If you are responsible for the website of your brand, chances are you have seen small content and design changes make big differences in metrics and site performance.

Especially if your site is an online store.

The most sophisticated e-stores are constantly testing and optimizing content. What’s most interesting about THAT, of course, is that often the most sophisticated sites sport designs that are anything but clean and simple, which is what I think most people would default think was most powerful.

My “home page” on Amazon, for example, features 62 products and two banners, along with a couple dozen tabs and what have to be hundreds of text links to various sections and content. Plus about 400 words of content. Who’d a thunk that this page would drive the best results? But it surely does if Amazon is delivering it to me. Over the years Amazon has tested and optimized hundreds of store page designs. It’s a process of continuing incremental improvement that has been a major contributor to their retail power.

But for somewhat smaller operations, there are often resource and “turf” challenges between marketing, website and IT teams that limit the scope and frequency of site testing. Which is rather a shame because little things can mean a lot. And while best practices provide general guidelines, you never know when a change in button color can drive a huge increase in sales.

Monetate is a SaaS offering that helps sites test, optimize, and personalize content quickly and easily. The idea is to ease the process of both directing, implementing, and analyzing testing scenarios. The service offers the benefits of one-time cut-and-paste integration, and enables a remarkably broad range of capabilities, including:

• A/B/N testing of photos, colors, copy, headlines, offers, even sales “badges” like “our bestseller”
• Multivariate testing to identify the best combination of components to drive sales.
• Dynamic graphic rendering to add personalized text to pages
• Audience segmentation and page personalization based upon a variety of criteria, including geography, gender, first time visitor/repeat customer, and environmental targeting.
• Sentence-based campaign builder interface that makes it dead simple to identify the target, offer, layout, and testing scenario for the site.
• CRM targeting and data appends
• Easy to implement mobile solution
• Catalog item and flow analysis

That’s a pretty darned cool feature set for a SaaS because it means that a marketing team could test virtually every aspect of a site to see how it impacts performance. And because of the simplicity of implementation, IT and the web team experience a whole lot fewer headaches.

Monetate already has a fairly long list of clients. A few tier ones and a whole lot of what I would call 1.5s, meaning national brands that likely sell millions online. But perhaps not hundreds of millions. That seems a particular sweet spot for this offering. If you know you should be doing more site testing in your online store, I suggest you give these folks a look.

To highlight the importance of open source development and innovation, Monetate announced the first Monetate Open Source (News – Alert) Prize for developers in Philadelphia area. The contest will start in advance of Philly Tech Week to be held from April 25-30 2011.

Monetate is a Philadelphia-based independent provider of testing, targeting, and personalization for websites. Its Software as a Service helps marketers test and target product pitches and site features then convert successful tests into personalized messaging and promotional campaigns, instantly, anywhere on the website, with no additional coding.

The winning entry for Monetate Open Source Prize for developers will receive “The Ultimate Developer Kick Start Package” worth $5,000 and includes a MacBook Pro, an Apple (News – Alert) 27 inch LED Cinema Display, an iPad 2, a $300 Amazon gift card good for EC2 and books, as well as a month’s supply of pizza and Mountain Dew.

According to a press release, projects producing source code under an Open Source Initiative approved license is eligible to participate. And, the contest prize is available only to developers who live or work within 60 miles of Philadelphia.

Entries will be evaluated on usefulness, novelty, and the impact of the prize award on project status. The entries should be sent before May 11th. The top 5 submissions will be announced on May 19 and placed on the Entries page of the competition website for public voting to determine final winners.

The winning entry will be determined by the panel of distinguished judges, including Jay Adelson, CEO of SimpleGeo, co-founder and former CEO of Digg; Don Coleman, director of consulting with Chariot Solutions; Aaron Feng, principal software engineer at Algorithmics, known for PhillyLambda, PhillyAWS, and Philly Startup Hackathons; Tom Janofsky, director of engineering at Monetate, active participant in Philly technology and startup community; Alexey Komissarouk, co-founder of a Facebook (News – Alert) Application development shop; Alex Payne, co-founder and CTO of BankSimple, former Platform Lead at Twitter; Jeffrey Persch, director of architecture at Monetate, engineer for Philadelphia and San Francisco startups; and Gabe Weinberg, founder and principal engineer of DuckDuckGo.

“The goal of the Monetate Open Source Prize is to support development of an existing open source project or to provide a kickstart to a new open source idea,” said David Brussin, founder and CEO of Monetate, in a statement. “We have built our company on top of open source work such as Python, Linux, Nginx, Memcache, HAProxy, MySQL, Django and Google (News – Alert) Closure Library, so it is only fitting that we at Monetate do our part to drive open source forward while at the same time supporting the Philly Tech community.”

What’s the likeliest time to get a promotion at a venture capital firm? About three years after its last fund closed.

That’s what I found in my analysis of promotion announcements from U.S. venture capital firms so far this year. The sample set — drawn from 17 announcements published on PEHub — shows the largest number of promotions occurred at firms that last closed a fund in 2008. Most others last closed in 2007 or 2009.

