1. ©2016 GZ Consulting. All Rights Reserved
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Marketers can no longer rely on decades-old marketing intelligence models. These platforms
had fundamental limitations and lacked the core static capability needed to make evolving
business decisions. In today’s enterprise environment, there’s a strategic advantage for
marketers who understand how to access data, structure it and apply it to every decision
throughout their departments. For example, acquiring new customers has become more
complex and competitive; customers are also engaging with vendors much later in their buying
processes, which makes the sales and marketing alignment much more difficult. By addressing
data needs and connecting sales and marketing data strategies, marketers are empowered to
better understand their current customer bases in detail and identify the most relevant new
target companies and segments faster…
To succeed in today’s competitive marketplace, marketers must address their marketing
intelligence strategies. With the right strategy in place, marketing intelligence gives them more
valuable insights on customers and prospects and it creates a shorter sales cycle, lower cost per
lead/sale and stronger revenue generation.
 Avention CEO Steve Pogorzelski
CLOUD EARNINGS
This was a big week for tech earnings announcements with earnings releases from Microsoft, Amazon, Apple,
and Facebook.
Microsoft
Microsoft revenue was up 3% in constant currency but fell 2% overall as the firm beat street estimates.
"Businesses everywhere are using the Microsoft Cloud as their digital platform to drive their ambitious
transformation agendas," said CEO Satya Nadella. "Businesses are also piloting Windows 10, which will drive
deployments beyond 200 million active devices."
Microsoft noted growing demand for its Office 365 and Dynamics applications with three out of four CRM
customers opting for cloud deployments. Dynamics has seen triple digit growth in CRM Online for the past five
quarters. Dynamics benefited from updates in “mobility, insights and organizational productivity, as well as
deeper integration with Azure and Office 365.” Dynamics revenue grew 11% year over year.
“With our continued cloud growth, our commercial annuity mix reached 83%, up 5 points year over year,” said
CFO Amy Hood. “This quarter, more than 60% of customers with enterprise agreements attached commercial
cloud services, up 15 percentage points year over year. Additionally, we continue to make progress in improving
our cloud gross margins. In Q2, total commercial cloud gross margin was 46%, an increase of 9 points year over
year driven primarily by improvements in both Office 365 and Azure.”
Microsoft also released a set of APIs which surface the “the relationships between people, conversations,
projects, schedules, processes and content.” The new Microsoft Graph has already been implemented by
Smartsheet and will be integrated into the Oracle Sales Cloud.

2. ©2016 GZ Consulting. All Rights Reserved
Azure saw revenue grow 140% in constant currency. Nadella boasted that over seventy percent of the Fortune
500 have implemented at least two Microsoft cloud offerings, up thirteen percent over the past year.
Overall, the Intelligent Cloud grew 5% (11% in constant currency) to $6.3 billion with the number of cloud
customers nearly doubling over the past year.
Overseas, the company had difficulties in Brazil, China, Japan and Russia.
Amazon
Amazon stock fell sharply after it failed to meet aggressive earnings expectations. Although earnings grew
sharply to $1 per share, it failed to meet street expectations of $1.58 per share.
Amazon Web Services revenue grew 69% to $2.4 billion with profit doubling to $687 million. However, AWS
growth was down from Q3’s 78% growth rate.
Apple
Although Apple had an earnings beat, their stock dove as iPhone sales and revenue missed expectations. Last
quarter, Apple sold 74.8 million units globally, about 1% below street expectations. Tablet and Mac sales also
were below expectations.
Twitter
Twitter continues to struggle after replacing their CEO this summer. They announced the departure of four
additional executives spanning product, engineering, HR, and media. SunTrust noted that eight of the thirteen
executives at the 2014 Analyst Day meeting have since departed.
Facebook
Facebook grew revenues by 52% to $5.8 billion. Their advertising revenue shot up 57% last quarter.
The now have nearly 1.6 billion monthly active users or roughly half of all global Internet users.

3. ©2016 GZ Consulting. All Rights Reserved
ZOOMINFO WEBSITE REDESIGN
Zoominfo redesigned their website with an orange and grey theme which softened the
former orange and blue colors they previously employed. The logo also has been toned
down with the blue replaced by gray. Interestingly, the logo is all lower case, but the company employs mixed
case when writing out its name (i.e. ZoomInfo).
The company also has a new tagline, “It’s Our Business to Grow Yours” and now calls its platform the “Zoominfo
Growth Acceleration Platform”. As the acronym GAP can be used either positively or negatively, the firm will
need to position Zoominfo GAP as a platform that addresses marketing and sales information gaps. Since the
GAP already supports segmentation analysis and persona definitions tied to prospecting, positioning GAP
should be straightforward.
The home page presents three rectangles to direct the user to either sales functionality, marketing functionality,
or a product overview. The user functions are clearly labeled and the tagline is the largest object above the fold.
The Sales messaging focuses on four tasks:
 Target: Prospecting
 Connect: “More professional direct dials and email addresses than any other business intelligence
provider”
 Win: Prospect Profiles for pre-call planning. Prospect content includes web mentions, employment
history, and “access to their colleagues.”
 Scale: Best Customer Cloning with “targeted contacts who match the profile of your ideal customer.”

