Colorado Springs-based BombBomb has been a player in the video email marketing space since 2006. So why did the company double its client base in 2013 and is looking to do the same to its employee base this year?
One word: REach. The REach accelerator, which is put on through the strategic investment arm of National Association of Realtors called Second Century Ventures, aims to help companies disrupt the real estate industry.
BombBomb didn’t start off wanting to disrupt the real estate industry though. Intially they served anybody trying to make relationship via video with their complete email marketing platform. But BombBomb saw a spike in real estate agents signing up for the service after just one agent used the platform. That traction peaked the team’s interest in the industry, CEO Conor McCluskey said: “We were like, ‘What’s this real estate thing?’”
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They looked to get more involved with the real estate industry, although the team didn’t know much about it. They met Shalin Sheth, a REach senior associate, at a NAR conference in 2012 - and from there considered joining the accelerator’s very first class so the company could make more connections in the industry.
“I knew about Second Century Ventures, but we weren’t in their sweet spot for investment,” McCluskey said. “But if we can build a relationship with these people as a strategic investor, they have all the connections that we want.”
BombBomb joined the 2013 REach class even though the company was “in less of the traction phase and more of the sale phase” than other companies, McCluskey said. But REach accelerates companies at all stages by connecting them with well-established brands within the real estate industry.
Now, BombBomb has about 5,500 clients that span all 50 states and 32 countries and range from Applegate Organic Meats, ACTIVE Network (the sales team uses BombBomb to follow up with inbound leads) and State Farm agents. They also have deals with large franchised real estate brands like RE/MAX.
“Organically, we will double our company this year,” McCluskey said. “But we think with these big partnerships in play, we could triple or quadruple the company this year.”
Besides connecting with clients, BombBomb benefited from the connections made with other companies from other industries within the REach program: “Those relationships that you build, those conversations are priceless.”
The BombBomb team, posed for a groundbreaking year, credits much of their client and partnership traction to the REach accelerator, which helped them to leverage the industry that makes up 15 percent of the U.S. economy.
“Finding that niche and knowing that niche, it’s a defensible position if you can get to the market first and be the leader there,” McCluskey said. “Real estate a great place for people to look at: it’s a big enough to bring a company and a product and a service around and it’s a small enough market that it’s ripe. There’s tons of opportunity for innovation there.”
This year’s class, which will consist of six to 10 companies, will kick off in Chicago on April 21 and will last until November 2014. The deadline for final applications is March 1.
