Reside invites you to join us at Dreamforce:
The Cloud Computing Event of the Year
December 6-9, 2010 | Moscone Center | San Francisco

Save $100 USD on your registration by using Reside’s guest code: EXDRESIDE
Get more information about Dreamforce or register to attend.

Visit Reside at expo booth #927 to talk with our Cloud and Force.com experts and register to win prizes!

Business as we know it is changing. Are you ready?

Digital disruption. Social media. Real-time collaboration. Data convergence. Virtual teams. Agile development. Mobile everything. Cloud computing. The way we work is fundamentally changing. Some companies will adapt and grow. Others will be left behind.



Where do you go to understand the future? Learn from all-star customers? Master the cloud? For seven years, the most successful companies in the world have come to Dreamforce.



Join us at Dreamforce 2010, the cloud computing event of the year. This December 6-9, more than 20,000 fans will gather in San Francisco for our 8th annual user and developer conference.



In four action-packed days, we’ll give you all the education, inspiration, and innovation you need to succeed. There’s no better way to get up to speed on the latest advances in Salesforce apps, the Force.com platform, and cloud computing. And this year we’ll connect you with your peers and heroes in ways you’ve never thought possible.



It’s time to dream again.

Matt Meents left  Carlson Marketing to launch Web-services firm  Reside in March of 2001, roughly a year after the dot-com bubble burst, and a few months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

It was a tough time to get a tech company up and running, said Meents, adding that he and co-founder Eric Scheel fought hard for each customer during the company’s infancy. Despite a rocky start, Reside not only survived under Meents’ leadership, it grew.

The company, which offers a mix of technology and marketing services, now has about 30 employees and generated roughly $2.7 million in revenue last year. Meents expects sales will grow to about $4 million by the end of 2010. Over the past nine years, Reside also has landed several big-name clients, including  AMC Entertainment Inc.,  Häagen-Dazs and Fridley-based  Medtronic Inc.

When Meents, 34, was working for Carlson Marketing, a family friend asked him to build a Web application. He roped Sheel, who also worked at Carlson, into the project and the pair soon decided to launch Reside. “We looked at the business model and thought there’s probably huge demand for this type of development.”

The startup’s first two clients came from the real estate industry, and the company’s name was initially an acronym that stood for Real Estate Software Information Database Experts. However, Reside soon broadened its client base and now builds Web portals that allow companies to interact with customers and clients. For instance, Reside helped Minneapolis-based  Fair Isaac Corp. develop a website for professionals who manage credit scores. Users can head to the site to share ideas, access resources and download software, Meents said.

Reside also made a splash early in 2009, when it helped then President-elect Barack Obama launch a “citizen’s briefing book” - a website that let people submit policy proposals to the incoming administration. Meents landed the deal due to Reside’s previous work with  Starbucks Corp. Obama’s campaign team had seen a Reside-developed site that allowed customers to offer suggestions to Starbucks.

Reside remained a “virtual” company, with no official bricks-and-mortars headquarters, for its first four years. As the company has grown, Meents has taken pride in developing a strong company culture. The company’s mantra is “Rockin’,” which Meents defines as working together for culture, clients and community.

“Culture is about having great people here who all have shared values and vision,” Meents said. “It’s also about listening, innovating, building and maintaining trust, and responding with a sense of urgency.”

Reside, now based in St. Louis Park, also is active in the Twin Cities community and works with several local charity organizations. The firm gives employees paid time off to volunteer and hosts quarterly “cocktails for a cause” events.

Meents’ strong leadership, and his ability to build a supportive company culture, is one of many reasons he’s succeeded as an entrepreneur, said Scott Litman, managing partner at Plymouth-based marketing agency Magnet 360. Litman has known Meents for three years and is both a client and investor in Reside. “He’s really passionate, sincere and energetic. He really wants the business to be great, and he wants to build it with his team.”

