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I'd love to see the LA Times go back and revisit the Utah Valley region and the culture that helped contribute to this. The Utah Valley is chock full of startup
by NorthOf33rd 8y ago
I'd love to see the LA Times go back and revisit the Utah Valley region and the culture that helped contribute to this. The Utah Valley is chock full of startups with a serious inferiority complex to their big brothers in Silicon Valley, hence derivative name. More importantly, Utah is the “multi-level marketing capital of the world [1]” This kind of sales and growth tactic is not limited to the diet smoothie and cosmetics world, but is absolutely pervasive in the valley. Note- SLC and the Utah Valley may be united in the Silicon Slopes moniker, but they are about as similar as Austin and Waco, TX.
A few observations on Domo
1) The product is weak. It’s pretty dashboards with very limited “real” BI capabilities. The connectors are custom, not OOB/end user configurable – unless end user happens to be IT.
2) They seem to be aware that the product is weak, as their demos include an NDA. Until recently there was almost no “real” information available on what exactly Domo is or does. Only void marketing speak.
3) Their absurd domopalooza (or DP for short, no joke) events included artists like Kesha and Macklemore.
4) Their totally overblown marketing hype surrounds an incoherent me-too product roadmap. Rather than focusing on building a quality product they are going for checkboxes and chasing after Slack etc with features like Chat
5) They have a billboard that reads “If Hillary Had DOMO She would have won.”
I've been predicting for a while that DOMO’s hubris would cause it to be one of the first in the scene to fail spectacularly. What worries me about that prediction is the economic harm that would do to the rest of the Valley especially given the impact of MLM economics.
1- http://kutv.com/news/local/follow-the-profit-how-mormon-culture-made-utah-a-hotbed-for-multi-level-marketers http://kutv.com/news/local/follow-the-profit-how-mormon-cult...
- NorthOf33rd 8y agoI should say, in full disclosure, that it worries me because I'm a product manager in the region. So, I am concerned about economic blow back to firms that have better business practices and therefore my ability to practice here. Though, I'm currently seeking remote work opportunities as this is a pervasive issue.
- joshdance 8y agoI work in Utah Valley at a tech startup in the space. While I agree that there are some startups with 'inferiority complex' etc, there is a growing number who are happy and proud to be a Utah startup and what that entails, not just chasing Silicon Valley. The instant connection to MLMs is unfortunate and something we are trying to move past. I would argue Utah has a very strong sales culture not solely because of MLMs but for other reasons.
- NorthOf33rd 8y agoPluralsight being a prime example of a proud Utah startup focused on making a quality product with great management. The instant connection to MLM's is unfortunate but it's real. It's not something that can be moved past unless there's meaningful change. I would argue there hasn't been meaningful change. If anything they've gained strength and notoriety see vivent, domo, etc. Would love to be convinced otherwise that meaningful change has come or is coming. As far as a strong sales culture, I agree. MLM's are prevalent in Utah because of the sales culture. Not the inverse.
- phamilton 8y ago> other reasons Like door to door summer sales, and the massive bro culture associated with that. That gripe aside, there are a lot of lifestyle companies. And it's great. They aren't chasing silicon valley, they are just some small business owners trying to make a good living and provide employment for people in the region.
- tntn 8y ago> Like door to door summer sales, and the massive bro culture associated with that. But just sign up, you'll make $50000 in 3 months! /s
- phamilton 8y agoI feel explaining this for everyone not in the know is appropriate. Mormon missionaries are usually young men ages 18-20 who go out into various places around the world for two years. They learn a lot, generally work really hard, and when they return they usually go off to school. Someone figured out that 2 years knocking on doors to talk about God isn't that different from knocking on doors to talk about <insert product here>. Various companies selling pest control, home security systems, etc. have set up summer sales programs. You sign up, get sent to a random city for the summer and sell the crap out of whatever it is you are selling. Top sellers will clear $50k for the summer. Even moderately successful sellers will make $10k or so. After a summer of sales, many of the companies will allow their top sellers to get recruitment bonuses. So they spend the school year holding information meetings with free pizza to try and recruit for the next summer. This leads to a huge bro culture. The top sellers flaunt their success by driving BMWs to school, wearing high end designer watches and stuff. Some of the bigger sales companies even have lounges close to school where sales people can hang out and study. It ends up being very clear who is into summer sales, and most students shake their heads and try to just ignore it all.
- luckydata 8y agoA few years ago I was able to guess Domo's documentation wiki, it was public and not protected by password. The product was really unimpressive, not surprised they required NDAs to show it.
- segmondy 8y agoNah, we should look at New York. WallStreet has always been the master in money extraction from other people's money. Other's are beginning to execute such playbook.
- thousandautumns 8y agoRegarding 5, that's actually better than a lot of their billboards. A lot of the one's I've seen in the area over the years have literally nothing to do with the product.