The askSam CEO, on TechTransform

TechTransform, October 4, 2001: Phil Schnyder, CEO of askSam Systems, discussed his company's experience with TechTransform in this letter to an entrepreneur seeking a reference. He shared it with us; his permission to publish is gratefully acknowledged. At the outset, the sole purpose of our relationship with TechTransform was to increase sales. Initially, they reviewed our products, created some positioning/sales materials, and then helped us develop and execute a series of marketing activities. We started seeing sales from these activities about 4 - 6 weeks after we started working together. TechTransform made the schedule, and throughout the process I felt they were the ones pushing us forward. Once we started seeing initial results from the new marketing activities, Riggs and his team helped us analyze what was happening. This led to some changes in our product offering, business model, and marketing activities. In retrospect, many of the things that they suggested seem obvious - but they weren't at the time. The process was very interactive - they weren't the source of all the ideas, but their perspective forced us to look at our business differently. The results have been very good. Sales for the year are up dramatically over last year's sales (until September, we were on track to double sales). TechTransform is also assisting us in getting additional funding. They've introduced several possible deals, and we're currently awaiting a proposal from one of the groups. I hope this helps. Feel free to contact me if you require more information. Phil Schnyder