MinneBar 2010, an (un)conference aimed at getting Minnesota tech and design communities together, was held on May 22^nd at Best Buy Headquarters.  Here’s a short recap of the event and what’s new on the Minnesota tech scene:

Opening remarks were by MinneBar co-founders Luke Francl and Ben Edwards. They thanked sponsors, including W3i.

The first session I attended at MinneBar 2010 was “Legal Implications of Limewire on File-Sharing Business Models” by Ryan Miest of Robius Kaplan Miller Ciresi, which described how most of the copyright concerns involving file-sharing networks go back to the Sony BetaMax VCR law suit from 1984. No one thought Napster had a leg to stand on. Others like Grokster andLimewire were able to continue after learning not to be centralized like Napster. The Limewire decision is likely to be appealed with respect to the courts findings of personal liability of their CEO. I didn’t think they sufficiently covered veil piercing.

Graeme Thickins briefly introduced me to Rick Mahn founder of Social Media Breakfast Minneapolis and Myke Roventine. I joined about 75 others to hear Myke’s MinneBar session, “Social Web Design: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back”. Myke pointed out what he felt were flawed design strategies by the market leading social media players like Facebook, Twitter, Google and Yahoo. Does everyone need to put their Twitter feeds on their blog? The Twitter feeds miss the context of the conversation, and aren’t making the web better when being on others’ blogs. He also commented that Facebook has changed functionality multiple times unnecessarily, such as moving the search box several times over the past couple of years. These unnecessary changes caused confusion for users. He also commented how Twitter’s “infinite scrolling” for tweets could be improved by adopting additional UI controls such as those found on BlipFM. He said the big guys are trying the changes instead of user testing. Phil Wilson remarked during the session how this was “try fast, fail fast.”  Also during the session Steve Borsch announced that he just deleted his Facebook account due to privacy concerns.

Next I went to “Bowling for Market Share- How to Grow Your Startup by Narrowing its Focus” by Curt Prins. Curt provided very good start-up marketing advice. Curt laid out his very pragmatic approach to B2B marketing for tech start-ups, and the developers in the audience definitely seem to embrace his methods.

Over lunch, Robert Stephens who was so gracious to advocate for Best Buy to allow Minnesota techies to use their space, briefly remarked on Best Buy’s strategy around digital televisions, and his recent trip to Google IO.

Next at MinneBar, I caught Aaron Kardell’s iPhone app marketing session entitled, “Getting started with iPhone & iPad Development.” Aaron is the founder of Performant Design and developer of the popular iGarageSale app.  Aaron shared his lessons learned in iPhone app marketing, such as the importance of getting on the top 100 lists, requesting app store reviews within your app, ideally after the user has been using it for about a week, some ideas on how to get noticed by Apple (such as taking out ads in Cupertino on Facebook), using roadblock ad campaigns at popular Apple/Mac blogs, using incentive app downloads to burst your downloads, and using vendors like Tapjoy and Flurry App Circle.  After the business discussion, Aaron coded an Italian food finder iPhone app using Yelp’s API and Mapkit.

The next MinneBar 2010 session I attended was “How to Measure P&L When Your Price is Free” by W3i’s Product Manager, Kristin Oberhaus. With users wanting free apps on the Internet, you need to balance the demand gained for free app versus paid app promotion.  Kristin pointed out various models to drive revenue for free applications, including cross-subsidy, three-party, freemium, and nonmonetary.  When free is your model, your P&L must be based on the value driven by your free app and not the price.   

Next I spoke on a panel of Minnesota tech thought leaders, and discussed “How Can Minnesota be Better”. Thank you to Jeff Pesek and Mike Bollinger for inviting me to participate. The session was largely centered on the culture of risk aversion in Minnesota, how Minnesota tech start-ups need to focus on home runs and not just niche singles and doubles, and funding. Jon Dahl, co-founder of YCombinator-backed, Zencoder said that if Minnesota was going to try an incubator concept like YCombinator or TechStars the incubator would need a lot more cash, given the lack of local angel funding and VC activity, and a mentorship program– both essential elements of YCombinator.

