Ali Sales Roach ('03 Orr Fellow)
Compendium Blogware
President/Co-Founder
Bio
- Ali Sales co-founded Compendium Blogware. Since then, the company has consistently grown - in employees and in sales. Today, they have more than 250 clients, 30 employees and they logged $1.5 million in bookings in 2008. Compendium provides blogging software that helps companies get found online, specifically through search engines.
- As president, Sales oversees the operational aspects of the company, including sales and marketing. She and Baggott have co-written a book, “Email Marketing by the Numbers,” published in 2007.
- Sales first met Baggott when they worked together at locally based ExactTarget, where Sales worked as a Gov. Bob Orr Entrepreneurial Fellow. She enjoyed seeing the company grow rapidly from a few dozen employees to several hundred. “I can’t say enough about what a great experience it was to work at ExactTarget, watching a company handle such fast growth and nail it,” Sales said. “I had a lot of responsibility early in my career there and lots of opportunities.”
- Following two years at ExactTarget, Sales worked for Carmel-based Resort Condominiums International as an e-commerce manager. She next worked as director of online marketing at locally based ChaCha, a human-assisted search engine company. “At ChaCha, I used online marketing to grow the guide base and it took off really quickly, growing from about five people answering questions to more than 10,000,” Sales said. “I gained ground floor startup experience that exposed me to areas of business that I didn’t even know existed.” She and Baggott decided the timing was right and started Compendium.
- “Surrounding yourself with great people is the hest way to learn and succeed,” Sales said. Mentors have included ExactTarget Chief Financial Officer Traci Dolan, CEO Scott Dorsey, business partner Baggott and her father. “Whenever I’ve gone to them for advice, they were there to help,” she said. ”I’ve heard of thinking of your career in decades and climbing one rung on the ladder at a time. I’m fortunate to have worked in areas where drive matters the most.”
- Sales also has written a novel, although it is unpublished. She enjoys reading and recommends “Customer-Centric Selling,” by Michael Bosworth and John Holland, for anyone trying to quickly grow a Sales organization.
- And she has had one job she didn’t enjoy: salad bar attendant at Shoney’s when she was 16. “I lasted about four months,” Sales said.
- Sales, a Columbus, Ind., native, earned a bachelor’s degree in English writing from DePauw University, where she is involved with alumni activities. Sales enjoys running and tennis when she’s not blogging.
