I have the honor of writing the first post for our new Powerlinx blog!   I joined Powerlinx as the founding CEO, but Powerlinx was not originally my idea, which means I can unabashedly brag about what a great one it is!

I was lucky enough to be connected to the people who conceived of Powerlinx, and it took me five minutes of speaking with them to realize that they were on to something big.

It was a wow of an idea because I realized that nothing like it existed despite a glaring need for it.   I knew many business people and colleagues who would use it. Most importantly, I realized that the potential universe of users for Powerlinx would be widespread, diverse and global from the very beginning.

So what is Powerlinx?

Powerlinx is a global business-to-business platform that provides company matchmaking (yes think e-harmony for business) and connections to help businesses grow. We make business people more successful by connecting them to new markets, strategic partners, growth opportunities, capital sources, and each other.  It will be easier and far more efficient than the traditional methods we use today.

Why is that such a big idea?

First and foremost –  it targets a massive market.   Powerlinx serves the small and medium business market on a global scale.  There are over 200 million business, with 80% of them being small and mid sized.  In the US alone, there are about 40 million small and mid sized businesses.*  Small businesses generate nearly one-half of the U.S. gross domestic product and employ 53 percent of all private-sector jobs.

Think about how you go about finding a new supplier or distributor for your products, a strategic partner, or an acquisition target for your business – or any other initiative that involves finding another business to help solve your needs. We are in the process of interviewing hundreds of small and mid-sized business executives, asking them how they go about acting on their strategic objectives.  The answer to that question is always the same: business people use various business directories, Google and their personal networks to find other businesses that might provide the solutions they seek.  They readily admit this process is neither optimal nor comprehensive. They are rarely certain they’ve thoroughly examined all options.  How could they be with using such an antiquated method of doing business?

This is what Powerlinx is about to change! We are building a platform that will transform the way business-to-business activity, networking and deal making is conducted today.

I’ll describe the unique ways in which the platform does this in my next post.    For now, suffice it to say that the process involves a lot of artificial intelligence and data scientists hard at work on advanced algorithms along with some other really smart people in product and marketing all working together to make this platform really great.

Let’s us know about your business needs so we can start finding the right matches and new business opportunities for you!

You can request an invite to our Private Beta here.

-Beth

*Source: Dun & Bradstreet