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Peering out into the crowd, Young said he wanted to know who was in the audience. Academics? Employees of major companies?
"Anyone here unemployed?" he asked. Not a single hand went up. "Oh, so no one is admitting to it yet."
Although companies at the inaugural summit hosted by TechJournal South for the most part remained chipper, many of the issues discussed throughout the day still focused on the economic downturn and the effects it's having on the industry.
"I think the question we keep hearing today is, 'What is the role of -- blank -- in a down economy?' " said Elaine O'Gorman, vice president of marketing for Silverpop, an Atlanta-based company.
When it came to e-mail marketing, for instance, a panel of industry leaders said it's actually growing in a down economy because businesses are seeking to shift their advertising dollars from traditional to more interactive media. And e-mail marketing is ready to reap the rewards, being a relatively affordable and easy tool for businesses to contact and retain the clients they currently have.
Ryan Allis, the 24-year-old co-founder and CEO of iContact, said the company started the year with 73 employees and plans to have 240 by the end of 2009. The company also posted a September-October growth of 18 percent this year.
"E-mail marketing is something you don't really turn off," Allis said afterward. "[The downturn] is one of the better times to build a company. You have lower labor costs and lower advertising costs."
The Durham-based company recently secured another $5 million in funding from venture capital firm North Atlantic Capital. The company is growing its customser service, sales and development divisions.
According to Allis, other companies in the Triangle also seem to be weathering the downturn well, but start-ups that have not turned a profit may find it harder to get additional funding at this point.
PocketGear President and CEO Jud Bowman was also one of the panelists at the summit on Wednesday, where he spoke on the future of mobile software.
The Durham-based business, which Bowman formed earlier this year after buying the smartphone applications business from Motricity, sells the applications using direct channels.
On Dec. 1, the company is moving to the Powerhouse building into 2,200 square feet of space on the fourth floor, right under the Lucky Strike smoke stack.
Bowman's company is also still growing. It has 20 employees so far, but will be hiring five more soon. "We haven't seen a downturn," he said. "We're kind of in an oasis."
In all, some 700 attended the Internet Summit. Eric Gregg, publisher of TechJournal, said they will hold another summit next year, also in North Carolina.
"We just wanted to bring together people in the Internet economy in this setting. There hasn't been anything like this in the Southeast," he said.
"I think the fact we were sold out bodes well for the efficiencies of the Internet," he added.
To see more of The Herald-Sun, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.herald-sun.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The Herald-Sun, Durham, N.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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