Update von Rory
January 22, 2015
Happy New Year,
I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and got to spend a bit of time with family and friends. I find holidays both a time to enjoy and a time to be careful not to let the stress of expectations get the better of me. I like January because people are making decisions much faster than during December and everyone is rested and fired up to get things done.
I have received a lot of feedback from investors throughout last year on how to tailor this update to more of a business update with business objectives, rather than how I sometimes have treated it like a “white paper” on our products and theories. So, here goes...
CEO Updates
The first objective for 2016 is revamping this update. As mentioned I have tended to use this as a forum to dive deeper into the products and the strategy, to talk about what we are building, and how the Cumul8 products work together. I do this because I’m excited about the product line and where it is going. However, the more I say, the more I get questions on specifics around customers, milestones, sales, etc. So, the focus of the updates moving forward will be to really start answering questions, as best I can. I will use it as a sort of FAQ, where I will take the questions I receive during the month and answer them for all to see. Keep the questions coming and I’ll keep the answers coming.
News Release Schedule
I’ve had a couple comments on the number and style of news releases. Our philosophy is to use news releases for real news—anything we officially announce is a meaningful part of growing the company, like signing a new Cumul8 project. When the client allows us to release, I will announce new contracts. Other items that are less specifically tied to corporate development milestones will be in this update. Our 2016 objective for news releases is for an increase in the number, which means we will be increasing partnerships, sales and product releases.
Sales Projections
I am continually being asked to publish revenue forecasts. There are large, established companies that do this, but we are not ready to share our yearly projections as we are still a new company. What we can do is give you our conservative goals for Cumul8 growth in 2016 (with the intent to exceed these):
12 new Cumul8 Enterprise clients 4 new modules for existing Cumul8 clients Over 2000 users of Cumul8 Over 50,000 active users of Cumul8 Sky Sales Process
We are finding our groove in the Cumul8 Enterprise sales cycle. Our goal is to get our sales cycle shorter. With each new client we pitch, we are learning how to tighten up the process—from introduction to closing the sale. To do this, we approach clients with an MVP (minimum viable product). This allows us to keep the first module’s price at a level that is easy to say “yes” to. As well, we believe it’s important to get something up and running fast to show Cumul8’s value in action.
Reelhouse
We plan to launch virtual reality (VR) capability with an exclusive VR project entitled Black Rock VR, which was shot at Burning Man in 2015. As well, will go deeper into some of the new relationships we have been working on. Key goals for Reelhouse for 2016 are:
5 new film distributors (with multiple films) signed VR capability launched with the acquisition of VR films I am excited about 2016 and thrilled to work with the amazing team at Eight. Mostly I would like to thank you for believing in us, for sending us comments and questions.
Sincerely,
Rory |