Company: Virtual Causeway
Location: Waterloo, Ontario
Contact: Rick Endrulat, President & Chief Operating Officer

April 2006

V-causeway is a Waterloo, Ontario based company that was ranked on the profit 50 (www.profitguide.com) in 2005 . Waterloo is home to around 16,000 IT workers, the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University and it is the headquarters for some of the world's most innovative companies.

Waterloo Region has an entrepreneurial culture built on innovation and V-causeway is a reflection of these values. V-causeway provides market intelligence and sales prospecting services to IT companies mostly in the US and their clientele is a blue chip roster of established companies.

CFOsources had the privilege of talking with Rick Endrulat, the President of V-causeway.

We understand that you have been in technology sales for quite sometime now and are published; can you tell us a little about your background?

My education includes a Master's in Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, with studies focused on technology marketing, brand building, marketing strategy and competitive intelligence. I am also part of the mentoring program at the Schlegal Centre for Entrepreneurship at Wilfrid Laurier University. Some of the research I’ve done in the fields of competitive intelligence and technology marketing has been published in Retail Systems Reseller, STORES Magazine and the textbook “Controversies in Competitive Intelligence” by Craig S Fleisher and David L Blenkhorn. In addition, I have written business cases for the WLU School of Business and Economics.

When was your company started and what were the major milestones?

Virtual Causeway was established in March of 2001 with main offices in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Virtual Causeway decided to call Waterloo home because of its location, in the heart of Canada’s Technology Triangle. With 4 local colleges and universities, we have access to a large technical labour pool.

In 2002, Virtual Causeway grew our workforce by 35% and we have continued substantial growth every year since. Today, Virtual Causeway has over 30 employees in North America with offices in Boston, MA and Waterloo, Ontario. In 2004, Virtual Causeway more than doubled their office space to accommodate the growing workforce.

In 2004, Virtual Causeway signed on as a premier Ambassador for Canada’s Technology Triangle Inc. to help develop the economic growth of the region. The Ambassador Program's goals are to work to advocate business growth in the area, increase awareness of local resources, both in Canada and internationally, and encourage local business-to-business relationship building.

In 2005, Virtual Causeway was chosen as one of Canada’s hottest emerging growth companies by Profit Magazine and was showcased in the sixth annual PROFIT HOT 50. The PROFIT HOT 50 is the definitive ranking of Canada’s emerging growth companies, and Virtual Causeway was ranked because of 124% revenue growth from 2002 to 2004.

We know this is on your web site but for the purposes of this newsletter can you tell us what services your company offers?

Virtual Causeway is a leading outsource provider of integrated sales and marketing services. We focus on Business-to-Business (B2B) activities specifically related to sales, marketing and market research for the high-tech industry. We understand our customers businesses and work with each client to address specific business pain points - with reliable, competent and quality tele-services. We enter into risk-sharing relationships with our clients to ensure that the project goals are met.

By leveraging our industry-specific management expertise, our strong labor pool of highly educated employees, and leading-edge call center technology, Virtual Causeway is uniquely positioned to provide strong returns on investment to industry leading firms in North America.

Our lead generation programs show immediate return for our clients, while our pay-for-performance methodology ensures that a strong partnership is built with our clients.

Our customers and corporate partners, such as RIM, Sybase, and IDC, include not only industry leaders, but some of the most innovative multinational technology corporations in North America.

What makes your firm different from its competitors?

Virtual Causeway has been in business for over 5 years with a management team that has over 20 years of experience in the high-tech market. We offer competitive pricing and have adopted a pay-for-performance methodologies.

We have experience talking to all levels of a high-tech organization including CXX level and have experience in many verticals including Financial Services, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical, Retail and Telecommunications.

Our solution experts have extensive CRM experience including Siebel, Salesforce.com, Goldmine and ACT. In addition, our team includes solutions experts speaking native languages German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and other Asian and Middle Eastern Dialects.

Generally speaking what are the critical success factors in an effective marketing & sales effort for IT firms?

Organizations need to ensure that their marketing efforts are targeted. When kicking off a sales and marketing program, the target market should be clearly defined and a strong database needs to be in place to meet the goal of getting your message to the right people.

Make it a priority early in the program to establish a beach head in a region or vertical industry. Nothing speaks louder than a strong customer reference. Your customer references will help you get additional clients. The more customer stories you have to share the better.

When talking with prospects, always focus on what your technology is going to do for their company – in other words what is the value. Don’t get caught up in the technology - avoid solely talking about features.

Organizations need to focus on their core competencies. Most organizations do not have the in-house resources or experience available to effectively run all sales and marketing programs. Get help where you need it to become more effective.

We hear a lot from the government, research firms, newspapers and first hand that Canadian firms are late adopters of technology and new business practices, as evidenced by 85% of our trade being with the U.S. and our low productivity.As a person who is on the “front line” do you agree that Canadian companies are conservative when it comes to innovation, as compared to their US counterparts? Does this have an effect of making the sales cycle in Canada longer?

We don’t work with a lot of Canadian firms, but our limited experience has been that Canadian firms are slower to adopt and typically have smaller budgets for marketing. This typically makes the sales cycles much longer than their US counterparts.

What do you see in the future for Virtual Causeway?

We have found with many organizations that market research is an area they are interested in. It can be an opportunity to learn more about where the market is heading, what your competitors are doing or you customers level of satisfaction. We have worked with many organizations in this area, but see the demand growing and have plans to increase our focus.

Another area of focus is working with our clients on up-front marketing services to get their program started with activities such as target market definition, sales guides development and messaging. We have a lot of experience in this area and can provide additional up-front strategy and help develop their sales and marketing infrastructure.

Virtual Causeway is also looking to focus on other international partnerships through key partnerships and joint ventures.