This morning, Hulu announced a new section called "Hulu Kids," which, as the name implies, organizes all the kid-friendly content in one easy-to-access section within Hulu's video library. The section is available online directly at Hulu.com/kids, and it can also be found in the "Kids" section of the "Browse" menu.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ySIcv3K_0_I/
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Early in his career, John Allison knew he possessed strong math and analytical skills. But the young banker wanted to do more than crunch numbers, so he developed as a leader.
Within months of taking a job at BB&T, a regional bank, Allison started increasing his secretary?s workload. One day, he dumped a pile of projects on her desk and she said, ?I?m not doing this.?
Allison feared he?d drive her to quit. So he invested in her training, involved her in decisions and helped her derive purpose from her job. He took the approach that by making her more successful, he?d gain success, too.
Allison also increased his self-?awareness. After enrolling in a training program that identified how one?s emotional beliefs block sound decision-making, he realized that he harbored a sense that no matter how well he performed at work, he wasn?t good enough. So he spurred himself to do better while learning to listen without getting defensive.
As Allison climbed the corporate ladder?he became BB&T?s CEO in 1989 and served in that role for nearly 20 years?he learned to communicate more effectively with colleagues. He concluded that people have filters that can distort what they hear, and these filters often stem from childhood. He sought to remove filters so that he could listen more accurately and think more rationally.
He controlled his ambition by adopting a, ?Put me in, coach,? attitude. Under his leadership, BB&T grew from $4.5 billion in assets to over $152 billion and became the 10th biggest U.S.-based bank.
?People ask me: When I went to the bank did I want to be CEO? Did I want to make a lot of money?,? he says. ?The answer is I love being CEO and I love making a lot of money. But these outcomes were never objectives of mine. My objective was to do whatever I did better than anybody had ever done it, and to enjoy it while I was doing it, and to see the connection between what I was doing and the rest of the organization.?
? Adapted from ?Interview With John Allison,? Stephen Hicks.
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Gatz Properties LLC v. Auriga Capital Corp., No. 148, 2012 (Del. Supr. Nov. 7, 2012) (Per Curiam).
Issue Addressed
Delaware?s High Court held that the manager of an LLC violated a contracted-for fiduciary duty that adopted the equitable standard of entire fairness in a conflict of interest transaction between the LLC and its manager.?
Brief Background
The Delaware Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Court of Chancery, highlighted here, which found that the manager of the LLC violated his fiduciary duty by refusing to negotiate with a third-party bidder and then, by causing the LLC to be sold to himself at an unfair price in a flawed auction that he himself engineered.? In addition to finding the manager liable for that breach of fiduciary duty, the Court upheld the finding that because the manager acted in bad faith and made willful misrepresentations, the LLC Agreement did not afford him exculpation or indemnification.? The Delaware Supreme Court upheld the award of damages solely on contractual grounds and also affirmed the award of the trial court of attorneys? fees.?
For a more detailed background of the case, refer to the highlights of the trial court decision summarized on these pages here, as well as a separate summary of the trial court award of attorneys? fees here.
Overview of Analysis
The Supreme Court observed that its review of contract interpretation issues is de novo.? The Court focused on what it referred to as the pivotal legal issue of whether Gatz, the manager of the LLC, owed contractually-agreed-to fiduciary duties to its minority investors based on the provisions of the LLC Agreement.? Both the trial court and the appellate court interpreted Section 15 of the LLC Agreement to impose fiduciary duties in connection with transactions between the LLC and affiliated persons even though the ?operative language? did not actually use the words fiduciary duty.? Specifically, the Court explained that when: ??Viewed functionally, the quoted language is the contractual equivalent of the entire fairness equitable standard of conduct and judicial review.?? See footnotes 18 ? 20.?
The Supreme Court noted the contrast of this result with the outcome that would obtain in the traditional corporate law setting, where an informed majority-of-the-minority shareholder vote operates to shift of burden of proof on the issue of fairness.? See footnote 20 (citing Kahn v. Lynch Communications Systems, Inc., 630 A.2d 1110, 1117, (Del. 1994)).
