OutStart, Inc.

OutStart, lnc.

Type	Private
Industry	Software
Headquarters	Boston, Massachusetts, United States U.S.
Key people	Massood Zarrabian (President and CEO) John Alonso (CTO and co-founder)
Employees	120 (2008)
Website	outstart.com

OutStart, Inc. is a provider of social business software and learning systems. OutStart’s social business software and learning systems automate the development, maintenance, and delivery of modular and personalized training. According to the company, its social software technologies enable the capture of a historical knowledge base of insights, experiences, ideas and content accessible by anyone, at any time. OutStart’s corporate headquarters is at 745 Atlantic Ave, Boston. John Alonso, Michelle Bruce and Scott Edwards founded OutStart in 1999; the company was incorporated in July 1999. OutStart’s offices now include locations across Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America^[1].

Corporate history

Alonso and Edwards met in the mid 1990s while working at Powersoft Corporation, which was acquired by Sybase in 1994^[2]. While at Powersoft, and later Sybase’s Education division, Alonso held a number of roles over several years, including as an instructor for the PowerBuilder product; building computer- and video-based training; and, eventually, creating content. Edwards served as both a programmer and consultant alongside Alonso. As a trainer at Sybase, Alonso says he noticed that most customers rarely availed themselves of all the instructor-led training made available by Sybase. Alonso proposed to his managers that they offer training curriculum online, which he called next-generation learning. Company executives liked the idea and gave Alonso the directive to proceed with his plan of developing an internally used Learning content management system (LCMS). According to Alonso, the software was among the first LCMS developed for either “an internal or external audience of learners.” Other LCMS on the market and in use at the time elsewhere included software sold by Generation21 and Peer3, respectively.

In 1998, Sybase hired Michelle Bruce as an instructor for the Southeast U.S. She had a background in education and soon became part of Alonso’s team. Eventually, Alonso left Sybase, followed by Edwards and Bruce.

After leaving Sybase, Alonso, Bruce and Edwards teamed up to found OutStart^[3]. Initially, the company’s headquarters was near Orlando, Florida. According to its founders, OutStart’s name sprung from the desire “to help companies outsource their training and in so doing jump-start their programs.”

Among the company’s first customers was Cisco Systems, says Alonso and Edwards. OutStart’s founders signed a contract to convert Cisco’s instructor-led training course for network engineers into an online curriculum. According to the three founders, the Cisco project was a success and helped fund the further development of OutStart’s LCMS. In the beginning, the majority of the company’s revenue was used to fund the development of content, not its new LCMS software. So OutStart’s founders decided to seek venture capital as well as a CEO to manage the company’s expected growth. In 2001, OutStart’s leaders successfully secured A-round financing from Sigma + Partners. Later in 2001, Alonso tapped the company’s current president and CEO, Massood Zarrabian, to run the organization. In 2002, OutStart completed its B-round of financing led by General Catalyst Partners as well as Boston University’s Community Technology Fund and the company's original investor, Sigma + Partners. Also in 2002, GrandBanks Capital made an investment in OutStart, which was the result of a business combination that same year between Concentric Visions and OutStart.

While OutStart was not the first company to develop and sell an LCMS, according to Alonso, it was among the first companies to sell a commercially successful LCMS.

Mergers & Acquisitions

OutStart has acquired (or merged with) a number of companies to bring products, talent and skills to the company. According to company executives, each merger or acquisition has been designed to support a strategy of building software for informal learning, expertise exchange, and collaboration.

In July 2002, OutStart acquired Concentric Visions Inc., a developer of enterprise-class content management software. In October 2002, OutStart acquired Trainersoft.com Corp, a maker of e-learning tools. In November 2004, OutStart acquired Chicago-based Participate Systems Inc., a maker of social business software^[4]. In July 2008, OutStart merged with Eedo Knowledgeware Corporation, a provider of learning and knowledge management software^[5]. In June 2009, OutStart merged with Hot Lava Software, a company with applications for reaching mobile cellular subscribers^[6].

Expansion

Since 2001, when OutStart’s headquarters moved from Orlando, Florida, to Boston, the company has expanded operations to Canada, Ireland, Germany (through its subsidiary OutStart GmbH), the United Kingdom, and The Netherlands. In August 2009, OutStart announced it had opened an Asia-Pacific headquarters in Sydney, Australia.

Noteworthy

The company has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the “visionaries” quadrant of the 2008 and 2009 “Corporate Learning Systems Magic Quadrant“^[7].

Partial List of Products

Social Business Software

• OutStart Participate, a social business software platform for leveraging an organization's collective intelligence and exchanging social capital.

Mobile Solutions

• Hot Lava Mobile, allows users to develop content once and deploy it in multiple formats to multiple hand-held devices and mobile phones (e.g., Symbian Phones, Blackberry, Windows Mobile Pocket PCs, etc.).

Learning Systems

• OutStart LCMS, a learning content management system (LCMS) for automating the development, management, maintenance, and delivery of modular training including: online; instructor guides; mobile; assessments, and, via different languages.

References

1. ^ OutStart press release, August 20, 2009
2. ^ The New York Times, November 15, 1994, section D page 1
3. ^ CrunchBase.com biography for John Alonso
4. ^ Call Center Magazine, November 23, 2004
5. ^ Boston Business Journal, July 22, 2008
6. ^ Mass High Tech, June 8, 2009
7. ^ Gartner, September 10, 2009

External links

• OutStart's web site