MinneBar 2010 proved to be a great place to network with top Minnesota tech experts. I spent a couple of hours after the sessions ended schmoozing with several new faces, including Derrick Shields & Dylan Petersson & of WebproLeads, Matt Bauer of Pedal Brain, and Thomas Grabowski, co-founder of LogLogic. I also listened in as the first ever Minnespark award winners were announced. 

Further, it was refreshing to hear a lot of buzz about Minnesota tech jobs. I gathered that W3i is not the only company hiring right now. It seemed to be a common theme that Minnesota tech jobs are in abundance as many of the companies present indicated they have positions available.  Minnesota Recruiters survey indicates that there is optimism for job growth in 2010 and an increase in personal job security. Minnesota’s tech scene has a large, highly skilled, and growing workforce demonstrated by the energy and attendance at MinneBar and the tech job buzz being generated there.

Thanks to the organizers and attendees, along with Best Buy for allowing us to use their campus (which is absolutely cool) to promote Minnesota tech and design.  As evidenced by the increase in attendance over the 2009 event, MinneBar rocks.

Rob Weber, Vice President of Business Development and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Rob is an Internet marketing pioneer with over ten, profitable years evolving W3i in the consumer application industry.

W3i Moves Data Center to Increase Security, Reliability, and Scalability for the W3i Application Network

ST. CLOUD, MINNESOTA, March 23, 2010 — The W3i Application Network is growing rapidly, averaging 9.6 million installs each month.  W3i made a strategic decision to move its data center to increase the level of security, reliability, and scalability of its operations.  W3i relocated its primary data center operations from St. Cloud, MN, to its new state-of-the-art, co-located facility in Chicago, IL. 

W3i’s data center operations are the “brains” behind its flagship product, InstallIQ, W3i’s proprietary installation manager.  Its data center is responsible for processing millions of daily requests from its installation client that determine what advertisements best match its user’s preferences.  Vice President of Information Systems, Jeff Bollinger explains the reasoning behind the move.  “Given the growth and increased strategic focus on delivering installs via W3i’s InstallIQ platform, the decision to move made sense for both the company and its partners.  Our St. Cloud data center was acceptable through our first ten years of growth, however, our new Chicago facility provides increased resiliency which is something we and our partners have grown to expect.” 

The new data center facility features Tier III construction standards which include distinct distribution paths, compartmentalization and concurrently maintainable infrastructure.  All of these features mean an increased level of reliability for W3i advertisers and publishers.  According to the Uptime Institute, facilities with Tier III type construction standards on average provide 99.98% site uptime per year.

Moving locations also gave W3i an opportunity to upgrade its core network and computing platforms.  The new data center features extensive virtualization technology in both computing (VMWare) and storage (Compellent Technologies).  The introduction of these new technologies has helped drive down capital and operating costs while at the same time increase the resiliency of our operations.  “The efficiency and flexibility that virtualization introduces is stunning,” states Bollinger.  “We’ve been able to reduce our physical server count by about 70%.” 

Virtualization is not new to W3i’s IT group.  A year ago W3i signed a deal with Seattle based SkyTap Inc. to provide cloud-based computing resources which enable a robust desktop testing platform for W3i’s Marketing Operations group.  “We are very pleased with the flexibility we see with our QA group using Skytap virtualization.  With the introduction of VMWare into our new Data Center we are now able to extend the success we saw with SkyTap into our core infrastructure operations,” says Bollinger. 

W3i’s Business Intelligence group is also excited about the new facility and architecture.  W3i’s publishers and advertisers benefit from W3i’s robust data warehouse platform which provides multi-dimensional reporting via W3i’s Associate Reporting portal.  “With our new computing and storage infrastructure we can decrease the amount of time it takes to process data, providing our associates with even more reliable delivery of information,”  comments Tim Laqua, Business Intelligence Team Lead at W3i.