The High Court reviewed the trial court?s detailed factual findings and was satisfied that the manager, Gatz, failed to carry his burden of proving that he discharged his contracted-for the entire fairness obligation.? Thus the court affirmed the determination of the trial court on liability solely on contractual grounds.?
Exculpation/Indemnification
The Supreme Court also reviewed Section 16 of the LLC agreement that permitted both exculpation and indemnification under specified circumstances, which Gatz did not satisfy.? He was not entitled to exculpation because the trial court properly found that he acted in bad faith and made willful representations in the course of breaching his duties.?
Bad faith has been defined in the corporate fiduciary duty of loyalty context as:? ?A failure to act in the face of a known duty to act,? which demonstrates a ?conscious disregard of one?s duties.?? See footnote 48.? The Court recounted the detailed factual basis for the trial court?s finding that Gatz acted primarily to ensure that offers to buy the golf course would be thwarted, and Gatz also conducted the auction in a bad faith manner that was destined to return the golf course to his control.? Also, the ?rigged? auction was destined not to obtain a fair value for the assets.? Moreover, Gatz provided incomplete and misleading information to the minority shareholders about the negotiations for the sale and the auction.? Thus, Gatz was not entitled to the immunization from liability that would otherwise be allowed under the LLC Agreement.
Unnecessary Construction of LLC Statute to Provide Default Fiduciary Duties
This is the part of the opinion that is most unusual and will receive extensive attention.? Before describing those juicy parts, I state one important substantive result of this opinion.? The net result of this opinion is that:
The issue of whether default fiduciary duties apply to Delaware LLCs when the LLC agreement is silent on the matter is an open issue in Delaware and anything the trial court said to the contrary in this case is mere dictum.? See footnote 62.
The Supreme Court in its per curiam opinion explained why the trial court ?should not have reached or decided? the issue of whether default fiduciary duties are imposed on LLC managers and controllers unless the parties to the LLC agreement waive such duties.? The Court explained that it was ?improvident and unnecessary for the trial court to reach out and decide, sua sponte, the default fiduciary duty issue as a matter of statutory construction.??
Delaware?s High Court provided five reasons why the Court of Chancery?s ?statutory pronouncements must be regarded as dictum without any presidential value.?? See footnote 62.?
The first reason the Court regarded that section of the trial court?s opinion as dictum is because the LLC agreement specifically addressed the fiduciary duty issue which controls the dispute.? Second, no litigant asked the Court of Chancery or the Supreme Court to decide the default fiduciary duty issue as a matter of statutory law.?
Thus, the Delaware Supreme Court emphasized that:? ?We decline to express any view regarding whether default fiduciary duties apply as a matter of statutory construction.? The Court of Chancery likewise should have so refrained.?? Slip op. at 25.
The third reason why the Court regarded that section of the trial court opinion as dictum is because the trial court should not imply that its decision is the final word on matters of Delaware law.? Although stare decisis may require other trial judges to rely on the decisions of the trial court, the Delaware Supreme Court is:? ?not so constrained.?? See footnote 68.? The fourth reason why the Delaware Supreme Court regarded the trial court discussion of default fiduciary duties based on a statutory analysis as dictum is because the merits on the issue of whether the LLC statute does, or does not, impose default fiduciary duties is:? ?One about which reasonable minds could differ.?? See Slip op. at 26.? In that regard, the Delaware Supreme Court noted at footnote 70 that the statutory analysis of the trial court ?may have been influenced by its misreading of two cases: ?Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P. v. Cantor, 2000 WL 307370 (Del. Ch. Mar. 13, 2000) and William Penn Partnership v. Saliba, 13 A.3d 749 (Del. 2011).
