Last week I was talking to an entrepreneur about ideas to grow his business. Halfway through the conversation, he volunteered that he’s a fan of using data exhaust — that is, data other companies produce but aren’t focused on — to do more targeted cold calling and marketing. What are some examples of data exhaust that exist out there? Let’s take a look:
- Kabbage realized there was tremendous credit history value in past eBay transactions, UPS shipping records, and more resulting in a more efficient system to loan money to online merchants
- BuiltWith realized that websites include code that shows the company is a customer of one or more web products, which is great for other companies selling competing or complementary products
- List building products like SalesLoft that can take existing information online, like prospect profiles, and make them organized and actionable
Keep an eye out for data exhaust others might not focus on and consider how it can be used to your advantage.
What else? What are some other examples of data exhaust creating startup opportunities?
David Cummings on Startups 