New Ownership announced at Marqui

I am completly baffled! I'm not even sure what to say. We were concerned when the company went into receivership. We were even more concerned when the staff count dropped to a skeleton crew of 6. But now this? WTF!?!?!?

Not very comforted in knowing that my Marketing Automation software is managed by a group of people monitor their water quality - LOL - "The investor group does not bring only financial backing to Marqui, but also technical know-how through its ownership of WaterTrax, a company that develops and markets software to help manage and monitor water quality in large and small communities across North America." THEY MONITOR WATER QUALITY!!!

We're also baffled by the comment about the "CORE GROUP OF EMPLOYEES." - "As a customer, you can rest assured that we will continue the Marqui service in its current form, and with a core group of employees staying with Marqui, your relationships with us will be maintained and enhanced."

And by far the worst part of the message we received today was the fact that of the "CORE GROUP OF EMPLOYEES" they chose to have identified, they selected someone from the weakest part of the organization - Customer Services.

Give us anyone from the previous team but don't tell us about the future, paint us a picture of hope and then have the "core person" be from the weakest part of the company.

I don't think I will be alone in this request, but can someone please post a recommendation for alternative vendors in Vancouver.

THANK YOU.

Thanks for letting us know who's ended up investing in Marqui. I must admit, I'm fascinated by the combination of organizations joining together in this investment. Time will tell how it all falls into place. I'm pleased the brand will remain intact. It would be sad to see something once so very vibrant be wiped out in this unfortunate situation.

I'm very curious how the Vancouver community and Marqui's customer base will react. At least we now know who's minding the ship, and I wish them all the best.

According to www.reddragontours.com, Abraxus is "a Canadian-based company that has been operating for more than ten years, dedicated to providing professional services in a number of different fields." These include "a large metal fabrication company operating in Edmonton and Fort McMurray, Alberta", "commercial and residential real estate, including shopping malls and seniors' homes", "Amusement Park under development next to Lake Okanagan", "Advanced Communications Systems a mobile cellular telephone company".

Couldn't even find an address for Krystal Financial Corporation. The SIL Enterprises website is underconstruction, and it ain't a well furnished house they're building by the looks of it. No other mention of them on the web. The only Ogilvie Communications I could find is a telecommunications business in the UK. At least there's a WaterTrax website. If anyone needs a job, they're looking for a part-time bookkeeper.

As for Mr. Neale, from the January 2006 WaterTrax newsletter: "Prior to joining WaterTrax, Lance was Vice President of Publishing with Transcontinental Media, and was active in developing it as one of the publishing industry’s largest and fastest growing companies from 1997 to 2005. Lance initially, was VP of Information Technology Publishing and Sports Publishing, he was later promoted to Vice President of Western operations. Prior to Transcontinental, Lance worked with Southam Newspaper Group and held numerous senior sales and marketing roles across Canada." Then again, as of 8:26 (PDT) on Monday, August 18, his Linkedin page says he's "Owner, Ogilvie Communications and Publishing Specialist" and he's interested in, among other things, "job inquiries". So that'll be three jobs he's holding down: CEO of WaterTrax, CEO of Marqui and owner of Ogilvie Communications.

So the new owners have no experience in marketing or web content management software, and very little experience at building websites of their own. Well, at least I can sleep soundly knowing the new owners are keeping the URL. You need a URL if you're going to sell on-hosted service-as-a-demand marketing automaton software thingamajiggies.

This might be one of the emptiest statements I have ever read...

"Neale said he was pleased that most of Marqui’s current employees had agreed to stay on and participate in building the new company."

Lance - Can you clarify what "most of Marqui's current employees" actually means? The entire R&D team was let go, Sales & Marketing is gone which leaves you with what, a couple of people in Support and someone in collections?

Good news though, "Reid added that customers will maintain existing relationships with Marqui staff and have continuity of service without having to worry about being switched to another product suite."

Perfect. I get to maintain my non-existent relationship with a Support team that doesn't communicate with me in the first place.

From the press release on the Marqui website, it looks like they bought Marqui to beef up WaterTrax with on demand technology: "Neale, who is CEO of WaterTrax and will be CEO of Marqui, said the acquisition is in line with the group’s goal of moving toward the creation of a multi-brand software-as-a-service (SaaS) company."(http://www.marqui.com/company/press-center/campaign08180801.aspx)

A "multi-brand software-as-a-service software company" makes no sense when one brand is a water management system and the other is a marketing automation suite.They aren't complementary in any sense of the word. Most of the new owner's time and development resources will probably be spent incorporating Marqui technology into WaterTrax, not developing Marqui the way it should be.

On one of the other boards talking about Marqui, somebody mentioned an outfit out of Calgary called Canterris. Has anybody looked into it as a viable replacement for Marqui? Anybody had any experience working them?

I cannot say that this is good news for existing customers. Not at all.