4. ©2016 GZ Consulting. All Rights Reserved
The Sales Section no longer refers to Zoominfo Pro, their Sales product branding which they have been phasing
out over the past year. Instead, they simply refer to Zoominfo for Sales.
The Marketing messaging also focuses on four tasks:
 Reach: Targeted Contacts Based upon Buyer Personas
 Build: Targeted Campaigns Based upon Industry, Company Size, Geography, Job Function, and Job Level
 Amplify: Best Customer Cloning
 Enhance: Cleansing and Enrichment
The platform is broken into seven features, several of which were introduced within the past year:
 Search: People and Company Lookup
 Build: Contact Prospecting and Download
 Insights: Segmentation and Persona Reporting (2015 Feature)
 Enhance: Match & Enrich contacts with firmographics, flag duplicates and bad records (2015 Feature)
 FormComplete: Web Form Enrichment (2015 Feature)
 Community: A free platform for viewing company and contact information. Users must provide access
to their Outlook or Gmail to access the service.
 Salesforce.com Plug-in: I-frame Viewing, “Stare & Compare” Update, Prospecting
 ReachOut: Google Chrome Connector (2016 Feature)
ZoomInfo no longer displays any pricing on its site.
DATA SCIENCE AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Glassdoor recently published its second annual ranking of the top jobs
in America and, of the top twenty-five jobs, ten were in
technology. The top ranked position was data scientist which jumped
from ninth last year. Other high ranked positions were Solutions
Architect (#3), Mobile Developer (#5), and Product Manager
(#8). Glassdoor bases their rankings on three variables: the number of
job openings, salary, and career opportunities rating.
The Median Base Salary for a data scientist is $116,840. Other tech
base salaries can be seen in the graphic on the right.
When Network World interviewed data scientists about their position,
they noted the pleasure of discovery as a key benefit. A common
complaint amongst data scientists was the headache involved with
data preparation. “At times, munging [parsing] through data can get
tedious," said data scientist Jeff Baumes at Kitware. "The worst times
are when I realize the quality, quantity, or other aspect of the data
simply prevents me from gaining the level of insight that I hoped to gain from the data.”

5. ©2016 GZ Consulting. All Rights Reserved
The McKinsey Global Institute found there is a growing shortage of analytics talent in the United States. By
2018, they projected a shortfall of 140,000 to 180,000 professionals with analytical expertise. They also
projected a deficit of 1.5 million analytics trained managers and analysts.
Data scientist talent acquisition and retention are a significant problem for organizations, particularly amongst
firms looking to initially establish data science capabilities. In an article in the MIT Sloan Management Review,
Ransbotham, Kiron and Kirk Prentice found that 55% of analytically challenged firms had a problem recruiting
and retaining analytical talent while firms described as innovators had much less difficulty. Only 29% of
innovators reported difficulty recruiting with 24% reporting difficulty retaining. Innovators also are much more
confident that they have the appropriate skill levels in house. While 74% of Innovators believe they have hired
the appropriate analytics talent, only 17% of the analytically challenged felt the same.
One advantage of partnering with sales predictive analytics companies such as Lattice Engines or Leadspace is
the ability to bypass hiring of in-house data scientists and instead work with their resources and tools. While it is
still important to understand the results and train staff in data interpretation, much of the complexity is
removed.
Furthermore, the strategic advantage accruing to analytics capabilities is declining as more firms develop such
capabilities. In 2012, 67% of surveyed respondents believed analytics capabilities conveyed a strategic
advantage. By 2014, the percentage had dropped to 61%. The authors posited two reasons for the decline: an
increase in the number of firms investing in analytics and a difficulty in converting analytical insights into
business action. Half the respondents noted difficulty in translating insight to action.
“Technology is no longer the main barrier to creating business value from data: The bigger barrier is a shortage
of appropriate skills,” said Ransbotham et al. “Companies with appropriate analytical skills are far more likely to
say that analytics is creating a competitive advantage in their organization than are other organizations.”
OWLER ADOPTS PERMID
Owler has standardized its company profiles on Thomson Reuter’s PermID numbering
system. The system provides an easy mechanism for companies which utilize PermID to tie
into Thomson Reuter’s partner ecosystem. The PermID also provides subsidiary linkage
helping improve company context. PermID, unlike stock tickers, is designed as a permanent company and
equity identifier. The system currently covers 3.5M companies, 240,000 equity instruments, and 1.2M equity
quotes.
"Thomson Reuters is a leader in the field of open data," said Owler’s Director of Product Tim Harsch. "Its PermID
is helping us ensure greater accuracy and transparency in our database without relying on closed, proprietary
identifier schemas. We believe that high quality competitor data has huge business potential, but for maximum
value to be gained it needs to be structured on open principles. Thomson Reuters is helping the business
community achieve this."
In 2015, Thomson Reuters opened access to PermID as a free, open data license. According to Thomson
Reuter’s VP of Technology Development Wilbur Swan, “It can be of value anywhere there are complex data
management needs, helping firms make connections among multiple data items and find the answers they need
to succeed."

