- Convio
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Convio (NASDAQ:CNVO)[1] is a software company based in Austin, Texas in the USA, with offices in Washington, DC and Emeryville, CA. Convio provides internet marketing and business management applications tailored specifically for non-profit organizations, and virtually all of its customers are charities, educational establishments, and political advocacy groups.
Contents
Early history
Convio was founded in 1999 by Vinay Bhagat and David Crooke, using venture capital funding led by Austin Ventures[2]. The inspiration for the company was the inefficient pen and paper administration of telethons then used by PBS and NPR stations to raise funds from the public.[3]
In January 2007, Convio acquired GetActive Software [4], another major eCRM and CMS provider for non-profit organizations.
Convio was one of the first companies to deliver its products via a purely hosted model, now known as "Software as a Service" (SaaS). Customers of SaaS companies do not receive copies of the software to run on their own computers, but instead access the software over the Internet using a web browser.
Convio had its IPO on April 29, 2010 on the NASDAQ.[5][6]
Controversy
From 2005-2007, Convio was the target of a vitriolic[7] (and often inaccurate[8]) campaign led by the famous left-wing political bloggers John Aravosis and Markos Moulitsas on their respective blogs Americablog and Dailykos because of the company's politically neutral "first amendment" stance in serving clients with views ranging all across the political spectrum.[9]
After learning more about the company, including the fact that it was one of the first employers in Texas to offer health-care benefits to unmarried domestic partners of homosexual and heterosexual employees alike, both bloggers softened their stance considerably, and the Dailykos blog now routinely links to political advocacy campaigns powered by Convio's software.[10]
References
- ^ http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=cnvo
- ^ http://austinventures.com/portfolio/portfolio.asp?id=27&mode=1#co27
- ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9967767/ns/business-small_business/page/3/
- ^ http://www.convio.com/convio/news/releases/convio-acquires-getactive-software.html
- ^ http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/convio-gives-ipo-another-try/
- ^ http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63S3XF20100429
- ^ http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/3/174432/0498
- ^ http://www.americablog.com/2005/06/big-lefty-consulting-firm-convio.html ... Convio is not a consulting firm, is not based in DC, and is not left wing
- ^ http://www.convio.com/convio/policies/#Client_Engagement_Principles
- ^ http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/3/5/843276/-Haiti:-Non-random-Acts-of-Kindness (random sample link, Mar 5 2010)
External links
Categories:- Companies based in Austin, Texas
- CRM software companies
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