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Software Success Story: STOPzilla
by NotePage,
Inc.
I've had the recent pleasure of conversing with Scott
De Sapio the founder of STOPzilla, online popup filtering
software. Scott graciously agreed to allow me to interview
him for the first in a series of software success stories.
His responses are humbling, and thought provoking. Developers
and marketers will benefit from reading Scott's story.
STOPzilla's growth statistics, by any standard or measuring
stick are an unqualified financial success. STOPzilla,
a fairly new kid on the block, entered the online software
world in 2002, and in their first 9 months of business,
amazingly generated revenus of $ 300,000. This was followed
by a staggering 1000% growth in 2003, with sales coming
in at 3 million dollars. This years projected growth
is estimated to exceed 20 million dollars.
Surprisingly, Scott De Sapio told me his initial marketing
efforts started at none other than this very website:
Software Marketing Resource. Scott's quick search for
"software marketing" brought up the SMR site
and he found the resource to be beneficial in understanding
the industry.
The first ad dollars were spent at Tucows.com and resulted
in the first sale. Tucows had been instrumental in providing
feedback and inspiration that resulted in a superior
quality application. Scott De Sapio credits the product
quality to the consideration and that Scott Swedorski,
founder of Tucows, provided when reviewing the application.
There has been no turning back.
Scott De Sapio , had been involved in custom web development
for years, but had limited knowledge regarding consumer
applications. In fact STOPzilla was his very first consumer
application. Scott determined the design, functionality
and aesthetics of STOPzilla, while his partner, Joel
Luzadas made it work. As far as online marketing, Scott's
knowledge and experience were both extremely limited.
He told me "As a matter of fact, if someone had
told me how absolutely impractical the journey was going
to be I'm not so sure I'd have jumped in with such zeal.
In hindsight, my ignorance was probably my biggest ally
- I didn't know how large the obstacles were so I never
found myself awestruck. I just kept my head down and
bulled through everything."
By this point you are probably asking yourself the
same question I am, how did STOPzilla become such a
smashing success? According to Scott the formula was
first and foremost, a commitment to slow and steady
growth, not to try to accomplish a miracle. I had to
laugh when he told me this, clearly most would consider
taking a product from 300K to 20 million in two years
a near miracle! :-)
With a little explanation I began to understand Scott's
formula, it amounts to hard work, perseverance and patience.
He watched every penny and paid very close attention
to what was working and what wasn't working. He would
spend entire days analyzing, pay per click results and
making adjustments. He once focused an entire month
on pay-per-click engines, from morning until night.
Scott also attributes his success to the fact that
they had an 800 number available for customers to call
if they were having trouble. According to Scott "It
wasn't easy to deal with but we were committed. I used
to fall asleep on the floor next to my desk with the
phone on my chest - the feedback we got from our customers
was invaluable and we knew that these people were our
biggest asset. I would stay on the phone until we resolved
whatever issue it was. We just kept listening and responding
by making the product better and better."
As far as the future for STOPzilla, they have plans
to expand their product line adding two new products
this year. The new products will become brand extensions.
Their biggest challenge right now is to maintain the
brand and somehow appeal to the corporate market. The
current image has incredible consumer appeal but at
the corporate level the image is proving a bit of a
hurdle. Scott is addressing this issue and has just
signed a deal with a MAJOR Corporate presence and the
press release alone is, without question, going to turn
the heads of the corporate market. Scott is definitely
committed to brand extension for future product releases.
For a single inexpensive utility, to blossom into a
multi-million dollar business, in such a short of a
time, is certainly an inspirational story for existing
and budding developers.
I asked Scott to share some advice with developers
who are just starting out:
- Count the pennies - the pennies are what
make the dollars.
- Roll the dice when you can, and sometimes when you
can't.
- Work 25 hours a day, 8 days a week. You can sleep
when you're dead.
- Don't get discouraged. Be ultimately committed to
success.
- At all costs, maintain your integrity, dignity,
honor, respect and loyalty. Some things are not worth
sacrificing.
- Go to Promaxum.com and if you get lucky enough to
deal with Scott Swedorski directly, follow his advice.
Additional information about STOPzilla can be found
at http://www.stopzilla.com
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc.
http://www.notepage.net
a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and
wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by
Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com
, and http://www.small-business-software.net
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