Altimeter Group

Altimeter Group Disclosure Policy

The purpose of this policy is to disclose any material connections that may exist between companies and Altimeter and its employees.

In our line of work, we want to be trusted advisers to our clients, the market, and our communities. We believe that if you are to trust our opinions as thought leaders and the strategies we develop as advisers, then we need to clarify any conflicts of interest that may exist.

We endeavor to give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on topics, products, services, and companies, but in the end, we are human. Our points of view are colored by our background, occupation, religion, political affiliation, or experience. And we are inevitably impacted by who pays us in a material way.

There may be instances where we write about or discuss our clients, company events at which we are speaking where we are paid, or companies where we have a vested interest, such as a board seat or investment. To the best of our knowledge, we have included these relationships below.

Clients

Below is a partial list of companies and events from whom we have received remuneration in the past 12 months for advisory or speeches.  (We are in the midst of securing permission from companies, and will continue to update this list). Note that this list does not include companies who may have worked with Altimeter partners and employees at a previous employer.

• AAA Mid-Atlantic
• Adobe Systems
• BroadVision
• Castrol / BP Lubricants USA
• Cisco Systems
• The Dow Chemical Company
• Epicor Software Corporation®
• Gigya
• Hawaii Visitor Convention Bureau
• Horn Group
• HP
• Infor
• Informatica
• Jive Software
• Ketchum
• KickApps
• Kinaxis
  
• Lawson Software
  
• Lithium
  
• LiveWorld
• M-Factor
• Microsoft
• Philips Consumer Lifestyle
• QlikTech
• RightNow Technologies
• Rimini Street
• Salesforce.com
• Sony
• Stonebranch
• StrongMail
• SuperMedia LLC
• Threshold Group
• Ultimate Software
• WellPoint
• Workday

Personal Interest or Investment

There may also be organizations where we have a personal, vested interest. Listed below are these specific relationships. These relationships will be disclosed directly in any written or verbal communications where the relationship becomes material. For example, if an employee sits on the board of an organization that is being discussed or written about, it will be disclosed.

Investments

Charlene Li’s spouse, Côme Lague, runs a venture capital firm, Nueva Ventures, which has invested in the several companies that Altimeter Group may cover.

Corporate Boards

Deborah Schultz sits on the Proctor & Gamble Digital Advisory Board. 

Non-profit Boards

Charlene Li serves on the Poynter Institute Board of Advisors, and the Knight Digital Media Center Advisory Board.

Mutual Funds

Partners own mutual funds and 401k funds but do not influence how funds are chosen, nor are completely aware of all stocks and companies in each fund.  We do not have a direct relationship with fund managers.

Products and Services

Altimeter and its employees will not accept direct payment for endorsements of products, services, or companies — any endorsement that we make will be because we believe in the merit of the product or service. If there’s a product we’ve tested and liked, we’ll purchase it with our own money.

Due to our line of work, we often test and review products before they are released to the general masses. We may have also received free or discounted products or services in order to understand how they work as a reviewer. In instances where we discuss or write about these products or services of market value over $75, we will disclose if we obtained them from the company at a free or discounted rate. For example, “A demonstration unit was provided for the purpose of this review.” Where feasible, the tester product will be returned to the company or given away to charity or a member of the community. For example, Jeremiah keeps a running list of products he’s currently testing and has given away.

Advertising

Sites, services, and events associated with Altimeter Group may have advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions, or other forms of marketing. Those advertisements will be clearly identified as paid advertisements sponsorships whenever possible and reasonable. For example, Jeremiah’s Web Strategy Blog displays job postings and discloses on each page that “Fees from these job postings pay for web hosting.”

In some cases, a clear marking will not be made — for example, Altimeter receives affiliate revenues from sales of books on the site, via Amazon’s affiliate sales program. But if a review of the book is being made in a blog post, it will not include an affiliate link.

Questions?

For questions about this disclosure policy, please send an email to info (at) altimetergroup (dot) com.