The fifth reason why the Court described portions of the trial court opinion as dictum was because: ?the ?trial court?s excursus on this issue strayed beyond the proper purview and function of a judicial opinion.?? The Court explained that:? ?A judge?s duty is to resolve the issues that the parties present in a clear and concise manner.? To the extent Delaware judges wish to stray beyond those issues and, without making any definitive pronouncements, ruminate on what the proper direction of Delaware law should be, there are appropriate platforms, such as law review articles, the classroom, continuing legal education presentations, and key note speeches.?? See footnote 73.
Damages
The Supreme Court observed that the standard of review for damages is an abuse of discretion.? See footnote 75.? The Delaware High Court found that the award of damages was ?based on conscience and reason? and upheld it.? See footnote 86.
Attorneys? Fees
The Delaware Supreme Court reviews an award by the trial court of attorneys? fees based on an abuse of discretion standard.? See footnote 87.? The Court observed that the Court of Chancery has equitable powers to shift attorneys? fees and properly did so in this case.? Although this case involved a legal dispute over a contractual provision of an LLC agreement, Delaware?s High Court instructed that:? ?Even at law a court has inherent authority to shift fees where necessary to control the court?s own process.?? See footnote 83.? In particular, the Supreme Court upheld the bad faith exception to the American Rule based on the trial court?s finding that trial conduct met the definition of bad faith in this context as follows:? ?Where parties have unnecessarily prolonged or delayed litigation . . . or knowingly asserted frivolous claims.?? See footnotes 89 through 92.? The High Court also agreed that there was ample support in the record for the following description of the litigation conduct of the losing party:?
?Particularly troubling are the findings that Gatz? counsel left to Gatz himself the primary role of collecting responsive documents, and that Gatz deleted relevant documents while litigation was either pending or highly likely.?? See footnotes 93 and 94 (internal quotes omitted).
Practice Tip
The foregoing quote about the shifting of attorneys? fees being justified at least in part due to counsel for a party relying primarily on the client alone to collect responsive documents should be a warning to all litigants in Delaware courts: ?If they rely exclusively on their clients to collect responsive documents ? - they do so at their peril.? Other cases highlighted on these pages have indicated that Delaware courts expect Delaware counsel to be actively involved in the discovery process and not ?simply take the word of their client? for purposes of determining whether all responsive documents have been produced.? See, generally, Lake Treasure decision highlighted here.
In addition, regarding the basis for the award of fees, the Delaware Supreme Court noted the trial court finding that:? ?Gatz and his counsel simply splattered the record with a series of legally and factually implausible assertions.?? See footnote 95.? One would expect to see that description in future requests for exceptions to the American Rule.? As the trial court opinion highlighted at the link above indicated, there were some positions that the defendant took which the Court regarded as unsupported by the facts or the law.
Finally, as a practice tip, footnote 96 of the Supreme Court opinion instructs the parties and their counsel that when seeking attorneys? fees in an appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court, although Supreme Court Rule 20(f) allows for the award of attorneys? fees in the case of a frivolous appeal, the request for attorneys? fees will not be considered if only made informally in briefs or in oral argument.? Rather, a formal motion for fees must be made and presented in accordance with Supreme Court rules for motions.
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Medal-winning Paralympians Harriet Lee, who now lives in Peterborough and Matt Skelhon from Stilton were special guests at a dedicated Paralympic Celebration Tour of the city on Wednesday November 7 organsied by Vivacity Culture & Leisure in partnership with Peterborough City Council.
Both confirmed they now have their sites firmly set on bettering their achievements at the next Paralympic Games and are gearing up for training hard once again.
Harriet Lee (21) who trains at the Regional Pool won a bronze medal in the Paralympic women?s 100m breaststroke, while Matt Skelhon (27) won silver and bronze in mixed rifle events. Jody Cundy from Wisbech who won bronze in the men?s cycling 4km individual pursuit finals was due to attend but couldn?t make it on the day.
Harriet told ESP ? ?Yes I?ve just decided to try for Rio, so another four years! I?ve got breaks inbetween with Worlds and Commonwealth comeptitions, so we?ll just take each year as it comes health wise and fitness wise and see where we go with that.
