His Company Made Over $100 Million in Revenue and He Decided to Rebrand. Here's Why. The CEO of Infusionsoft discusses the business and psychology behind a company rebrand.
By Eric 'ERock' Christopher Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Clate Mask was afraid. He knew he was about to endure a critical confrontational conversation.
He knew the stakes were extremely high. Having been at the helm of Infusionsoft for just a few years, he knew the outcome of this next meeting would literally make or break his company. The future of his relatively new startup at the time rested upon an intense negotiation that was about to take place.
He was asked, "So, did you look for a real job today?"
"No," said Mask, uneasily. Suddenly, he realized this meeting could dismantle his dream and ultimately his company...
Intrigued? Get the inside details of this conversation by checking out my exclusive video interview with Clate Mask, CEO of Infusionsoft. Mask tells a compelling personal story of both struggle and triumph that has led to the company's decision to completely rebrand their business that generated over $100,000,000 in revenue in 2017 alone.
Related: The 8 Must-Follow Rules for Rebranding Your Company (Infographic)
After 17 years of success, Infusionsoft just announced their decision to rebrand the software company as Keap. Concurrently, a new product has been launched, also called Keap, which bills itself as "smart client management" software.
I asked Mask why his company felt the need to launch a new product and rebrand, especially with their track record of success. Few companies ever generate $100M annually or raise over $125M in funding from major investors like Goldman Sachs and others. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?
"We heard the market for a long time telling us, 'Hey, we love Infusionsoft, and we want a lighter, easier version of that.'" Mask explained, "That's essentially what we did with Keap. We created a much lighter and easier way for people to do smart client management. That's what we refer to it as because most small businesses don't call it CRM software. Keap is smart client management software."
Related: 5 Signs It's Time to Rebrand
Mask believes that many entrepreneurs face dark moments when the struggle to grow a business is overwhelming and causes them to consider quitting. During our conversation, he revealed his personal story of turmoil and how he nearly quit on his own dream of building a successful business. It's a story that I believe almost every entrepreneur can relate to and most have experienced a version of it themselves.
In the video above, he shares how that intense confrontation that took place years ago ultimately determined the fate of his company's future today.
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