Indianapolis is known for hosting big races and other sports events, but the leader of an obscure niche called Internet marketing
software?
Chris Baggott, who runs one of the companies developing the software, Compendium Blogware, says Indianapolis actually has emerged as a center of the budding industry.
Consider that the city also hosts ExactTarget and Aprimo, both of which have filed intentions to go public. There’s also 5 Buckets, Lights Out Intelligence and Market Path. Broaden the definition slightly, and there’s WebLink International, eTapestry and the well-established Interactive Intelligence.
All told, the micro cluster has more than 1,000 employees.
“Quietly we have become the Internet marketing software capital of the world,” Baggott says.
Why? Indianapolis is close to lots of universities pumping out software programmers and other workers the industry needs. The city also is a cheap place to operate compared with Silicon Valley and other traditional software centers.
Perhaps as important, Baggott says Indianapolis does lots of things right. Traffic flows well, living costs are reasonable, and the downtown is vibrant. The ongoing parade of sports events and other downtown attractions is impressive to recruits as well as potential customers, he says.
In fact, Baggott says Indianapolis leaders do their job so well that they should focus their energies on continuing to do a good job rather than becoming distracted with initiatives like BioCrossroads, which promotes the life science industry. No similar effort has been created for the Internet marketing software companies, but that’s OK by Baggott.
“What’s great about Indianapolis is, the government stays out of my way,” he says.
What do you think about Baggott’s view of Indianapolis as the capital for the industry? Are business conditions here as good as he says?
Chris Baggott, who runs one of the companies developing the software, Compendium Blogware, says Indianapolis actually has emerged as a center of the budding industry.
Consider that the city also hosts ExactTarget and Aprimo, both of which have filed intentions to go public. There’s also 5 Buckets, Lights Out Intelligence and Market Path. Broaden the definition slightly, and there’s WebLink International, eTapestry and the well-established Interactive Intelligence.
All told, the micro cluster has more than 1,000 employees.
“Quietly we have become the Internet marketing software capital of the world,” Baggott says.
Why? Indianapolis is close to lots of universities pumping out software programmers and other workers the industry needs. The city also is a cheap place to operate compared with Silicon Valley and other traditional software centers.
Perhaps as important, Baggott says Indianapolis does lots of things right. Traffic flows well, living costs are reasonable, and the downtown is vibrant. The ongoing parade of sports events and other downtown attractions is impressive to recruits as well as potential customers, he says.
In fact, Baggott says Indianapolis leaders do their job so well that they should focus their energies on continuing to do a good job rather than becoming distracted with initiatives like BioCrossroads, which promotes the life science industry. No similar effort has been created for the Internet marketing software companies, but that’s OK by Baggott.
“What’s great about Indianapolis is, the government stays out of my way,” he says.
What do you think about Baggott’s view of Indianapolis as the capital for the industry? Are business conditions here as good as he says?
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Kidding aside, there is a low cost of living. great work ethic, mid-West spirit and a self-feeding industry here in town. I've worked at 4 successful companies here, including ExactTarget and presently Compendium Blogware. We each respect each other and have shared our experience (and employees... though not always voluntarily). We know how people wish to be treated, and recognize that software is a tool and not a substitute for building profitable relationships.
In other parts of the country, tech is tech and startup capital runs like flowing honey into any dumb idea without a revenue model. Here in Indianapolis, the leaders of our companies (Autobase, RICS, Patronpath, ExactTarget, Compendium, Aprimo, Interactions, Formspring, Angel Learning, BitWise Solutions, Imavex, Kristian Andersen, RareBird, Six Feet Up, BlueLock, Lifeline Data Centers, etc.) have grown out of hard work with solid business models. We all encourage each others' growth and development.
I just wish the state identified this important segment and recognized it with as much attention and respect as they do other segments. It's difficult to see life sciences always get the front page when all these other companies are growing by leaps and bounds.
Local agencies, marketing firms and connection companies are affordable and have the knowledge to take the technologies and use them effectively.
There's no reason to go running to NY or Chicago to get great creative story-telling, effective strategies and implementing social media.
With a list like this it's easy to leave companies out, but I'd like to also add Cantaloupe.tv and our online video management for marketers called Backlight. I also think the list would be incomplete without mentioning Vontoo.
http://www.techpoint.org/events/techtuesday/Pages/TechThursday.aspx
Or the award celebration in May!
After ExactTarget and Aprimo, the size of companies fall off fairly quickly. We need
to grow Compendium, Vontoo, Cantaloupe, FormSpring and others.
Chris, you should organize a meeting for all these companies to share ideas and best practices.
See? There are simply too many to list!
Events like the Mira Awards are great in recognition as well as collaboration and of course there is huge benefits in all of the various networking events they host.
best things that is helping to grow our industry and make Indianapolis continue to grow as a hub.
I can count at least 5 startups that have come from ExactTarget alone...not to mention the DNA as different employees move around between these companies. Doug Karr (ExactTarget, PatronPath, Compendium) Ali Sales (ExactTarget, ChaCha, Compendium) Amol Dalvi (Mezzia, ExactTarget, Five Buckets)
Another point on this is that most of these jobs are not necessarily Tech jobs. 80% or more of the employees of these companies never touch code. They deal with customers and prospects....something that really takes advantage of our strengths in Indianapolis.
To you point about Techpoint, they used to have a marketing group get together once a month. I think it fizzled out a few years back but perhaps it is time to rethink the group and a newly revised scope geared towards marketing software companies.
We have a lot of great talent here, and companies with many happy customers. I'm looking forward to building on that and seeing Indianapolis software companies becoming a stronger force in years to come.
Our supporting ecosystem has made leaps and bounds in recent years and we need to continue to capitalize on it. To Mark's point, bringing specifically the young Internet Marketing software companies together could be a very valuable enterprise, even if Techpoint is the means to the end.
So, Chris, if you don't want government interference, does this mean you don't want government assistance or help in growth? Are we missing out on VC opportunities by not being in the Silicon Valley? Is this an issue, or is it easily overcome thanks to air travel and ease of communication?
I applaud TechPoint and KSM for launching the SaaS Executive Roundtable. Last meeting was very worthwhile; looking forward to the next one.
Great to see the spirit of mutual support and encouragement!
To KA's point, let's be ambitious. I work with SaaS companies all over the globe - but I find very few places where SaaS companies support one another like Indy.