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It would be a marketing coach to  But offline is just as important. Are  Alec  Stern  is  the  CEO  and  Co-
        say, “Hey, listen. I’m here to help  you  on  the  phone  with  them  or  Founder  of  Point2Point  Global.
        you,” and “What brought you to us  face to face? How many visits or       He  has  more  than  25  years  of
        and what goals and objectives are  times do you need to talk to them?     experience as a founder and hyper-
        you  trying  to  achieve?  How  can  If  you  assume  that  your  time  is   growth agent for companies across
        we get you to achieve those using  worth  $100  an  hour  and  you        industries   including    Constant
        Constant Contact?”                   spend 3.5 hours with them, you’ve
                                             spent $350 talking to them before    Contact.    As  a  primary  member  of
        That created a ‘wow’ moment out  they  acquired  your  product  or        Constant  Contact’s  founding  team
        of the gate.                         service. So, think about your cost   Alec was one of the original 3 who
                                             of  acquisition—and  then  you’re    started  the  company  in  an  attic.
        Brian:  In   addition   to    sales  going to ask “What’s the lifetime  Alec  was  with  the  company  for
        numbers,  what  do  you  think  are  value of that customer? Once you  18  years  from  start-up,  to  IPO,  to
        the  most  important  things  that  a  land a customer, they might  end  a  $1.1  Billion-dollar  acquisition.
        business can track?                  up  bringing  two  other  people  to  Today, as Managing Partner and Co-
                                             you.                                 Founder  of  international  shipping
        Alec:  First, every business needs                                        and  logistics  provider,  Point2Point
        to be metric-driven. Then you have  Brian:  Absolutely.  What  do  you    Global, Alec  defines  the  company’s
        to establish which metrics are the  believe  are  some  of  the  quickest   vision,  mission  and  strategy  to
        most important to you.               and most effective ways to attract
                                             clients?                             provide  innovative,  customized,
        The  first  thing  I’ll  tell  folks  is  to                              international  mail  and  ecommerce
        put  the  hooks  in,  to  capture  and  Alec:  When we went out and got   logistics services to customers while
        measure  everything.  If  you  have  our  first  four  customers,  I  went   actively  pursuing  opportunities  for
        a  website,  you  can  add  Google  door-to-door  trying  to  get  those  expansion via strategic partnerships
        analytics  and  plug  that  in  so  it’s  initial sales. Then when it came to  and acquisitions.
        capturing  all  kinds  of  data  for  working with folks who could get
        you. You may not look at the data  us  to  a  lot  more  partners,  they’d   As one of the Northeast’s 20 most
        initially, but you want to capture it.  say, “Do you have any references?”   accomplished  entrepreneurs,  he  is
        Because  one  day you’re  going  to  And I’d say, “I can give you three.”   a  limited  partner  in  Boston-based
        wake up and ask, “Are we getting  We  gave  them  three,  and  some       G20 Ventures which  provides  early
        a  lot  of  traffic  for  people  to  our  would ask, “Have any more?” I said,
        website  coming  from  Seattle?  “Give them one more.” Thankfully,        traction  capital  for  East  Coast
        How soon is someone coming to  no  one  asked  for  a  fifth.  But  we    enterprise tech startups. Alec is also
        our site and leaving? And if they’re  were able to get them to believe in   an  angel  investor  in  a  number  of
        coming, where are they spending  us simply by just getting some of        rising startups in various industries.
        time?”                               those initial few customers.
                                                                                  Alec advises a variety of early stage
        After that, some of the key things  Get a few customers, and you don’t  companies  and  serves  as  a  judge,
        you  need  to  look  at  is  “what  need a lot at first. You just need to  mentor  and  advisor  for  nationally
        does it cost you to get that next  get some that  you have success        known  startup  accelerators  and
        customer”?  It’s  really  important  with that could help fuel you to get   programs  including  Techs  tars,
        to  understand  that,  because  you  those next customers. Using them     Mass  Challenge,  MIT  Start  Smart,
        need  to  turn  a  prospect  into  a  as leverage can be really important   Lean  Startup  Challenge,  the  Stevie
        customer. You have to understand  because they’re going to want to
        what  level  of  investment  you’re  see  what  others are doing and      Awards  and the  United Way Youth
        making to get them. For example,  using those references.                 Venture  and  speaks  at  Universities
        know  how  effective  your  pay-                                          including Harvard and MIT.
        per-click  campaign  is  in  driving  Brian:  Thank you  for  being  here,
        traffic  to  your  website  and  then  Alec. This was awesome.
        converting leads to sales.




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