Data "Scholarships" Enable Brilliant Minds in Startup Community

LOS ANGELES, July 2, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The number one reason for failure in business within the first year is cash flow problems, followed by lack of a market need for products or services[1]. Data intelligence leader MountainTop Data wants to help B2B startups succeed by offering data scholarships to boost marketing efforts, fill sales pipelines and promote cash flow.

The scholarships will award free access to valuable contact data that the businesses can use to reach their target audiences.

Startup funding grew across all industries by 50 percent or more between 2012 and 2017. At the top of the list, funding for advanced manufacturing and robotics grew nearly 1,400 percent in 2017. The total funding for artificial intelligence (AI) startups grew from $1.7 billion in 2013 to over $15 billion in 2017. Yet, despite these positive reports, approximately 90 percent of startups will still go out of business[1].

"Data is the foundation of every successful business," Cassidy said. "I started MountainTop Data with ideas that would lead to the next generation of data products for B2B marketers. I want to give startups access to this next-generation data to help them grow their business. Also, I want to identify startups that can make a positive difference with unlimited access to data and provide access to that data."

With a scholarship funding pool that could reach $5 million, Early-stage startups (pre-series A funding) based in the U.S. are eligible and will be selected based on feasibility, ethics and the need for B2B data.

"Having started my own business and experienced the pitfalls, I now want to give back," Cassidy said. "I want deserving startups to have a chance of not only surviving but succeeding in abundance. Clean marketing data is the foundation in which a successful business is built."

Four-Step Formula for Startup Success:

1. Choose a hot market. Research what industries are growing and where consumers are spending money. A common mistake for new business owners is to start businesses in markets they know, rather than markets that need their products or services. Someone with a background in real estate may decide to open a real estate agency because that's the field they know. However, if the housing market is down and the market is already saturated with real estate agents, the chance of failure is high[2].

2. Identify a need within the market. Walt Disney didn't invent the amusement park, but saw the need for a clean, safe park where the entire family could have fun together[3].

3. Stake your claim. Formulate a workable plan to successfully penetrate your desired market and acquire the data to reach potential customers[4].

4. Reactivate the Sales Pipeline. According to an article in Harvard Business Review, firms that have managed to reacquire lost customers due to initial lack of effective follow-up in sales cycles "identified the reasons for the initial dissolution, applied the right cost-benefit analysis, conducted an honest conversation with the customer, and accommodated their specific requirements[5]." Cassidy said that this "honest conversation" often doesn't take place because many companies have contact data that is out-of-date or inaccurate.

"Today, sales cycles are longer than in the past," he said. "This means customer or potential customer information can go bad before sales are made. With customer data decaying on average 30 percent annually, it's absolutely vital that a company keep their data clean, up-to-date and serviced regularly."
For more information about the MountainTop Data scholarships, visit https://www.mountaintopdata.com/datascholarship.

About MountainTop Data
MountainTop Data, headquartered in Los Angeles, has provided data services for B2B marketing for almost two decades, including marketing lists, data cleaning, data appending, data maintenance and email campaign management services. With an unrelenting commitment to quality, it was the first company to guarantee the accuracy of its licensed data and business emails.  Its data services have been used by some of the world's biggest brands across a multitude of industries, including multi-national telecommunication corporations, office technology companies, PR firms and more. For more information visit https://www.mountaintopdata.com

1. Chernev, Bobby. "28 Startup Statistics about the Catchiest Business Ideas of 2019."
2. Staff, Investopedia. "Top 6 Reasons New Businesses Fail." Investopedia, Investopedia, 9 July 2018.
3. Disneyinstitute/blog/leadership-lessons-from-walt-disney-disrupting-industry-stereotypes/
4. Albert-Deitch, Cameron. "There's a 3-Step Guide to Startup Success--and the Meatless Protein Industry Is Following It Perfectly." Inc.com, Inc., 11 June 2019.
5. Ray Schultz. Dirty Data-does-b2b-why-brands-fail-to-reconnect. 2019.

SOURCE MountainTop Data