Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Black.
Growing up in 1970’s in what is now “Silicon Valley”, Chris was an early adopter of technology and business. Following on with a Business Degree and 12 years of experience, Chris began starting and building technology businesses beginning in the mid-1990s by focusing on solving “pain points” with businesses like; NetZero (now United Online) and Jambo.
In 2011, after a decade of industry work at a number of Local Marketing Companies, Chris began a mission to solve for the problems he saw in Local Digital Marketing. Over the following four years of research and development with top local Martech companies, the answers became clear; most products didn’t have enough perceived value and little attention was paid to SMB Digital Marketing Adoption.
Armed with this knowledge and a platform that specifically solves these problems (and more), Updopt was born with the mission to provide low cost/high value products and services that take the mystery out of Digital Marketing.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Innovating a product and growing a business is rarely associated with a “smooth road”. Challenges come from all angles. The biggest challenges come from balancing limited capital & cash flow with business growth. At times, you feel as though you have “one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake”. There are often tradeoffs between strategic and pragmatic decisions. This can often be the root cause for other issues like hiring, delegating or time management problems. Learning to balance (optimize) capital and cash is as important as any other skill in business.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Updopt – what should we know?
Updopt is a leader in identifying and servicing the unique needs of Local Business when working with Digital Marketing. We are proud of our reputation in building low cost/high value products that have an immediate impact in growing new customers and higher revenues.
Updopt is unique in understanding and supporting the digital marketing needs of Local Businesses. A big part of that need is understanding the experience and adoption level of the business. Updopt has developed proprietary software to digitally assess the Digital Marketing Adoption Level enabling a perspective that leads to increased sales and service performance.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Our success is based in understanding that our job is to provide Customers with “what they need” not what we “have to sell”. While we have existing products, each of our Customers have unique needs and our ability to serve them is at the intersection of our experience and solutions and their unique “go to market” strategy.
Contact Info:
- Address: 171 Pier Ave #323
- Website: www.updopt.com
- Email: info@updopt.us
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/updopt
- Twitter: @updopt
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