Who is going to develop the product and keep it competitive with the likes of Marketo, now that their entire R&D team now gone? Who is going to sell the product now that the only successful rep they ever had is gone? Who is going to Market it - the same guys who wrote the grammatically incorrect press release announcing the purchase of Marqui?

Unless the "core team" includes Ryan, Rick and Richard - it would probably be wise for the new owners to at least get them on-board in some advisory capacity to give the Water Management software guys some assistance in getting up to speed in the Marketing Automation space. It would even add some credibility to the "core team."

We've had a support incident in with the "core team" for some time now and they have done a fabulous job enjoying their summer vacation, instead of maintaining our relationship.

I guess we should just be thankful that the product is still up and running. At least it gives us all time to consider our options and find a more viable alternative.

At my last job, we used Marqui. Man did that leave a bad taste in my mouth. Basic cms is okay but as soon as you want to do anything beyond showing html on a page you're doing your own custom programming or hack in links to other sites. The demo site they give you links to Community Server for the real functionality. Marqui's calendar example is done using about a hundred lines of VBScript code that you'd have to write yourself. What is this, 1995? It can't even manage upcoming events for you?

No surprise they didn't get any serious bidders and that all their staff bolted. Who but a bunch of investors who thought they could squeeze out money from current suckers (er... I mean, customers) would pick up this dying relic?

It's great to hear someone has actually bought Marqui.

I am not excited to hear client services situation. Even when Marqui was doing well clients services could not answer emails, phone calls or even bother to communicate with us. And this was when she was simply our technical contact. The past client services liaison (Rick )was at least attentive to our needs.

This experince of dealing with Marqui will no doubt leave a bad taste in my mouth. As a we have been completely in the dark besides, communication with Colin, Rick and some tech support people.

I looked into Canterris a year or so ago. It was basically a WCM product, but the web site talks about email now. I got the impression it was a couple guys in a basement but who knows. They just opened an office in Waterloo. Seems like a bizarre choice. I'd like to know who the people are and who owns them but no mention on their web site. With Marqui imploding Im inclined to go with someone more established.

Does anyone know, or can speculate, what the sell price was?

I too was stung by the dog-eat-dog world at Marqui and purchased a product from smooth talker Rick Patri just before all the shit hit the fan. Well, Gravity Force does not seem to be panning out - I guess when you burn enough bridges word will get around.

Gravity Force does not seem to be panning out - I guess when you burn enough bridges word will get around.

Oops...I meant: 'Gravity Factor does not seem to be panning out'

Boy this site gets alot of traffic; I receive an email correcting me right after I posted.

Have a read of Marqui's latest letter to customers:

From: Mail Manager On Behalf Of Marqui Inc.

Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 1:24 PM

Subject: Marqui Update

August 26, 2008

Further to our announcement last week regarding the acquisition of Marqui, I want to update you on our progress to date. Since launching our new ownership, I have had an opportunity to talk with a number of our clients and partners and I want to say how appreciative I am of the consistently strong message of support and positive reinforcement. Many of the customers that I have talked with have similar questions so I thought it would be appropriate to share some of my responses with all of our valued customers.

The two main questions that I have been asked have been-what attracted you to the Marqui acquisition and what are your plans going forward.

What attracted us to Marqui is that fundamentally this is a good business with strong potential to be an excellent business. What makes Marqui a good business? From our perspective, it's strong and broad client base of customers who value the products and services that Marqui provides; the quality of the products; the credibility and visibility of the brand; and the quality and passion of the team of employees that have committed themselves to making Marqui a success. Marqui has all of these important components.

In terms of our plans going forward, our primary focus "out of the gate" is to focus on the fundamentals. These fundamentals, for us, start with providing our clients with exceptional customer service and using this competency as a foundation to build upon. Marqui is a good business, with exceptional customer relationships, we plan to make it a great business.

A key component of being able to provide exceptional service to our clients is a strong internal team of employees. Marqui has a strong team, which we will build on as we go forward. To that end, I would like to introduce you to our management team. In the weeks and months to come each of these leaders will be participating in the long term development plan for Marqui and will be building their teams to support the needs of our customers.

Jackie Reid, Vice President of Client Services-Jackie has been with Marqui since 2006 and has responsibility for Client Services and Customer Support. Prior to joining Marqui, Jackie spent several years as a client management executive in a professional software services firm. She has deep experience in project management, technical operations management, and consulting in software implementations. Jackie's direct line is (604) 484-8531 or email jackie.reid@marqui.com

Colin Edwards, Customer Support Manager, Colin has been with Marqui since 2007 and has responsibility for the customer support team. Prior to joining Marqui, Colin has worked in customer facing roles for leading technology companies for over 10 years. Colin can be reached at (604) 484-0340, or email colin.edwards@marqui.com