The move ensures that W3i continues to deliver mass monetization and distribution opportunities to consumer application publishers and advertisers, now with even greater levels of service provided by its new Chicago facility.

About W3i

W3i, an application network that increases revenue, distribution and engagement for consumer applications and add-ons, enables publishers to provide quality consumer apps for free by recommending relevant applications during the installation process giving advertisers a mass, performance driven distribution channel.  The W3i Application Network uses InstallIQ, W3i’s proprietary Windows installation manager, the first installation manager to be certified in the TRUSTe Trusted Download Program.  Tested and optimized on over 350 million installs–currently over 9.6 million installs monthly and growing, W3i will prove to be a valued partner in growing your application business. To learn more, visit the W3i Application Network.

Contact:
Deborah Manthei
Director of Marketing Communications
320-257-7571
deborah.manthei@W3i.com

ST. CLOUD, MN, March 16, 2010 – W3i announced today that Jim Biermeier has joined W3i as Director of Business Development.

“Jim is a strong sales leader with over 20 years of software sales experience,” said Rob Weber, Vice President of Business Development and Co-Founder of W3i.  “He understands what consumer software/application marketers need to increase their revenue and how W3i can address their challenges.”

“This is a great time to be in the consumer application business,” Jim said. “W3i offers a unique distribution channel for consumer apps by capitalizing on the moment the consumer is in the installation mindset. W3i creates an additional source of revenue for consumer application publishers by leveraging the demand for their free desktop and browser apps on a massive scale.  It is exciting to be on the forefront of this emerging distribution channel and to have the opportunity to work with consumer app marketers in growing their businesses.”

Previously Jim held several management positions at Digital River, where as one of Digital River’s first fifty employees, he spearheaded account acquisition and retention.  He also worked in sales for Premis Corporation, enterprise software systems, and Concourse Corporation, computer-based and video-based training solutions. 

About W3i:
W3i, an application network that increases revenue, distribution and engagement for consumer applications and add-ons, enables publishers to provide quality consumer apps for free by recommending relevant applications during the installation process giving advertisers a mass, performance driven distribution channel.  The W3i Application Network uses InstallIQ, W3i’s proprietary Windows installation manager, the first installation manager to be certified in the TRUSTe Trusted Download Program.  Tested and optimized on over 350 million installs–currently over 9.6 million installs monthly, W3i will prove to be a valued partner in growing your consumer application business. To learn more, visit the W3i Application Network.

Contact:
Deborah Manthei
Director of Marketing Communications
320-257-7571
deborah.manthei@W3i.com

The Challenge
Going live with an advertiser’s offer is only the beginning when distributing through the W3i Application Network.  As with landing pages, the challenge is to optimize the critical elements so that ROI is optimized.      

The Solution
W3i provides consultative and testing services for advertisers to increase acceptance rates.  One of the first things we look at is the disclosure screen itself.  The disclosure screen is the screen shown to the user within the installation manager, InstallIQ, that discloses the required information about the application.  Ultimately the goal is to improve acceptance rates.  It works like this, W3i mocks up multiple disclosure screens based on the findings of previous tests.  W3i runs tests on the disclosure screen mocks showing the various screens to users to determine which one has the highest acceptance rate.  W3i replaces the original disclosure screen with the one that performs the best. 

The Results
An example of a disclosure screen test that W3i recently ran was for a security application.  There was a 6.45% gain in acceptance rate with one of the versions tested. Needless to say, that version was rolled out.

Here are some things that W3i found to perform better in terms of improved acceptance rates with disclosure screens, but ultimately testing can only determine what works best for each particular application:

• Illustrating what the software does instead of having multiple useless graphics
• Having the copy left aligned
• Showing the functionality of the applications simply
• Trying to limit the amount of information on the screen to avoid crowding

Following is an example of these tips at work on an internal W3i product disclosure screen:

The top image is a control disclosure screen for one of W3i’s internal products.  The bottom image is a test version that had a 2.48% improved acceptance rate.

