Company

Shoeboxed is a VC-backed, rapidly expanding software-as-a-service company revolutionizing the way small businesses manage their paperwork and use the cloud to do their mundane, administrative tasks. Shoeboxed brings boring business paperwork online, providing mobile apps, a Mail-In service, scanner apps and other tools to digitize paper documents by converting those documents into useful, portable, human-verified data that can be sent to their existing business software tools. No more scanning of receipts, no more lost business cards and no more tedious data entry of invoices and bills into accounting systems.

Shoeboxed has more than 8,000 paying customers and more than 200,000 total users, award-winning top ten mobile apps, and many active partnerships with companies such as Evernote, Freshbooks, Constant Contact, HP, and Fujitsu. Shoeboxed was named iPhone App of the week by New York Times, received the CeBIT business advantage award in 2010 and has been reviewed countless times by TechCrunch, LifeHacker, Mashable, The Wall Street Journal, Inc., Washington Post and many more. The company is led by an experienced management team that has secured six exits for technology companies, and backed by investors with a large footprint in the web and mobile industry in the US and Europe.

Background

Started in 2008, Shoeboxed is the pioneer of e-receipt processing as well as receipt and business card digitization through mobile apps and mail-in services and the undisputed leader in the space. Shoeboxed’s software and services enable small businesses owners, business travelers, accountants, and corporate workgroups to easily digitize and organize their important business paper clutter. Most small businesses must archive purchasing records (receipts, bills, and invoices) for tax purposes (e.g. deductions and audits), bookkeeping, expense reimbursement and budgeting. Most business travelers need to keep track of their receipts for expense reporting, and business cards for contact management and lead generation activities. For many, doing this is a time-consuming and frustrating process.

Other companies have tried to solve this problem in the past. Some sell receipt scanners with desktop software for $180-$500. These scanners help people digitize receipts, but few find that scanning receipts and doing data entry themselves is a workable solution. According to Neat Receipts, which sold ~150,000 scanners last year, only 10% of their customers use their product. In contrast, more than 98% of Shoeboxed customers return every month since the solution delivers much better results with considerably less effort.

Shoeboxed’s solution is a Saas web app coupled with mobile apps, scanner integrations, and a mail-in service that turns common business documents into useful, portable, human-verified data that can be easily sent to a user’s existing business software tools.  Shoeboxed subscribers send us their paper documents via mail, email, web, desktop uploaders, or directly from their mobile device.  Most users use a combination of methods.    The original is scanned and run  through an OCR process, and the extracted data is then verified through our innovative human review process for unmatched accuracy.  Once verified, receipt / expense data can be sent directly to QuickBooks, Outright, Freshbooks, or one of the many available integrated accounting software options.  Business card / contact data can be sent directly to Salesforce, Constant Contact, Google Contacts, Yahoo Address Book, or one of many available integrated CRM or Email Marketing software options. 

This unique process and quality of service has led to strategic partnerships with HP, Fujitsu, Ricoh and other imaging manufacturers.  The Shoeboxed  service, paired with their scanning devices, is serving as a gateway into the cloud and a great connection point to existing Shoeboxed partners such as Evernote, Constant Contact, Salesforce, Intuit and others by bringing paper-based data into their tools. 

Shoeboxed’s primarily targets small business owners. In businesses with 1-20 employees, owners and managers typically have hands-on bookkeeping or accounting responsibility.  Shoeboxed is helping them improve processes and save time.  Further, a significant proportion of Shoeboxed customers are businesses that are reimbursed for expenses by clients. Shoeboxed allows them to process their accounting, bookkeeping, and expense reporting procedures more quickly and charge their customers more easily.  Individual business travelers are also a target segment as they need to keep receipts for reimbursements and often times spend time dealing with business cards and the contact information trapped on them.

Shoeboxed’s closest alternative is the Neat Company (formerly NeatReceipts), which sells a scanner-software package, but does not provide a web service, mobile apps, or an outsourced scanning service like Shoeboxed does. Despite the additional step for NeatReceipts customers of having to scan receipts and correct extracted data themselves, the company sold about 150,000 scanners and generated $30 million revenues (a 30% year over year growth) in 2010.

The company is the original inventor of e-receipt processing, receipt and business card digitization through mobile apps and mail-in services.  Other companies are now trying to enter the market.  Examples are CardMunch, a mobile app business card scanner, that was acquired in 2010 by LinkedIn, and Keebo, an international copycat in the UK.

Management

Shoeboxed has a team of highly experienced entrepreneurs with 6 exits and more than 30 combined years of startup experience. With this management team, advisory board, and investors, Shoeboxed is set up perfectly for an expansion in the online software and mobile space.

• § Taylor Mingos, CEO and technical leader, who founded Shoeboxed in 2007, previously founded an online dating website and a film production company. In 2006, he helped grow studiVZ.net, an apartment-based start-up in Berlin, into a major European Internet presence. The social network now has more page impressions than any other website in Germany and was acquired by Holtzbrink GmbH in January 2007. Taylor graduated cum laude from Duke University with a triple major in Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and German.

• § Tobias Walter, Shoeboxed’s COO & CFO, started his career with 12 months in investment banking with Société Générale and Morgan Stanley. Tobi joined studiVZ in 2006 during its founding days and became part of the six person management team of the 180 employee company. As the company’s VP International Markets, Tobi led the site’s roll out to eight foreign markets, leading a team of 60 people He was also intimately involved in the acquisition of studiVZ for €85 million. Tobi studied Economics and Business Administration at top business schools in Germany, France, and the US.