6. ©2016 GZ Consulting. All Rights Reserved
MATTERMARK
Venture capital deal intelligence vendor Mattermark has begun offering free company
profiles from their website. Free profiles include a brief company description, funding
data, acquisitions, and a set of Mattermark scores concerning mindshare and growth.
Mattermark maintains profiles on over 1 ½ million companies and includes funding profiles for over 10,000 VCs
and Angel Investors.
“The true value of Mattermark lies in sorting and filtering company data to identify investment and sales
opportunities (e.g. finding all the Series A SaaS companies in the Bay Area). Basic company facts are helpful to
all business people, and our powerful search interface we can engage with as many people in the broader global
business ecosystem as possible, regardless of budget,” said Director of Product Brian Tsao. “Mattermark is
powerful for much more than startup investment research, so next time you are looking to get information
about a private company because you are looking for a job, thinking about investing or evaluating them as a
sales opportunity, look for them on Mattermark and get the best private company data around.”
The Mattermark Pro subscription service begins at $6,000 per annum and supports both web browser and
iPhone delivery. Features include deal prospecting, Excel downloads, custom list collaboration, and company
news and alerts.
Other Mattermark tools and services include a Google Chrome Extension, Salesforce.com connector, Excel
Add-in, and API.

7. ©2016 GZ Consulting. All Rights Reserved
PITCHBOOK SERIES B
Continuing in my coverage of deal intelligence services, PitchBook received a $10 million
Series B round from Morningstar which also participated in its $4.25 million round in
2009. Morningstar now has a twenty percent stake in PitchBook. The two firms have long shared data with
each other.
PitchBook began by collecting private equity intelligence but has expanded its coverage of venture capital, M&A
activity, and some public company information. The firm profiles 700,000 companies, over one million people,
and 150,000 investors. Other data includes 500,000 investments and 100,000 exits.
Pitchbook is using the funds to support rapid growth after moving to a larger office in Seattle. PitchBook plans
to add 150 staff over the next year bringing its global staff to 600. In 2015, the firm added 121 employees. Last
year, revenue grew 68% to $31 million.
“Our growth stems from the continued focus on providing our customers with the best data, technology, and
service in the industry,” said PitchBook CEO John Gabbert. “We believe that when our customers have access to
unparalleled private market information, they are able to find more opportunities and make better, data-
informed decisions.”
The firm has over 1,400 enterprise clients including Johnson & Johnson, Venrock, Kleiner Perkins, Microsoft and
Bain Capital Ventures. In 2015, they added 713 new clients.
The investment places a $160 million valuation on PitchBook.
Competitors include CB Insights, CrunchBase, Mattermark, Owler, DataFox, and Dow Jones VentureSource.
EXECUTIVE CHANGES
Artesian Solutions named Chris Vick as their new Director of Channels and
Alliances. Vick has 27 years of sales, marketing, and partner development
experience at Ipanema Technologies, BMC Software, Computacenter and 2E2
According to Artesian, Vick will help build “a strong partner programme that takes
the capabilities of Artesian and wraps around a bespoke managed service and
training offering in order to drive dramatic commercial outcomes, sales
transformation, and deliver consistently high return on investment.”
Social123 hired Geoffrey Horn as their Vice President of Finance. Horn will oversee
corporate investments, finance, and HR. He previously held financial positions at
RazorInsights and Vitrue, two firms which were acquired. Social123 just completed
its Series A round for $4.25 million. The firm is looking to double its staff to sixty
with hiring focused in sales, product & technology, customer success, and
marketing.

8. ©2016 GZ Consulting. All Rights Reserved
MISCELLANY
 DiscoverOrg is now discussing a Product Management database in their marketing materials. Other
DiscoverOrg databases include IT, Marketing, and Finance.
 Dun & Bradstreet launched a cloud-based credit risk platform called D&B Credit. The service is currently
available for the US and Canada and will be rolled out globally later this year. D&B Credit helps financial
professionals make better, faster credit decisions; maximize cash flow; stay abreast of customer and
prospects’ financial status via alerts; monitor risk and opportunities across portfolios; and take advantage
of Dun & Bradstreet’s advanced analytics. The platform also supports custom reports for “non-finance”
business decision makers.
“D&B Credit was built with our customers in mind so they can do their jobs more effectively and make
incredibly important portfolio decisions,” said CEO Bob Carrigan. “We worked closely with our customers
to build D&B Credit as an intuitive, modern, cloud-based platform that lets them access the world’s
largest commercial database in user-friendly, customizable ways.”
CONTACT INFORMATION
Michael R. Levy
MLevy@GZConsulting.org
M: 978-399-9060
O: 978-692-0170
LinkedIn
2015 Field Guide to Sales Intelligence Vendors