?This is the first weekend I?ll be out for a long time. You won?t be seeing me out much. It?s pool sleep and pool really!?
Matt also confimed he?s continuing with his sport - ?Yeah I?m aiming for Rio. I?ve had a bit of time off but I?ll start training again this weekend and then four years will soon fly by again and we?ll be qualified and hopefully I?ll be on a plane to Rio.?
The celebrations began at Bushfield Leisure Centre at Orton Centre where students from Ormiston Bushfield Academy took part in a question and answer session with the athletes. They then moved on to Jack Hunt Swimming Pool & Gym in Netherton where they met to staff and students from Jack Hunt School.
Councillor George Simons, Mayor of Peterborough, said: ?This is the perfect opportunity for the city of Peterborough as a whole to thank our local athletes for representing the UK in the Paralympics this summer ? a wonderful celebration of their hard work, sportsmanship and achievements.?
As part of the celebrations Olympic Torch bearers and Paralympic Flame carriers Tash Applegate and Iain Crighton also attended, giving students and the public the opportunity to take photographs of two of the iconic Olympic Torches and the Paralympic Flame.
Jon Marsden, Head of Sports and Recreation at Vivacity, said: ?For Peterborough the Olympic and Paralympic legacy really has inspired a generation.?
In the afternoon the athletes arrived at the Embankment Sports and Athletics Arena where an official presentation took place by the Mayor and representatives from Vivacity, Peterborough City Council, Living Sport, Sainsbury?s and DIAL.
Children from Heltwate, Phoenix, Marshfields Special Schools and students from Matley Primary School in Peterborough then tried out specially adapted handcycles and tandems provided by PACS (the Peterborough Adapted Cycling Scheme).
Matt believes it?s important we keep the legacy of Olympics and Paralympics going strong and that this year?s event has made a huge difference ? ?I think it?ll stick. A big thing?s been made of it for more than just the past few months, the past few years have been leading up to it. I think Channel 4 did a great job with the marketing and it?ll stick in people?s minds definitely.?
Harriett agrees ? ?Even if for the next couple of years we do a few school visits I think we?ve got to somehow keep what we did in the summer fresh in people?s minds and inspire them still now to keep going.?
Read more in the next issue of ESP Magazine.
Photos: Chris Brudenell for ESP Magazine
Source: http://www.espmag.co.uk/paralympians-tour-peterborough/
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Mark Titus, right, exits Federal Court in New Orlerans with his attorney, Paul Villalobos, on Oct. 10. Titus posted comments about his case in the politics blog Slabbed.org. (Photo by Ted Jackson, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
"The truth will come out, unfortunately for me I will (be) behind bars." Mark Titus
Criminal defense attorneys often advise their clients not to make public comments about their cases, fearing that a moment of candor could hurt their legal strategy. That didn't stop Mark Titus, a defendant in the River Birch landfill investigation, from posting comments about his charges on a local politics website recently.
Titus used his real name as he authored several comments on Slabbed.org, a blog about Jefferson Parish politics, disputing a few specific allegations from prosecutors and engaging on a brief back-and-forth with some commenters. Titus' attorney, Jimmy Ardoin, and Slabbed.org's founder, Doug Handshoe, confirmed this week that Titus was the author of the comments posted under his name.
Titus is set to begin a five-year sentence in a few weeks for his guilty plea to a conspiracy to commit mail fraud charge.
"I am not hiding behind any anonymous name like many of you that comment here on Slabb, but of course because of my current matters I am unable to really let loose and engage on what I would really like to say, hope ya'll can respect that," Titus began on his first comment Oct. 27.
He went on to dispute the government's characterization of some property transactions involving him and other members of his family. Prosecutors have portrayed the transactions as an effort to shield assets from possible forfeiture. Titus offered other explanations. He said the government's filing makes people "believe that I significantly encumbered my home." In reality, he wrote, he refinanced his home to reduce his mortgage from 22 years to 15 years and reduce his interest rate, "equating to a significant savings."
