About

How did ChasingSavings.com start?

That is a good question... Before ChasingSavings.com was even a conceptual idea of mine, I am the founder and CEO of Net-Flow Solutions, which is an IT Consulting & Managed Services firm headquartered in Atlanta, GA. One day in June of 2009, I was onsite with a client that is a top 100 Asset Management firm, when I received an email from their head trader. That email was a manufacturer's coupon from Cole Haan© shoes - one of the many companies this Asset Management firm owned stock in. The coupon was simply amazing: 20% off the next purchase. I sat back in my chair and thought, "WOW, this is really a great coupon!" Cole Haan© shoes are priced from $99 to $799, and I have worn their dress shoes and loafers since the mid-90's. Please understand that up until that point, I have been someone that just never thought about using a coupon. However, when I saw this coupon, I thought: I am about ready for a new pair of dress shoes, and for a $200 pair of shoes, that is $40 off. In any economy $40 is an exceptional savings. For that matter, any savings is great! Next thing I knew the entrepreneurial gears in my mind started grinding together with questions like:

• How many people would use this coupon but will never get to know about it?
• How many websites out there have coupons? - uh there are a lot, BUT... then I thought...
• How many of these sites offer coupons besides grocery stores? Not Many...

...and so the questions kept coming to mind, and I kept researching! After a few weeks of running numbers, looking at the competition, researching competitive pricing, and spending hours formulating a business plan in my head I felt that I was ready to start talking to people about the concept of ChasingSavings.com. I immediately went to David Bailey - a friend and colleague that I have worked with in the past to get his feedback. Together, we laid the foundation of the first scope documents for development. Then looking at the size of the project, he suggested we approach Jessie Hill. After a few weeks of "getting to know one another" - a partnership was created and development was started... and thus ChasingSavings.com was born!

Michael K Holland

CEO

What is ChasingSavings.com

• Provide a Greater Variety of Coupons - When you search for coupons online, you typically find coupons from just the largest of manufacturers or vendors, from Kraft© to Kroger© or you find online discount codes for sites such as Amazon© or Dell©. What about your local dry cleaner? or how about your favorite restaurant? At ChasingSavings.com, our goal is to provide you, the consumer, with coupons and discounts from not only the largest of vendors and manufacturers, but stores that you (our ChasingSavings.com member) frequently use in your local community. Such as, nail salons, beauty salons, lawn care providers, store-n-locks, dry cleaners, restaurants and the list goes on and on...
• Provider easier search & navigation - our site uses the latest in Web 2.0 search technologies that use a combination of traditional search and navigation tools to provide our members with easier access in finding the coupons that they are chasing.
• No Google Banners - Although we work with Google to promote our site and our clients, we promise never to have Google©, Yahoo©, or Bing© advertisements on our website. The only banners we will have will be from our clients that will either take you in one click to their Vendor Profile or to their own site.
• No POP-UPS - We promise to never have a pop-up window on our website.
• No Software to Download to your PC - ChasingSavings.com does not require the use of coupon printer software. We believe in optimizing the user experience - making search and navigation as easy as possible as well as never asking a ChasingSavings.com member to have to spend time downloading and potentially troubleshooting a piece of software.
• Localization by City/State - Once you log into the site, we already narrow your search down to State. In the future we will move this to City level. However, that doesn't mean you can't search for coupons and discounts in other cities or states. Simply remove the selected state from navigation/search area to access other states.

The Head Geeks

Michael K Holland, CEO

• 16 years of experience in the technology arena, 11 years at an executive management level
• 5 years of CEO level experience at Net-Flow Solutions, a IT consulting & Managed Services firm
• 3rd successful startup
• Board of Director level experience in several non-profits organizations

David L Bailey, COO

• 14 years experience in application development holding many Microsoft© Certifications and Recognitions
• 8 years of which were providing custom application development for such companies as Del Monte© and Coty© in direct relations with coupons and advertising returns
• 5 years of which has been at an executive management level

Jessie Hill, CTO

• 12 years experience in application development holding multiple Microsoft Certifications and Recognitions
• 10 years experience holding senior developer, project management, & department leadership roles
• Passion for Business Process Improvement and Organizational Planning and Strategy especially in small businesses and startups

Our Recognition as a Startup

Ok, so if you can't tell, the executive team here at ChasingSavings.com has an extremely heavy technology background... we are GEEKS! And to prove it, we all hold multiple certifications from Microsoft and other vendors. Yes, we actually studied their products enough to take a multiple hour exam and PASS! So it was obvious to us that having previous relations through our other respected companies with powerhouses like Microsoft© that it is natural that ChasingSavings.com would become a member of the Microsoft® Bizspark™ program.

"Microsoft" and "BizSpark" are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.

In October, Microsoft© BizSpark program held a competition, where startups from across America competed to be included in a free "Incubation Week" on the new Microsoft© Azure platform. Microsoft's Azure platform is "Cloud Computing", where we would host and operate our site on the Microsoft© cloud platform. Upon hearing of the competition, David submitted the application and routinely followed up with the program sponsor, Sanjay Jain.

For the executive team at ChasingSavings.com, moving to the cloud with Microsoft's assistance and support was like "a dream came true" for us. The primary reason for us to want to be on the cloud is the unlimited redundancy and processing power that the cloud would offer a small startup like ChasingSavings.com. We can proudly state that we reside on the same infrastructure that any Fortune 100 would have and at a SAVINGS of a thousandth of the cost. The following are some pictures during the Incubation Week, where we moved ChasingSavings.com onto the Microsoft Azure platform.

David and Jessie receive recognition for migrating ChasingSavings.com to the Microsoft© Azure platform during the Incubation Week.

David and Jessie working Henrich at Microsoft.

Mike and David giving the final presentation about ChasingSavings.com, the migration strategy, and how we plan to move forward with our company.

David, Jessie and Mike participating in a pre-presentation meeting.

Microsoft's Sanjay Jain at the end of a long day during the Incubation Week.