CiscoLive! enables customers, executives, and partners to share insights on emerging technologies and their potential to transform the future. There is no better venue for Cisco Investments (CI) to showcase how we are leveraging our investment capital than at CiscoLive!. However, we don’t use CiscoLive! just to show off the cool companies we invest in, we leverage the event to increase their exposure and make critical connections both inside and outside Cisco.
Nowhere was the above statement more evident than at CiscoLive! Berlin 2017. Our pavilion was home to 16 of our portfolio companies, strategically located near the Keynote theater, lunch area, and C-Max theater, providing optimal visibility and traffic flow. Some 13,000 attendees were on hand, providing our companies with access to customers and partners, generating many high-quality sales leads. The quality of traffic was just the beginning.
The entire three day show was packed with business development activities driven by the Cisco Investments Portfolio Development team (CIPD).These activities included introducing numerous Cisco teams to our companies, such as the Digital Transformation Group (DTG), members of the WorldWide Data Center and Enterprise Networking Sales teams, WW Partner Sales team, WW Security Sales team, and members of Cisco’s engineering departments such as the Core Software Group (CSG). These types of hands on engagements driven throughout the week by the CIPD Team make CiscoLive! not only a great trade show but an integral part of the go-to-market guidance we provide our portfolio companies.
Not only was CiscoLive! EMEA 2017 a highly successful event for our companies, it was offered to our portfolio companies for free! This has been the case for the past three years in CI’s ongoing goal of adding outstanding value to our portfolio companies at minimal or no cost to them.
We also took the opportunity to interview our start-ups on what they are seeing in their industries, as well as what’s happening in healthcare and retail. http://ciscoinvestments.com/spotlight/. Additionally, we got our companies to share their experiences on surviving as a start-up, selling through a reseller, and leveraging their investors. Hear from Shira of Stratoscale and Dror of Guardicore on how they take full advantage of an event like CiscoLive!.
Portfolio Company Quotes:
The event was greatly organized. Everything was ready for us and the set-up was very simple and pain-free. We had a great flow of visitors and felt we could accommodate our goals. Cisco's team was AWESOME and made sure we have everything we need, including introducing us to key executives from Cisco.
- Shira Sarid-Hausirer, Cloud Data Center Product Marketing at Stratoscale
The set up was great. Nice to be around other Cisco Investment companies. Despite such a large show, we felt like we got great personalized attention from the CI team (introductions to relevant Cisco team leads, video interviews, accessibility if we needed anything, etc.). We really felt taken care of and we appreciate that!!
- Christen Scarpa, Marketing Director at Adbrain
CiscoLive! Berlin is one in many engagement methods we utilize to ensure our portfolio companies are supported, irrespective of where they are in their lifecycle and journey with Cisco. CiscoLive! Las Vegas 2017 promises to be our biggest and best show ever. We look forward to improving on our Berlin show to make #CLUS an even better one-stop shopping experience for our companies to engage with Cisco BUs, partners, and customers.
We hope to see you there!