Situation:
GIROPTIC, founded in 2008 in Lille, France, is a private electronic R&D and manufacturing company that develops 360° optical systems and cameras. Early in 2014, the company's CEO asked EngagePoint to help with launching a crowdfunding campaign. The campaign's objective was to validate global market appeal by generating pre-orders for its new consumer camera. The engineers desired support from marketing professionals with Silicon Valley know-how to achieve their objective.

Process:
By first building an initial Brand Specifications document, EngagePoint consultants helped GIROPTIC to clarify its company profile, product's competitive strengths, the product's target customers, partners and influencers. The document also laid the groundwork for fundamental selling points, product positioning, and brand image. Together with PR and Social Media experts they clarified the campaign concept and crafted the content for a Kickstarter campaign. EngagePoint also developed content for a video script, the Perks and Packages, product features descriptions, and web site upgrades. Joining fellow teammates, EngagePoint executed related PR and Social Media activities. As the campaign launched and progressed to completion, EngagePoint monitored and advised along the way.

Outcome:
By July 4th fireworks exploded when the GIROPTIC 360cam Kickstarter campaign ended in a resounding success. The campaign achieved $1.4 million in funding, almost ten times the declared goal of $150,000! Individual funders placed requests for well over a thousand more than the hoped for 2,500 pre-ordered cameras.

Richard Ollier, co-founder of GIROPTIC stated, "While I had a strong gut feeling about how to achieve a great campaign, it was the EngagePoint professionals who contributed the marketing skill and gave me the confidence to succeed. The marketing knowledge was exactly what we needed to ensure that we could speak to the right audience and aggressively promote the campaign. Because of the level of experience on the team, we could execute with great efficiency and effectiveness. The result exceeded even my highest expectations."

Deliverables:
In addition to crafting the Brand Specifications document, EngagePoint also managed weekly coordination calls during the planning and creation phase of the campaign. To support communications, the team coordinated activities through a master project plan, and, developed campaign content using shared collaboration tools. The PR manager participated in multiple events to demonstrate the camera and meet with the press. The Social Media Manager recruited online influencers to help promote the Kickstarter campaign and maintained a drumbeat of outreach messages, all monitored through a series of Social Media management tools.

Situation:
Stereograph began in 2006 as an architectural services firm based in Lille, France. For property developers, architectural firms, and their customers, the firm addresses a critical need to visualize a building before it is constructed. In addition to preparing traditional images and video, Stereograph developed an innovative virtual reality application called Observ3D. Anyone can use the application to generate a dynamic digital model that helps others visualize the building of the future. Unlike other architectural media firms, Stereograph is unique in providing ongoing marketing services that leverage its proprietary technology platform. After proven success in Europe, founders Christophe Robert and Manuel Gomez knew it was time to enter the U.S. market. In early 2013 they engaged Natasha Kurtova, principal of EngagePoint, as a market entry mentor. The firm was particularly interested in Natasha's ability to transform a French approach into one that was suitable to Silicon Valley, specifically, and the U.S. market in general.

Process:
Natasha guided her client through the stages of U.S. market entry. She worked with Stereograph's team remotely on market segmentation and a value proposal. She organized the first prospective clients meetings and prepared the founders for their visit to Silicon Valley. From those initial meetings she achieved the first sales and a robust sales pipeline. This justified her work to establish a budget, office space and staff to support anticipated 2014 sales.

Outcome:
Stereograph found in Natasha a single representative for all of its interests in the U.S. Within eight months (May – December, 2013) Stereograph had achieved $200,000 of U.S. revenue. In that time frame the company went from a concept to achieving a proven brand. With such past success, Natasha continues as Stereograph's sole U.S. representative.

Deliverables:

Market validation:

• Guided dialogue to identify U.S. target audience and key influencers
• One page company description including U.S.-centric value proposition
• First meetings with contacts representing potential clients and partners

Initial sales:

• Guided dialogue to create a U.S. pricing strategy
• Sole U.S.-based representative for sales support
• Proposals delivered in client meetings
• Service contracts designed and negotiated with first clients

Operations and sales development:

• Office space contracted in Rocketspace, San Francisco, California
• Lawyer, bookkeeper and accountant contracted
• Sales pipeline managed
• 2014 U.S. marketing budget created

Situation:
This technology startup designed and developed a portable health-monitoring device with potential application in several key markets (fitness, wellness and medical monitoring). With the initial product technology developed they needed additional funding to take the company to the next level. In weighing the strategic possibilities of which market to target, and to prepare for the next round of financing an in-depth market analysis was required to identify their competitive advantages and to determine how best to position the company. This data would enable them to understand the potential market opportunity and challenges and would support the development of a viable business model with realistic revenue projections and investment requirements. Once this data was uncovered, a roadmap could be created to clarify next steps and to develop a detailed go-to-market plan with executable marketing strategies and tactical next steps towards a product launch.  All of this preparation would contribute to the creation of a targeted investor presentation to support the companies next phase of growth.

Process:
Completing an in-depth market analysis revealed a richly complex and highly competitive landscape with a changing regulatory environment. Industry leaders in the mature medical device market were aggressively moving to adjunction segments, while a surge of new mHealth players were crowding the market with new consumer based fitness and wellness devices. The challenge would be to positioning our client's technology well in this rapidly evolving health ecosystem and to clearly articulate their unique competitive advantage and market opportunity for investors.

