Denise Logeland of the Twin Cities Business magazine was kind enough to include SuddenDeals.com in to her Tip Sheet Great Finds column, November 2008 edition.
Thanks!
SuddenDeals.com
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Sudden Deals @ MinneDemo and in Finance and Commerce Newspaper
On Wednesday, November 12, 2008, Sudden Deals, LLC was very excited to have the opportunity to present our application in front of a sold-out audience of the MinneDemo.org. We were given 7 minutes and a projector-connected laptop to go though SuddenDeals.com and show the audience how it works. There was a lot of positive head nodding and interested looks in the seats. Overall, the presentation went great. The local newspaper, Finance and Commerce chose Sudden Deals, LLC as a company for their piece called: Land of 10,000 ideas: Innovations presented at high tech Minne Demo event
In the case the article is no longer available on the Finance and Commerce web site, here it is:
November 17, 2008 4:58 PM CST
Land of 10,000 ideas: Innovations presented at high tech Minne Demo event
by Arundhati Parmar Staff Writer
Sudden Deals: Local restaurants, bars, nightclubs and light music venues can post messages about current deals on the website that are sent via text messages to users. Users sign up for free and exert full control by deciding in what frequency they want to receive promotions on their cell phones from local merchants.
In the summer of 2002, when Julian Reytel was working on a project in Manhattan, he was struck by how sales associates from little boutiques in the Soho district would step out into the street and holler, “Sale!” Stores that were empty a minute before would suddenly fill up with people. “Everybody just plowed in,” he recalled. That was the germ of Reytel’s new Mendota Heights company, Sudden Deals, LLC. The philosophy is simple – instead of sales staff coming out and announcing a sale, local merchants can send text messages promoting their latest deals to customers’ cell phones. Users can sign up for free on SuddenDeals.com, and can control when and how many messages they get. Sudden Deals was one of 10 innovations featured last week at Minne Demo, a Twin Cities technology demo and networking event. Co-organizers Ben Edwards and Luke Francl hold similar events two or three times a year along with a larger event in the spring. Reytel and others provided seven-minute demonstrations in front of an audience comprised largely of their technology peers. Sudden Deals officially launched in June 2007, although Reytel started three years ago. Reytel continues to work on his company while working full time as a programmer for a national bank that he declined to name.
Initially, he wasn’t sure how many people would be willing to part with their cell phone numbers. “Any time you talk about text messaging or giving up your cell phone number, the first thing that everyone worries about is that will this turn into spam like it does in e-mail.” he said. But he has been pleasantly surprised to see people sign up with their cell phone numbers “left and right.” (He assures customers that their numbers are never sold to third parties.) Nine local merchants have signed up to use the service, including Envy Nightclub, Big Ten Pizza and Saffron Restaurant. Merchants pay a monthly fee and get a number of credits to post messages and can buy more if they use it up. There are four monthly plans that merchants – for now Reytel is focusing on restaurants, bars, light music venues and nightclubs – can choose from. With the current 50 percent off promotion being offered, the fee ranges from $15 a month to $30 a month. The merchants are based in downtown Minneapolis, near the U, Dinkytown, Highland Park and downtown St. Paul. Sudden Deals is not profitable yet, but Reytel hopes to reach that milestone by mid 2009. More than 350 users have signed up to get merchant promotions. “I would say success is when we are going to many different (merchants), not just restaurants, and when people are signing up daily and coming back daily and when you hear people mention SuddenDeals.com when they are thinking of going out,” Reytel said.
In the case the article is no longer available on the Finance and Commerce web site, here it is:
November 17, 2008 4:58 PM CST
Land of 10,000 ideas: Innovations presented at high tech Minne Demo event
by Arundhati Parmar Staff Writer
Sudden Deals: Local restaurants, bars, nightclubs and light music venues can post messages about current deals on the website that are sent via text messages to users. Users sign up for free and exert full control by deciding in what frequency they want to receive promotions on their cell phones from local merchants.
In the summer of 2002, when Julian Reytel was working on a project in Manhattan, he was struck by how sales associates from little boutiques in the Soho district would step out into the street and holler, “Sale!” Stores that were empty a minute before would suddenly fill up with people. “Everybody just plowed in,” he recalled. That was the germ of Reytel’s new Mendota Heights company, Sudden Deals, LLC. The philosophy is simple – instead of sales staff coming out and announcing a sale, local merchants can send text messages promoting their latest deals to customers’ cell phones. Users can sign up for free on SuddenDeals.com, and can control when and how many messages they get. Sudden Deals was one of 10 innovations featured last week at Minne Demo, a Twin Cities technology demo and networking event. Co-organizers Ben Edwards and Luke Francl hold similar events two or three times a year along with a larger event in the spring. Reytel and others provided seven-minute demonstrations in front of an audience comprised largely of their technology peers. Sudden Deals officially launched in June 2007, although Reytel started three years ago. Reytel continues to work on his company while working full time as a programmer for a national bank that he declined to name.
Initially, he wasn’t sure how many people would be willing to part with their cell phone numbers. “Any time you talk about text messaging or giving up your cell phone number, the first thing that everyone worries about is that will this turn into spam like it does in e-mail.” he said. But he has been pleasantly surprised to see people sign up with their cell phone numbers “left and right.” (He assures customers that their numbers are never sold to third parties.) Nine local merchants have signed up to use the service, including Envy Nightclub, Big Ten Pizza and Saffron Restaurant. Merchants pay a monthly fee and get a number of credits to post messages and can buy more if they use it up. There are four monthly plans that merchants – for now Reytel is focusing on restaurants, bars, light music venues and nightclubs – can choose from. With the current 50 percent off promotion being offered, the fee ranges from $15 a month to $30 a month. The merchants are based in downtown Minneapolis, near the U, Dinkytown, Highland Park and downtown St. Paul. Sudden Deals is not profitable yet, but Reytel hopes to reach that milestone by mid 2009. More than 350 users have signed up to get merchant promotions. “I would say success is when we are going to many different (merchants), not just restaurants, and when people are signing up daily and coming back daily and when you hear people mention SuddenDeals.com when they are thinking of going out,” Reytel said.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Look Mom, We're On TV!!!!!!!!!!
On Tuesday, November 4, 2008, on Election Day, KSTP's Twin Cities Live show selected SuddenDeals.com as John & Rebekah's Web Picks of the week.
http://www.twincitieslive.com/article/10895/
Thank you John & Rebekah!!!
http://www.twincitieslive.com/article/10895/
Thank you John & Rebekah!!!
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