Chateauneuf-du-Kick Off Meeting

Ok, so a week after saying this job doesn’t often mix business and wine it happens again. Tuesday night we conducted a kick-off meeting with Scott and Jennie from our new client GovDelivery.  With relatively little fanfare, this company has become the dominant provider of email and digital subscription management services delivered. These services are made available via a software as a service (SaaS) platform.

What does all that mean? It means that millions of citizens can interact electronically with government, at the federal, state and local levels. They receive highly personalized emails on topics they have requested, receiving vital information on national security, drug testing and when the local bridge will be under construction. GovDelivery clients include the Department of State, the Department of Commerce, the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the British Parliament. You’ll be hearing more about them soon.

After the launch meeting we went down the street to Ray’s the Classics, sister restaurant of Ray’s the Steaks in Arlington VA. It’s an excellent place that offers better food and value than the the old-line steak places. Here’s the Washingtonian review.

So there are four of us, three ordering steak. What’s best to order to please everyone? Decided on Chateauneuf-du-Pape at a moderately expensive price point the waiter — who was solid and old school — confirmed was good. It was — very flavorable but medium body, tart but not overly, strong enough to complement the meat but not overpowering or tannic. Not amazing, but very solid. And most importantly, the client seemed to enjoy it!

Chateauneuf is in the southern part of the Rhone Valley and can vary a lot due to it being a mixture of different grapes, not straight Syrah. This one was a:

Domaine Paul Autard, Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2005

Probably retails for around $30-$35. It shouldn’t disappoint, and neither should Ray’s, whether the Silver Spring or Arlington locations.

What’s the difference between SaaS and ASP?

The founder of my firm Marc Hausman has a post over on Blogpost, The Strategic Guy. Last Tuesday we had dinner with Scott Burns, the CEO of GovDelivery — www.govdelivery.com — a provider of outsourced email and constituent communication services to the U.S. government. Scott has a very interesting take on the difference between Software as a Service (SaaS) and application service provider (ASP). Here’s Marc’s post:

 http://strategicguy.blogspot.com/2008/01/great-saas-debate.html