Find Out More
To learn more about optimizing within the W3i Application Network, contact Nicole Przybilla at nicole.przybilla@w3i.com or call 320-257-7500 ext. 1020.

Nicole Przybilla, Account Executive, W3i, LLC
Nicole focuses on growing W3i business relationships, making sure the client has what they need to help them be successful. If they aren’t happy, she isn’t happy. 

Consumer apps were everywhere at the 2010 CES show.  Here are five of the application trends for online application marketers that I noted from my attendance at CES:

1. Optimism rules at 2010 CES show.  Gary Shapiro, Chief Executive of CES, said the CES show “seemed more upbeat than a year ago, reflecting a return to optimism for the industry,”  reports Dean Takahashi, lead writer for GamesBeat by VentureBeat. Attendance at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show reportedly reached 120,000 visitors this year, an increase of about 6 percent from last year.  Participants were reverberating with the latest device and the latest apps to go with it. 
2. Apps will be everywhere.  Thanks to Apple, apps are now sexy and offer the consumer more value from their device, and the marketer the ability to enhance their device with little effort, as well as a potential new source of revenue.
   • Apps in television set-top boxes: Samsung announced the launch of Samsung Apps, a multi-device application store with content partners, including Blockbuster, USA Today, and others.  Samsung plans to make apps available for a range of devices from mobile phones to HDTVs.
   • Apps in car electronics: Ford recognizes that users want information on demand.  Ford’s Sync feature uses an 8” touch-screen in the dashboard as well as voice commands.  You can catch up on Twitter, listen to Internet radio, check movie times and get free online maps with turn-by-turn directions.
     
     http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ces-ford8-2010jan08,0,4905917.story\
   • App Store for Netbooks - Intel launched a beta version of its app store, called the Intel AppUp center for netbooks.  Currently offering about 100 apps.
3. Integrated, multi-platform app strategies are being considered. Brands should create apps that are integrated across multiple devices:  mobile, desktop, social, browser, and other emerging platforms like television set-top boxes and car electronics.  Cooliris bases its success on building its app for both mobile and desktop platforms.   They were recently selected to develop Media Gallery for the Nexus One Device.
4. There will be a mobile app for almost everything, but adoption outside of iPhone is still low.   With the phenomenal growth of the Apple AppStore fueling over 2 billion downloads from some 100,000 plus apps, the race is on from other mobile device companies to woo app developers. (Living in Minnesota, one of my favorites announced at CES is the SmartStart app by Directed for remote starting a car from a smartphone.)
5. Top app marketers will start focusing on improving their key operating metrics.  Most app marketers are doing a poor job of developing key operating metrics and reporting surrounding their app marketing initiatives and campaigns.  There is a lot of emotional decision making rather than data driven decision making. This appears to be starting to change, as better analytical thinking and tools are starting to take root with top app marketers.

If you identified other app trends, share your thoughts by submitting a comment.  

Rob Weber, Vice President of Business Development and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Rob is an Internet marketing pioneer with over ten, profitable years evolving W3i in the consumer application industry.

Add-On-Con was a buzz-worthy event for marketers and developers of browser add-ons.  My last posting recapped how browsers plan to lead all application platforms.  If you didn’t catch it, read it here.  In this post, I will cover the Add-On-Con buzz on add-on business models.  In my next post, I will cover the Add-On-Con buzz on add-on distribution channels.

Add-On Business Models

Paid Model

• Marketplace for add-ons.
  • Developers agreed that a marketplace, promoting the buying and selling of add-ons, is desirable.
    • The marketplace should provide an embedded payment platform.
    • A concern was raised by a developer, Chris Finke, regarding whether or not you could establish a user-base if you charge users.  Add-ons rely heavily on receiving buzz through the add-on galleries and with users which could be less effective if you begin charging as this creates higher friction.
  • Firefox mentioned a marketplace was one of the most commonly requested features from developers through AMO.
  • Firefox announced its plan to release a marketplace at the end of 2010.
• One developer, Eric Jung from FoxyProxy, is already having success with charging for their add-on.
  • Subscriptions he recommended as the best method for charging for add-ons because they allow the developer to create an ongoing stream of revenue which supports continuing to update the software.
  • Eric prefers leveraging the freemium model to drive the initial paid conversions.
• Contributions (donations) so far are not impressing anyone with Firefox.
  • Top developers are earning just $1,000 per month.

