June 2006 SDForum Interview

I was interviewed in June 2006 by Barbara Cass, Volunteer Director for the SDForum, the final text appeared in the July/August 2006 newsletter (see page 15 of the PDF version). I have updated it here to add links for many of the referenced works and the quotes. KV Rao and I did a one year term as co-chairs of the Marketing Special Interest Group (SIG), our term ended in December 2006 and Filomena U and Ed Buckingham took over.

June 2006 SDForum Interview

Volunteer Spotlight
Interview with Sean Murphy, Co-Chair of the Marketing SIG

Q: Sean, you are a long-time member of SDForum. What helped you to decide to volunteer as chair of the Marketing SIG?

I had attended a number of the programs over the years and found them useful not only for the information that the speaker offered but also for what I would learn from other attendees. SIG meetings are a good way to keep a finger on the pulse of Silicon Valley. William Gibson observed that “the future is already here, it’s just unevenly distributed,” The SDForum SIGs are one place that’s certainly true. And I wanted to show my support for what the SDForum offers.

Q: What has been your experience in organizing these meetings thus far?

I am fortunate to have KV Rao as a co-chair. He is bright, articulate, and deeply thoughtful. He was early at WebEx in marketing and business development and has an appreciation for both startup and established company marketing issues. He has pulled together our two best programs so far: the “DotCom to DotBust to Web 2.0” talk by Dave Thompson that was our January kickoff and our May panel on “Making The Leap From An Application To A Platform Business.”

I have enjoyed pulling together an eclectic mix of topics: “Guerrilla Marketing for Startups“, “Internal Marketing–Fostering Technology Adoption“, “Building Strategy and Driving Consensus through Shared Mapping“, and “You Named it What?” We have attracted a diverse and thoughtful audience. Bill Grosso, who runs the Emerging Technologies SIG has been an invaluable advisor to me to get this year’s programs off to a running start.

Q: What have you learned from the first six months of putting on programs?

I think we have run informative programs on a broad range of topics, often because the audience has contributed as much as the speaker or speakers have. It’s very important to get a good title and to explain early in the description the speaker’s key experiences that will equip them address the topic as an expert. We are the Marketing SIG for the Software Development Forum so we tend to get a very technical audience: the key to successful programs is adequately preparing the speakers.

Q: What is the focus of your own business and have you seen value to your business since meeting with this group each month?

Our firm, SKMurphy, Inc. offers business development consulting to early stage software startups with a focus on early customers and early revenue. I think the value for me is the insights I get from the people I have met, either because I invited them to speak, or they were attracted to the topic for that night’s program. The SIG has given me a good reason to reach out to some individuals and have conversations that I otherwise might have missed out on. I would encourage folks to get involved, but I believe that it’s more about creating a community that we would all like to live in, and listening to and learning from strangers.

Q: Have you seen changes in the ways companies market or should be marketing their products in today’s world?

My firm’s focus is on strategy and business development for software startups. We work with early stage startups who sell to businesses. I personally have an interest in new technologies for collaboration–things like wikis, blogs, IM that are “new” in the sense that they are only a little over a decade old–and knowledge management methodologies like the “community of practice” model. So I look at the marketing issues from perspective that’s distinct from the consumer-oriented “get big fast” model that seems to be coming back into vogue: 2006 feels a lot like 1996 to me, with all of the various “pitch events” that are going on every month now. And I tend to work with teams that are bootstrapping both because it’s a mindset I find easier to relate to–I prefer pitching to prospects rather than VC’s–and because they tend to be more innovative than the VC-backed folks, who are normally channeled into a handful of predictable trajectories.

So, what I tend to see are startup teams who have a firm grasp on technology and product development issues but are less clear on one or more of the key concepts for successful new product introduction. Bill Davidow’s “whole product” paradigm from his “Marketing High Technology” book is fundamental to understanding the different between selling an invention and marketing an innovation. Geoffrey Moore’s “Crossing the Chasm” framework, best expressed in his “Inside the Tornado” book is the solid explanation of the evolution of technology markets. Clayton Christensen’s “sustaining vs. disruptive innovation” model in his “Innovator’s Dilemma” book is the best “anatomy lesson for a karate student,” explaining to startups how and where to attack an established firm. Steve Blank’s “Four Steps to the Epiphany” is filled with detailed checklists for how a startup team must distinguish between product development and customer development as they explore a new market.