• § Joel Bush, Shoeboxed’s VP Sales & Alliances and veteran of several start-ups, has been creating and managing strategic, technology-based partnerships for more than 13 years. Prior to joining Shoeboxed, Joel was VP Marketing of Near-Time, a hosted collaboration and publishing environment that facilitated cross-organization communication, and founder and President of Leverage Factory, a trade book and content syndication company. Previously, Joel has been involved with several successful technology start-ups in North Carolina including Extensibility, eTix.com, Bandwidth.com, iO Systems, and Ventana Communications Group.

Investors

Shoeboxed’s Series A rounds was an investment of about $1MM from several angel investors, most of which are successful web and mobile entrepreneurs who also make up Shoeboxed’s Advisory Board. In June 2011, Shoeboxed closed it’s Series B round of $2.4MM, lead by Novak Biddle Venture Partners. NBVP is backed by a number of the country’s most prestigious limited partners, has over $580 million under management, and includes portfolio companies such as Blackboard, Webs.com, and NEW.

Advisory Board

• Gil Penchina (one of the first eBay employees, seed investor in companies such as LinkedIn or PayPal, and the CEO of Wikia),
• Alex Panelli (former turn-around manager of Palm, executive of HP and Motorola, and now CEO of Trilibis Mobile),
• § Christian Busch (VP Marketing at Alloy Media and Marketing, and former top level executive of Bertelsmann / Time Warner’s Online Division),
• § Michael Brehm (Co-Founder of studiVZ and RebateNetworks, investor and shareholder in over 30 high-growth web start-ups, incl. LivingSocial, DailyDeal, and Brands4Friends, and Venture Partner at Target Partners),
• § Jed Carlson (Co-Founder and COO of ReverbNation, and Founder of SmartPrint, a division of AmeriDisc).

Current State

Operating for a little over three years, Shoeboxed has experienced tremendous growth.  Having systematized the seemingly difficult process of extracting structured data from paper documents, Shoeboxed has built a product and operations that deliver very well on Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), and are characterized by extremely high retention rates and customer satisfaction compared to the competition.  The challenge now is to grow exponentially with very efficient ROI.   Having reached cash-flow profitability, 7-digit revenues, and over 200% Y-o-Y growth rates in 2011, Shoeboxed is looking at 2012 as its break-out year.  

The Position

Summary

The Vice President of Marketing will assume management of the entire marketing function with a goal of radically increasing customer acquisition results by testing many methods and channels to optimize for efficient cost of acquisition.   This position reports to the CEO and is located in Raleigh Durham, North Carolina.

Shoeboxed is seeking an experienced and energetic senior VP Marketing to fill the last key management position in the company.  This executive will be the key revenue driver for Shoeboxed and will hold both a strategic and execution role in the company.

Responsibilities

• Create an overall customer acquisition strategy for the company inclusive of all market segments.
• Using a rigorous analytical approach and multiple types of online marketing execute a plan for high growth revenue via efferent CAC and productive LTV.
• Plan and launch creative lead generation channels in the SMB market (webinars, whitepapers, microsites, etc.)
• Continuously test multiple on-line campaigns simultaneously with a constant review of the quantitative success metrics.
• Split-test and roll out successful new channels of acquiring customers.  Continue to repeat this process innovatively - constantly looking for breakthrough campaigns to drive acquisition.
• Experiment with and optimize conversion paths, offers, sign-up and upgrade processes.
• Participate intimately and actively in the strategy of company in concert with the Executive Team.
• Manage and grow a high performing marketing organization as needed to execute on the plans for growth.

THE PERSON

Experience

• Deep expertise in data-driven on-line marketing which has created superior results in a young, high-growth SaaS company.
• Broad customer acquisition expertise across channels which likely include SEM, SEO, email, Display, Affiliate Marketing, Facebook, Retargeting, Customer Referrals, Partner Marketing, etc.
• Intensely quantitative person who lives – and loves – data metrics.
• Specific experience selling applications to the SMB market – preferably SaaS.
• Combination of abilities to create a strategic plan yet executes the campaigns in a hands-on way consistant with a small marketing function in a young start up.
• An innovative marketer who has created tests, re- tests, roll-outs and more tests with outstanding results as measured by the appropriate metrics.  
• Three years minimum on-line experience and 5 plus years of overall marketing experience that likely includes responsibility for the department's annual plan and budget and is evidenced by multiple promotions to higher responsibility.
• Loves the start up environment and is extremely hands-on with campaigns.   Ideally, this is the third startup after one or two prior successful ones.
• Evidence of owning a company’s mission and getting external visibility on the marketing message through the marketing mix. 

 Personal Characteristics/Cultural fit

• Thrives in start-ups requiring extraordinary effort with the pressures to perform on a hands –on level with minimal resources.  Prefers this lean environment.
• Believes in team approach, solicits input on marketing, but is decisive in execution even without a consensus.
• Extremely high-intellect and high-energy.

Management

• Highly capable of recruiting and retaining outstanding staff, but aware of start up budgets.
• Will not “silo” the marketing department but will be attuned to the needs of the entire company.

Communications Skills

• Highly capable and mature in verbal and presentation skills suitable to high level presentations internally and externally to the Board and potential Partners.
• Capable of articulating and communicating the company's message effective in all marketing materials and personal presentations.