Ad-Supported Model

• Promotion – Developers are using add-ons to promote websites that have their own business models.
• Search Advertisements – Yahoo spoke about providing search advertisements, for syndication, as a source of revenue for add-ons including, but not limited to, toolbars.
• Installer Recommendations – I shared results from a recent W3i survey of 502 users which showed that of the ad-supported solutions, app/add-on marketers preferred the method of users seeing ads within the installation or download instead of ads in their application, or participating in market research.  Check out W3i to learn more about generating revenue through the installation of your add-on.
• Data – It came up several times that the data captured from add-ons is a potentially lucrative source of revenue.  Appeasing user’s privacy concerns and monetizing data were viewed with skepticism by most developers.

During my ten years of experience distributing add-ons and consumer apps, I learned that it pays to test various business models.  There is continual evolution, so it pays to discover and test new models to stay afloat.  For more information on using the W3i Application Network to generate revenue for your browser add-on, click here.

Ryan Weber, Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Entrepreneur and pioneer of Internet marketing focusing on increasing revenue and distribution for digital downloads.

      I attended my first Add-On-Con conference on December 11^th at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.  I was very excited to attend the event, which my company W3i sponsored, as I felt the stage was set for an epic battle between the browsers over who was the best application platform.  The winner of this battle in my mind could very well be the dominant application platform for all applications for the next decade.  History I felt was unfolding before my own eyes.

I will recap the Add-On-Con conference by breaking down the buzz surrounding browsers, add-on business models, and add-on distribution channels in three postings starting with browser buzz.

Browsers

Google Chrome technically has leaped ahead of competition

• Developers I came into contact with generally agreed that Google Chrome’s support for add-ons is technically superior when considering both user and developer ease of use.
  • Chrome is more gracefully handling resource management when many add-ons are installed on the same browser.
  • Security is improved with Chrome so that users can better understand what is being required by an add-on and more easily manage.  This also supports a lower burden for developers as they do not have to wait to be reviewed by Google in most cases to be listed in their gallery.
  • Users can install, and begin using add-ons, without needing to restart the browser.
  • Development is faster and easier.

Side note:  Google is betting on web-based applications, over native applications, for mobile and desktop devices (read more).  They believe that the web has won and that the browser will become the platform that matters and is hence where they are investing most heavily.

On December 8^th, Google released Google Chrome Extensions support with their latest version of Google Chrome.  This release was the first in which users were able to install browser add-ons which included providing access from their gallery.

• Mozilla’s Jetpack project for Firefox, targeted to release May/June 2010 as part of Firefox 3.7, appears to address the last three points above.
  • Jetpack creates a sandbox which limits access to the browser for add-ons and then allows access to the add-on depending on the access required as declared in an add-on’s manifest  (similar to what Chrome is doing).
    • This improved security is similar to how Chrome manages it.  Firefox plans to still review new add-ons before listing them in AOM (http://addons.mozilla.org is Firefox’s add-on gallery) but the review process will be greatly reduced due to a more efficient process.   The review process might be under a day in fact
  • Jetpack will merge with current Firefox add-on supported technology for a single solution to users in 2010.  That is, there will be a single gallery of add-ons for users with no distinction made from those existing to those that are built using Jetpack
  • Jetpack allows users to install add-ons without requiring a browser restart
  • Jetpack supports an improved ease to develop add-ons by allowing developers to use web development technologies instead of using XUL which is required today.
  • Their goal is for Jetpack to be the main method for add-ons by version 4.0 which has a target release of October/November 2010.
• Microsoft is generally regarded as being in a distant third with regards to technical support for add-ons.