Referring to a line of credit on his home that the government also highlighted, Titus said that was an existing loan that was simply reissued after Hancock Bank bought out Whitney Bank. The line of credit, he said, "has a zero balance."
The Justice Department in Washington, D.C., which took over the case after U.S. Attorney Jim Letten recused his office earlier this year, got no love in Titus' comments.
"Upon their arrival one of the first things DC DOJ did was to accuse me of conspiring with Fazzio to orchestrate this whole thing and have it blow up," Titus posted, referring to River Birch landfill executive Dominick Fazzio, who is his brother-in-law. Prosecutors have accused Titus and Fazzio of a joint scheme to defraud a firm Titus co-owns. Titus and Fazzio have pleaded not guilty and awaiting trial.
"I think I remember reading some comment about having an interesting Thanksgiving dinner, this one wont be any different except mine will be in the roundbar hotel, Fazzio's won't," Titus wrote.
Titus also wrote that "the truth will come out, unfortunately for me I will (be) behind bars and have likely lost everything when it does. Despite the hardship along the way I have much faith in the Justice system."
Titus' online posts appear unlikely to get him in any hot water, except perhaps with his attorney, who didn't sound pleased about his client commenting about the case online.
"He did not consult me before he did it," Ardoin said. "But I don't see anything there that hasn't been said before."
Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/10/mark_titus_discusses_river_bir.html
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An interview with ActiveRain CEO Nikesh Parekh
Whether you are a veteran or novice of the real estate industry, there have been few more recognizable, not to mention Realtor-friendly, services over the last several years than ActiveRain.?? However, since its inception in 2006, ActiveRain has become more than just a simple blogging platform used by thousands of Realtors to market themselves and their communities.? With Market Leader?s 2011 acquisition, ActiveRain will surely benefit from its vast financial, technological and industry resources, which could enable it to morph into a significant asset for today?s ever-increasing tech-savvy Realtors in an ever-changing marketplace.
What kind of player?? Well, first ask yourself why would Market Leader acquire a simple blogging platform like ActiveRain? What do they hope to gain and how does ActiveRain strategically figure into Market Leader?s already sizeable web presence including RealEstate.com, HouseValues.com, JustListed.com, Domania.com and SharperAgent?? With so many great questions and so few answers, I thought, ?How can we get these answers??? Why not just ask their CEO? ?So, I did.
Nikesh Parekh
About a month ago, Nikesh Parekh was gracious enough to sit down and chat with me about the company since his promotion to CEO of ActiveRain in 2011.? A well-educated, seasoned executive who is all too familiar with the benefits of infusing technology, real estate and finance, Nikesh has? been employed by some of this country?s most thought-provoking companies including Dell, Credit Suisse, Second Avenue Partners, HouseValues and, of course, MarketLeader.
Interview with Nikesh Parekh, CEO of ActiveRain:
:? Tell me about your ever-winding road to ActiveRain.
Nikesh Parekh:? After coming out of business school (Harvard), I worked for a VC, CVC Capital Partners, which had invested in HouseValues, Inc. at a time when it was essentially just seven guys. ?In 2002, I left the VC and joined HouseValues with Market Leader?s current CEO, Ian Morris.? Together, we grew the company?s revenue from $10M in 2001 to $100M between the years 2002-2007.?
At this time, we launched new products like GetListed and entered the hot and highly profitable mortgage business.? However, in 2007, with the market showing signs of wear and tear, I helped Ian shut down the mortgage division and stabilize the company.? In 2008, I departed and joined Madrona Venture Group as an Entrepreneur in Residence, which was an amazing opportunity and allowed me to gain invaluable expertise and insight.
Not long after, in 2008, I was given a great opportunity to actually use my degree in Biochemistry while working for Bio Architecture Lab, where we created an intelligent process for converting seaweed into renewable biofuel. Within only a few years, we grew the company from just one person to over forty and raised $35M in capital. ?
