Showpad
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Showpad
IT
Public Limited Company
Belgium
usability, mobile first & data driven
Peter Minne
Simon Landsheere
Pieterjan Bouten, Peter Minne & Louis Jonckheere
Summary
Founded in 2011, Showpad is the leader in sales enablement. They help sales teams to have more engaging conversations driven by context and optimized for every conversation, and provide marketing teams with powerful insights to better align with sales and optimize spend.
Background
Showpad started 4 years and a half ago. Before this, the founders had created the company In The Pocket, a mobile agency. Based on some recurring customer requests they started to think about an app for sales, which meant the start of Showpad. They wanted to create something that works for every customer. At first they created an app that could be recycled and rebranded for every customer, however this wasn’t very scalable. Hence a generic app was developed which could be fully configured and controlled by the customer via an online platform. The end product of Showpad was born.
They financed the start-up of the company with the help of a business angel. He believed in their project so decided to invest in it. Mr. Peter Minne describes Showpad as the best online platform to coordinate sales and marketing in the best way.
Mission
Marketing and sales working better together.
Vision
In the age of the informed buyer, delivering the right message at the right time will become the most important factor in sales. Showpad will enable its customers to maximize that opportunity by aligning sales and marketing and guiding sales people to results.
Values
- Transparency: Be transparent in anything you do. No politics. The management is very transparent to the staff and vice versa
- Give to grow: Always try to contribute to the growth of yourself, the team, the product, the company, ….
- Keep it simple: this has a strong presence with many decisions taken across different areas.
Business Model
Showpad uses the SaaS businessmodel, this is a standard model but they’ve given their own touch to the execution. SaaS stands for software as a service. This business model has the advantage that you don’t have to install any software, that the application is always up-to-date because it’s managed and continuously updated by Showpad, and that there are no hidden costs like hosting, …
Showpad started with the creation of an app which is nowadays a solution for many companies. The app consists of some pillars. First of all, there is a back-end system which is for the marketers. They have to upload all the information that can be grouped in categories such as region, product, … Showpad will optimise the content so it can be shown on any device.
Secondly, there is an app which is used by the sales people. They can consult all the information that is provided by the marketers. This helps them to have all the content within reach and to set up a scenario and switch easily to another scenario when the prospect is for example an informed buyer who has done some research upfront. When meeting a prospect, they can mark all the information of interest and e-mail the offer together with the remarks to the prospect. When that prospect has consulted the information, the sales person will be able to see how many clicks the prospect made on every section.
And at last, there is a reporting pillar. All the data is poured into multiple report which can be consulted by the marketers. They can adjust their marketing according to these insights.Showpad has 3 different offers for their customers. The professional, the premium and the enterprise package. Customers will have to pay a licence per user every month. All the information of the different packages is provided on the image on the left.
In the packages, there is a coach included, so he will help with the integration of the system, he will help where it’s needed, and he will follow up on the usage of the system by the customer. For example if a certain feature is not being used while it would provide significant value, they will get in contact with the client and provide the necessary assistance deploying it.
Showpad got during the start-up help of an advisory board with a lot of experts with expertise on many levels. Right from the start of their company, they’ve experienced the advantage of being present on a very global market. Some disadvantages are that the sales is different in every country, and that they have to ensure support 24/7.
Growth
They double every year in sales but also in staff. It’s going well for Showpad for the moment. Showpad has 150 employees and 4 offices nowadays.(London, Ghent, San Francisco and Portland).
Customers
They don’t focus on a specific segment. The gap between marketing and sales exists in every company. They see slightly higher traction in the health care and manufacturing industry though. Because they’re growing very fast and the product has matured a lot, there are more and more large enterprises who want to use the product of Showpad.
Competitors
A direct competitor of Showpad is the US based ClearSlide, and the main indirect competitors are the US based companies Savo and Salesforce.
Conclusion
Showpad their opportunities in the future are that their product is scalable and while most companies suffer the problem Showpad solves, not all of them are using Showpad yet. Their product can also be used for more than just reducing the gap between sales and marketing. They may expand the use case a bit more in the future. The threats for Showpad are that they double almost every year so it’s a challenge to keep with operational maturity.
The main things they’ve learnt of renewing the business model are that they work in a B2B context, so companies are a bit conservative when they need to update. Also, security is different in every country. They need to process the information of their customers according to the local law. And at last, staff is crucial. They only want the best employees and finding them is not so easy. They also need to find the right balance of freedom they want to give to their employees so they can develop their potential.
Some tips for future starters are that they have to dare to be ambitious and that they don’t have to be too realistic because then they will not get the maximum out of their concept. Also dare to start a company with your idea, don’t be afraid of failure. What have you got to lose?
When we asked them about their business within 10 years, they told us that they go from year to year. The sector varies too quickly. They want to remain the number 1 platform in their segment and the standard solution for companies.
Posted on 25/04/2016