TECHdotMN: News about Minnesota Startups

Via News Release

“I’m very pleased to welcome Mike Hrabe to 8thBridge as Chief Revenue Officer. Mike now leads all of the 8thBridge client facing functions including Client Success, Sales, and Marketing.

Mike comes to 8thBridge from Quantum Retail where he was a co-founder and the VP of Sales & Marketing. Quantum Retail is a successful Big Data software play in the retail industry. Retailers like Guitar Center, The Children’s Place, Marks and Spencer, and Nordstrom use Quantum Retail’s predictive analytics capabilities to optimize their supply chains.”

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Via News Release

“Today GSI Commerce and 8thBridge announced a partnership to provide an integrated social commerce solution to their customer base of over 500 clients and an estimated one billion shoppers. This is a major industry milestone for social commerce and 8thBridge!

GSI Commerce processes over $4B in gross merchandise value and services hundreds of the world’s largest ecommerce operations including Aeropostale, Toys”R”Us, Bath & Body Works, Dick’s Sporting Goods, National Football League, Estee Lauder, Sports Authority, Levis, Ralph Lauren and many more. GSI will be reselling the 8thBridge Graphite social commerce platform to their clients.”

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Minneapolis social commerce startup 8thBridge has evolved considerably since the early days of Alvenda’s shoplets.

Today, CEO Wade Gerten shared ‘Graphite 2′, an extension of the much anticipated Graphite product launched earlier this year.

“Graphite now weaves social into the entire purchase funnel for the first time,” Gerten says, explaining how engagement, earned media and data insight are at the core of the release.  “Only 5% of users will generate content, the other 95% is antisocial traffic who doesn’t engage.”

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By Ramon Ray

“Facebook commerce, or F-commerce if you’re so inclined, was touted as the next big thing…then almost as quickly, proclaimed to be a failure (with a capital “F”). Apparently, people did not like the idea of shopping where they liked to hang out and socialize; the latter article above says it’s about ‘mentality’ – if you’re hanging out at a bar after work, you’re not there to shop…you’re there to hang out and enjoy your friends.

…What 8thBridge has done is create a system called ‘Graphite’ that brings the stores to the people, not the other way around.”

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After weeks of waiting, Minneapolis startup 8thBridge has officially launched Graphite. Described as many different things over the course of today’s livestream event led by CEO Wade Gerten, in the simplest sense, Graphite is a suite of plugins built for the next generation of social commerce.

Of course, there are nuanced complexities to which Gerten calls it, “The most innovative thing happening in social commerce since we started the category in 2009.”

“The future of e-commerce is around people, not products…and we’ve learned a lot about what’s working and what’s not on this mission to reshape commerce around people,” he admits in the first minutes, pointing to his controversial (since removed) ‘F-commerce gets an F’ quote in the Bloomberg article that he would later rebut on Forbes.

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Via News Release

“MINNEAPOLIS, April 19, 2012 — 8thBridge, Inc. announced today it was recognized by the Facebook® Preferred Marketing Developer (“PMD”) team as a Facebook PMD. 8thBridge’s acceptance into the Facebook PMD program follows an extensive review process by the PMD team.”

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Via News Release

“The Nerdery today became a Preferred Marketing Developer (PMD) of Facebook® Apps. Facebook established its PMD program to represent the various technologies in the Facebook ecosystem and to recognize companies that develop holistic solutions. To qualify, The Nerdery included examples of its development work on the Facebook platform in its application, including apps created – some with ad agency partners – for EA Sports, Kraft, Norton, Purina, and Tampico.”

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Via News Release

“We at 8thBridge are excited to announce that we have partnered with Ticketmaster to launch an awesome new app today that people can add to their Facebook Timeline to share their plans to attend concerts, concert attendance itself, and ticket buying with their friends. Users can purchase tickets in the app without leaving Facebook.”

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TechCrunch’s take

Social commerce startup 8thBridge (formerly Alvenda) has recently opened a “field office” in  San Francisco, according to co founder and CEO Wade Gerten.

The vast majority of 8thBridge’s  employee base will continue working from downtown Minneapolis headquarters and a handful will be operating out west alongside new hire Martin Wesley, who came on board last week as VP of Sales and Marketing. The expansion was alluded to during an earlier interview, motivated by the ‘desire to be closer to partners’ like Facebook, the platform which 8thBridge’s technology runs on.

Gerten declined to comment specifically on the exact number of current employees, citing competitive reasons, but the number is likely between 25 – 50.  He did, however, mention New York and London satellites as part of the long term vision.

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Via News Release

“Delta Air Lines and 8thBridge make it easier to book a trip with your friends on Facebook with their newest app, Delta Away We Go™. Now planning and booking a group trip can be completed all within Facebook. The Delta Away We Go™ app gives you the tools you want for travel planning within your network of friends:

o Simple, private ways to share information- Use the tool to invite guests from your existing Facebook friends list and privately share your trip information on Facebook.
o Trip wizard- This feature gives you the ability to name your trip and give your friends the basic 411.
o Maps & activity suggestions- This maps feature allows you to search for places to go and fun things to do at your trip destination.
o RSVP tracker- Keep up with who’s coming and who already booked their tickets. Now there’s no uncertainty whether you’re the only one who bought that plane ticket yet!
o Countdown calendar- Lets you know just how many days before the fun begins!”

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zyngram – (4:40) – mail real postcards to your kids, friends or family from your mobile phone.

Naiku – (13:27) – helps students learn more.

8thBridge - (21:45) – social commerce.

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