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Does Eloqua's Announcement of a planned IPO bring more credibility to the automation space?
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- Recommended by:
- Carlos Hidalgo,
- Joe Chernov,
- Joseph Zuccaro,
- and 3 others
Eloqua's announcement this morning made me think of a bunch of interesting points:
1. I love their transparency -- Eloqua is really one of the leaders in "opening the kimono". The modern organization knows that you have two choices in the internet economy: Protect/Defend your information (that's an arms race) or Embrace the internet informational revolution and open your information to the world. Joe is laying it down in public. (I love it)
2. Everyone else in Marketing Automation who has spent every waking hour hating Eloqua and hoping they fail should root for them to win --- If Eloqua has a successful public offering, that is a win for Marketo and others.
To answer Carlos' question whether Eloqua's announcement brings more credibility:
It will when and if it happens.
For right now: it's just great press for the entire business.
- Recommended by:
- Carlos Hidalgo,
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Excellent question, Carlos. I am eager to see how the Focus community responds. I believe marketing automation is a rising tide, and it's lifting many ships - not only ours, but also our partners' and competitors'. We are just proud to be part of this thriving market, and we're doing our very best to help grow it -- and grow it the *right* way, that is through investing in our clients' success through support, education and product innovation. In any event, thanks for helping grow this space as well. You are a vital member of the Focus, marketing automation and B2B communities!
Joe Chernov / Eloqua / @jchernov
- Recommended by:
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I wasn't aware that the space lacked credibility, but maybe I need to get out more.
Perhaps the question really means, Will this help marketing automation become a must-have technology, and thus cross the famous chasm to wide adoption? Well, it certainly can't hurt. But stating an intention doesn't change much, especially since it was already widely assumed. An actual IPO would make a difference in how willing big companies are to buy from Eloqua, as Joe said in the interview. It would also obviously give them more financial resources to promote actively. But if you want the sort of credibility that comes from big financial investments, you already have that from the IBM/Unica and Teradata/Aprimo deals. So even an actual IPO would have just a limited effect.
I do agree that the market is poised for huge growth. Whether that actually happens depends on a number of factors. Gaining attention in the financial and general business communities is just one of them and probably not the most important.
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- Joe Chernov,
- Brian Kardon
Eloqua's pending IPO, and Marketo's $25M in funding last November are definitely making people take notice of the space, but I'm with David in thinking that there was no shortage of credibility for MAS as an area serious B2B marketers need to invest in. I've used a few different systems in the past, and seem demos of countless others. To me, as a marketer, MAS is like my cell phone. I wonder how I ever got along without it.
Planning for an IPO really caused their CEO to "open the kimono." Joe Payne shared expected revenue. Thanks Joe.
I also had an interesting conversation with a fast growing venture-backed software firm. He said there are only two ways for investors to earn their money.
1) Do an IPO
2) Sell the company
Eloqua is doing 1). Aprimo did 2). Unica did 2) What will Marketo and Silverpop do? Should be fun to watch.
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor
Find New Customers
http://www.findnewcustomers.com
@fearlesscomp
I agree with David and Jason. The marketing software industry is already largely validated. Unica had a successful IPO back in 2005 and reached $100M in revenue in 2007. I also want to recognize Unica's leader, Yuchun Lee. Yuchun built Unica into a market leader, with over $100m in annual revenue, on only $11.5m of venture investment. It's quite an accomplishment when you consider the amount of capital that has been invested in companies like Eloqua, Aprimo and Marketo.
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Absolutely, Carlos.
Although it's a bit ironic that both Salesforce and Eloqua started in1999, and Salesforce IPO'd in 2004 (closed on NASDAQ at $128.29 today) while Eloqua is finally doing so 7 years later. I don't think this has anything to do with Eloqua et. al. but rather the market -
It's taken a lot longer for Marketing Automation to "get respect" to the same degree as Sales Force Automation/CRM but it surely is welcome. A lot of that has to do with the fact that marketing has been "run" by creative types more concerned with branding and event management, ignorant or negligent of their most important role in the enterprise: to nurture qualified leads for Sales.
Now with the rise of the "Marketing Technologist" or "Revenue Marketer" or "Data-Driven Marketer," I think Eloqua and its competitors are getting well deserved limelight. These companies' continued success will put pressure on more and more customers to adopt Marketing Automation (and, as you know and preach, hopefully preceded by the establishment/improvement of sound lead management processes)
The fun is about to begin in this sector and any one working for Eloqua and the others should strap themselves in for the wild ride.