However, because I made frequent trips between our corporate office in San Francisco and Chile, I didn?t get much time to spend with my young family ? that is, until a year later when I was offered an Executive VP position with Market Leader. ?In 2010, Market Leader invested in ActiveRain and then within a short year following, acquired the company and offered me the CEO position where I sit today, while also co-managing RealEstate.com which Market Leader purchased in March 2012 from LendingTree.
:? Long thought as one of the most natural and effective domains of our industry, how do you to plan to effectively utilize RealEstate.com?
NP: Purchased originally by LendingTree in the late 1990?s, the original intent of RealEstate.com was to buy real estate brokerages and partner with others to essentially create a one-stop real estate portal.? With natural traffic of 1M unique visitors a month, the original intent of the domain hasn?t changed; it always serves as a real estate referral website that generates considerable new business leads and creates great customer traction.
:? Speaking of ?natural,? are there any plans to integrate ML?s suite of services into ActiveRain?
NP:? Slowly and carefully.? In time, ActiveRain will have Market Leader?s suite of services in a very light way, and we?ve also discussed options with digital signature and transaction management providers.?
:? With the resources of Market Leader, how will ActiveRain change?
NP:? Our focus will still be about servicing the wants and needs of real estate professionals, unlike Zillow and Trulia who cater more directly to consumers.? This dedication has enabled ActiveRain to generate 2M+ consumer visits a month in part because of our 5M pages of content created by our Realtor network.? Moreover, other industry professionals including attorneys and mortgage brokers find we have a fast and easy platform where they can simply collaborate; and now with Market Leader, we possess the effective capabilities of successful lead generation as well as tighter CRM integration with prospect managing and ActiveRain?s blogging.
:? You hear more and more Realtors talking about IDX technology. Do you offer this service?
NP:? Yes and, in fact, we are the largest providers of IDX websites with over 400 MLS companies, 100,000 agents and some of the biggest brokerages including Keller Williams and Century 21.
:? I know Market Leader offers website development, but will you be joining Zillow in price?
NP:? While they offer cheap websites, our key value includes the aggregating of over 300,000 real estate professionals into a unified blogging platform.? To accurately prove our value, we surveyed all our members on services price point, ROI in comparison to income generated and costs incurred on websites and what regions of the country were stabilizing. Take a look at the InfoGraphics and you?ll see some fascinating and effective data.
:? Because of a slowly recouping market, partly due to a serious lack of professional trust, have you ever considered creating an ?Agent Review? or Verified Agent service through ActiveRain?
NP:? We thought about it, but we find our current point system best demonstrates how engaged our real estate professionals are on the site and discussing their community.? A proxy for agent experience.
:? With 300,000+ agents blogging about their experiences and insight, do you offer coaching?
NP:? Actually, ActiveRain doesn?t need to, as the largest community of real estate professionals connecting and bettering content discovery (5M pages), but Market Leader does offer the IMSD (Internet Marketing Specialist Designation) program run by industry leaders Ben Kinney and Geeky Girls.
:? Are you planning any future integrations, and how about adding mobility capabilities?
NP:? With 5M pages, our core focus was to create better stability on ActiveRain, and currently we?re redesigning and rebuilding the website integrating HTML5.? While our websites are built to recognize mobile phones, mobile access to our CRM and other services will be something on the horizon.
: Now, for a touchy subject? ?grandfathering.?? Can you provide me some insight on what happened?
NP:? ActiveRain was a free site launched in May 2006 by Jonathan Washburn. It grew dramatically and, as such, raised capital from HouseValues in the Fall of 2007. By the Fall of 2008, we went through most of the financing and needed to find a way to make additional money, so we introduced a premium blog called RainMaker.? As a way of showing our appreciation to many of the original bloggers who joined prior to February 2009, they were grandfathered and were given free blogs.
