What are you doing to stand out from the crowd?

Traditional data companies rely on just a few people to update and incorporate a business's contact information. Jigsaw, on the other hand, harnesses the power of the “Wikipedia-approach,” which relies on the user community to provide the most up-to-date and accurate information for our online rolodex of business contact information.

Name: Jim Fowler
Business: Jigsaw, a user-generated provider of business information and data services.
Industry: Business Information
Location: San Mateo, Calif.
Year founded: 2003
Number of employees: 84
Web address: www.jigsaw.com

What's the best part about owning your own business?

Truly believing in the importance and necessity of your product. As a former salesperson, I spent the majority of my day hunting down leads just to find that I was going after the wrong target. Now, I’m working to solve this problem.

What's the biggest hurdle you've overcome?

Introducing a completely new way of doing things was difficult. There were plenty of naysayers. I now realize that they just didn’t understand. For a revolutionary product to thrive, it’s important that you educate your audience about the need for change and communicate the effectiveness of your offering.

What's the best business advice you can offer?

Don’t shy away from disrupting the status quo.

ARE YOU A STAND OUT?

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