Dear Reader,
I normally get really into New Year's resolutions, and what a year to wish for change. What I have done in the past few years is to think a bit longer about what I don't want instead of what I want more of. It’s counterintuitive for me especially this year, which has been marked with so much removal already. Even so, I find that it is still more interesting for me to consider what to do less of rather than what to add. It comes from the same part of me that knows that I must appreciate what I have, or I’ll never be happy with what I get.
I have been thinking a lot about intention. Intention to start a company. Intention to start a family. Intention to spend time with certain people more than others. I have become quite intentional about how I live my life, and how I spend my time. However, this was not always the case. If I could do one thing differently with Odetta, I would have sat down before I started the company to figure out my intentions, or at least my top life priority. I would have also written down what would make my day to day company experience perfect. That would have saved me so much indecision. From that, I would have known to listen to my gut, to avoid the fundraising trap, and to think about growth more sustainably.
As I head into the new year, I think about continuing to build our own Odettian utopia by defining what I want in my day to day, specifically what I want less of. My top priority as a founder in 2020 was independence, which is why I decided to go without a co-founder so we could move fast, without venture capital so we could deliver profits on our timeline, and without meetings, so all Odettians could design their own schedule. As I head into 2021, I have a feeling that my priority will shift from independence to impact. I think the world would be better if we had 10x more Odettians; and I know instinctively that this is just a matter of spreading the word about what we do, as most tech startups really need what we have to offer.
The past year at Odetta has been exciting and I am proud of the Odetta team and everything we have done this year; we:
- Launched a new, redesigned Odetta.ai website as well as a YouTube channel
- Expanded our global workforce to 256+ members in December. Check out their incredible profiles here
- Grew our client base to 155 new clients, mostly tech startups, who trusted us to deliver on key projects
- Added a whole host of new services, ranging from competitive data research, board decks, assistants to sales development reps
- Backed up our work with a client satisfaction guarantee
- Built an incredible company with an employee happiness index
- Saved entrepreneurs 100,000+ hours
- And most importantly, truly helped make the world a better place by empowering women around the world
We look forward to continuing the journey with you in the year ahead.
Wishing you all holidays filled with fun and laughter, and my very best wishes for a joyful present, a well-remembered past, and a meaningful New Year.
Happy Holidays,
Katharine Wolf
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Monthly Spotlight: Industry Classification for Sales
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Odetta’s analysis can help you build better targeting processes and lead scoring machine learning models! We build teams of MBA graduates trained in business concepts to categorize business entities using several heuristics. Our team is experienced in performing projects and organizing companies into industrial groupings based on production processes, products, or behavior in markets. To find out more about how Odetta can meet your industry classification or sales needs and exceed your expectations.
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Founder Lesson Learned: No One Will Write About You, and That’s Great News
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Press is distracting, it leads to unpredictable events and sales cycles. In my last company, we got a feature on the cover of AOL, and it led to thousands of emails and hundreds of new customers. One problem! We didn't even have a product yet, and we had all of these new customers who urgently needed our help. With the press, my ego inflated and I started receiving all sorts of congratulatory messages. The team was so excited, we were close to feeling like a real company. It should be of no surprise that we didn't end up helping many people at all.
After that experience, I began to be repulsed with the award frenzy among founders, the search for recognition, especially among founders that hadn't even built anything yet. For my next entrepreneurial experience, I decided to just go do, under the radar. While it’s natural that once a company is successful, people become interested in the founder, I truly believe that premature press-related marketing is just not as sustainable as getting referred by customers who you have actually helped.
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“Odetta has helped us scale greatly in the last two years, & I'd highly recommend them for any company needing to find an extra team. We onboarded them for a one-time launch project but were so impressed by their quality that we deepened our partnership to be longer-term, spanning multiple teams at the company. From copy translations to audit reviews & quality analysis, their team's gone above & beyond in ensuring that our specific requirements for outsourced work are met consistently.”
— Toby L., Major Social Media Brand
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“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping”
— Fred Rogers
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