Thanks to All My Friends
On Beagle’s ninth anniversary.
This is a special time of year for me personally, regardless of everything else going on for the holidays because it’s a professional anniversary too. I started my career as an analyst on January 3, 2000, the first workday of the new millennium, at Aberdeen Group.
My job was to cover SFA in the exploding CRM market and, just for fun, I told my boss, Chris Fletcher when I started, that I thought this idea of hosted applications would be a major inflection point and I wanted to cover it. As luck had it, SFA and hosting went well together and my career bloomed. I wrote about the space for four years at Aberdeen and did pretty well advising clients like Salesnet, UpShot and, of course, Salesforce.com.
At the end of 2003 we were in a recession and Aberdeen looked like it was destined for oblivion. New management came in and rather than dealing with what I felt was a punitive regime, I left, four years to the day after I’d started.
But I really liked being an analyst and it was something I was good at so it was hard to leave just because I didn’t have a job. That’s how Beagle Research got started. The HMS Beagle was Darwin’s research vessel on a five-year voyage around the world for the British Navy. I’d always had an evolutionary orientation, which I have applied to my study of markets with great success, so the whole Beagle Research name made sense for me. I hung out a shingle and the rest just happened.
So as we end 2012, I am celebrating the completion of nine years of success as an independent analyst, researcher and consultant and my beat continues to expand. For instance, social was not an established part of CRM when I started out but it is now, so I keep learning and it’s been fun.
Now’s a good time to say thank you to all of you for sticking with me as friends, clients, associates and fellow analysts. I couldn’t have gotten through the last nine years without people like Paul Greenberg, Esteban Kolsky and Brent Leary or the many outlets that carry my writing — and all of my clients. I am going to stop here because there are really too many people to thank and I will miss some but you know who you are. I see you at shows, sit on panels with you, write for you, do research with you and most importantly trade ideas with you and learn from you. So, thanks for being unwitting partners in this journey and Happy Holidays!
FYI, we’re getting ready to launch a new website which will have a more establishment look. It will be up shortly and will finally consolidate the blog, the neglected website and the common URL. I look forward to continuing our many conversations and to the idea exchange that makes this work so much fun.
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Denis thanks so much for the kind words. I’m really glad we got to hang out more this year, and can’t wait to see what 2013 has in store. Looking forward to working together in the Bullpen (and on our own collabs) and also jumping on the CRM Bus Tour with the rest of the fellas.
Have a great holiday!
Brent,
You are a class act and I am glad I came out of my cave and got to know Yu better. Next year will be very good and a lot of fun. Happy holidays! D
Well done Denis! I recall vividly your calls for hosting/SaaS in 2003/4, well before mainstream acceptance, and in fact when most were either viewing SaaS with a jaundiced eye or disregard. You were clearly a leading analyst then, just as you are today. Continue the good work!
Thanks, Chuck! Looking forward to collaborating with you in the new year.
Delivering students powerful enterprise level tools to manage their academic and other activities and accomplishments are closer to reality because of your interest, kindness, professionalism and confidence in the concept. Thank you Denis. Happy Anniversary. I’m looking forward to celebrating 10 years with you.