-Katharine Grayson, Staff Writer

Matt Meents, Reside’s CEO, joined 18 salesforce.com representatives to facilitate several break-out sessions for members of the Navigation team.  Meents shared details of the work Reside is supporting for Medtronic’s interactive group in Minnesota, including innovative ways that Medtronic is employing the Force.com platform to support their Social CRM strategies.

Learn more about Dreamforce, and get registration details at www.salesforce.com/dreamforce/DF10

Detailed information about the event and speakers can be found here

Register today and save 30% by using the following discount code: RESMN10

Hope to see you there!

We’re so proud to announce that our very own Tina Puente - Reside’s Business Development Exec - has today been awarded the honor of one of the Twin Cities’ “40 Under Forty” by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal.   (See announcement here.)

This prestigious award - now in its 17th year - spotlights 40 of the region’s top young business and civic leaders.  Finalists for this award were selected from over 300 nominees, and were chosen because they demonstrate consistent, outstanding professional achievement and show a commitment to community service.  That’s our Tina!

Reside alumni of this award include Matt Meents, Reside CEO, and Gabby Matzdorff, Reside CFO.

Want to share your congratulations with Tina?  Give her a shout-out at tpuente@reside.biz.

The project is similar in scope and nature to the “Citizen’s Briefing Book” ideas portal that Reside launched for the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team in 2009.

Since yesterday, the site has gained much praise, including comments from David Bradshaw, research manager at IDC, “This is an excellent example of how cloud-based technology can reshape the debate and help to engage public opinion. It could also re-shape the nature of political debate moving forward.”

Explore the community yourself. Debate2010 can be found at www.Debate2010.co.uk

Looking for more press coverage on the Debate2010 community? Lots of Twitter and press coverage already, including:

Largest opinion forum launches pre-election
The Independent, March 23

Telegraph launches crowd-source election site
Computer Business Review, March 23

Telegraph uses Salesforce.com to get real-time opinion polls in run up to General Election
Computer Weekly, March 23

Telegraph launches crowdsourced debate site for general election
Journalism.co.uk, March 23

Vox populi: Salesforce.com teams up with Torygraph for open election debate
CIO, March 23

Telegraph launches social media campaign for Election talk
New Media Age, March 23

Telegraph launches cloud-based election forum
Computing, March 23

Salesforce takes election debates into the cloud
V3, March 23

Telegraph launches cloud-based election forum
Yahoo, March 23 

Introducing Debate2010
The Telegraph, March 23

General Election 2010: What The Crowd Thinks
Fresh Business Thinking, March 23

Telegraph launches cloud-based election forum
Computing, March 23

Blog Coverage
Telegraph launches Debate2010
Online Journalism Blog, March 23

Debate 2010 – The Telegraph
Joanne Jacobs (blog), March 23

Gimmick to win it? Telegraph goes crowdsourcing for election hot topics
The Media Blog, March 23

Telegraph Launches Debate2010 Community Discussion Site
One Man and His Blog, March 23

Telegraph launches cloud-based election forum
Dominic Fallows, March 23

Salesforce.com and Telegraph Media Group launch Debate2010
Software Report Europe, March 23

Bloggers Flock to New Telegraph Real-time Opinion Poll
London Spin Online, March 23

Telegraph launches cloud-based election forum – Computing
Rock’s Blog Spot, March 23

Continue to follow the news on this crowd-sourcing web site:

Follow Debate2010 on Twitter @debate2010 and join the debate with #debate2010

At CloudCamp MSP 2009, the majority of the conversations revolved around what the cloud was, what it was not, questioning security and availability, and how organizations could get started reaping the benefits from this new phenomenon.  This year, however, the focus shifted to discussions around how organizations are using the cloud, how they’ve mashed-up best-of-breed cloud applications, and understanding what benefits different cloud service providers - such as Force.com, Amazon, and Google App Engine - provide.  The most tell-tale sign that the perception of the cloud has changed - especially related to security concerns -  was realized by a single tweet from @geekandi: “whoop! Security breakout has 3 people now! :)”.

With this kind of a shift in a year, any speculations on what CloudCamp MSP 2011 will bring?