BOCA's Digital and Social Practice - Do it! Own it! Be Great and Rock On...

Entertain

Engage

Socialize

Keep your followers interested

Make me smarter

As an agency, we think about social all the time. Especially, how do we ensure that our “traditional” PR efforts are being socialized in the right way?

When marketers think about their company's social media it is important to engage the audience. This engagement needs to be interesting, educational and entertaining. The content needs to be smart. If not, what is the point.

I am proud of the social media BOCA delivers for many of its clients. We developed 90-percent of GoodData's blog content. We created video for Quorum. By the way, we acted in that video too. The stars are BOCA's very own Sammy Totah and Michael Kellner. We built Narus’ three key social media platforms – Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter – the list goes on.

I keep my Website short and to the point. I don't go on and on and on about our practice groups. That written, in 2014 I am committed to building out a few Web pages to ensure the community as a whole is aware of our digital and social practice. Let's not forget we have an amazing content bureau with formal writers that come from the Gartner Group, major newspapers and marketing trade publications to feed both social and traditional channels with great content.  

BOCA rocks...and people need to know it. 

Let's rock and make great things happen! 

To Grow or Not to Grow

After five years, BOCA is at a crossroads where I must decide whether or not to grow my business. Yes, our little agency, once comprised of me, myself and I plus a few contractors, now employs 20 souls. And despite minimal branding efforts, word of mouth has spread: We've won many accounts, formed strong partnerships and continue to attract high-quality candidates. So with all this in mind, the ambitious PR professional in me says, "Grow!" while my shrewd small-business owner side takes a more tempered approach. 

Favoring the small-business owner side, I recently sat down with the BOCA team and we talked about growth and our brand. (As the owner, I feel it is important to consult and work closely with my employees, as every decision I make for BOCA impacts the universal BOCA team.) Our discussion yielded a unanimous decision: It is time to share BOCA's amazing culture and build upon our great work. "Growth" it is.

I love our current North Beach location. We are located on Francisco Street between Powell and Mason. Our space is an old, ground-level art gallery with beautiful French doors that open up to the sidewalk and afford a ton of natural light. But growth translates to a need for more physical space. So we began to look at spaces around San Francisco. I found that, aside from the deterrent of high rents in the City, I just couldn’t imagine leaving my art gallery space — at least not yet.

So instead, we decided on the "Google campus" approach and signed a lease for two more spaces (an old laundromat and a former hair salon) right around the corner from our current location — literally within 100 feet. We are excited to take these two obscure spaces and turn them into beautiful creative galleries. (You may recall that an early Facebook posting of ours referred to our art gallery spot as a "creative think tank" rather than an office. That's more reflective of BOCA, don't you think?)

Now, BOCA is ready to turn up the dial for its next phase of growth. We plan to promote our brand for the first time ever, and put heart and soul into an awards program that will highlight all the great work we do for our clients. The small-business owner part of me is still understandably anxious, but the PR professional is, as always, fearless. Wish us luck!

BOCA - We are Hiring!

When BOCA started - we were a virtual agency. Today, we have an office in San Francisco - that is almost at capacity - Austin, Texas - that we are growing - aspirations for an office in L.A. (I love So Cal), and possibly an office in New York City.

Until the time comes that I want to move out of our adorable SF space or truly expand into LA or NYC - we are hiring and we are hiring regardless of location. That written, Austin is a key marketplace for BOCA and we are looking for great hires now.

We love super smart, super motivated, super fabulous people that know how to service clients and get results.

So - what is the point of this post - again, we are hiring! (careers@bocacommunications.com)

GoodData - $22 Million in Funding = Amazing Press

BOCA nails it for GoodData funding news - but of course. GoodData is GoodData, an amazing enterprise company. We are proud to call you our PR partner.

Wall Street Journal, Don Clark (6/12/2013)

Brazil and Big Data Drive GoodData Funding Deal

“ ‘We didn’t want to do the typical venture round this time,’ says Roman Stanek, GoodData’s CEO. ‘We feel like we are strong in business in the U.S. and we want to grow internationally.’ ”

AllThingsD, Arik Hesseldahl (6/12/2013)

GoodData Raises $22 Million From Brazil’s TOTVS Ventures

“In addition to the investment, TOTVS has become a distribution partner, giving GoodData access to a market worth about $9 billion.”

TechCrunch, Alex Williams (6/13/2013)

GoodData Raises $22M From Latin America’s Largest Enterprise Software Company

“GoodData has raised $22 million in a Series D round, with funding led by Sao-Paulo-based TOTVS Ventures, the investment arm of TOTVS S.A., the largest enterprise software company in Latin America. Also participating were Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst Partners, Next World Capital and Tenaya Capital, who also participated in the latest round. This is TOTVS’ first investment outside Brazil.”

