KikScore. That success is attributable to many factors, but much of our achievements are a result of a core set of folks including our customers, friends, colleagues, partners and advisors.

KikScore’s 2010

First a little about our 2010. We launched our core product, KikScore, to help small businesses use their trackrecord of success and reliability to show that trackrecord to shoppers that they should be trusted.  Then quickly thereafter and based on feedback we received from the community, we launched another new product for small business that do not sell online, but market their services such as consultants, contractors, servicers.  That new product allows these servicers to take their prior trackrecord and their strong history of dependability and show potential clients and leads that they are trustworthy. Yes, that was two new products in less than a year!

Beyond the new products, KikScore gained quick and significant customer acceptance with a surge in signups in 2010 by small businesses all over the world.  That acceptance was driven by a host of factors, just one being the number of key partnerships we launched throughout 2010.  We were busy launching partnerships and jointly sponsored events throughout the year that focused on our small business customer needs.  It was a blast to connect with so many small businesses, bloggers and members of the media throughout the year….the coverage was flattering too!  We even spoke at some great small business focused webinars and conferences.  Thanks Anita Campbell for your recommendation and introductions for us to speak about security and small business!

A Special Thank You

So we get to the main point of the post after some “horn blowing” by me.  Ok, I was just setting some context for visitors that are new to the site!!! We want to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of our friends and supporters that helped us out this year.  There are too many to name each one here individually by name, but a few we really do need to have to thank including the one and only Swami Shashi B, Jill Foster, Shonali Burke, Eric A, Jason K, Harry L, Roy D, Rick Juneja, Neel K, Joe K, Steven Fisher, and so many, many more.  These are just a few great folks that helped us out.  On top of them, we have to thank our many partners, but most importantly our friends in Calgary at Shopster.

A special, special thank you goes out to all of our customers.  We really appreciate each and every one of you.  Even the customers that did not stay with us, we learned from you.  But more importantly a thank you to all of the customers that took precious time out of their busy days to send us comments, feedback or your appreciative notes about our service and what we are doing for small businesses.  Also thanks to all of those customers that gave us some great small business interviews on this blog.

Ok, not really last but thanks to each of our families, the new additions to our families and loved ones that supported us throughout this year!  Your patience during our late nights and long weekends of work on KikScore is truly appreciated.  We could not do any of this without you!

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Posts Tagged ‘partners’

Just Say No, But Say It Nicely

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

One of our main distribution strategies for KikScore is working with partners.  Our ideal partner is one with that has a lot of interaction with small online businesses, or small businesses that want an online presence.

In my day job, I work with with partners quite a bit (or as Corporate America calls them…Channels).  As with any type of sales, reaching out to partners involves a lot of rejections.  Either they don’t have time or the proposed relationship doesn’t fit into the partner’s strategic vision.

What has surprised us at KikScore is the overall interest that our product has received from a partnership standpoint.  We’ve approached 10 different channels and we are in deep discussions with 6 of them.  That type of success rate would get you in the baseball hall of fame (as a hitter, manager or pitcher).

This type of positive reaction has likely twisted my perception.  So when I reached out to a larger company today — with a contact from a mutual friend — I thought it would be a warm reception.  Uh, wrong.  The person I contacted not only said no, but almost chastised me for bothering her.  Sorry, delicate genius.  Let’s hope you never lose that corporate job and have to start approaching people on your own.

Also, I’ll never be a customer of this company.  It’s not because she said no, it was how she said it.

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Posts Tagged ‘partners’

Is One the Loneliest Number? Should You Start a Business with Partner?

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

You have a great idea, some money in the bank and a little extra time.  So do you go it alone and launch a business?  Or, instead, do you find partners to help you make your idea a reality? 

It’s a common dilemma.  The upside about going alone seems to be having absolute control over the product direction.  No need to reach agreement on how to approach the market, pricing or even the name itself.  For example, with KikScore, we have several meetings each week to make sure we’re all on the same page and updated on development and partner development.  If this were a sole enterprise, that time could be saved (or at least redirected). 

But being alone isn’t all sunshine and flowers (or whatever else you may find appealing).  With sole control comes sole responsibility.  If there is an issue with your business or customer service, you need to solve it.  If you are great at product design but not sales, well, too bad.  And forget brainstorming, you’re the brain and the storm.  There’s a good summary of the pros and cons in this blog post.

How about the number of partners?  Does it get more or less complicated to run your business if the number of partners increases?  I don’t have any hard studies on this, but anecdotal information (i.e. KikScore’s experience growing from 4 to 7 partners) has not been too impactful.  I think the most important thing with partners is to have an odd number….that way you don’t have stalemates on important votes.

Do you have any business partners?  Or are you going it alone?

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