Cisco has this week announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) in a hybrid B2B subscription software and service enterprise. Bringing local deployment and cloud-based development into one cohesive system, the global tech leaders are joining forces to support developers who are not yet equipped to transition fully from building applications in data centers to strictly on the cloud. AWS is the third cloud leader Cisco had partnered with to provide container deployment, following recent deals with Google and Microsoft.
In e-commerce news, Amazon is reportedly splitting its second headquarters between Long Island City, New York, and Arlington, Virginia, in a move that would likely solidify New York City as a global technology hub. The metropolitan location for one part of the c.$5 billion second headquarters (per Amazon’s initial announcement) has been chosen based on the feasibility of hiring enough sophisticated tech workers, for an investment of tens of thousands of jobs in the New York City area. The news comes just as Google announces plans to expand its New York City presence in a 1.3 million square foot office building in Manhattan’s West Village.
The world of digital marketing this week saw the beta of Bing Ads Scripts roll out to all user accounts on Wednesday. The scripts offer users the ability to automate account management tasks, such as applying negative keyword lists or adjusting bids based on inputs, across numerous campaigns. To facilitate use, Bing will allow advertisers to utilize existing Google Ads scripts in Bing Ads by simply copying and pasting the code into the Bing interface.
New in e-commerce business listings this week we have a $720K fashion and apparel dropship business, with a proven market fit with a diversified portfolio of thousands of high-quality SKUs, high customer repeat rate of 14% since launch, strong organic search traffic with keyword rankings for over 40,000 keywords and extensive social media presence with hundreds of thousands of social media followers. Also listed this week we have a $500K hunting and outdoors e-commerce and content business, with rapid revenue growth reaching a c.46% CAGR for the period 2016 to (e)2019, authoritative website with hundreds of pages of content helping drive steady organic search traffic, proven market fit with hundreds of five-star product reviews on Amazon, popular brand with tens of thousands of social media followers and diversified revenue streams with plenty of opportunities for growth.
New in digital service business listings this week we have a $580K B2B digital marketing services platform business, with a productized service monetized via recurring subscriptions, meticulous documentation of SOPs and highly trained and autonomous team in place, a high customer lifetime value of c.$13,000 with average revenues per user of $1,100, an authoritative brand in a rapidly-growing niche and proven value proposition with plenty of avenues for growth.
New in SaaS business listings this week we have a rare $387K B2B learning management systems business, with years of operational history leading to a firm positioning in the lucrative restaurant industry, feature-rich software with a growing LTV of c.$3,600 in the LTM, sticky product with a low MRR churn rate of c.3.4% over the past year and lean and scalable cost structure allowing for strong margins and steady cash flows. If you are interested in any of the above businesses, please follow the link to request a prospectus.
In events news, Thomas had a great time delivering his exit strategy workshop at Ungagged Las Vegas, where he had the opportunity to reconnect with valued clients and meet fellow experts in the digital marketing space. Next up Thomas is heading to Recur in Boston on December 6, where he is looking forward to seeing old friends in the SaaS space. Respond to this email if you will be in the area and would like to set up a meeting!
Continue reading below for more on Cisco’s partnership with AWS, Amazon’s new HQ and Bing Ad Scripts.