“…A cloud-based business intelligence technology company, GoodData has now raised $75.5 million and looks poised to join the IPO crowd, at least at some point. Founded in the Czech Republic by Roman Stanek and headquartered in San Francisco, the company is one of the leaders in the emerging new business intelligence market.”

Dow Jones, Deborah Gage (6/12/2013)

GoodData Picks Up $22M Series D Led by Latin America's Totvs Ventures

“GoodData Corp., a provider of business analytics software, has raised a $22 million Series D investment led by Totvs Ventures , the investment arm of publicly traded Latin American enterprise software company Totvs SA .”

VentureBeat, Rebecca Grant, (6/13/2013)

‘Caliente’ startup GoodData raises $22M from Latin America’s largest enterprise company

“GoodData is one of Silicon Valleys “enterprise cool kids.” It is a business-intelligence service provider, meaning businesses use its cloud-based technology to make data-driven decisions. The platform includes operational dashboards, metrics and performance reports, data storage, analytics, and collaboration tools. Founder Roman Stanek said GoodData stands out from the crowd because it emphasizes heavily on user experience to make the tick technical elements of big data comprehensible to people outside of IT.”

VentureBeat, Jolie O’Dell (6/13/2013)

Funding Daily: Hey, big spender!

“Big data” company GoodData has raised $22 million from Latin America’s largest enterprise software company. GoodData is one of Silicon Valley’s “enterprise cool kids.”

ZDNet, Larry Dignan (6/14/2013)

TOTVS, GoodData eye Latin America big data growth

“Latin America's largest enterprise software company, TOTVS, invested in the latest venture round of GoodData in a move that highlights how cloud big data and analytics will play a big role in the region.”

Fortune, Dan Primack (6/13/2013)

Venture capital deals

“This represents the first investment outside of Brazil for TOTVS Ventures, the investment arm of listed Brazilian enterprise software company TOTVS” 

PandoDaily, Staff (6/13/2013)

GoodData raises $22 million Series D (announcement in ticker linked to press release)

San Francisco Business Times, Patrick Hoge (6/12/2013)

GoodData raises $22 million more

“Founded in 2007, San Francisco-based GoodData has now raised $75 million, and it is preparing for an expansion campaign to Latin America. Brazil-based Totvs’sAlexandre Dinkelmann will join the board of directors.”

Silicon Valley Business Journal, Cromwell Schubarth (6/12/2013)

GoodData gets bridge to Latin America in $22M Totvs funding

"We're now taking GoodData to the next step: leveraging Totvs's dominant position in the region to extend our U.S. leadership to the $9 billion Latin America software market," Stanek said in a prepared statement.

peHUB, Alastair Goldfisher (6/12/2013)

Brazilian Software Company Leads GoodData’s Series D

“This is the first investment outside of Brazil for TOTVS Ventures, which typically invests in seed and Series A and B deals, according to the firm’s website. San Francisco-based GoodData, which helps corporations crunch data generated by SAP and other enterprise software programs, has now raised about $75 million in total funding.”

Pulse 2.0, Staff (6/13/2013)

Business Intelligence Company GoodData Raises $22 Million

“GoodData has raised a total of over $75 million so far.  TOTVS Ventures is the investment arm company of enterprise software company TOTVS.  Alexandre Dinkelmann of TOTVS is joining GoodData’s board of directors.”

PulsoSocial, Emily Stewart (6/13/2013)

TOTVS Ventures Invests in GoodData, Marking First Deal Outside of Brazil

“So why go with GoodData first? Based in San Francisco, GoodData provides a platform and applications for cloud-based big data analytics. Its on-demand business development services help business users, analysts and IT professionals capture and process data through dashboards, reports and custom metrics. Importantly, GoodData requires no hardware or software for integration.”

QuinnSight Research, Evan Quinn (6/13/2013)

Big Data Go Public Watch – GoodData Good to Go?

“I am bullish on all of the “as-a-service” big data players, like Birst, TreasureData, and Qubole, though the latter two are still quite early stage.  But GoodData has emerged as the option with the most current customer momentum, and the most pizzazz.  While thus far GoodData has focused on marketing and services industry as their primary horizontal and vertical use case, it strikes me that if they could add a few more analytics apps style offerings, they would be ready to qualify for take-off.  Plus, GoodData’s executives and board possess strong, proven entrepreneurial pedigree.”

Tech Market View, Anthony Miller (6/13/2013)

Brazilian Totvs takes stake in US 'big data' GoodData

“The real beneficiary though should be GoodData, which will now have the backing of the region's best known indigenous software firm with which to establish its credentials.”

MR Web, Staff (6/14/2013)

GoodData Raises $22m for LatAm Expansion

“Cloud-based big data analytics specialist GoodData, headquartered in San Francisco, has raised $22m in Series D funding, which it will use to support its expansion into the Latin American enterprise software market.”

