Well I have to start out by saying that I was more than a little surprised by the tremendous response that we received from the vendor community regarding the first Year in the Life of an eProcurement Start-up program.
To everyone who had submitted the names of companies who they believed were ideal candidates for inclusion as one of the New Wave Companies of 2014 thank you.
While not everyone made the final six, it is safe to say that every company truly reflects both the tremendous change and promise of an industry in transition. For those who fell short this year, I would most definitely encourage you to re-submit in 2015.
To the organizations that made the final list, which includes in no particular order; Freightos, cloudBuy, MarketDojo, Unimarket, Scout and GroupRFx congratulations! You emerged from a highly competitive field of candidates to standout amongst the best discontinuous innovators to watch in 2014.
And watch we will, as we track your individual and collective progress over the next 12 month period.
Of course there can only be one winner?
After a great deal of consideration and discussion, and then more consideration, we will be announcing the Year in the Life winner for 2014 on Friday February 14th, 2014.
As the Year in the Life company, we will closely follow and write about, talk about and generally share with you the ups and downs of the organization from the standpoint of bringing their solution to market. This includes their ability to gain the scalable traction that will firmly place them on a success path that is commensurate with the many past disruptive innovators we have covered over the years.
Besides a dedicated Year in the Life page in which we will post updates on a bi-weekly basis, we will also be airing once per quarter, a radio segment in which we will interview company executives and new clients, as well as hear the opinions of industry experts as we track the winner’s journey over what promises to be an exciting year.
For you our reader and listener, the Year in the Life series will provide you with an unprecedented, behind the scenes look into how the emergence of the new industry titans will have an impact on how organizations procure goods and services in a cloud-based global market. In short, you will get to see the inner workings of a company that reflects both the spirit and direction of the industry’s new players, which will ultimately help you to better assess and integrate these new solutions into your present eProcurement environment.
One final note, I would like to extend a big thank you to Kelly Barner from Buyers Meeting Point.
Besides being a regular contributor to the Procurement Insights blog, her Dragon’s Den assessment of some of our candidates were insightful and entertaining. As always Kelly, it is fun working with you!
NOTE: Follow The Year in the Life 2014 Series on Twitter #YRiLife2014
30
Procurement Insights 
Kelly Barner
February 13, 2014
Great idea for a series Jon – it is easy to get behind something so engaging as a group of driven startup companies. Can’t wait until Monday to find out who the winner is!
Good luck to all of the 2014 New Wave Companies!
piblogger
February 13, 2014
Reblogged this on Procurement Insights EU Edition and commented:
Note: Procurement Insights’ “Year in the Life of an eProcurement Start-up” will be announcing the 2014 winner on Friday February 14th, 2014.
Congratulations to the two UK-based candidates cloudBuy and MarketDojo for making the final six.
alunrafique
February 13, 2014
Hi Jon and Kelly, we have very much enjoyed being part of the process and it has been great to be involved in so many ways. We wish all of the companies best of luck and I think whatever happens this will be an exciting year for all of us.
piblogger
February 13, 2014
Thank you to you and the rest of the team at MarketDojo Alun, as we really enjoyed the opportunity to learn about your exciting company. We of course will be following you as well as the other finalists in 2014 through our New Wave Companies 2014 section here on the Procurement Insights blog.