Blaise Heltai, General Partner at NewVantage Partners has an impressive background having worked as the director of marketing and strategy at AT&T and most recently as the head of eCommerce at a small little bank headquartered down in North Carolina called Bank of America. I had the pleasure of meeting Blaise through an industry organization called the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange, a group that Blaise led up until recently.
Blaise is a busy guy so I was tickled to death when he sent back his responses to my Experts in the Industry: 45 Interviews in 45 Days series within 24 hours. Let's see how he answered the questions:
In one sentence, please describe what you do and why you’re good at it.
I help large enterprises get out of their bubble and see themselves as their customers see them. One part of that is for them to see that they are less and less in control of their message, and social media have a critcal role there.
How did you get into the world of online community, social media or social marketing?
I’ve been in online services since the ‘80s and in the collaboration space for almost as long. Social media is the principal offspring of the marriage of the two.
If you had $10 million to invest in one company and one company only based on their use of “social,” which company would it be and why?
I don’t know how to invest in usaid.gov but I think that the potential for online community in international development is enormous.
Would you join a toothpaste community? Why?
No. I have no commitment to toothpaste. Community follows from and can amplify commitment, but it doesn’t create it..
