Central Desktop: An Intro to one of OpenView’s Expansion Stage Portfolio Companies

We spent last week in Southern California visiting Central Desktop, one of OpenView Venture Partners expansion stage portfolio companies. My colleague Tavish and I will be working specifically for Central Desktop at the OpenView Labs, the consulting group that provides strategic value-add services and highly practical operational support and expertise to companies within their portfolio. We will be supporting the Pasadena-based sales team with outbound lead generation services. It is something new as, until now, all of Central Desktop’s business has been based solely on inbound leads and referrals.

Located just north of Los Angeles, the land of Pinkberry, perfect weather and highway traffic, we spent the week developing a comprehensive understanding of their collaboration software platform and experiencing, first-hand, their innovative office culture. Everyone from Central Desktop CEO Isaac Garcia to the SDRs and AEs to the client services, product development and marketing teams could not have been nicer.

Having worked in public relations/communications before joining OpenView Venture Partners/Central Desktop, I often “sold” stories to media. I glamorized the unglamorous and added intrigue to the mundane. After our visit, I am confident that my experience with Central Desktop will be different; none of these sales tactics will need to be implored as their product is experiencing exponential business growth and, as noted in the 2009 Forrester Wave Report, is one of only few in-line to compete with established market leader Microsoft SharePoint.