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  • 21 FEB 2010

    Google Is DEFINITELY Real Time

    A post by Sean Fenlon as Technology

    Post By
    Sean Fenlon

    DoublePositive posted a Twitter status update merely seconds ago about LeadsCon.

    Now when I perform a LeadsCon search with the hash tag, I see the actual Twitter post:

    image

    This is all very interesting.

    http://blogs.doublepositive.com/2009/12/03/google-alerts-very-interesting/

    SPF

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  • 14 FEB 2010

    So Who Is Coming to LeadsCon?

    A post by Sean Fenlon as LeadsCon 2010, Tradeshows

    Post By
    Sean Fenlon

    I have no idea, but here’s my guess:

    Rock star, CEO, CXO, President, Founder, SVP, EVP, or VP – 60%

    All other titles – 40%

    So those are the odds.

    The over/under is 1,500.

    Did I mention LeadsCon is in Las Vegas? ;-)

    SPF

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  • 8 FEB 2010

    Bravo New Orleans & Bravo Saints – Not Necessarily in That Order

    A post by Sean Fenlon as Uncategorized

    Post By
    Sean Fenlon

    This screenshot below is evidence as to why Google is excellent at everything EXCEPT predictions and forecasts:

    image

    Something tells me that the “forecast” area shaded above will be very wrong in the first few months of 2010.

    Forecasts are difficult.  Especially those that have to do with the future. ;-)

    All I can say now is that I am even more excited than ever to visit New Orleans for the very first time in May 2010 for the TARGUSinfo inaugural “Scoring Summit”:

    http://twitter.com/OLQS/status/6533499673

    Speaking of Twitter, bummer that it could not handle the exuberant Super Bowl overload from its users, otherwise I would be Tweeting this rather than blogging about it (like last year):

    http://twitter.com/seanfenlon/status/1168717469

    SPF

    p.s. Bravo to the Saints, but also Bravo to Champions and Athletes everywhere.  This was even a huge moral win for the Manning family.  Archie Manning (Peyton’s and Eli’s dad) was THE BEST quarterback ever on THE WORSE team in the NFL.  The Saints winning the super bowl is a huge win for Archie:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_Manning

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  • 2 FEB 2010

    So Who Bought Webclients from ValueClick?

    A post by Sean Fenlon as Automotive, Industries, Insurance, Lead Generation, Marketing, Mortgage, education

    Post By
    Sean Fenlon

    Back in 2002, Josh Gray invested everything he had to buy Webclients.net, a lead generation firm that had grown to ~$10MM in revenue but was losing money.

    As the new CEO Josh, focused like a laser on increasing yield (particular on non-monetized inventory) and grew the sales and profits of the business by orders of magnitude.

    In June of 2005, Webclients was acquired by ValueClick (NSDQ: VLCK) for $141 Million.  The Webclients business remained in Harrisburg, PA and became the lead generation platform for all ValueClick lead generation activities.  Josh Gray continued to run the business until stepping down a couple of years ago.

    This was right around the time that ValueClick was getting into hot water with federal regulators with respect to incentive-ized offers to consumers.  All of these matters have been since settled with regulators, but it all apparently left a bad taste in the mouth of ValueClick.

    In a press release issued yesterday, it was announced that ValueClick divested Webclients:

    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ValueClick-Announces-bw-2903975847.html?x=0&.v=1

    The transaction price of $45 Million (and seller-financed by ValueClick) shows a substantial haircut to the price paid back in 2005.

    The big question in my mind is who is the buyer? The announcement only names the buyer as anonymous.  Could it be Josh Gray again?  Could he be going for round-two in buying a struggling Webclients and turn it around for another mega-sale?  If so, why be anonymous?  Why would any buyer of Webclients be anonymous for that matter?  Enquiring minds and all that.

    According to the analysts, the Webclients business did not appear to be struggling. 

    ValueClick CEO Tom Vadnais does not offer much clarity in his explanation:

    “Given the growth and synergy opportunities in our core businesses and the acquisition opportunities in the market, the time is right to divest Web Clients”

    I suppose all will be explained in time, but I’d love to see other speculations as to who the buyer was and why.

    SPF

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