Featured Startup Pitch: Decisive’s platform is built to make mobile advertising a simple proposition for businesses of all sizes

By David Dundas, Decisive founder and CEO

ELEVATOR PITCH

Decisive is a leading SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) platform that helps advertisers execute mobile advertising campaigns.

PRODUCT/SERVICE DESCRIPTION

We make products that make it simple and easy for businesses to reach customers on mobile devices. Leveraging real-time data and machine learning, Decisive provides critical insights that allow advertisers to get better results.

FOUNDER’S STORY

Founded in 2012, Decisive was actually a pivot out of a SaaS platform called Textingly. I initially created it to help small businesses communicate with their customers via text message. I’ve worked with companies in the mobile space since 2005. Prior to Decisive, I was the first employee at a mobile content company called Thumbplay, which delivered ringtones and games over the air to phones in the days before smartphones existed. It was purchased by Clear Channel in 2011.

MARKETING/PROMOTION STRATEGY

Decisive strives to provide a refreshing take on adtech. Our team is focused on building user-friendly software. Because customers have been so excited about using Decisive, we’ve been able to grow it through word-of-mouth. We also do quite a bit of educational content marketing. By creating slideshares, holding webinars, and hosting chat forums where marketers can learn more about mobile advertising, Decisive has been able to grow to 2,500 customers across 50 countries with no sales people.

MARKET OPPORTUNITY

Decisive is taking advantage of two major trends in advertising—budgets shifting dollars to mobile, and budgets shifting dollars to programmatic advertising. The mobile advertising industry is projected to grow to a $42 billion market by 2017, with more than half being bought using programmatic buying. Decisive’s fundamental vision is that every company that advertises will need to advertise through mobile. Decisive is building products that help these companies be more successful.

DIFFERENTIATORS VS. THE COMPETITION

Even though most companies must now interact with consumers primarily on their mobile phones, there are very few options for mobile advertising if you don’t have million dollar budgets. Decisive allows any advertiser to sign up and get started with a mobile campaign in five minutes with as little as $10.

For small advertisers, every dollar matters, so we’ve built tools to allow advertisers to closely manage return on investment (ROI). Decisive’s self-serve platform provides real-time information with a live stats dashboard that gives businesses complete control over their ad spending. The platform also has a SmartCPM feature that uses machine learning and a vast collection of data to automatically adjust campaigns—ensuring that businesses get the most from their advertising budgets.

BUSINESS MODEL

Advertisers pay Decisive a percentage of the overall amount spent using its platform.

CURRENT NEEDS

We’re always on the lookout for great people to join us as we work to change the face of adtech.

# # #

HEADQUARTERS: New York City

WEBSITE: www.decisive.is

FOUNDERS: David Dundas, Ryan Witt

INVESTORS: Inspiration Ventures, 500 Startups, Gary Vaynerchuk, Jonah Goodhart, Geoff Judge

YEAR FOUNDED: 2012

ANGEL: angel.co/decisive

TWITTER: @decisiveads

FACEBOOK: facebook.com/DecisiveAds

LINKEDIN: linkedin.com/company/decisive