The timing makes sense, given that most funds of that vintage are nearing the end of their most active investment period, and firms are probably starting to plan their next fund-raising effort. That makes it even more crucial to retain talented people and put in place a partnership that will see the firm through its next investment cycle.

Here we take a look at who’s been moving up the ranks this year at firms with 2008-vintage funds. We’ll also look at industry expertise and investment track records among the recently promoted.

Brian Zimmerman

Promotion: From Principal to Managing Director
Firm: OpenView Venture Partners
Location: Boston
Last fund: OpenView closed on $130 million for its technology-focused Fund II in 2008, according to Thomson Reuters.
Background: Zimmerman was previously a principal at Insight Venture Partners, director of corporate sales at Tidal Software, and a player for the New York Mets. Was part of OpenView’s founding team in 2006.
Role at firm: Zimmerman leads OpenView Labs, which provides consulting services to portfolio companies.

Adam Marcus

Promotion: Managing Director (joined firm as principal in September 2009)
Firm: OpenView Venture Partners
Location: Boston
Last fund: OpenView closed on $130 million for its technology-focused Fund II in 2008, according to Thomson Reuters.
Background: Marcus previously worked at Battery Ventures, focusing on investments in marketing services and digital media and was director of corporate development for the Boston Celtics.
Investment info: Currently sits on the boards of Kareo, uSamp and Prognosis.

“It’s time to rethink the way people understand and organize their work.”

That’s the message coming from AtTask, Inc., www.attask.com, and apparently they’re not the only ones that think so.

Following the successful launch of TeamHome, AtTask, the first true social work management platform, announced today that the company’s new approach to work management is gaining quick favor in the marketplace, with recent recognition that includes being named a finalist to both the Software & Information Industry Association’s 26th Annual CODiE Awards and the 2011 Stoel Rives Utah Innovation Awards.

“These awards validate the research and time we’ve spent examining and understanding what employees want and need in order to work more effectively and be more productive,” said Scott Johnson, Founder & CEO of AtTask. “We take great pride in providing a solution that is easy to use and empowers team members by creating an environment where they have more control over their work lives. This is the future of work.”

TeamHome is a new workspace designed around the philosophy that work should be social and democratized. Users are able to see, organize and communicate around their work in a simple interface. It provides individuals with the opportunity to have a say in their workload by accepting, re-assigning or negotiating timelines and specific details related to each assignment or task. This allows individuals to create a more accurate and detailed list of the items they’ve committed to and are responsible for.

AtTask was selected as a finalist for the 2011 CODiE Awards in the “Best Project Management Solution” category. This category recognizes the best business applications that automate the management of project-based business activities. The CODiE awards received 425 total nominations, and 113 products from 80 companies were selected as finalists. Nominated products underwent an extensive review by judges via live demonstration, trial product access and analysis of product documentation.

Winners will be named at an awards reception and dinner on May 23, 2011 at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco, California.

The Stoel Rives Utah Innovation Awards recognize significant innovations and the Utah companies that create them. The awards are designed to draw attention to the high level of innovation taking place throughout the state. This year marks the tenth year Stoel Rives has issued the Utah Innovation Awards.

TeamHome is a finalist in the Enterprise Software and Web-Enabled B2B Solutions category. Winners will be named at an awards luncheon at the Little America Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah on Tuesday, May 3, 2011.

AtTask will demo TeamHome at the Utah Innovation Awards luncheon, beginning at 11:30 a.m. MST in the lobby of the Little America Hotel. For more information about AtTask and TeamHome visit www.attask.com.

Email marketing software giant ExactTarget has raised $30 million in new financing led by Technology Crossover Ventures with Battery Ventures, Scale Venture Partners and Greenspring Associates participating in the round. This brings the company’s total funding up to $208 million.

The company is also announcing that it posted record performance in the first quarter, increasing revenue 52 percent year over year. The company posted annual revenue growth of 41 percent in 2010 finishing the year with $134 million in revenue.

ExactTarget’s software provides enterprises with email marketing platform that powers everything from email coupon offers and automated fraud alerts to e-statements and SMS text messages. ExactTarget’s software provides email marketing tools for a widespread group of big-name clients, including CareerBuilder.com, Expedia.com, the Gannett Co., and The Home Depot.

The new investment will be used to fund key acquisitions, enter new global markets, expand operations across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific and for product development. ExactTarget acquired reseller mPath, CoTweet and Keymail Marketing in 2010.

In 2007, ExactTarget filed for an initial public offering but delayed delay its IPO planes and has withdrew its application with the SEC to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol EXTG due to the recession. But with the current bullish IPO market in the technology space, ExactTarget may be reconsidering a public offering.

ExactTarget, a global provider of interactive marketing solutions, announced today it continued record performance in the first quarter, increasing revenue 52 percent year over year.

The company also announced it closed $30 million in venture financing to fund key acquisitions, enter new global markets, expand its operations across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific and further accelerate innovation of its real-time interactive marketing technology. The round of financing was led by Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) with participation from existing investors, including Battery Ventures, Scale Venture Partners and Greenspring Associates.