NewNet, Staff (6/13/2013)

Latin America software group TOTVS leads $22m Series D in GoodData

“Executive vice president of strategy and finance at TOTVS Alexandre Dinkelmann said, ‘By combining GoodData’s intuitive analytics with our market-leading enterprise software, we are creating the cloud analytics leader in Latin America and giving access to Big Data solutions to our clients in Latin America.”

Venture Capital Dispatch, Staff (6/13/2013)

The Daily Startup: Social Gifter Wrapp Bundles Up New Funding

“Also in today’s VentureWire, GoodData, a developer of business analytics software, has raised a $22 million Series D round led by Totvs Ventures, the investment arm of Latin American software company Totvs SA”

DataStax: Cassandra (C*) Summit - A Success

DataStax: Cassandra (C*) Summit

The sun is out and the weather is warm again, it is finally summer in San Francisco. Aside from the pleasantries the beginning of summer brings, it also marks the time for our client DataStax's Cassandra (C*) Summit. The 3rd annual C* Summit got underway yesterday at Fort Mason in San Francisco. 

This year DataStax was able to draw over 1,500 attendees and a select group of their major customers such as Netflix, Ooyala, and more. BOCA was also able to secure some great media and analyst attendees for the event as well. Their attendance made for some great coverage around DataStax and their event, take a look at some of the coverage BOCA was able to secure:

USA Today: Unplugged: Cassandra could wreak havoc on Oracle by Mark Veverka

ZDNet: DataStax CEO: Open source databases onslaught for Oracle by Larry Dignan

eWeek: Key Takeaways from Datastax's Cassandra Big Data Conference by Chris Preimesberger

Silicon Angle: DataStax and The New Rules Of Data-Driven Clouds – Breaking the Oracle Chains by John Casaretto

CMS Wire: Will Oracle Become a Bit Player? DataStax's Apache Cassandra Takes the Main Stage by Virginia Backaitis

Datanami: DataStax Takes Aim at Oracle as Cassandra Summit Kicks Off by Isaac Lopez

BOCA is honored to represent such a great client who is making such a serious wave in the Enterprise. The C* Summit really speaks volumes for how quickly their company is growing and how popular they have become. Just 3 years ago they only had 11 customers but are now boasting a customer list of over 300 customers, including 20 of the Fortune 100. 

Our joint in-house and BOCA team have made some great strides and we are looking forward to continued success with DataStax. We just love working with Alex, Lara and the rest of the executive management team - we are impressed daily.  As they wrap up their conference later today, we would like to wish them well for a great finish to the event. You can follow them on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook to keep up with the rest of the conference and all things DataStax. 

-BOCA Team

Many agencies here in San Francisco Bay Area / Silicon Valley like to participate in awards, growth statistics, PR Week case studies and beyond. They tout their success (rightly so) and showcase their client wins as well as successful campaigns.

BOCA is the opposite, for now. 

Since starting this company, I have never applied for an award. I have not shared my growth numbers. And I'm yet to spend time or money showcasing BOCA's successes publicly. Instead I've been focused on quietly building an amazing business whose results speak for themselves.

Today, our lovely and wonderful new client Huddle (a cloud-based content management platform that is HOT in the UK and is about to explode onto the scene in the US) spoke about BOCA, and put OUR name into lights for the first time in PR Week and Brand Republic.  I feel so honored for this mention. And, it does make me think: Should I tout BOCA more publicly? Should I be more vocal about our wins and in fact be doing PR for my own PR firm?

I truly believe it is important to build a company before one evangelizes successes.  And I needed to hit my own personal, professional goals and company milestones before shouting from the rooftops about how great BOCA is ... and there's no better way to kick off that effort than having those words come from a happy client. While I may not be ready to talk directly to PRWeek, I am feeling ready to talk about BOCA wins within our blog. 

1.       We won Huddle's business. (Go Team!) And, we beat out two very big international agencies with a massive presence in SF in the process.

2.       We won Clarizen's business. (Go Team!!) And, we beat out a super popular, branded, and dare I say "sexy" PR agency.

3.      In 2012, we won DataStax, GoodData and Quorum (we love you!!!). They are a gift. We won others, and we are proud. These just come straight to mind now.

Ok, I am starting to go stream of consciousness…but the point is that we LOVE our clients. BOCA's original clients who continue to go strong today, like Narus (BOCA’s first-ever client!), to the newbies and everyone in between, we feel so honored to be your agency of record. We are honored that you put your company's public image, and sometimes "your baby" into our hands -- and we work hard every day to deliver smart recommendations and lock in meaningful coverage opportunities -- like we did for GoodData yesterday (with its Box announcement) and the Forbes win for Article One Partners today. 

Every day, I give thanks to the people I work with – both here BOCA as well as our fabulous client partners. 

Thank you!

Kathleen