However, in order to keep their free blog, a member had to blog at least once every three months, and write at least one public blog.? It became apparent that some agents, while busy running their practices, were surprised after not logging in for several months when they were asked to pay for the blog.? We quickly corrected the matter and grandfathered members who called in with their free blogs.? We certainly wanted to do the right thing for the original bloggers as they invested a lot of time and energy.? It ultimately came down to a decision between running a viable business and doing what is right for the members.
END Interview with Nikesh Parekh
Note: Only hours after my insightful meeting with Nikesh, MarketLeader?s marketing executives invited me to schedule an appointment to meet and chat with Ian Morris, CEO of Market Leader.? I?d say that was a no-brainer, because before they could even finish the question I had already answered, ?Yes!?
Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts, we missed each other, but in his place I met with the intelligent and extremely capable Sarah Daniels, Market Leader?s Chief Marketing Officer.
Interview with Sarah Daniels begins:
:? With such a diverse background, what brought you to MarketLeader?
Sarah Daniels:? I spent a considerable amount of time with technology companies and was always interested in bettering the experience. In fact, at one point in time, I was involved with children?s software and that gave me a real appreciation for a ?Keep It Simple? perspective and approach. ?I found that if clients are taking too long to understand or learn our software, we?re doing something wrong.? In this industry, if I can?t walk in the shoes of both novice and seasoned Realtors, I?m not doing my job.
:? As much as I?d love to try out your CRM, what can you tell me about it?
SD:? Again, we take a ?Keep It Simple? approach. ?A real estate professional?s job is to be connecting with buyers and sellers and to make the process simple for their clients. Their job is not to learn complicated software, so when we put out software we are trying to walk in our customer?s shoes, no matter whether they?re a younger, out of college digital native or an older Realtor who is getting acclimated to computers and software. To aid our members, we also created a directory of short videos explaining various modules of our software. We found that if our clients were spending more than five minutes learning how to use any part of our software, then we made a mistake.
NOTE: At this time, Sarah walked me through different parts of ML?s CRM system, which I found very simple, and I was astounded at the sheer volume of their 4,000-template library.
:? Who do you consider as your competitors?
SD:? Niche solutions. There are many different small companies that provide individual products or services, but no one really has created a suite like ours. I think at some point in the future these small companies will disappear. I do think that Zillow and Trulia may be considered a competitor, but again, that?s in the future.
Conclusion: As an active SM professional, I am blessed to have many friends who are among the cream of the crop in electronic networking; however, many of these professionals share my unyielding commitment to being what I call, ?H.O.T.?? (Honest, Open, and Transparent). With that said, I?ve recently noticed a discussion trend relating to ActiveRain, and it?s clearly one of pessimism regarding the website?s ability to market Realtors since its acquisition by MarketLeader.
While ActiveRain markets that they have 300,000 registered members, how many of those members are still involved in publishing content or using the platform for current marketing?? On the other hand, we must not discount their multi-faceted resources.
So, in conclusion, with the recent strategic acquisitions made by Market Leader, will Realtors finally have a powerful, web-based, one-stop solution to help them build their businesses and market new leads?? While I think that they already have a plethora of solutions, competition in our industry is fierce and can change in a New York minute. So, who is the next big player in town?? We?ll explore that and more in the next up-and-coming edition of TNR.
Jeff Chalmers
Interview conducted by Jeff Chalmers, a 20+ year veteran of the real estate industry, Inman Ambassador and Vice President of Mortgage Lending for Guaranteed Rate, Inc., the nation?s? fastest growing mortgage company. A serial tech entrepreneur and industry finance and closing expert, Jeff has facilitated over 15,000 residential real estate loans worth about $5B. Additionally, he networks with many of the industry?s most effective and gifted social media leaders and web developers.? He can be reached at 774-291-6527 or [email?protected]. ?You can also visit him online at www.ClicknFinance.com, and follow him on Facebook or Twitter.? All of Jeff?s comments are his own and are not those of Guaranteed Rate, Inc.
Short URL: http://www.thenichereport.com/?p=11975
Source: http://www.thenichereport.com/articles/is-activerain-a-market-leader/
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