679: Mobile Majority $25M raised, Acquires Qualcomm's Gimbal To Lead Mobile Ad Attribution Using Beacons w/ CEO Rob Emrich

Published: June 3, 2017, 9 a.m.

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Rob Emrich. He\\u2019s a serial entrepreneur, currently involved in his latest venture as the founder and CEO of The Mobile Majority. He\\u2019s founded and served as chief executive at 6 startups in social ventures including Road of Life, which distributed as $70M dollar curriculum; BULX, which was acquired by Dealyard in 2011; and Boundaryless Brands, which was acquired in 2011 along with SpeakerSite. Know more about Rob at his website.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? \\u2013 The Goal
  • What CEO do you follow? \\u2013 N/A
  • Favorite online tool? \\u2014 Spark Email Client
  • How many hours of sleep do you get?\\u2014 8
  • If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? \\u2013 \\u201cHave fun\\u201d

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Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 00:40 \\u2013 Nathan introduces Rob to the show
  • 01:26 \\u2013 Rob just bought Gimbal and will use that name
    • 01:55 \\u2013 They\\u2019re taking the name most especially because of the .com in Gimbal\\u2019s website
  • 02:15 \\u2013 Rob believes that what drives success in online marketing is data
  • 02:58 \\u2013 Most of Rob\\u2019s previous companies were in the ecommerce space
  • 03:22 \\u2013 Mobile phone ends up being the bridge between the online world and the offline world
    • 03:31 \\u2013 Rob was missing data regarding targeting and attribution
    • 03:46 \\u2013 There\\u2019s no way to know if an offline campaign is effective
  • 04:36 \\u2013 The technology Rob bought that has the data can now run campaigns and know that you were on that campaign
  • 05:05 \\u2013 Offline behavior ends up becoming an incredibly strong signal of intent and is an accurate way to measure attribution
  • 05:21 \\u2013 Gimbal uses Beacon
    • 05:37 \\u2013 Beacons are usually a 2-flow energy and Qualcomm invested around over a hundred million dollars for the technology
    • 06:01 \\u2013 Beacons are precise when working with GPS
  • 06:53 \\u2013 Qualcomm spun out beacons in 4 other companies to develop the culture of innovation
    • 07:28 \\u2013 When they spun out in 2014, it became a challenge for big companies to innovate
  • 08:20 \\u2013 The valuation
  • 08:44 \\u2013 The deal structure that Rob had with Qualcomm was a mix of different things: cash, debt and equity
  • 08:57 \\u2013 Total funding from Mobile Majority was around $25M
  • 09:03 \\u2013 Mobile Majority was launched in 2012
  • 09:38 \\u2013 Rob has gone through things after his first exit
    • 10:05 \\u2013 \\u201cI\\u2019m going big at this point\\u201d
  • 10:16 \\u2013 Rob is currently 37 and has no kids
  • 10:33 \\u2013 Team size is around 100
  • 11:20 \\u2013 Primary line of business is essentially acting as a media and advertising operating system for large media companies
    • 11:41 \\u2013 They target individual people
    • 11:44 \\u2013 \\u201cWe understand identity very, very well\\u201d
    • 13:09 \\u2013 They were getting revenue share
  • 13:42 \\u2013 When CBS creates content, that content generates users and Mobile Majority exposes them to more user data and will sell their operated properties
  • 14:30 \\u2013 Mobile Majority is different from Outbrain because Mobile Majority\\u2019s ads are more targeted
  • 15:10 \\u2013 Mobile Majority now has 10K end customers
    • 16:00 \\u2013 Total advertising purchase range is between $10M-100M
  • 16:15 \\u2013 Average percentage taken by Mobile Majority varies
    • 17:08 \\u2013 Instead of charging towards content, Mobile Majority will only hit specific people who are on the list
  • 18:46 \\u2013 The Famous Five

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3 Key Points:

  1. There\\u2019s a lot of missed data in the offline world that is still not easy to track.
  2. Knowing and understanding your target audience is more effective and cost-efficient for you.
  3. Just go on with your life and have fun, create businesses while you still can.

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Resources Mentioned:

  • The Top Inbox \\u2013 The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
  • Hotjar \\u2013 Gives Nathan a recording of what is happening on a website or where are people clicking and scrolling on the website
  • Organifi \\u2013 The juice was Nathan\\u2019s life saver during his trip in Southeast Asia
  • Klipfolio \\u2013 Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
  • Acuity Scheduling \\u2013 Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
  • Host Gator\\u2013 The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible
  • Audible\\u2013 Nathan uses Audible when he\\u2019s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books
  • Freshbooks \\u2013 Nathan doesn\\u2019t waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

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