From earning impressive media visibility in Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine to constantly reviewing and improving its proprietary software platform, Traklight proves that persistent focus can be the difference between success and failure for a startup company.
The software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, which strives to help entrepreneurs and inventors identify, manage, monetize, and protect their intangible assets, including intellectual property, recently became a graduate of the Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation (CEI). Traklight Founder and CEO Mary Juetten credits the Phoenix-based business incubator for introducing the company to key partners and helping it scale beyond her initial efforts.
Juetten explained, “Some of our most important connections came as a result of being located at CEI. The support and expertise of the CEI team, particularly Jeff Saville and Greg Bullock, was a critical component of our success.”
Juetten has overseen dramatic accomplishments during her tenure at CEI including: becoming a national expert in the crowdfunding movement through its “Practice Safe Crowdfunding” initiatives; contributing weekly to Forbes Magazine on IP and startups; garnering exposure in Success Magazine, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, VentureBeat, and numerous other high-profile media outlets; and the development of a partnership program with LegalZoom, MyCorporation, WayFounder, and others to help professional service providers better serve their entrepreneur and business clients.
Traklight has successfully raised $435,000 in angel funding, which assisted in their relocation efforts to a larger office space in Phoenix and can still take advantage of CEI’s commercialization specialists and facility as needed. It has also grown to eight dedicated “trakers” on staff today, from just its founder two years ago. These are important milestones for CEI Executive Director Jeff Saville, given the incubator’s core mission of job creation.
Saville added, “To see one of our clients grow within these walls the way Traklight did demonstrates the impact we can have on our client companies. But more than that, it shows how tenacious they were in building a valuable product, a skilled team, and a viable company.”