Role of the browser

• Mozilla vs. everyone else
  • Mozilla’s priority is to focus on users rather than focus on commercial interests.
    • Mozilla is not looking to adopt practices just because they are commercially successful for Apple’s iPhone App Store.  Apple as a company is viewed as having a commercial focus compared to Mozilla which has a user focus. 
    • One example that manifests this is that Mozilla will not be supporting DRM (digital rights management) for their marketplace at launch.  This may present challenges for developers who wish to succeed with charging for their apps when there won’t be an effective solution for protecting their software from users that choose not to purchase.

Ultimately, a commercial success enables an ecosystem which promotes the development of great applications.  All of the browser providers, I believe, get this.  The only difference is how quickly they adopt new commercial methods.  I view Mozilla as being slower to adopt when compared to Microsoft or Google.  This may cost them speed to market but may also keep them from making mistakes regarding satisfying users.

Add-ons today

• Firefox released the following figures:
  • 1 in 3 Firefox users have at least one add-on installed
  • 1.7B cumulative installs to date
  • 14,526 add-ons, listed in AMO, as of December 11^t
    • 5,697 added this yea
  • 190M add-ons in us
• Add-ons must get reviewed to be in AMO
  • New add-ons are currently reviewed in under two weeks
  • Updates are averaging less than a week
• Developers are struggling to maintain cross-browser support
  • IE, Chrome, and Firefox are generally viewed as important where as a panel of developers viewed Safari as not worth the hassle.
  • One solution suggested by the panel was to consider building your add-on on top of a framework so that you do not have to deal with the complexities of each browser.  An example of a framework is 3quency, a W3i product, which allows developers to build sophisticated custom toolbars using a single code-base without having to worry about updates or compatibility with various browsers.

The future of add-ons

• A panel comprised of browser providers (Chrome, Opera, and Mozilla) discussed that a decentralized mobile web will rule (eventually) and that this will lead to the mobile web (including mobile add-ons) surpassing native device apps as the dominant platform for application developers. 
• The panel agreed that they all wanted to support increasing the capabilities of the browser so that there are fewer and fewer trade-offs when building applications for the browser compared to building them specifically to any native device.

Stay-tuned for additional postings on Add-on Business Models and Add-on Distribution Channels.

Ryan Weber, Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Entrepreneur and pioneer of Internet marketing focusing on increasing revenue and distribution for digital downloads.

In the spirit of the holidays, it seems a little free gift is in order.  So, I am recommending my favorite free applications and why:

7 Zip

This is a nice and easy zip tool.  Of course, anything that zips files up is indispensable.  One that can do it without requiring a lot of thought, is even better.  This is something that I use on a daily basis and frankly, could not live without.

Weatherbug

A little piece of background, I have a main house that is about 200 miles away from my weekday apartment and the office.  On top of that, I am in Minnesota.  Being able to quickly check the weather, be alerted to any problems–whether snow in the winter or tornados in the summer–is crucial.  I have come to recognize the little chirp as a lifeline of information, to the point that little bug can wake me up from several rooms away.  Unless you live in a Utopian weather climate, this is a must have.

KwiClick

I recently discovered this application.  How totally cool.  Right now it only works on FireFox, but when you search, no more going back and forth, right clicking to open another window, all that stuff.  KwiClick keeps my search results handy and when one page doesn’t quite cut it, the next option is right in front of me, a click away. 

CamStudio

Wow!!  Years ago I used another application that was quite expensive to capture what was going on with my screen.  This has so many more features and is a free download.  I found a few great uses for it.  I have used it instead of trying to explain in email how to perform some tasks for my less technical friends, and I have used it when submitting technical tickets to websites where I can’t quite get my words to convey the problem that I am having.  With its ability to capture sound from me or the computer, to capture just a section of the screen and to show or not show the mouse makes it a very useful tool.

