Corey Capasso, Of Nomi, Explains Why Retail Is Here To Stay

<keyword id="1754949" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Corey-Capasso">Corey Capasso</keyword> is only 26, but he's already founded five companies. He founded his first startup, a plastic retainer business in Connecticut, when he was 18. He noticed classmates chewing on pen caps, and thought the experience would be better if the caps tasted like fruit. So he and a partner invented flavored plastic.
That business is still up and running, but Capasso went on to another venture. Capasso helped create Spinback, a startup that was acquired by Buddy Media in a mostly-stock deal. That acquisition was fruitful when Buddy Media was acquired by Salesforce one year later for nearly $700 million.
We spoke to the startup-addicted twenty-something about what motivates him in business, and how 15 failures led to ultimate success.
 
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How This Young Entrepreneur Struck Gold After Failing 15 Times

<keyword id="1754949" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Corey-Capasso">Corey Capasso</keyword> has launched five startups. For two of them, <keyword id="234938" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Nomi">Nomi</keyword> and Salesforce-owned Spinback, his job was to reel in big clients.
When no one has ever heard of your company though, that's a daunting task.
Landing a Fortune 500 client is "a combination of luck and focus," Capasso tells us. It can also take months of persistence. Capasso recalls trailing one prospective client to the gym and "coincidentally" hopping on a treadmill next to him. Capasso eventually won his business.
But landing that first big client is just the beginning. How do you manage them and keep them happy with a small startup staff?
Here are Capasso's tips for landing Fortune 500 clients and keeping the big bucks coming in:
 
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How To Convince Fortune 500 Companies To Use Your Tiny, Insignificant Startup

Earlier this year, tech investor and entrepreneur Marc Andreessen turned heads when he told PandoDaily <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/retail-stores-will-die-says-marc-andreessen-2013-1">physical retail stores would die altogether.</a>
"<keyword id="6354851" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Retail">Retail</keyword> guys are going to go out of business and <keyword id="436047" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ecommerce">ecommerce</keyword> will become the place everyone buys," the Netscape founder and Pinterest investor said. "You are not going to have a choice. We’re still pre-death of retail, and we’re already seeing a huge wave of growth. The best in class are going to get better and better...software eats retail."
But <keyword id="1754949" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Corey-Capasso">Corey Capasso</keyword> doesn't agree. In fact, he just raised <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/former-salesforce-and-buddy-media-executives-raise-3-million-nomi-2013-2">$3 million for a new company called Nomi</a>, which brings the power of digital data to physical retail stores.
He thinks, if retailers start looking at physical locations as an advantage rather than a detriment to their balance sheets, they can have a leg-up on e-commerce shops.
Currently, physical retail stores make up 90% of all sales. Capasso thinks they're safe for a long time -- definitely until 2020.
Here's his take. 
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Why Physical Retail Stores Are Not Going To Die - At Least Not Until 2020

<table class="image-container float_right" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/51190a516bb3f7343a000005-424-318/corey-capasso-wesley-barrow-marc-ferrentino-nomi.jpeg" border="0" alt="Corey Capasso, Wesley Barrow Marc Ferrentino Nomi" /></div><a href="http://www.getnomi.com/">Nomi</a>Corey Capasso, Wesley Barrow and Marc Ferrentino co-founded Nomi.</td></tr></table>The moment you open Amazon.com, your entire retail experience is personalized, down to the promotions you see and the products you are pushed. That's because e-commerce is a data-driven industry, and websites know a lot about customers who stumble on to their websites.
Physical stores however, where 90% of all retail purchases still occur, know nothing about the customers who walk in their doors.
<a href="http://www.getnomi.com">Nomi</a> (pronounced Know Me) is a new startup founded by former <keyword id="291779" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Buddy-Media">Buddy Media</keyword> and Salesforce executives. It brings real-time customer data to brick and mortar stores. 
How? 
By leveraging shoppers' cell phones.
<keyword id="234938" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Nomi">Nomi</keyword>'s team gives retailers a snippet of code that lets wireless routers listen for nearby smart phone signals. The wireless routers can detect unique Media Access Control (MAC) codes from smart phones and then collect non-invasive data about customers in real-time. Its founders say no personal information will be pulled; store owners won't even know shoppers' names. "It's completely passive and completely anonymous," co-founder <keyword id="1754949" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Corey-Capasso">Corey Capasso</keyword>, 25, tells us. 
Instead, Nomi will show retailers how many customers visit each day, the average time spent in the store, and new versus repeat visitors. 
Nomi's first two products are called Listen and Measure. Listen is an infographic-style analytics dashboard that shows non-invasive data (see below). Measure is a marketing optimization platform for physical stores. For example, it can measure the impact a new window display has on foot traffic, or how many people visit a store following a Facebook promotion.
Some billion-dollar brands are already testing Nomi, Capasso says. 
Investors are loving the concept. The founders were able to get $3 million wired into their bank account just 13 days after their first investor meeting. First Round Capital led the seed round with participation from Greycroft Partners, SV Angel, Forerunner Ventures, Ralph Mack, David Tisch, Andy Dunn and Sam Decker.
"This is a huge market with a killer team that knows how to solve customer problems and sell," Chris Fralic, a partner at First Round Capital tells Business Insider. "I don't think there is a bigger issue impacting e-commerce than online and offline coming together, and Nomi is a great example of that." 
While he admits the 13-day turnaround may have been swift, Fralic says First Round has known Capasso and his co-founder Marc Ferrentino for years. 
Prior to founding Nomi, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-convince-fortune-500-companies-to-use-your-tiny-insignificant-startup-2012-9">Capasso founded four other companies</a>. He's best known for Spinback, an e-commerce data company which was acquired by Buddy Media. The deal was mostly stock, which turned out well when Buddy Media was later acquired by Salesforce for $689 million.
Ferrentino was the former Chief Technical Architect of Salesforce, although he left before Capasso's startup was acquired. Wesley Barrow, Nomi's third co-founder, was Buddy Media's top revenue producer.
Capasso says the timing for a startup like Nomi has never been better. But as more shopping dollars are spent online, is it smart to be working with local retailers? Netscape co-founder and tech investor <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/retail-stores-will-die-says-marc-andreessen-2013-1">Marc Andreessen recently predicted the demise of physical stores</a> altogether.
Capasso doesn't buy it.
"As a consumer, you shop online or you shop in stores. I don't look at it as offline versus online. It's all commerce. The 'e' can go away," he says. 
"Because what does 'brand' mean? It's a symphony of experiences. The touch and feel of the products, trying things on, interacting with sales associates, the smell of a store -- that will never be online. The 'e' should be for 'experience.'"
<table class="image-container" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/51190ab56bb3f72938000024-567-393/listen.png" border="0" alt="listen nomi" /></div><a href="http://www.getnomi.com">Nomi</a>Nomi's "Listen" dashboard for stores.</td></tr></table>

You Searched For "Corey Capasso" and got 5 results

Corey Capasso, Of Nomi, Explains Why Retail Is Here To Stay

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