In business, leads are everything. The first step is to find them, and that’s where marketing – and LeaDNA – come in. LeaDNA is an integrated demand-based marketing and sales platform that uses automation to streamline email marketing, social media management, content marketing, and direct-mail marketing. Data visualization, analytics, and lead generation help coordinate omnichannel marketing and sales efforts for multiple users — facilitating shorter sales cycles and increased ROI.
Founder Raz Choudhury tells us more about his turnkey solution designed to make life easy for businesses of all sizes. And the proof is in the bottom line.
Tell us about the product or service.
LeaDNA is a marketing and sales automation platform that helps companies lead. It combines the best of Search, Social, E-mail, Content, and Direct Mail marketing — all fully integrated with essential sales tools.
The platform was built from the ground-up, coming out of our 15-years of professional experience in app development and digital marketing.
How is it different?
Most marketing automation platforms ignore the sales process, and most sales automation tools do. Organizations are 67% better at closing deals and see 209% more revenue from their investment. LeaDNA aligns sales and marketing activities into a single, easy-to-use platform.
Humanizing the way we work has been a driving passion for us. Built into the LeaDNA platform is OfficeBird. The mission of the OfficeBird project is to achieve the 5-hour work week, and break the shackles of menial tasks and data entry.
What market are you attacking and how big is it?
Marketing automation alone is roughly a $5 billion dollar industry, and is growing in double digits each year. When you combine that figure with sales automation insights about your new company and experience.
We focus on servicing Marketing Agencies and Channel Marketers, a group of customers we have a lot of experience working with. Most people think that marketing automation is already widely used. However, adoption rates outside of technology companies are very low. We see tremendous opportunity, and have the right relationships to penetrate this market.
What inspired you to start the company?
I founded and ran USAWeb for the past 15 years, mainly working with agencies and traditional businesses building custom apps and running digital ad campaigns.
Everyone we talked to was feeling overwhelmed by the new era of marketing. How do you find the best keywords? How do you effectively track user behavior? How do you keep your marketing messaging consistent across all digital content outlets? These kind of things.
On top of that, clients were also venting their frustrations to us about the added baggage and drudgery that comes with most CRM softwares. We could relate to this from the perspective of knowing what it’s like to manage all of a company’s clients and business assets.
So then there was this sort of “Aha” moment of realizing that these two things—the need for more effective digital marketing strategies, and the software used to manage client relations and business flow—are deeply connected. The reason they are connected is that most of the time the same data drives these different models. The difference is how we access and apply that information. So then we started thinking about how we could best provide access to this data for it to be used and shared effectively for both sales and marketing tasks.
How did the Dublin Web Summit help you in launching the company?
What the Dublin Web Summit taught us is the amazing number of new software applications from all over the world. This is very exciting to us, and it was an honor to feel a part of this innovative community.
On one hand, we could see what we were doing that was different than other software, and at the same time we got a nice peek at some truly novel ideas. And this is a good thing. This is what makes a community – sharing information, and inspiring those around you.
So in some way, I’d say that participating in the Dublin Web Summit helped to remind us that this thing is real, and that we’re truly offering a unique new platform that people are interested in.
What is the business model?
LeaDNA is a SaaS (Software as Service) model, designed for on-demand distribution. This why we’re expecting rapid acquisition. The platform made revenue at soft launch, thanks to our well-engaged and preexisting partners
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
Within the next six months, we will be closing some really big deals with companies who are planning to distribute the software across multiple vendors nationwide. LeaDNA will be increasing its own marketing efforts as well. (Startups are often so busy building cool tools and software that they forget to take care of themselves!) We’re going to practice what we preach more, demonstrating the power of our own system to accomplish our sales and marketing goals.
Thus far, LeaDNA has been self-funded. We set out to prove our model, which is now in play, so now for the first time we’re engaging investors that have expertise in our space.
In the big picture, within the next six months, we’re hoping to significantly increase the user-base for LeaDNA, as well as get the platform more mainstream recognition in the industry. Branding is a big part of this, so expect to see a creative, content-driven push in the coming months. We’ve spent a long time perfecting this software; it’s time to get the word out!
If you could be put in touch with one investor in the New York community who would it be and why?
It’s hard to give a “number one” NYC investor to work with, simply based on the fact that these sort of high-end ventures are contingent upon many factors.
It’s not just about the money. It’s about working with someone who believes in what you’re doing. That’s what we’re after. We’re trying to create a new way of doing business with this software, and we need to work with people who are on board with that vision.
What we’re really after is the “5 hour work week.” This is a big idea and not everyone is going to be ready for that. That’s OK with us, we get that. What we’re offering with LeaDNA is something new, so it’s hard to guess how investors will react, because people all act differently when faced with something new. Some see it as a new opportunity, some see it as unmanaged risk.
What’s important to us is that we work with people who truly understand what we’re offering and what the capabilities of this software are.
Why did you launch in New York?
I’m from Astoria, Queens, my family is here. A lot of us on the team are from NYC also. Starting the company here is just what made sense.
There were different points when I thought about moving West; we’ve got various contacts out there. But New York is home. We love it here — the pace, the people, the diversity — the atmosphere in this city is truly inspiring.
Of course, it’s exciting to be part of the new wave of tech companies. The fact that it’s happening here in NYC just gives me a sense of pride.
Which is your favorite NY-area beach?
Montauk!