Free Living 3D Fireplace Screensaver

It’s Christmas, and I feel a bit of nostalgia at Christmas time.  Since I get a lot of hints that I might be a tad older than most of our readers, I won’t feel bad to say that, as a kid, we didn’t have a fireplace, DVDs weren’t invented (we didn’t even have beta players), no cable and the only satellite we knew about was SpaceLab.  But on Christmas morning, at least one of those TV stations that came in over the antenna would run a film of a fireplace and play Christmas carols in the background.  This was the backdrop for more Christmas mornings than I can remember.  This just reminds me of the Yule Log broadcasts.  Now I get the screensaver on, put a Christmas carol playlist on my Music Oasis and print out the lyrics from EZ Lyrics so friends and family can sing along with the carols. 

So have a Merry Christmas, a Wonderful Hanukah, a Joyous Kwanzaa and a very Happy New Year!!

Kristin Oberhaus, Product Manager, W3i Holdings, LLC
Kristin has over 13 years of product management experience and is a certified usability analyst. She is an avid believer in pragmatic marketing.

Kris Tufto was the CEO of Minnesota-based, Jasc Software during their growth phase from from 1998 to 2005, a period that saw Jasc grow from what was rumored to be $5 million in revenue to over $30 million in revenue before their eventual sale to Corel in 2004. Jasc Software was most widely known for their Paint Shop Pro graphic editing program. Kris is presently working on his second ramp up at Minnesota-based Marketing Bridge, a SaaS-based channel automation software.

Rob Weber is a co-founder and VP of Business Development at W3i, provider of marketing solutions that increase distribution, revenue, and engagement for consumer applications.

Interview December 10, 2009

Rob Weber:   What Minnesota tech entrepreneurs do you most respect/idealize?

Kris Tufto:  Seymour Cray (Cray Research), Bill & Richard Lawson (Lawson Software), and Joel Ronning (Digital River).

Kris Tufto:  By the way, did you know that Jasc’s founder, Bob Voit was from St. Cloud? You didn’t know that so many great tech companies had their roots in St. Cloud, Minnesota, like W3i, did you?

Rob Weber:   Digital River is truly one of the great Minnesota start-up success stories. I understand that Joel Ronning was on your Board of Directors while at Jasc.  For those of us who do not know Joel as well as you do, can you tell us what you see as his greatest strength as a tech entrepreneur?

Kris Tufto:  Joel’s greatest strength was his understanding of the power of distribution and how to build an aggressive culture.

Rob Weber:   What were the core things you needed to do to grow Jasc Software during your tenure?

Kris Tufto:  From an internal perspective, develop a Product Management function, better organize our sales process, and reorganize various employees to different roles. From an external perspective, I had to formalize software distribution channels, change industry trends as it relates to the product cycle, and implement a global release strategy.

Rob Weber:   You mentioned software distribution a couple times now. What were your core software distribution strategies at Jasc?

Kris Tufto:  We broke them down into four channels, and those were direct, retail, VARS, and International. With our direct channel, we relied on Digital River as our commerce platform. Many consumers expected to purchase Paint Shop Pro direct because it was shareware. In my last years at Jasc, we utilized paid search marketing as well as affiliate marketing, but during my tenure they did not provide substantial growth opportunities. In retail, we relied on big box partners like Best Buy, CompUSA, and Walmart. Best Buy was our top partner. With VARS, we mostly focused on North America, with partners like Software Spectrum and Tiger Direct. International was a compilation of direct, retail and VARS, depending on the country.

Rob Weber:   Fast forward four years to today, if you were still running a consumer software company like Jasc Software, what would you expect to change in terms of software distribution?

Kris Tufto:  Retail would be only a fraction of what we were seeing back then. We would rely much heavier on direct marketing, like paid search and affiliate marketing. I would also use W3i’s distribution channel.

Rob Weber:   In the consumer application world, there is a lot of buzz around social apps and mobile apps. What do you think about using these new platforms in a consumer application business today?