“The continued commitment of our investors validates our strategy of aggressive growth and innovation to provide marketers with powerful, intuitive technology to connect with their customers in real time across email, mobile, social media and the Web,” said Scott Dorsey, ExactTarget’s chairman and chief executive officer. “ExactTarget is the fastest growing marketing software as a service company, and this new capital allows us to further accelerate our momentum and scale our operations to serve clients around the globe.”

Named one of the most promising venture-backed companies in America by the Wall Street Journal in March, ExactTarget posted its 41^st consecutive quarter of revenue growth in the first quarter.

“Our business is to help great management teams build large and important franchises in the technology industry, and ExactTarget exemplifies the innovation, strong business growth, and leadership we seek in our portfolio companies,” said Dave Yuan, general partner at Technology Crossover Ventures. “We are excited to support the ExactTarget team as they build on their success to create the next great SaaS company and a category leader in interactive marketing.”

Key highlights of ExactTarget’s first quarter performance include:

• Entering the Japanese market through a strategic partnership with Tokyo-based NTT Communications. The partnership makes CoTweet, ExactTarget’s social media management application, available with a translated Japanese user interface that is sold and serviced through NTT Com’s Online Marketing Group,
• Launching Audience Builder, an application that allows marketers to create refined target audiences and customer segments in real time through an intuitive drag and drop interface.
• Expanding the Interactive Marketing Hub^TM beta program to more than 500 clients worldwide, giving each an opportunity to shape the next generation of ExactTarget software that enables marketers to plan, initiate and track real-time communications on email, mobile and social platforms including Twitter and Facebook.

In the past 24 months, ExactTarget has acquired three companies, launched an international division with operations in the UK and Australia and added more than 500 employees. The company posted annual revenue growth of 41 percent in 2010 finishing the year with $134 million in revenue.

About TCV

Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), founded in 1995, is a leading provider of growth capital to technology companies, providing funds to later-stage private and public companies. With $7.7 billion in capital under management, TCV has made growth equity, PIPE and recapitalization investments in over 170 companies leading to 47 initial public offerings and more than 30 strategic sales or mergers. Representative investments include Altiris, C|NET, eHarmony, Expedia, Facebook, Fandango, Groupon, HomeAway, Liquidnet, Netflix, Orbitz, RealNetworks, Redback Networks, RiskMetrics Group, Solect Technology, TechTarget, TradingScreen, Travelport, Webroot and Zillow. TCV has 12 partners and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California with offices in New York, NY. For more information about TCV, visit www.tcv.com.

About Battery Ventures

Since 1983, Battery has been investing in technology and innovation worldwide. The firm partners with entrepreneurs and management teams across technology sectors, geographies and stages of a company’s life from start-up and expansion financing to growth equity. Battery has supported many breakthrough companies around the world, including: Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM), Cbeyond (NASDAQ: CBEY), ITA Software (acquired by Google), LIFFE (acquired by EuroNext), and Omniture (NASDAQ: OMTR). Its current portfolio includes such emerging firms: Angie’s List, Bazaarvoice, Consona Software, Exact Target, Groupon and Skullcandy. From offices in Boston, Silicon Valley and Israel, Battery currently manages $4B in committed capital. For more information, visit www.battery.com and follow us @batteryventures.

About Scale Venture Partners

Based in Foster City, California, the ScaleVP team is a long-standing partnership with a consistent, top quartile track record of returns. Scale Venture Partners’ insight-driven investment strategy, extensive operating networks and go-to-market expertise help identify and build leading portfolio companies in technology and healthcare markets. The ScaleVP team’s proven skill-set and active approach provides entrepreneurs a competitive advantage for growth and category leadership. Representative portfolio companies include Alimera Sciences, Discera, Frontbridge, Glu Mobile, mBlox, Monolithic Power Systems, National Healing, NComputing, Omniture, Orexigen, ScanSafe, Somaxon, Vantage Media, Waterfront Media, Xceive and Zogenix. For more information, visit www.scalevp.com.

About Greenspring Associates

Greenspring Associates, founded in 2000, is a leading global venture capital investment firm that provides venture capital fund-of-funds, direct co-investment and customized investment partnership capabilities to its clients. Currently, Greenspring Associates manages over $1.5 billion of committed capital for clients in North America, Europe, and Australia. Greenspring Associates is a proactive and value-added investor seeking to build superior performing, globally diversified portfolios for its clients primarily in the technology, life sciences, and technology-enabled services sectors. For further information, please visit the Greenspring Associates website at www.greenspringassociates.com or email [email protected].

About ExactTarget

ExactTarget is a leading global provider of on-demand email marketing and interactive marketing solutions. The company’s Interactive Marketing Hub technology provides organizations a single solution to connect with customers via email, integrated text messaging, landing pages and social media. Supported by collaborative global services teams, ExactTarget’s technology integrates with more sales and marketing information systems than any other in the industry, including Salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Omniture and Webtrends among many others. ExactTarget powers permission-based multichannel communications for thousands of organizations around the world including Expedia.com, Best Buy, Aurora Fashions, Papa John’s, CareerBuilder.com, Gannett Co., Inc., The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, The Home Depot and Wellpoint, Inc. For more information, visit www.exacttarget.com.