New Year, New Beginnings

With the New Year come new opportunities.  After more than a year helping to build NextPrinciples, an enterprise software startup helping companies extract true value from social media, I have decided to move on.

Needless to say, I am extremely proud of what we accomplished over the past year.  A few highlights:

• Continued to deliver real value to our customers: From helping global tech companies manage their diverse social portfolios and execute/ measure their social marketing campaigns, to helping global pharmaceutical companies improve the care they provide to their consumers, I have been both inspired and humbled by the trust these companies placed on us.

• Almost doubled our bookings by expanding our footprint in high-tech and entering the pharmaceutical/life sciences industry.  NextPrinciples proudly calls some of the most innovative and largest companies in these industries as their customers today.

• Built-out our product and won significant recognition from many smart people and institutions in our market along the way.  Some of the most notable ones include ZDNet (CRM WatchList), CRM WizKids, and CRM Idol.

Was it all smooth sailing?  Of course not.  Like any entrepreneur will tell you, the highs are very high and the lows are very low, and you frequently experience both many times within the course of a single day.  I am however extremely grateful for the experience and the lessons I am taking away (and yes, you will have to wait for a follow-on post for these).

All good things however must come to an end.  After many sleepless nights and discussions with people whose advice I have come to trust over the years, I decided to move on. While this was a very difficult decision, I felt it was ultimately the best thing to do as I no longer felt connected to the evolving vision of the company.

As I move on, I will miss the new friends I made and the existing relationships I strengthened-both within the team, but across our extended ecosystem as well.

Does this mean I am soured on social media? Not at all, I still believe there is a tremendous opportunity for technology to help organizations truly embed social media in their existing marketing channels and practices.  As I have argued before, this is the only way for marketing professionals to truly deliver value to their customers (and their own companies).

So as 2014 rolls in,  I am taking some time off while thinking about my new adventure.  For now, I am giving my blog a fresh new look that will hopefully help me overcome the chronic writer’s block that I succumbed to last year.

For those of you that have stuck with me for the past few years, thank you! Your interactions have provided me with a great deal of inspiration and hope you have enjoyed reading my ramblings as much as I have enjoyed writing them.   For the new readers that are wondering what this blog is about, you can read my inaugural post here. I plan to continue writing (and hopefully increase my frequency) as the New Year rolls in.

Thank you for reading.

Image credit: kazuend