Gutenberg Case Study
Highly Targeted Visibility Campaign for a
Tech Start-up Culminating in $35M in Financial Led by Bill Gates
National technology and business media campaign builds significant visibility for
a social/professional network start-up to drive millions of sign-ups in scientific
community and gain the attention of Bill Gates.
Background:
In October of 2009, ResearchGate, a year-old Cambridge, MA-based social network
start-up aimed at the scientific and research community, was in need of exposure in
order to drive membership, support business development and help raise capital to fund
operations.
Growth at that time was fueled in large part by the establishing visibility for the founders
through individual presentations at colleges and universities, primarily in the Boston
area, as well as in the hometown of the founders, Berlin, Germany. Overall,
ResearchGate’s goal was to increase the number of registered users in order to
facilitate greater ability for scientists and researchers to collaborate virtually, through
one strategic social/professional network. The PR program would also provide valuable
support for the founders to convince investors of the long-term potential of the
business.
Strategy / Tactics:
The objective of our communications program was to broaden the exposure of
ResearchGate and simultaneously introduce the company to technology, scientific and
business audiences. The entrepreneurial nature of the company was the platform
toward securing significant media coverage: a scientist/researcher needed a better way
to conduct his research, conceived of the idea and brought in his friends to help create
and launch the site.
This positioning earned ResearchGate the name, “Facebook for Scientists.”
Subsequent pitching surrounded the popularity of the “crowdsourcing” medium, by
establishing ResearchGate as a site where those in the scientific and research
communities could communicate and work in a truly collaborative manner for the
betterment of the research and discovery process overall.
This positioning was invaluable in attracting the attention of two rounds of funding by
prominent Silicon Valley VCs and, ultimately, a third round by Bill Gates, who has given
away billions of dollars of his fortune toward humanitarian causes. As a result of the PR
campaign, the media has reported extensively on ResearchGate’s capabilities helping
scientists and researchers publish studies, work collaboratively and more effectively
work toward eradicating disease and making a variety of scientific discoveries around
the world.
Results: Gutenberg secured media placements in outlets
including, Bloomberg, PandoDaily, GigaOM (picked
up by the WSJ’s Tech Europe blog), Fast Company,
The Cloud Show, Forbes, Financial Times, another
GigaOM story, Forbes (again), TechCrunch,
BusinessWeek, MarketWatch, The Economist,
ReadWriteWeb, Silicon Valley Watcher, and more.
This significant media coverage, has contributed
substantially to the growth and success of the
platform.
Notably, we seeded a significant story in The New
York Times “Cracking Open the Scientific Process”
that highlighted many of these ideas. This critical hit
came at a tipping point in the campaign, which
provided significant credibility for the company and
additional media attention, and, importantly, helped
launch record rounds of financing.
Beyond media relations, we have incorporated award
programs into our campaign, leading to
ResearchGate’s CEO being named as one of the
Boston Business Journal’s “40 Under 40.” We have
leveraged the coverage of this honor for additional
media attention. Currently, ResearchGate has nearly
three million registered users in more than 200
countries and has secured multiple rounds of funding.
In June 2013, Bill Gates joined Tenaya Capital in leading a $35M round of financing,
which also includes Dragoneer Investment Group LLC, Thrive Capital, Benchmark and
Founders Fund. Notably, this follows another round of financing in February 2012,
which was led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and Benchmark Capital.