"We’re engineers, not wordsmiths. We really needed help with our messaging and brand story. Clarity helped us get there: At TechCrunch Disrupt, we literally had lines of people wanting to talk to us and watch our demo." — Michael Geneles & Alex Gopshtein
Technical co-founders who are building Pitchbox, a marketing prospecting and outreach automation platform for digital marketing agencies, brands, and enterprises.
Quick Facts:
- Industry:
- Marketing & Technology
- Location:
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Clarity Member Since:
- April 2013
Clarity Stats:
- Call Data:
- $1,000 spent; 2 call
- Advice Sought:
- brand positioning, product/market fit, pitch development
Core results:
a compelling, and focused value proposition to commercialize Pitchbox’s robust technology
ROI:
"The advice we received was extremely focused and valuable. With just a few calls, we were able to refine our brand messaging and positioning in a way that resonates with our target customers."
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Start using ClarityTheir Story
Alex and Michael have been involved in the digital marketing space for 10 years, running their own independent agencies and consulting for companies large and small. They launched Pitchbox last year to solve a growing problem for marketers, public relations professionals and companies: creating and managing outreach campaigns in the digital space.
Part of the challenge they faced is that Pitchbox is a flexible tool that can be used for a variety of purposes – for example, content marketing, thought leadership, word-of-mouth and buzz marketing campaigns, as well as more traditional disciplines such as public relations and sales. They needed to create a simple, easy-to-understand value proposition that worked for all of their markets, and that would resonate with technical and nontechnical users alike.
"We first came together last year to build the tool we wanted for our own agencies but couldn’t find. We felt the same pain our customers are feeling – the complexity of trying to manage multiple campaigns with a variety of tools that don’t talk to each other; the manual workarounds; the hours and hours spent keeping track of everything and making sure opportunities didn’t fall through the cracks. We built Pitchbox as an intuitive, integrated platform to find, pitch, and close opportunities, whether you’re in sales, PR, or Internet marketing."
Life Before Clarity
Both seasoned entrepreneurs, Alex and Michael spent significant time looking for the resources they needed to grow their his business through their existing connections on LinkedIn, meetups, and conferences.
"It took too long to find talent and get the help we needed. You end up going back to your existing network, where you may not find what you need. Clarity solved that problem for us. It gets us new insights and expertise. It’s easy to search for the right person, and you can get instant answers. Plus, the consultants are rated by users, so you know you’re talking to a high-caliber expert."
To Alex, the advice has been critical to developing their platform's user experience and product design.
"The challenge is that we come from engineering backgrounds. Being a software engineer, you always want to add new features to make your product better. That’s not always the best for end users who want simple, quick, and easy. For me personally, the challenge has been to resist feature creep. I hold myself back every day from adding new, really cool stuff."
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With Pitchbox currently in pre-launch mode, audience engagement is a must, says Michael.
"It’s really important to capture your audience’s attention within the first 15 seconds. Our product is feature-rich, and we needed help boiling it down to a few sentences. Our first pitch was literally an hour and a half long. We’re engineers, not wordsmiths. We really needed help with messaging and brand story creation. Our pitch is now 5 minutes long, and our story is right on target."
As Pitchbox grows, Alex and Michael will need help from more experts. They view Clarity as a cost-saving tool for identifying and vetting the best consultants for their brand.
"We are happy to spend money to get in touch with experts. We love it. We’ve already identified a list of Clarity members we plan to contact as our business evolves. We love how we can get advice and find experts without starting with a $20k retainer. It’s much more cost effective and efficient to pay by the minute, especially when we’re seeking information for the first time."
Key Calls
Michael and Alex describe their first call as priceless.
"We’ve been longtime fans of Tyler Crowley. We met him at the Launch Conference, and it made sense for us to take the next step and hire him on a freelance basis to help refine our product/market fit and pitch. He’s talked to hundreds if not thousands of startups, so we knew that he could really help us. He helped us dig deep and identify what would resonate with investors, end-users, and general audiences. Tyler is always busy and so are we. Even so, with Clarity, the process has been seamless. It’s so easy to work together, even though we’re all in different time zones."
Through experts, the Pitchbox team has fleshed out their core strengths.
"Entrepreneurs inevitably come across questions to which they don’t have immediate answers. We love Clarity because it helps us tap into the experiences of others. It truly moves us forward fast."