Ryan Stocker, Vice President Product Management, Ryan has been with Marqui since 2006 and now has redefined responsibility for all product management strategies and initiatives. Ryan has over 10 years of extensive experience in software engineering and program and product management from both Microsoft and NCompass Labs. Prior to joining Marqui, Ryan was Lead Program Manager for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server where he was responsible for Microsoft's SharePoint's web content management architecture. Ryan can be reached at (604)484-0324 or email ryan.stocker@marqui.com

James Griffiths, CA, Chief Financial Officer, James joins Marqui as CFO as part of the new ownership group. James has been responsible for overseeing the finance and administration of our sister company WaterTrax for the past seven years. Prior to that, James was with Pepsi in Eastern Europe and Asia. James can be reached directly at (604) 630-3702 or email james.griffiths@marqui.com

Vickitt Lau, B. Sc (Hon), M. Sc., Vice President of Development, Vickitt also joins the Marqui team as part of the new ownership group. Vickitt has overseen the product planning, development, and execution of our sister company WaterTrax for the last two years. In his 19 years in the software industry, Vickitt has worked in the Alberta Research Council to apply advanced computer technologies to industries, delivered numerous successful projects for Fortune 500 companies, and led development teams in the SaaS industry. Vickitt can be reached at (604) 484-0317 or email vickitt.lau@marqui.com

Myself, Lance Neale President and CEO, incoming as part of the new ownership group. Prior to my software career which began 3 years ago, I was involved at a senior level in publishing and, by extension, marketing services for 20 years supporting the needs of advertisers and marketing partners. I can be reached directly at (604) 484-8533 or email lance.neale@marqui.com

In closing today, I want to emphasis that we are committed, as a first priority, to serving your needs in an effective and timely fashion. We also recognize that this has been an unsettled couple of months for our customers. Please let us know if you have any questions, comments or suggestions and please reach out when we can be of service. In addition to contacting any member of our management team, our customer support team can be reached at 1 800 505 8544 or email support@marqui.com

We look forward to hearing from you and working with you.

Sincerely,

Lance Neale

President and CEO

So the new CEO, CFO and VP of development are part-time, working at Marqui and WaterTrax, with no marketing automation experience between the three of them. It would almost have been better if they'd been bought by a competitor for their customer list. At least then we'd be migrated over to a product with a dedicated executive team and brighter long-term prospects.

I am probably biased, but I think that open source CMS would work well for most businesses and there is no need to worry about getting locked in.

Open source is fine if you have the technical expertise inhouse to maintain the software and the hardware. On-demand is better suited to most businesses, which lack large IT groups. Even those that do have inhouse IT resources usually end up having to wait in a queue to have issues dealt with. Wonky marketing software rates well below most other systems in terms of priority. Except for maybe water quality monitoring software.

Doug, we checked Canteris a couple years ago. The president was the salesman, the guy who showed us a demonstration, and everything. The product seemed fine, but we ended up going with ezPublish for a number of reasons. Looking at the press release about new bundles it looks like Canteris is getting serious. The contact is Ken Schmaltz. We worked together when he was a marketing director at a search company called Verity in Silicon Valley. He should have been the VP (you can buy me a mojito if you can figure out who this is ;-p). I thought he was still consulting on his own. Ken knows his stuff when it comes to WCM, e-mail and on, has the nuances of high-tech marketing down pat, knows how to work the industry analysts, can build a highly motivated marketing team and function on a shoe string, and knows about growing a market leading software company. At Verity, he was respected by the entire marketing group (even those who didn’t like him), sales, and development from testers right up to the CTO Prabhakar Raghavan.

If Ken’s associated with Canteris its worth looking into. If I was Marqui, I'd Google him and make him an offer. Stall an up and coming competitor by stealing there stars, and add a marketing expert with real experience in your market at the same time.

We sniffed around Marqui after getting a call from the Receiver Manager but decided against putting in a bid. They have some great people and I really admire Jackie who has had to weather a heck of a storm over the last 6 months.

I have watched the (d)evolution of Marqui since they were WebXL selling MaestroCMS. We sell a SaaS CMS (SiteCM) and were interested in Marqui partly to avoid just this sort of flameout that seems to be underway. The last thing we need (with 13 years in business, close to 300 licensees and a growing network of Resellers. How is that for established Doug?) is for SaaS CMS to get a bad rap. In the end we decided that we did not want to get into Marqui for many reasons but partly because we had no Marketing Automation expe whch Zeke pointed out the new owners are also lacking.

Companies fail for many reasons and no one person or decision is ever the cause but it seems that Marqui just had too much money and not enough discipline to get really good at one thing.

I am going to keep watching them with much interest.

Well, Mr. Schmaltz, aren't you going to say something after that introduction and endorsement?

I've been watching the Marqui site for press releases or job posting to indicate renewed life. The only thing new they're looking for is an accountant. No developers or tech support. Anybody know anybody that knows anything about the inner workings over on West Pender? Or has all the action moved to the WaterTrax offices now?