Kris Tufto:  At Jasc, we were very Windows centric. We would look to new platforms like Google Operating System. The problem in using alternative operating systems is the development resources they require. When you have a very big legacy code base, it is a tough decision to port to a new Operating System.

Rob Weber:   What were the unique challenges you faced in growing Jasc in Minnesota?

Kris Tufto:  The Midwestern culture is not a high tech culture. It is not fast moving, it is more engineering oriented and methodical– where you take the time to get everything right. In high tech, you need to create a culture where you expect to get only 80% right. At Jasc, I threw out “Minnesota nice”.

Rob Weber:   How did you compete while at Jasc with your Paint Shop Pro application while facing a David versus Goliath competitor in Adobe and their Photoshop application?

Kris Tufto:  We looked at Adobe Photoshop as the sun. In order to beat them we always focused on edge markets and motored around them.

Rob Weber:   Kris, I think the world’s consumers and designers who use photo and graphic editing software owe you and your team at Jasc a big thank you. Why? You guys came around and lowered the price point significantly in the product category of photo/graphic editing applications. Jasc was in many ways as good as Photoshop, and in some ways better at a much lower price point. Before Jasc, there was no substitute $100 product, there was only Photoshop at over $400.

Kris Tufto:  You are right, Rob. Adobe didn’t think Jasc was a real threat until they released Adobe Photoshop Elements as a competitive response in 2001 to 2002 timeframe. This validated our model, and caused us to work even harder.

Rob Weber, Vice President of Business Development and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Rob is an Internet marketing pioneer with over nine, profitable years evolving W3i in the Integrated Interactive Media industry.

When looking to distribute free consumer software, there are many different methods of distribution.  Some of the more successful distribution methods are:

• Online marketing promotions
• Affiliate programs
• Physical distribution through retail
• Word of mouth

If you can get all the software distribution you need from the latter, then this blog post probably isn’t for you. But for the rest of us who can’t ever get enough, here’s a tactic that tends to get overlooked -software aggregators. 

There are many benefits to hosting your free software or trial software on sites like Download.com, Tucows.com and Softonic.com.  One of the most important things to look for when researching software aggregators is reputation, look for companies like Softonic.com that are a trusted source of downloads. If it’s not a trusted site don’t use it!  Many software aggregators  offer multiple benefits such as:

• Free listing programs
• Pay per download (PPD) programs at very reasonable rates
• Scalable bandwidth  

Listing your downloads with software aggregators can free up bandwidth.  If your product has a large file size or high traffic influxes, these sites have the ability to provide unlimited downloads to potential users without the worry of servers crashing and bandwidth overage charges.

Working with software aggregators does come with a couple of caveats.  The first is turnaround time.  This problem is mostly caused by us–marketers, developers, etc.  Due to the high volume of requests for listings on these popular aggregators, turnaround times can be days or weeks.  It can also take the same amount of time when you’re trying to remove a product from the site.  Be sure to plan ahead.

The second is the lack of reporting.  You don’t get much visibility into reporting, so before adding this method of distribution to your marketing strategy, be sure to know your Key Performance Indicators (KPI) so you have the ability to optimize.

And now the W3i plug! Apart from software aggregators there is another tool available to you to increase distribution; it’s advertising in the installer.  W3i has created a proprietary Application Network where the advertiser’s popular consumer applications are offered during the installation process.  This distribution method is performance-based and user generated.      

Just like when football coaches tell their players to keep their heads on a swivel, the same can be said for marketers of this generation.  There are many different vehicles of software distribution that you can use to get your software in front of consumers. Just make sure the vehicle you choose fits your marketing strategy and instead of telling you to think outside the box, because I hate that cliché, I will suggest that you work smarter, not harder, when trying to find new vehicles of distribution.

Mitch Bain, Marketing Manager; W3i, LLC
Mitch has 4 years experience focusing on Display Advertising, Search Engine Marketing, and Mobile Marketing, in the Integrated Interactive Media industry.