Ringing the NASDAQ closing bell: A small business success

<img alt="" src="http://cs.sbtv.com/blogs/2121/nasdaqkayandgail.jpg" align="left" width="200" height="257">I never thought I&#39;d be there, but sure enough – there I was on the stage at the <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.nasdaq.com/">NASDAQ</a> -- part of a group invited to ring the closing bell. What a thrill! We were there because we&#39;d been selected to participate in a venture capital forum for women-led media companies called ALL THINGS MEDIA. The program sponsors were <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.springboardenterprises.org/">Springboard Enterprises</a> and <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.paleycenter.org/">The Paley Center for Media.</a> <p>Although it was an incredible experience for me, the real stars of the show were <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.constantcontact.com/about-constant-contact/management-team.jsp">Gail Goodman</a>, Chairman, CEO and President, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.constantcontact.org/">Constant Contact</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://nasdaq.infospace.com/nasdaq/ws/results/Web/CTCT/1/0/0/Relevance/iq=true/zoom=off/_iceUrlFlag=7?_IceUrl=true">(CTCT)</a>, the most recent women-owned business listed on the NASDAQ, and <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.springboardenterprises.org/about/bod">Kay Koplovitz</a>, the founder of <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.usanetwork.com/">USA Networks</a> and Chair of Springboard Enterprises. </p> <p>Gail hadn&#39;t expected to be so moved by the experience. &quot;It was an exciting moment. It truly gave me goose bumps. The entire time I was up there, I thought about our team and how proud I am of them,&quot; Gail shared. </p> <p>And proud she should be. Talk about a small business success story. Constant Contact is one of seven Springboard companies now listed on the NASDAQ. Springboard is dedicated to accelerating women&#39;s access to equity capital. </p> <p>Constant Contact® began operations in 1998 with the goal of designing an affordable, easy-to-use email marketing tool—to help small businesses build successful, lasting customer relationships. Fast forward to October 2008 and Constant Contact has grown from a small start-up to a leading provider of email marketing and online survey tools for small businesses, associations, and nonprofits by focusing on our customer&#39;s satisfaction and needs with helpful, personal coaching. </p> <p>It&#39;s great to see women business owners succeeding to this level of success. Thanks to Gail and Kay for leading the way and giving us the inspiration and support to shoot for the top. Who knows, wait a few years and it could be <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.sbtv.com/">SBTV.com</a>. Or you and your company! </p>