The Marketing Success of Mailchimp

Today in the October 5th New York Times there was a wonderful article published about the success of a small business called MailChimp and how they accomplished this while taking the road less traveled. According to the article there are two ways to create a business. 

The first is the typical way a business gets started; a young entrepreneur comes up with an innovative idea, next is the creation of a prototype along with participating in a start-up boot camp. This then leads to small investors hopping on board; which leads to the creation of a Kickstarter. If everything works out and the product is successful it’s time for the founders to enter the haphazard mode called expansion. This usually translates to selling off the company piece by piece for huge chunks of money from venture capitalists. Then, once a few years have passed, if all goes well, the founders hit it big time and then BANG their set. 

The second and less well known option is just creating a small business. When creating a small business believe it or not it doesn’t have to be a million steps or even have millions of investors’ money put into it; you just keep it simple and sometimes simple is better. MailChimp is a simple start up business, owned by Mr. Chestnut and his co-founder, Dan Kurzius. Realize how there is no mention of any third party owners, such as investors. That’s because the second path to take when creating a business is the path with the least resistance; this means no investors, no enormous debt to pay back and no complicated business dealings. 

The article also goes into detail about the focus of MailChimp and its business. Little by little this small business clawed its way to the top, without spending a dime more than it was making. The difference between those who have a seemingly endless amount of money and those that do not is the pure and simple fact that those without money learn how to use it more efficiently. 

MailChimp is a business that was created sixteen years ago to help small businesses by creating marketing software. This idea came from the founder’s customers from a previous business called, Rocket Science Group. The customers wanted a way to reach their customers by email; so for many years the pair ran both the web design (Rocket Science Group) as the main business and MailChimp as a side business. 

            The two men created a whole business about helping small businesses succeed by using social media. At Manhattanville College School of Business we offer a course that provides this kind of insight called Social Media and the Business Imperative. Our Program Director, Laura, Persky stated “Social Media and the Business Imperative class helps businesses figure out which types of social media are best for their products and customers”.  The School of Business, just like MailChimp is dedicated to helping small businesses succeed by reaching out to their customers more efficiently and effectively. 

      Alexandria Borg '18

 

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