Postscript: I think answering this question started me down the path to the December 2006 Marketing SIG Program: Twelve Business Books in One Hour for the Busy CEO. I wish I could claim “anatomy lecture for the karate student” as mine but it’s based on a line from Chapter 18 of Red Dragon by Thomas Harris: “The others listened like karate students at an anatomy lecture.”

Q: What are some of your aspirations for the Marketing SIG in the near future?

We want to continue to fulfill our promise to provide practical tips and techniques for anticipating, identifying, and satisfying customers needs for emerging technologies profitably. We have several exciting programs in the hopper for the second half of 2006 but are always looking for good speakers on interesting topics. Contact us at sdforum_marketingsig-owner@yahoogroups.com with suggestions or to volunteer.

Related Blog Posts

• My Interview With Peggy Aycinena
• Sean Murphy Interview with Etienne Garbugli for the LeanB2B Podcast
• Time Capsule: SKMurphy Profile at UnderTheOak
• KMWorld 2006 Wrap-up (Another profile)
• 12 Books for the Busy Founder
• See Startup Marketing Lab Next Monday at SDForum Marketing SIG for my thoughts on working with Barbara Cass and sorrow at her passing.

Sidebar: SDForum Special Interest Groups (2006)

from https://web.archive.org/web/20060427133624/http://www.sdforum.org/SDForum/Templates/Level1.aspx?pid=10065&sid=7

1. Business Intelligence
   Facilitates discussion of the growing opportunities software provides by using information to improve business management practices.
2. Collaboration
   Collaboration is the intersection of technology, process, and business services to enable organizations, groups and individuals to effectively, efficiently and profitably collaborate.
3. Emerging Technology
   Information you won’t find anyplace else. Meeting once a month to discuss what’s new, what’s emerging, and what’s important in the world of software.
4. International
   Assists software companies in developing and delivering software products to international markets.
5. Java
   Covers the latest trends in Java and related technologies from a developer perspective. Meetings are once a month, with two featured speakers.
6. Marketing
   Learn how to improve the quality of your marketing with better positioning, branding and promotional strategy.
7. Mobile IP
   Representation from Wireless, Voice and MultiModal technologies. Our objectives are to highlight specific sectors of the industry’s value-chain* to our members.
8. Ruby
   The Ruby Special Interest Group is a forum for discussing the Ruby programming language, its Rails framework, and their uses. Speakers will include experts on the language and its libraries, as well as practitioners. Talks will also include presentations on use and discussions of applications, architecture and Ruby and Rails best practices.
9. Search
   The purpose of the SDForum Silicon Valley Search SIG is to offer a communication and collaboration platform to the Search ecosystem: search engines, marketers/advertisers, users and developers.
10. Security
    Informs software developers and business professionals the important issues and technologies in the arena of privacy and security.
11. Software Architecture & Modeling
    The SIG focuses on two main areas: the roles and responsibilities of the software architect and related functions; and technical matters of interest to the architect/abstractionist/modeler.
12. Software As A Service
    This SIG will present thought leadership and practical execution strategies for current and future SaaS entrepreneurs, investors, developers and industry executives.
13. Software Engineering Management
    The Software Engineering Management SIG enables engineering leaders to improve their effectiveness by providing a forum for sharing expertise, wisdom and experience in a collaborative and mutually beneficial context. Our members and participants will achieve a deeper understanding of the product, process and people aspects of engineering management that are critical to delivering successful business results in our challenging global environment.
14. Start-up
    Introducing the Start-Up SIG, meeting on the third Monday of the month at SAP in Palo Alto, and all (not just founders) are welcome! We’ll continue our focus on founders’ issues.
15. Venture Finance
    Help entrepreneurs prepare their pitch and attract venture capital funding for their startup company.
16. Web Services
    Helping to understand the revolution in the business model of e-commerce.
17. Windows
    Provides an open forum for collection and dissemination of technical information on programming Microsoft Windows.