Confidential 2011
THE PROBLEM
WHAT IS CONTACT KARMA FOR END USERS? Can these developers really stick to their budget? These PR proposals all look the same…who should I use? Do you know anyone who does affordable audits? Does this recruiter really know good people? I need a tough litigator…where can I find someone? Contact Karma is a quick and easy way to see who your local network and community recommends and get great deals on those vendors. When making high-value purchases, business owners and execs want the opinions of people they know or others in their business community…not the opinions of strangers. They also want to save as much money as possible!
WHAT IS CONTACT KARMA’S MISSION Contact Karma’s mission to halve startup costs for young companies nationwide, and reduce the number of “wipeouts” that happen when a young business spends critical capital on a vendor that is not ideal.
THE PRODUCT
Where does CK Fit? Social Network Daily Deal Review and Recommendation Business owners save every day, have more for growth Deals are therefore trusted…and bought. Reviews from your colleagues, not strangers THE MODEL Contact Karma is a vendor recommendation engine that uses a social graph and contextual information about an exec to provide the best possible vendor match. Transaction happens via deal purchase.
THE OPPOSITE OF A DAILY DEALS SITE A good way to think about CK is to examine it as the opposite of a daily deals site: Pushing “want” based deals at consumers… 90% Pulling a B2B customer with a “need” deal…only 10% push
MOBILE NATIVE There will be a Contact Karma app for all major mobile platforms: the iPhone app is already functional. Contact Karma is also a great organizational tool as well as a recommendation engine.
REVENUE
COMMISSIONS WILL BE THE MAIN REVENUE SOURCE Commissions will be the main initial revenue source…and will come from two types of deals: Flash deals: Average value: $65 (10% of sales) Business events Travel accessories Office lunches Office toys Lunch delivery Commission: 30% Ongoing deals: Average value $250 (90% of sales) PR firm Bookkeeper Marketing firm Law firm Hiring firms Commission: 15%
COMPETITION
NICHE COMPETITION There are several other B2B deal sites but all attempt to take the 24- hour flash deal “push” model of Groupon and apply it to B2B. This is a mistake, due to the need-based nature of major business purchasing. For a B2B model to work, the daily deal site format must be reversed. Only 10% of sales can be 24-hour deals that are pushed out to an audience. 90% of sales must be deals that are available yearlong, and pull-based.
DIFFERENCES Contact Karma has three major differences: 1. We push only 10% of our deals out daily…and these are deals aimed at general employees/livening up the workday. (Lunch delivery, events, outings, etc.) 90% of our deals are yearlong deals on everything from marketing to legal to PR within our database…and these deals we “pull” consumers into. There is not much discretionary income in the B2B world…rather, many $$ are spent in calculated ways on business purchases based on need, trust and research. We accommodate this, no other B2B deal models do. 2. Our yearlong “pull” deals within the database are very high value…ranging anywhere from $130 to $35,000, higher than the Groupon average value of $ Massive experience on the team at taking a company through an A and B round of funding and more. There will be a group buying company funded in the B2B space, and we’re currently poised to be that company, due to our model and how it works with current B2B purchasing patterns.
TEAM
PROVEN FOUNDERS Maureen Wozniak Co-founder & CEO Genevieve Thiers Co-founder & CRO/President 19 years at ADP running sales teams Huge experience with sales training and B2B sales Former founder of Btobcity.com Former founder and CEO of Sittercity.com 9 years SBA Entrepreneur of the Year, 06 Over 15 other awards Ellen, The View, TODAY Show, CNN, etc. Massive press exposure Expertise in connecting and building marketplaces of buyers and sellers online, with proven experience!
MARKETING PLAN
DIFFERENCES Contact Karma is proving our concept in Chicago. --Our initial sales are tracking according to financial plan --Our initial launch market is recognizing our brand and press is covering the story --Our flash deals are being sold through daily s to our audience…deals are happening, and current refund rate is 0 --Our ongoing (yearlong) deals within the database are being sold through a combination of constant communication with our vendors, massive networking at local business events and monitoring of several popular listservs (where entrepreneurs ask for vendor suggestions.) Refund rate is also 0. --We have massive connections within the VC market and Chicago market due to experience of former Sittercity founder Genevieve Thiers. Funding should be possible within a year.
CHICAGO PRESS AND AWARDS SO FAR (WITHIN FIRST THREE WEEKS) And winner of the 2011 New Venture Award from:
EXIT STRATEGY
EXITS Representative potential buyers with strategic alignment and deep pockets.
THANK YOU Common Knowledge Is Power