Outcome:
Our segmentation analysis and understanding of our client's solution indicated the optimum opportunity for our client existed in addressing the needs of wellness aspiration market.  Using our research and market data we developed demand assumptions and a business model, and formulated marketing strategies including distribution, pricing, positioning, promotion, and critical keys to success. These elements provided the foundation from which we were able to define our clients business funding requirements and to develop a sound investor presentation to support our clients required funding efforts.

Deliverables:
Industry analysis, SWOT analysis, competitive analysis, critical issues – keys to success, total business opportunities, go-to-market plan, investor presentation.

Situation:
Initially the user growth rate for this social network startup was very strong but controversial coverage in the U.S. press overshadowed its initial success and threatened its future credibility with potential users. The challenge was to develop a compelling identity and business strategy that would appeal to a broader user demographic group, and then create a concise value proposition to clearly articulate our client's product offering. In meeting with the client it became evident that a key component of their success would be ensuring a constant feedback loop between existing users’ experience with the product and future product development plans. The value of leveraging their customers’ creative input and user experiences when defining new product features would create loyalty with the existing users, as well as help to drive new customer acquisition strategies.

Process:
We spent good deal of whiteboard time with the CEO evaluating the offering’s strengths and weaknesses, and brainstorming and weighing different strategic choices.  We also conducted online research to identify the market need.  As a result of our strategic work we were able to develop a new value proposition and re-position the solution to become more appealing to a broader audience.  We developed a new set of feature requirements and tested our hypothesis through online surveys.  Lastly, we developed a set of new messages to overcome the criticisms of the press and some of the customers.

Outcome:
After identifying a clear strategic roadmap and value proposition for the client, we developed a well-defined positioning statement and key marketing messages to support their business objectives. To ensure appropriate cataloging of user needs, we developed customer surveys and a user interface questionnaire to test existing features and prioritize the development of new features. The data we gathered during this stage ensured that the content we created for the client’s website was compelling to its target audience. The work done in all of these areas supported the development of a well crafted executive summary and investor presentation. 

Deliverables:
Value proposition, positioning statement, key marketing messages, investor presentation, executive summary, customer surveys, texts for the website, user interface questionnaire to test existing features and prioritize on development of the new ones.

Situation:
One of the European leaders in e-learning business education was looking for a strategic partner in the U.S.  The company had recently launched the first completely online European business school, fully accredited by the European Federation of Schools (FEDE, providing their students with a cost-effective and convenient alternative to traditional European business schools. With a mission to make a professional education accessible while maintaining high standards and quality of training, this client was interested in partnering with a renowned U.S. business university or college. As a young company with no reputation or presence in the U.S. education market, this goal presented a significant challenge.

Process:
After evaluating over 50 universities and colleges, we were able to narrow down the list to five schools that would be a superior match for our client. We then conducted face-to-face interviews and structured MOU’s and preliminary proposals with each of the selected schools. In the process we helped our client to better understand of each of the potential partners requirements and unique methods and processes for online education from both a business and technical perspective. We advised the company’s CEO on the best options and coached the executive team through the presentations and negotiations with each of the schools involved. 

Outcome:
Despite the obstacle of being a young company with little name recognition in the U.S., we negotiated a partnership for this client with Stanford University’s Center for Professional Development. This client is now distributing one of Stanford’s most popular programs in advanced project management through their e-learning program. This partnership enabled our client to extend its brand positioning in the European e-learning market and helped them to expand to new markets (Africa), while increasing their stream of revenue and broadening their business curriculum.  As a result, the company is viewed as a much stronger player in the eyes of key influencers in the corporate education and training market. 

Deliverables:
U.S. postsecondary market analysis, sale presentations, MOUs, proposals, preliminary negotiations, contract development & negotiations, marketing plan, press release, U.S. marketing collateral (brochure), executive summary, Online Education in the U.S. (report).

Situation:
As a recognized market leader in its home country for providing solutions to conference organizers, our client was at a crossroads for making important strategic choices. They believed that expanding their solution to the U.S. and globally would take their company's growth to the next level. With the spread of social media solutions targeting event attendees, the company wanted to refocus their technology to create a product offering for this market. It was felt this expansion would dramatically change the landscape of their marketing efforts. The question was how well this approach would play out in the U.S. Although the client's overall vision appeared solid, they needed a tactical roadmap for implementation in the U.S. 

Process:
In our initial discussions with the CEO and the product team, we reviewed their proposed U.S. go-to-market strategy. We encouraged them to explore the total market opportunity, from the competitive landscape to customer needs in each market segment. These discussions led to a market analysis which provided key insights for our client as to the most lucrative market segment to target and which product features to implement based on each segment's primary needs. We then validated our analysis by conducting face-to-face interviews and online surveys to gather data on users "pain points" and requirements. This data was critical to defining the client's optimum market and to driving their product development efforts for their next version release.

Outcome:
The competitive analysis revealed a highly crowded space with a number of entrants who had unproven business models and user traction. Our in-depth segmentation analysis evaluated the opportunity in pursuing each potential market segment and identified the most lucrative primary and secondary markets, along with the value systems driving them. The work done in these areas laid the groundwork for developing a clear product development effort and tactical roadmap for the client's U.S. market entry, including its branding strategy.

Deliverables:
Competitive analysis, statement of differentiation, segmentation analysis, identification of the target markets, interviews with event organizers, survey of event attendees to test existing product features and to prioritize features in development and product price points, recommendations for the overall business and U.S. market entry strategy.