I’ve been biting my tongue for the last few months not to talk too much about Perenety on this blog. Many of my blog readers and friends have asked me why I have kept this blog focused on Online marketing and Web analytics (my former start-up) - and do not quite understand the value of being stealth.
Staying stealth for another few months is hugely important for us. Most people think that stealth companies are trying to hide a “secret” for as long as they can - then launch with enough IP to make their competition a distant follower right away.
This is not the case at Perenety, and possibly not the case for any Web 2.0 company that I know (”possibly”). Being stealth and having a limited and manageable customer base lets you quietly build a product away from the media, bloggers and VCs - which in general, do not constitute your target market as such. It lets you focus on your real customers, and change direction multiple times if need be without having to think about marketing communication issues.
It is only when you think you’ve nailed your product that it makes sense to get out of stealth mode. A highly subjective decision only your target customers can help you with.
Recent IPO company Omniture (NASD:OMTR) definitely is in the running for the Web 1.0 special award: Omniture Cultivates Customer Success With Launch of Regional User Groups.
Welcome to 2006, Omniture.
There is a much better event, that’s existed for some time called “Web Analytics Wednesday (WAW), which I will summarize as the Web 2.0 version of what Omniture is trying to do. The only problem with WAW is that an Omniture customer might sit next to a WebSideStory or Webtrends customer. vuuuuuuuhhhhh. zat is veree dangerousse.
Nope, this isn’t about U2, but that is a great song anyway. As I was waiting in line for my ritual Starbucks I was thinking about Omniture and WebsideStory, the two market leaders in Web analytics and now traded on the Nasdaq - and asking myself why they have these relatively low market caps, for what I believe is a lively and fast growing market. For all the hype and so-called revival of the Web analytics market, Accrue still leads the charts in terms of successful IPO back in the days.
The only thing I could come up with is product issues. None of the vendors has a solution that fully solves the problem for a modern online business. Web analytics is more art than science - and the big issues (what to measure, how to present it, accuracy, interpretation, etc) are far from resolved.
Clint’s post this morning ,3 effective rules for report design, and Simon’s old post on KPIs and Baseball reminded me that we still haven’t found the right framework for measuring and presenting our progress here at Perenety. And it’s clearly not for lack of tools nor expertise.
The French are playing Portugal this evening, in the last semi-finals of the FIFA world cup. It will be a very difficult game for France, as Portugal has a fantastic team and a legendary coach (Scolari led Brazil to victory in 2002).
Zidane (back) congratulates Henry after his goal against Brazil
For me, this game goes beyond supporting France - or earning $20 (I have bet on France winning the world cup before the tournament started). The entrepreneur in me is immensely inspired by what Zidane, Thuram, Makele and Viera are doing.
“They’re too old”. “They’re too slow”. “They’re not motivated anymore”. “Zidane should just go”. “Let’s retire Zidane”.
Just when everyone believes they’re finished, done, dead - they find the moral strength to go on and win, and win, and win and win, and win again, always and forever.
That’s the mark of a champion - be an athlete or an entrepreneur. Nothing is impossible.
ALLEZ LES BLEUS.
