Well it was actually Jeff that said it 3 times and not Rory. Was surprised he said it which is why I posted he did. Maybe he was channeling his inner Rory?
All big and small software company do exactly the same as Verb. Apple is well known for hinting and alluding to features or products but won't even tell their existing suppliers and customers what is coming. A little maddening if you are a vendor that sells accessories like iPhone/iPad cases as one simple example.
Sometimes Apples hints and excitement turn out to be good. I'm pretty sure 10's of thousands of people said what you said - "just really show us what you've got now!".
Some companies like Microsoft will publish a roadmap with a little text description of the 500+ features, enhancements, etc that are coming but that tends to be riskier for midsize and smaller companies. And Yes, despite the roadmap, Microsoft still does the, "wait until you see what's coming".
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365...p?filters=
I think there are a number of reasons why companies do this in my mind and I'm fine with it.
1.) Shows your customers that you didn't just build a one and done product, but you are growing a suite of software to meet their needs. If you don't hint at Verb Pulse as an example, maybe you end up losing some sales to customers that could have waited, but didn't know and pulled the trigger one another product. I've seen a number of Verb customers actually say on their conference calls wait until you see what's coming. So clearly they like the heads up and get excited about it. VerbLIVE sales is a great example of this as they were able to accelerate inside sales way faster than a usual company new product launch
2.) Gives your analyst a glimpse of what is coming which seeds the curiosity to learn more and ultimately factor that into the valuation. I'll give you an example. VerbLIVE was hinted and then talked about quite a bit. Attribution a bit less and Pulse even less. You can see the analysts get VerbLIVE and now have finally figured out attribution, but don't talk or ask about Pulse.
3.) Helps the ADD investors that keep asking, "What's next?" over and over again. As investors of course we want to know 'everything' the company is doing and is going to come out with. Unfortunately it's not something they can always share. If the company just shuts up and says nothing, they get blasted. If the company says a little, they get blasted There really is not a win-win one size fits all type of communication companies can do.
4.) Doesn't tip off competition so they can copy what Verb is doing, pretend to do what Verb is doing, steal the employees or prepare to run a sales disinformation campaign. Both PennyAI and Saleshood as I've previously posted were targeting VERB with BS. The former failed miserly with that Marketing and since moved on. It was actually pretty stupid to use Verb's name in their google Ads and then a 'fake' comparison like they were Gartner.
I'm sure there are other reason people can think of, but at least for me, I understand why Jeff said it. He said some other things that went over peoples heads, but were important points.
In summary, companies have to balance Customer Sales Lead Times, Analysts' Forecasting, Investor Communication, Competition Tip-Off
But as you say, the proof is in the pudding so let's take a look at the year
4 products were hinted, talked about and released. First 2 we know are selling really well. All 4 I had no idea about when I invested so happy to hear tidbits along the way.
VerbLIVE
Verb Attribution
VerbMail Outlook
VerbPulse
5 products below were hinted and talked about. There was screenshots/videos of some. If they all get released Monday morning I'm fine with that. If it's in the next month or two, I'm fine with that too as there are already a bunch of product Verb has to drive revenue
VerbCompliance
VerbMail Pro for Outlook
VerbMail for GMail
Verb MarketPlace
VerbTV
And then through in an acquisition or possibly two that was hinted and discussed. Is that going to happen this year, idk. Rory didn't promise me that he would get them done this year.
If Verb can crank out 4-5 new products every year, that would be simply amazing. Looking forward to following the progress over the next 5 years.
All big and small software company do exactly the same as Verb. Apple is well known for hinting and alluding to features or products but won't even tell their existing suppliers and customers what is coming. A little maddening if you are a vendor that sells accessories like iPhone/iPad cases as one simple example.
Sometimes Apples hints and excitement turn out to be good. I'm pretty sure 10's of thousands of people said what you said - "just really show us what you've got now!".
Some companies like Microsoft will publish a roadmap with a little text description of the 500+ features, enhancements, etc that are coming but that tends to be riskier for midsize and smaller companies. And Yes, despite the roadmap, Microsoft still does the, "wait until you see what's coming".
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365...p?filters=
I think there are a number of reasons why companies do this in my mind and I'm fine with it.
1.) Shows your customers that you didn't just build a one and done product, but you are growing a suite of software to meet their needs. If you don't hint at Verb Pulse as an example, maybe you end up losing some sales to customers that could have waited, but didn't know and pulled the trigger one another product. I've seen a number of Verb customers actually say on their conference calls wait until you see what's coming. So clearly they like the heads up and get excited about it. VerbLIVE sales is a great example of this as they were able to accelerate inside sales way faster than a usual company new product launch
2.) Gives your analyst a glimpse of what is coming which seeds the curiosity to learn more and ultimately factor that into the valuation. I'll give you an example. VerbLIVE was hinted and then talked about quite a bit. Attribution a bit less and Pulse even less. You can see the analysts get VerbLIVE and now have finally figured out attribution, but don't talk or ask about Pulse.
3.) Helps the ADD investors that keep asking, "What's next?" over and over again. As investors of course we want to know 'everything' the company is doing and is going to come out with. Unfortunately it's not something they can always share. If the company just shuts up and says nothing, they get blasted. If the company says a little, they get blasted There really is not a win-win one size fits all type of communication companies can do.
4.) Doesn't tip off competition so they can copy what Verb is doing, pretend to do what Verb is doing, steal the employees or prepare to run a sales disinformation campaign. Both PennyAI and Saleshood as I've previously posted were targeting VERB with BS. The former failed miserly with that Marketing and since moved on. It was actually pretty stupid to use Verb's name in their google Ads and then a 'fake' comparison like they were Gartner.
I'm sure there are other reason people can think of, but at least for me, I understand why Jeff said it. He said some other things that went over peoples heads, but were important points.
In summary, companies have to balance Customer Sales Lead Times, Analysts' Forecasting, Investor Communication, Competition Tip-Off
But as you say, the proof is in the pudding so let's take a look at the year
4 products were hinted, talked about and released. First 2 we know are selling really well. All 4 I had no idea about when I invested so happy to hear tidbits along the way.
VerbLIVE
Verb Attribution
VerbMail Outlook
VerbPulse
5 products below were hinted and talked about. There was screenshots/videos of some. If they all get released Monday morning I'm fine with that. If it's in the next month or two, I'm fine with that too as there are already a bunch of product Verb has to drive revenue
VerbCompliance
VerbMail Pro for Outlook
VerbMail for GMail
Verb MarketPlace
VerbTV
And then through in an acquisition or possibly two that was hinted and discussed. Is that going to happen this year, idk. Rory didn't promise me that he would get them done this year.
If Verb can crank out 4-5 new products every year, that would be simply amazing. Looking forward to following the progress over the next 5 years.
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