Assistance from investors helps digital marketing platform Quikly thrive
- Investors can provide strategic assistance as well as funding
- Choose investors who can bring specific skills to your company
- Entrepreneurs should be sure their vision aligns with their investors’
Phil Okun, chief strategy officer of Detroit-based Quikly, a digital marketing platform for retailers, said the company’s investors have provided strategic assistance that has been instrumental to the company’s growth.
“There was an advantage that turned out to be much more than money, which was partners who have become team members, and provide us guidance that would have been super expensive in the early stages of our company,” Okun said.
Quikly is a marketing engagement tool that helps retailers and brands drive consumer engagement and retention by motivating behaviors such as downloading an app, subscribing to an e-mail marketing list, joining a loyalty program or driving a purchase.
Customers include Domino’s Pizza Inc., McDonalds Corp. and Quicken Loans.
The company has 30 employees and has received funding from investors that include Detroit Venture Partners, a venture firm co-founded by Dan Gilbert, Chicago-based Hyde Park Angels and Ann Arbor-based Plymouth Growth Partners.
This year the company secured $2 million in a funding round led by Plymouth Growth Partners.
“We wouldn’t have been able to build our technology unless we chose funding, and we wouldn’t have been able to scale our sales the way we’ve been able to do without funding,” Okun said.
The company launched in 2012, receiving early investment from Detroit Venture Partners. Okun said DVP facilitated client introductions, helped build the leadership team and provided accounting, tax, legal and recruiting services.
“Without (that assistance), I don’t know that we could have dealt with the expenses necessary, because what we do from a legal perspective is very expensive, and in the early years I don’t know if we could have afforded it,” Okun said.
Okun said Quikly has chosen certain equity partners to bring specific skills to the company. For instance, Okun said Kevin Terrasi, Quikly’s board member from Plymouth Growth Partners, helped the company evolve its market strategy. And Quikly took investment from Hyde Park Angels for their background in marketing and technology strategy, providing experts at no cost to the company.
“It’s been instrumental in helping us, protecting us and moving the business forward,” Okun said. “(The investors) are literally part of our team and have helped us in every aspect of our business.”
Although Okun said Quikly has been successful in finding partners that were a fit for the company, it did not come without vetting and due diligence.
“I don’t think it ever should be done lightly,” Okun said. “You should have your business plan down to the nth degree, and tested your hypotheses with as many people as possible, because as soon as you start taking equity you start giving up a certain amount of control and ownership.”
Okun said entrepreneurs should be sure their vision aligns with their investors’, and that the business and financial model are agreed upon. If entrepreneurs find themselves arguing over these details, Okun said, it’s probably not the right investor for the company.
“If you choose the wrong investors they can be disruptive to the business, have certain rights, and use those rights to make it difficult for you to move the business forward in the vision that you and your team have,” Okun said.
Okun said to expect a joint interview process, as investors vet companies as well.
“(The investors) are being cautious because they have investors and want to protect their investors’ money, and we’re being cautious because we want to make sure that not only can we take funding, but this is going to be somebody who is going to help us execute, move the business forward and be a great teammate,” Okun said.
Originally featured in Crain’s Detroit.