" Over the years, Active Ingredient has helped us determine which solutions and markets provide the best investments. Tracy's ability to research and articulate customer needs combined with her analytical skills serve as a good ‘reality check'. Her strategic analysis has been invaluable in targeting business propositions that will work and equally important, those that won't."

Dr. Michael Looney, Senior Director, Adobe Systems

"One of the great challenges in a new product or technology is determining where the product fills a need and has the strongest value proposition. Active Ingredient worked with one of our portfolio companies at a very early stage and through data-driven analysis, primary research, and strategic mapping, recommended a positioning and set of target markets for the company. Active Ingredient's work helped the company start with a firm, fact-based strategic foundation and now they are the leader in their market."

Mark Hilderbrand, General Partner, ONSET

"Active Ingredient helped us with a highly visible project that was
fundamental to our strategy. Tracy methodically gathered and synthesized the data primarily through interviews with key constituencies and thought leaders, and then applied her independent insight and judgment to make concise recommendations. Her work has allowed our executive team to gain a common understanding of the market and which opportunities are most attractive to us, which is invaluable. I wouldn't hesitate to bring her back in on a similar project."

Tony Stayner, Vice President of Marketing, Serena Software

"Active Ingredient's research helped us make an important go/no-go decision on a key drug in our product pipeline. Tracy's insightful interpretation of the research results gave us a clear view of how our drug was perceived and what clinical results would be required to capture market share of physicians. We were impressed at how quickly Active Ingredient learned about a very complicated therapeutic area and with the quality of the physicians they recruited for the study. We highly recommend Active Ingredient for any research project that requires strategic thinking and thoughtful analysis."

Dana Albert, Director, Decision Support

"Active Ingredient's intelligent and pragmatic approach to primary research allowed us to enhance our knowledge of market perceptions towards our products and services. Leveraging its strategic outlook as well as keen interpretive skills, Active Ingredient was able to successfully draw out meaningful and actionable insights regarding customer satisfaction and implications for our market positioning. Tracy possesses impressive ability to soak up vast amounts of information, no matter how complex or specialized, and optimally apply her well-honed marketing and research techniques to achieve the project objectives. It was an absolute joy to collaborate with Active Ingredient and Tracy."

Michelle Kwak , Product Marketing Manager, ClinPhone plc

Active Ingredient conducted a thorough market analysis of the web conferencing market including competitive analysis, market sizing & segmentation, and an analysis of strategic fit with the company's core products.

"The scope of work performed by Active Ingredient was of the highest quality. Simply stated, Active Ingredient overdelivered. The strategic marketing assignment we challenged Tracy with was not easy, yet her analysis (delivered on time) was the driver that made our decision a no-brainer."

Tom Skoulis, Senior Vice President/General Manager, Netopia

Active Ingredient completed a market assessment that enabled NativeMinds to sort through potential markets and target their 'bot technology to specific vertical markets as a solution for sales and support organizations. The project included complete competitive analysis, market sizing, segmentation, customer validation, business modeling, and writing a completely new business plan.

"Active Ingredient made a big difference for us on two fronts. First, they rapidly developed a market analysis and customer validation process that allowed us to refine our positioning and value proposition. Next, working with our staff, Tracy was able to create a comprehensive and highly readable business plan that played a key role in securing venture funding. Active Ingredient gets my highest recommendation!"

Walter Alden Tackett, CEO & Chairman, NativeMinds

Active Ingredient conducted a complete market assessment for a consumer internet platform idea - leading to a clear go/no-go decision by senior management. Active Ingredient defined target market segments and conducted primary research to determine customer interest. The project included a complete analysis of current and potential competitors and possible partnerships. Through the creative use of government, trade association, and analyst figures, Active Ingredient built quantifiable models of market potential with scenarios of market share, revenue, and profits.

"Active Ingredient did a great job in completing a quick but thorough product and market analysis. Tracy's frank & pragmatic advice helped us sort through the market opportunities and make decisions quickly."

Jef Graham, VP & General Manager, 3Com Mobile Communications

Developed business plan for spinning out a separate business based on an internally developed collaborative filtering technology for the Internet. Created customer segmentation and models of market potential. Developed differentiated product positioning and a comprehensive partnering plan.

Created basic product positioning for Digital's microcommerce protocol for the Internet, MilliCent. Analyzed competition, required partners, and potential business models. Defined customer and partner requirements and validated the business concept with potential partners and Internet users.

"Silicon Valley is awash in vaporware, unrealized product dreams, and the endless pursuit of the next big thing. Tracy Weatherby is a value-added skeptic who keeps development teams focused on solving the problems that customers care about."

Russ Jones, Research & Advanced Development, Digital Equipment Corporation (now Compaq)

Active Ingredient developed the business case for Oracle to build a business out of licensing their own training materials to Higher Education institutions for use in for-credit courses. This program became the Oracle Academic Initiative (OAI). The business justification included revenue estimates, marketing budgets, and net profit as well as validation of the concept with key customers.

"Selling and launching a new program within a large corporation like Oracle can be extremely challenging. Active Ingredient quantified the revenue potential and outlined the strategic value - allowing us to sell the program to top management more easily. OAI has been wildly successful with over 150 schools signed up and over 10,000 students being educated this year alone. Tracy Weatherby's work helped us to justify an extremely strategic initiative in a very practical way."

Vesna Swartz, Senior Director of Education, Oracle Corporation

Megahertz had developed a core Internet audio technology and needed assistance in determining what the market potential for the product was and whether it should be productized or licensed. Active Ingredient conducted a complete market assessment including market sizing, competitive analysis, and business modeling. At project completion, senior management was able to quickly make a decision about how to get the best value out of their technology.

"We were lucky to find Active Ingredient to help us assess the market potential for our audio compression technology. Within about 4 weeks, Tracy Weatherby had evaluated several options including licensing and productization, developed rough business plans, and estimated ROI - allowing us to make timely business decisions."

W. Kurt Dobson, V.P., Advanced Development, 3COM Corporation

In a series of projects, Active Ingredient developed strong market positioning for PlaceWare and wrote the detailed business plan on which they raised their second round of funding. Crucial to the development of the product positioning was market segmentation, market sizing, and competitive analysis of the on-line presentation product area. This positioning was then used to create targeted solutions, collateral, direct mail, and the website. PlaceWare raised $5M in second round funding in May of 1998.

"Active Ingredient honed our market segmentation and worked with our customers to build a strong, differentiated solutions-oriented product positioning. Using her knowledge of our business, Tracy Weatherby wrote a clear, compelling business plan on which we raised our second round of funding."

Bill Shott, VP of Marketing, PlaceWare, Inc.

Evaluated potential for new TV/online advertising product. Developed detailed models of four different potential revenue models -- CPM, click-thru, flat fee, and transaction-based pricing. Analyzed revenue and profitability potential for each model and conducted concept validation with advertising customers.

"Active Ingredient brings a creative spark along with strong structured analysis to any strategy question. With her strength in new market evaluation, Tracy Weatherby created a tailored market opportunity assessment that allowed us to make good decisions."

Jeff Barco, Senior Director of Business Development, WebTV