OpenView Venture Partners Hosts Market Segmentation Forum for Portfolio
Boston, MA – Last week Boston based venture capital firm, OpenView Venture Partners hosted its portfolio companies in a Market Segmentation Forum led by Luke Hohmann, OpenView Senior Advisor and CEO of Enthiosys. Participants of the forum included CEOs, product managers, and product marketers from OpenView’s portfolio companies and prospect companies. Throughout the two-day interactive workshop, Hohmann provided the fundamental components and actionable processes any company can follow to define its target segments. Discussion topics ranged from what is a market segment and how is it managed to how should segmentation affect product design and corporate strategy.
“Market segmentation is so important for any company because it impacts all aspects of the business. Companies can identify the problems and needs within a segment, build the technology to solve them, and effectively communicate the solution to the marketplace,” said Mr. Hohmann of the impact of market segmentation.
“My biggest take away from the forum is that market segmentation is a continuous process, rather than a single output,” said Ian Culling, CTO of VersionOne, an agile project management tool. “It is about being more explicit with what you are doing and providing more clarity in how you present your company to your targets. The more concrete you are about the market segments you deal with, the more efficient and targeted your efforts will become.”
Targeted at people who are involved in both strategic and tactical product management and marketing, this forum provided practical, actionable answers to common market segmentation questions. “We can do this now. Market segmentation is not a massive, drawn out project. We can tackle it very soon,” noted Isaac Garcia, CEO of CentralDesktop, provider of online collaboration software.
Over the two-day event, participants interacted with one another to develop executable next steps.
Shane Vaughan, VP of Marketing of Balihoo, a provider of local marketing automation said, “We really benefit from the relationships with the other portfolio companies at events like these. For example, you’ll hear other VPs of Marketing talking openly and honestly about problems similar to mine.” Arnulf Hsu, CTO of Central Desktop, added, “OpenView’s forums are a great way to continue education in areas that are relevant to emerging growth software companies.”
About OpenView Venture Partners
OpenView Venture Partners is an expansion stage venture capital fund with a focus on high-growth software, internet, and technology-enabled companies. Through its staff of seasoned operating executives, who collectively bring several decades of technology and management experience to the firm, OpenView is able to help portfolio companies with quickly ramping up Product, Go-To-Market, and Organizational and Operational functions to best practice levels. The firm was founded in 2006 and has a total capital under management of approximately $240 million. OpenView Venture Partners is based in Boston and invests on a worldwide basis.