• We have grown to nearly 20,000 users instead of only hundreds.
• The product is faster to set up and easier to use than ever before
• The company has evolved to be the leader in Email Marketing 2.0.
• The Infusionsoft team has grown from a couple dozen to 140 employees
• We have a clear purpose, objective, and strategy.

We have helped bring industry-leading presenters at InfusionCon 2010 including Anita Campbell, Starr Hall, Harry Dent, John Assaraf, John Carlton and Derek Miner. These speakers will have plenty of excellent points to deliver that will help motivate and inspire you to grow your business. We thank them for taking the time out of their busy schedules to hang with us.

Without the help of our customers, investors, partners, affiliates, vendors, friends and families, none of this would be possible.

As the leader of our new business development department, I have the distinct pleasure of working closely with our partners.  Many of our customers and product enhancement ideas come from them. They have supported us over the years and we’ve grown and learned from them.

I also want to extend a very warm thanks to our partners and sponsors of InfusionCon. With our sponsors’ support, InfusionCon been a huge success and made free (and valuable) to attendees. In the past, we were forced to charge between $750 – $1500 per ticket!  So, to our gold partners and sponsors, THANK YOU:

ROI Guy	Guerrilla Marketing	Sonoran Studios
PowerPay	OneCoach	The Celebrity Branding Agency
SmallBizTechnology	Small Business Trends	SmallBizAmerica

In celebration of their continued support for small businesses, entrepreneurs and help to fund our annual InfusionCon event, I would like to acknowledge them and let you know a little more about them. (Also, be sure to connect with them next week and thank them for making InfusionCon possible!)

See you next week in Scottsdale!

–Dave

You might also like these blog entries:

• 27 Excellent People to Meet at InfusionCon
• Stoked About InfusionCon 2010!
• Action-Packed Agenda for InfusionCon 2010

It gives me a chance to meet face-to-face with our customers and partners, hear their success stories and learn how we can improve. It also gives me an opportunity to raise awareness for micro-credit lending and help entrepreneurs worldwide. It’s something I’m a huge fan of (see one of my previous entries on micro-credit lending).

Last year, with over 600 attendees, we maxed out the ballroom at the Scottsdale Plaza. This year, we changed venues to handle the 1200-1500 attendees we’ll have. Let me tell you… the new venue rocks!

Just before the holidays, Clate Mask, our CEO, invited the executive team and our spouses to a Christmas dinner at the same resort we’re hosting InfusionCon at: The Montelucia Resort & Spa.  As my wife and I walked around the grounds, I was struck by the architecture and views so I whipped out my iPhone and snapped a few spy-shots. There are tons of places to huddle, network and relax throughout the property. Best of all, we’ll have the entire resort all to ourselves – so only Infusionsoft customers, partners, staff, and friends will be hanging out at the hotel.

Click the images to view them larger.

Heads up: The hotel only has 282 rooms – so if you want to stay at the venue itself, you’ve got to book now. Otherwise, you’ll need to stay at the Camelback Inn or the Double Tree just down the street.

It only takes a few moments to register and we absolutely need to have the correct number of attendees so we can ensure everyone has a great time. Register for InfusionCon today! (Once you’re registered, let the world know you’re coming to InfusionCon on Twitter.)

This is an exciting time for entrepreneurs and it’s going to be a blast coming together at InfusionCon. Like @aliciamarie112 tweeted the other day, “I’m going!.”

See you there!

–Dave

You might also like these blog entries:

• 27 Excellent People to Meet at InfusionCon
• Action-Packed Agenda for InfusionCon 2010
• The Latest Buzz on InfusionCon 2010

We have a few suggestions for gadgets that will keep them inspired, working hard and having fun. Part business, part entertainment you may even find something here for yourself.

I am known around these parts for checking out, trying and buying new gadgets. Here is a list I’m sure almost any entrepreneur will love!

1. iPhone 3GS and ‘apps for everything’ – The iPhone 3GS is much faster than it’s predecessor, and is a solid business and personal phone. Right now, my favorite app is iMExchange to sync tasks and notes – boring, but awesome for personal productivity.
2. LightKeeper Pro – A Christmas holiday light repair tool that is handy when setting up holiday lights.
3. SSD Hard Drive - Our tech guys at Infusionsoft swapped out my traditional hard drive for an Intel SSD and it’s changed my life. Thanks, Marc!
4. Automated formal apology form – This makes saying “sorry” fun and easy.
5. Bose dock – I have to say, this delivers killer sound in a small size and supports the connection to my iPod.
6. Playstation 3– One of the best Blu-Ray players on the market, awesome games, and streaming Netflix movies at no additional charge (if you have Netflix)… all in one!
7. The ‘Karma’ – Not a gadget, but a very cool blend of green-technology, design, and amazing acceleration: Pick up one for a meager $88,000.
8. 40″ Samsung LCD HDTV – My wife thinks it’s ridiculous, but I love my big Samsung LCD as a monitor for my home PC.
9. Harmony One Remote – With one press of a button turns on my TV, sets it to HDMI 1, turns on the Dish receiver, turns on my audio system & sets it Input1.
10. The Egg - Whenever I need tech gadgets, I go to NewEgg to get ‘em. Their affordable shipping and great service keeps me coming back.