Listings
New
E-Commerce – Fashion & Apparel – $86K gross/mo
- Proven market fit with a diversified portfolio of thousands of high-quality SKUs
- High customer repeat rate of 14% since launch
- Strong organic search traffic with keyword rankings for over 40,000 keywords
- Extensive social media presence with hundreds of thousands of social media followers
Yearly net profit: $296,000
Asking price: $720,000
E-Commerce – Hunting & Outdoors – $42K gross/mo
- Rapid revenue growth with revenues reaching a c.46% CAGR for the period 2016 to (e)2019
- Authoritative website with hundreds of pages of content helping drive steady organic search traffic
- Proven market fit with hundreds of five-star product reviews on Amazon
- Popular brand with tens of thousands of social media followers
- Diversified revenue streams with plenty of opportunities for growth
Yearly net profit: $171,000
Asking price: $500,000
Digital Service – B2B Digital Marketing Services Platform – $44.8K MRR
- Productized service monetized via recurring subscriptions
- Meticulous documentation of SOPs and highly trained and autonomous team in place
- High customer lifetime value of c.$13,000 with average revenues per user of $1,100 in the LTM
- Authoritative brand in a rapidly-growing niche
- Proven value proposition with plenty of avenues for growth
Yearly net profit: $190,000
Asking price: $580,000
SaaS – B2B Learning Management Systems – $12K MRR
- Years of operational history leading to a firm positioning in the lucrative restaurant industry
- Feature-rich software with a growing LTV of c.$3,600 in the LTM
- Sticky product with a low MRR churn rate of c.3.4% over the past year
- Lean and scalable cost structure allowing for strong margins and steady cash flows
Yearly net profit: $118,000
Asking price: $387,000
Sold
SaaS – B2B Email Marketing Verification Software – $50K gross/mo
E-Commerce – Amazon Merch – $2.1K gross/mo
Affiliate – Cooking Appliances – $770 gross/mo
In The News…
Cisco Partners with AWS
Amazon Web Services has teamed up with Cisco, who has recently announced a new product made for developers who need to move between creating applications in the cloud and in traditional data centers.
Cisco has introduced the initiative in order to help customers who are reluctant to move entirely to the cloud. AWS is not the first partnership Cisco has formed, as they recently closed deals with both Google and Microsoft, though AWS is the biggest cloud leader Cisco has banded together with. Containers are increasing in popularity at the moment, as they are a solution for developers looking to move code between machines and the cloud. The partnership is a natural one, as Amazon data centers sell a service for deploying containers on servers, and Cisco’s software works on servers that companies manage in-house. David Goeckeler, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Cisco’s networking and security business, stated, “Containers are the way applications are built today. The question is where are they going to run it.” As traditional data centers increasingly shift their infrastructure to the cloud, companies like Cisco are exploring new avenues for growth.
VMware locked in a similar partnership with AWS two years ago and now offers its management software on the Amazon cloud.
Amazon HQ2 Split Between Long Island City and Arlington
Amazon appears to be setting Long Island City, NY and Arlington, VA as the locations for its second headquarters.
Those familiar with the decision-making process have noted the plan is to hire a total of 50,000 workers across the two separate locations. These two cities, in which Amazon is reportedly close to finalizing office locations, already contain the highest density of workers outside of the Seattle headquarters. On Manhattan’s part, efforts are being made to ensure Amazon chooses the city as one of their two locations. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo told reporters on Monday that he is doing everything in his power to bring Amazon to New York, adding that they “have a great incentive package.”
The Wall Street Journal has reported on Amazon’s decision to choose two locations, though Amazon has yet to comment.
Bring Ads Scripts Launches Beta
Bing Ads Scripts has released the beta version of the software, announcing on Wednesday that Bing Ads would roll out for all accounts.
Scripts allow ads managers to automate account management tasks in mass operations, as well as schedule them, making it easier to mange large or several campaigns. These come in handy for automating rules to help operate your business, applicable in situations like automatically applying negative keyword lists to campaigns or accounts, adjusting bids based on certain inputs, enabling or pausing entities (like keywords and campaigns) in instances like the end of a sale, when inventory is out of stock or landing pages show an error. Those are just a handful of examples. Ads managers can use Bulk Operations from the Account Summary section in the platform to apply a script to multiple accounts. Support for existing Google Ads scripts will be offered, allowing managers to simply copy and paste their scripts from Google’s to Bing’s platform. According to Bing Ads program manager, Prince Bajracharya, “When you run or preview scripts, Bing Ads will automatically find and replace names of objects that need to be changed and align them to our platform.”
Third-party spreadsheet services are not yet available on Bing Scripts, though scripts can be scheduled to run at a particular time.
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