Buying JupiterResearch
On Thursday, Forrester announced that it bought JupiterResearch for $23 million in cash. Bringing the two companies together has been a dream of mine since the 1990s — Jupiter always had incisive analysts, influential clients, and always seemed to be ahead of the next trend — and it always seemed like a cultural match for Forrester (OK, I’ll admit it — they were probably much cooler than us…)
It’s pretty simple why we bought Jupiter. Marketing and strategy executives are probably the most challenged by technology changes. I was with the head of marketing for a major national newspaper recently who said to me: "…given Facebook, blogs, YouTube, Craig’s List, we don’t know what will be in the future — we have no idea." Forrester serves these executives — and adding JupiterResearch’s analysts, salespeople, and service people to this effort will help us help our clients even more — and it will mean that we can grow that business faster.
I was in New York City today with the JupiterResearch troops. I can say with experience that perhaps the most terrifying part of buying other companies is that you can’t do due diligence on the people — you never really know what you’re buying until the deal is done. I was much relieved — the Jupiter team is high quality, committed, psyched for our unified effort, and ready to provide unprecedented value to our mutual clients. We will make great music together (I hope they like the Allman Brothers…)
To the JupiterResearch clients — I welcome you to Forrester. We will listen to you and strive at all times to give you the level of service you expected from Jupiter — and then some. I look forward to meeting up in the near future.
It’s not every day that you get your dream — it’s been a wonderful week.