Surely, there has to be an entrepreneur you know who would love one of these gadgets (I’ll take the ‘Karma’!). If you have any top gadgets you’re getting for others — or what you want others to get you — share them in the comments!

You might also like these blog entries:

• Geek Week: Tech Advancements @ Infusionsoft
• 16 Website Building Tips for Entrepreneurs
• It’s ‘Geek Week’ at Infusionsoft!

It might seem a little strange to think that a software company would open its doors to the public for an inside peek.  If we were still in our first office in a Mesa, AZ strip mall (see such evidence here, here and here), that “peek” would have lasted all of about 12 seconds.

Fast forward to 2009, and we’ve built a Silicon Valley-like company here in the Phoenix area (as Francine Hardaway and others have noted) and we want to show others how we did it. We’re proud of our business and look forward to visitors who are interested in seeing it from the inside.

Some of the unusual things you’ll experience in our 30,000 square foot “office” are:

• Monster 35-foot ceilings.
• Energy from constant movement & conversations.
• An indoor football field, basketball court and a gym.
• Lots of smiles.
• Luke & Tadd (from the Luke & Tadd Show).
• Scooters, bikes, skis, and boards laying around.
• Our strategic plan posted on large laminated posters in plain view.
• Random bursts of laughter as people watch videos on YouTube.
• Music!
• Flat-screen TVs with stats and announcements.
• Stocked break room with drinks, breakfast items and coffee.
• Random acts of awesome.

If you would like to be a part of the first official Infusionsoft tour held on Monday, December 7th, from 9 AM – 10 AM, you can RSVP by sending an email to tours@Infusionsoft.com. We’re easily accessible to everyone in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Chandler, Mesa, and Tempe (and of course, Gilbert).

See you then!

–Dave

You might also like these blog entries:

• Infusionsoft Voted in ‘Best Places to Work’ for 2009
• Launching Your First Campaign
• Customers, are YOU our next success story?

The customer commented that once a site visitor submitted the form in some cases it was taking too long to process, resulting in visitors to abandon (and never make it into the customer database).  Not good.

Instead of packing away the issue at the bottom of the suit case along with his dirty socks, Jordan returned home and in true Infusionsoft style, immediately started to dig in and troubleshoot (did I mention that Jordan is a sales rep?).  He rigged up an automated test to see how long, on average, it took for an Infusionsoft Web form to be processed.

Our Web forms are unique because not only do they add the visitor’s data to the customer database, they also perform a series of automated commands that can effortlessly segment and group the new contacts, initiate or stop an auto-responder sequence or follow-up campaign, notify the site owner of the new opt-in, and dozens of other actions. Through Jordan’s grassroots testing, he discovered that forms were taking an average 3-4 seconds to process… not bad, but could be improved, especially if it meant increasing response rates for thousands of our customers and their prospects.

Jordan’s advocacy for customers and his initiative are characteristics that we strive for everyday and I wanted to publicly share my gratitude for it.

Next, Jordan brought the issue to Marc Chesley, our VP of Development & Technology, who pulled out the big guns.  Marc felt it was important to investigate and improve, even if we could only shave off a handful of milliseconds from the processing time. After a “Special Forces” team of developers invested a week of testing, tweaking code, and playing with ‘threads’ (did I mention that I’m a marketing and sales guy?), they nailed it!

The special forces team who went in, found the issue and fixed it for a customer: Ross Beamish, Ryan Peterson, Marc Chesley, James Thompson, Joseph Mask, Jordan Hatch and Mike Daniels. Thank you!

The result was that our Web form processing time was cut from four seconds down to a paltry 70 milliseconds … or 7/100ths of a second.  Now that’s fast! Mind you, this was done in a scientifically-sound proven development environment so we could correctly measure the impact. Here is a chart that demonstrates the impact of their work:

The best part of this is not only the initiative, the compassion for our customers and a solid example of how we set out to make the best darn marketing software for small business … the enhancement is planned to roll out tonight! Everyone should feel this benefit and have even more confidence in our software and service!

–Dave

UPDATE 12/18: Our developer, Mike, has increased Web Form Performance even more. In an internal email, he states, “You may be interested to hear that I made it even faster. It is down to 37 milliseconds now. (Down from 70).  I was able to squeeze a little extra speed out by pushing the [double] opt-in email and notification to the app owner that their form was filled out into their own thread.” Nice work again, Mike!

You might also like these blog entries:

• Staying True to Your Customer
• Solid State Drives (SSDs) and the Business Owner
• Got a Success Story to Tell? We can Help!