SoftwareCEO Events Schedule

Class / Event Title	Recession-Proof Your Software: A Special Panel Discussion
Date Recorded	12/11/2008 (9:00-10:30am)
Instructor	Judy Schramm, President, JMR Consulting Steve Kraner, Principal, TopLine Solutions Bert Vermeulen, Founder, Corp21

SoftwareCEO - Software University

What's it about?	This special panel will discuss the current economic recession and how small software firms can successfully navigate through it. We'll have several software industry veterans on deck, representing a range of perspectives from marketing and sales to finance, to help you develop strategies to not just survive, but thrive, in this difficult economic climate.
Who should attend?	CEO, VP of Marketing/Sales, Account Executives, VP Finance
What will the class cover?	Hearing crickets in your sales channel? Wondering if marketing is even worth it right now? Cash flow keeping you up at night? If you're uncertain what to do next, you're not alone. Our expert team has been through this before. And they're helping others just like you cope with these issues right now.
How do you know if you need this class?	Do you know... If you should cut expenses? If so, what expenses to cut, and how to reallocate the rest? Where to focus your marketing efforts to get the most bang for the buck? How to counter demands from buyers to discount because "Hey, times are tough!"? How to manage your financials in light of longer and longer sales cycles? If not, join us. Listen and learn from experts who've been through this before. And since this is going to be interactive, you can ask our panel the tough questions pertinent to your business.
What will attendees receive?	Copy of the slide presentation
What should you do ahead of time?	Nothing.
About the panelists	Judy Schramm, CEO JMR Consulting Judy Schramm founded JMR Consulting in 1994 with the goal to provide small software firms quality marketing, advertising, and public relations previously only accessible to larger firms. Since 1994, she has supervised the launch of 78 software products or services, and placed more than 111 articles written by or about her clients in CIO Magazine, PC Magazine, SD Times, eWeek, InfoWorld, Dr. Dobb's Journal, and a wide range of vertical magazines and web portals. Her clients — both ISVs and resellers with both horizontal vertical solutions — depend on her not only for the design and execution of successful marketing campaigns, but also for marketing strategy, positioning, and business development. Schramm’s expertise is strongest in B2B software marketing. And her results with clients are impressive. Under her marketing leadership, Schramm helped catapult one company from a market position of 'second smallest' to 'largest in the world.' Her marketing campaign helped another client double revenues in 2006. And she led a third to become the dominant vendor in its industry. Her expertise has been in high demand ever since opening JMR's doors 13 years ago. For the past 10 years, she's only accepted new clients on referral. Schramm has been interviewed for industry publications such as MarketingSherpa and Software Success, and she serves as Marketing and PR moderator for SoftwareCEO's forums. And she's been an instructor at Software University before: Marketing Primer for the Software CEO: 8 Critical Components That Every Small ISV Should Have In Their Marketing Plan Prior to founding JMR Consulting, Schramm worked as an international marketing manager for Sage Software, and as marketing manager for CACI. She also ran a retail business, for which she generated her own marketing collateral and publicity campaigns, generating coverage in more than 50 publications, five television shows, and two radio shows. A local bank VP called her business plan "one of the best I've seen." Steve Kraner, Principal TopLine Solutions, Inc. Steve Kraner is NOT a natural salesman. He describes himself as an engineer who crossed over to the dark side. Steve's software sales and negotiating methodology has been proven to increase profitability of software companies like yours. Watch your effectiveness and numbers grow right out of the gate as Steve gives you new ways to build leverage, negotiate and close. Steve brings his dynamic leadership skills, honed by his training at West Point and experience as a paratroop commander and entrepreneur. He has built successful high-tech divisions within two major U.S. corporations and has consulted with numerous entrepreneurial software companies. Steve is a nationally published author on the topic of software sales, sales management and negotiating. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy and holds an MBA from Loyola College. Bert Vermeulen, Founder Corp21 Prior to founding Corp21, Bert Vermeulen worked twenty years for manufacturing and technology companies including: Over eight years with Hewlett Packard in Colorado, England and Russia as a senior manager in the marketing and quality functions, primarily for mass-storage technologies. This included managing the product strategy that generated a $150 million/year DDS tape drive business. Over eight years with Plasco, Inc (a plastic injection molding business that is now part of Trend Technologies) as a business partner, vice president and general manager. Key experience included growing the business to $25 million in revenues, operating at world-class profitability, and selling the business to a strategic buyer. This included work in Colorado, Mexico and Hungary. Shorter assignments with Incon (development of electrical connectors), Datametrics (development of optical shaft encoders) and the Boston Consulting Group (business strategy). His academic background includes a bachelor's and a master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from Stanford University.