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Posts by Charles Laughlin

October 22, 2019

Have the Unicorns Jumped the Shark?

Investor trends are as fickle as fads. But with much bigger consequences. There seems to be a growing backlash against companies, many of them solidly within or adjacent to the SMB space, that have outsize ambition, but very little hope of making money. We know these companies. Uber, Lyft, and of course, most recently WeWork,…

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October 17, 2019

Are Food Delivery Apps the Chain Restaurants’ Trojan Horse?

Restaurant delivery app Olo Founder & CEO Noah Glass has been making the rounds to talk up his company’s recent integration with Google, which he is positioning as an alternative path to working with popular delivery apps like GrubHub, DoorDash, and Uber Eats. He argues the delivery platforms (or marketplaces as he refers to them)…

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October 16, 2019

Restaurant, Legal Tech Still the Big Stories in SMB SaaS M&A

SMB software deal volume was a little slow in Q3, but big deals in restaurant and legal tech show the smart money is still chasing a winner in those two prized verticals. Every quarter, SurePath Capital Partners releases its State of SMB Software Report, chronicling the ebb and flow of investor dollars into companies trying…

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October 15, 2019

Tricks for Selling Tech to SMBs

Technology companies would do a much better job of selling their services to small businesses if they would keep things simple and treat SMBs more like consumers. This is one of the leading insights from a recent article on selling tech to SMBs by the consulting firm AT Kearney. The article mirrors much of what…

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October 11, 2019

Are Brands Fully Optimized for Proximity Search?

Yesterday we wrote about the growing prevalence of unbranded search as a reflection of how consumers’ behavior on the path to purchase is changing, and how brands need to adapt. The context for this conversation arose from last week’s webinar with MomentFeed CEO Nick Hedges called “Proximity Search Optimization is the New Norm,” which outlined…

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October 10, 2019

The New Normal of Unbranded Search

On last week’s LSA webinar with MomentFeed CEO Nick Hedges, “Proximity Search Optimization is the New Norm,” a number cited in the course of the discussion stood out. According to MomentFeed, two-thirds of web searches conducted today are “unbranded”, meaning the consumer did not enter a brand name in the search query. And unbranded search…

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October 7, 2019

Google-backed Indian “Concierge App” Dunzo Raises $45 Million 

Dunzo, a Google-backed Indian rough equivalent to DoorDash has raised a $45 million D round, bringing its valuation to $200 million, according to Tech Crunch. Investors in this new round include Google, Lightbox Ventures, STIC Investment and STIC Ventures, and 3L Capital. Dunzo was launched four years ago, initially as a What’sApp-based service, to deliver…

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October 7, 2019

New Podcast: “The State of Retail,” with Synup’s Brett House (Video)

Consumer behavior is changing and retail brands and struggling to realign their approach to marketing accordingly. A new report, “The State of Retail 2019” from the “intent marketing” firm Synup examines what this gap means for retailers and how they need to adjust their tactics to ensure continued success. We had the report’s author, Synup…

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September 29, 2019

ICYMI: What’s New in SMB Tech

“ICYMI (in case you missed it) What’s New in SMB SaaS” is a periodic series on LSA Insider that curates and offers brief commentary on recent events related to the emerging SMB SaaS ecosystem that you may have overlooked. This week we feature Vendasta, Spotzer, Yoco, and Thryv.  South Africa’s Yoco Rolls Out New “Card…

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September 28, 2019

New Podcast: “A Drop in the Bucket” with Duda’s Itai Sadan (Video)

In this episode of the Above the Cloud podcast, Duda Co-founder and CEO Itai Sadan talks about the website builder business and how the company plans to use its recent $25 million equity round. This round brings Duda’s fundraising total to $50 million since the company was founded in 2009 by Itai and CTO Amir…

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