Arik Hesseldahl

Recent Posts by Arik Hesseldahl

TideMark Pushes Out Fall Update That Answers What-If Questions About Your Business

Earlier this week I checked in with Christian Gheorghe, the CEO of Tidemark, the business data and analytics startup. As usual, the first thing he did was make me a cup of espresso. Suitably jolted, he then showed me what he has been working on.

Tidemark does what sounds, when described technically, like something that would put you to sleep: “Enterprise performance management.” In English, it’s software in the cloud that is designed for that moment when a business asks the question: “How is the business doing, right now?” Tidemark answers using live data and presentations that are as eye-catching as they are understandable.

Rather than a dashboard (the concept that seems all the rage right now), Tidemark treats that live data as a “story,” as though it were envisioned by the graphics editor of a well-designed magazine. We in the media world call these “charticles,” information-packed graphics that make clear the details of what would otherwise be a longish story told in words.

But imagine a charticle with up-to-the-minute information that tells you your precise gross profit margin by region or by product, and can show you the effect that a slight rise or fall in that margin might mean for the rest of that business. That’s a little of what’s in the latest release. There are 25 new features, Gheorghe told me.

It has been a busy year over at Tidemark. The last time I checked in, the company had just raised $13 million in a round led by Tenaya Capital, boosting its total capital raised to $48 million. Other investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners and Redpoint Ventures.

The company also said that Tony Rizzo, a co-founder, had been promoted to chief product officer. He has worked closely with Gheorghe for a while now, dating back to OutlookSoft, the business performance management software company that was acquired by SAP in 2007. They both hung around SAP for a time after that deal until they teamed up again to start Tidemark in 2009.

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There’s a lot of attention and PR around Marissa, but their product lineup just kind of blows.

— Om Malik on Bloomberg TV, talking about Yahoo, the September issue of Vogue Magazine, and our overdependence on Google