Masks and marketing.
Back when I was a kid, you had to put a yard sign out front for people to know who you were voting for. Now everyone can tell simply by whether you’re wearing a mask or not. If you posted #blacklivesmatter on your social feeds. Or some other nuanced variation of a thousand things people see and […]
Things must change.
2020 has been filled with unexpected turns and challenges, creating new realities for many people all across the world. Unfortunately, the events of the past week have reminded us that the reality for Black Americans has remained largely unchanged throughout our country’s history. The reality is that the dehumanization and murder of Black Americans by […]
New CEO (and a bright future) at Cornerstone OnDemand
Cornerstone OnDemand announced Q1 earnings yesterday, a bit of a miss. The miss can largely be explained by March Covid-19 sales headwinds, but that wasn’t really the headline. The big news was CSOD founder and CEO Adam Miller moving to a co-chair role on the board and announcing that former Saba CEO Phil Saunders would […]
It’s not just you. Zoom Fatigue is a real thing.
The explosion of videoconference use in response to Covid-19 has launched an unofficial social experiment, showing at scale what’s always been true: virtual interactions can be extremely hard on the brain.
3 Analyst Tips to Avoid Being Left Behind
Analysts are important to closing deals. Some big buyers want their validations before pulling the trigger. Some buyers use analysts during the research or active evaluation phase of the buyer’s journey. And some buyers look to analysts to find a short list of vendors that will solve their business problems. All of those things will […]
In Search of a New Organizing Principle for Work Technology
Every now and then, something happens that changes the way we think about everything. Like, oh, I don’t, what’s a good example — how about a global pandemic? Major events like COVID-19 cause us to take things apart, examine the pieces, and put them back together again in a different way. But the way things […]
Sequoia Capital Is Wrong (and They Don’t Get Work Tech)
On March 5, Sequoia Capital sent a memo providing guidance to founders and CEOs about how to manage through the coronavirus pandemic.
How Strategic Is Employee Scheduling?
Before I started the agency (way back near the turn of the century), one of my early marketing positions was with a time-and-attendance and employee scheduling company. I had moved from Austin to Boston to take the job. My wife and I had never lived outside of Texas, and being newly married with no children […]
InfluenceHR 2019: Leaving Las Vegas
“A little bit of this town goes a very long way.” That Hunter S. Thompson guy had a way with words. We won’t lie — Las Vegas has been good to us. More specifically, the HR Tech® Conference has been great to us. We’ve been able to grow the InfluenceHR event each year. We’ve had the […]
Workplace Roundup: Thank You, Gusto! Crisis Averted.
The Starr Conspiracy is well known for our expertise in workplace technology. We love nerding out on this stuff — it’s kind of our thing. In an effort to share the nerdy intellectual wealth, we are launching a monthly news roundup to help your team keep up with all of the latest business developments and […]
Q2 2019 Investment Recap: The Best Quarter Ever for Work Software
How are things going so far in investment this year? Q2 looked like it was going to be a blockbuster, and it delivered to the tune of almost $2.1 billion in investment, bringing the total investment for the year to a little under $3.8 billion, which is close to matching last year’s $4.009 billion.
Nerding Out With Numbers: Work Software Edition
Looking back at July, there were lots of big names, big dollars and big news in headlines. Here’s our attempt at making sense of the all the big numbers.
Small Acquisitions in Workplace Technology Can Pack a Big Punch
It’s no secret — there has never been as much merger and acquisition activity in the human capital management technology segment as there is right now, today, at this minute. Even so, small strategic acquisitions continue to be overlooked. Same as it ever was.
5 Reasons to Attend the Employee Engagement Awards Conference
Is there really a need for another HR tech conference? It’s a valid question. We have watched $15 billion in VC and PE money flood into HR technology investment since 2014 and companies such as LinkedIn, Ultimate Software, and Qualtrics have commanded premium prices in acquisitions over the past few years. It’s not surprising that event […]
Do You Need a Rival to be Successful in Business?
Part 1: How Drake impacts HCM (no, really).
What Are We to Make of Recent Jobvite Moves?
The Top-line Context Jobvite picked up an investment of $200 million and is using it to acquire three smaller companies: Talemetry (recruitment marketing) RolePoint (employee referrals and in-company moves) Canvas (a text-based conversational screening bot) Post-acquisition, the combined company will have north of 2,000 customers. No valuation was disclosed in this deal. As noted by […]
Ultimate Software Acquired for $11B. What Does It All Mean?
The Top-line Context The hits keep on coming. Ultimate Software, a leading HCM cloud provider, got acquired for an approximate aggregate value of $11 billion, meaning shareholders received about $331.50 per share in cash.
Hear From Josh Bersin and More at InfluenceHR 2018
2018 InfluenceHR Speakers: Josh Bersin, Virgin Pulse, Oracle, Zenefits, and more!
The Very Best Digital Marketing Resources for HCM Technology
In 2017, we bet the farm on digital and developed tons of great content specifically for the digital marketing and HCM tech industry innovator. You all responded with thousands of downloads, hundreds of shared social messages, and hours worth of geeked-out conversations centered around HCM technology and enterprise software.
The Great HTTPS Migration
Most websites have been using the http protocol for many years without issue. The protocol used to access a website is rarely something most users consider or understand. Which is understandable, since the onus is on web developers to determine the protocol used when someone types in a website URL. For instance, the user types […]
