How Adam Roth filled a void with StreamLink Software
By Matt McClellan
Smart Business Cleveland | September 2008
Adam Roth’s moment of innovation came when he recognized a void and then realized that he could fill it.
The founder and president of StreamLink Software came to that conclusion in 2004, while he was serving as interim CEO of West Side Ecumenical Ministry. Roth started with the organization in 1998 as the director of operations, and during his time there, he discovered that although many nonprofit organizations already have exceptional leadership, there was a lack of low-cost software solutions to address many different management challenges, including board member and other leadership volunteer management.
Roth began researching various markets and learned that many other nonprofit executives faced the same challenges and needed similar types of solutions. Unlike the for-profit world, nonprofits have dollars allocated to specific programs — not basic systems and infrastructure. So these basic systems and the organizations’ infrastructure generally are inadequate.
During his research, Roth learned about Web-based, software-asa-service models. He found that this “rented” software model could be a way to optimize organizational resources at a low cost, thereby eliminating the requirement to purchase expensive new hardware.
The demand for a system to assist with managing board and leadership volunteers coupled with the option to create a Web-based, rentable software solution led to Roth’s creation of StreamLink Software.
Roth’s philosophy is to maximize the value of every dollar a nonprofit organization has in order to increase its ability to meet its mission. Through managing processes and communication, StreamLink Software provides live feedback and innovative integrated reporting systems to the executive office in the areas of the board, government grants and foundation management.
Roth says the key is to make sure that the right information is effectively communicated to the right people at the right time — both inside and outside the organization. StreamLink’s innovative software provides organizationwide integration of dynamic documents and reports. Prior to StreamLink’s solution, board management software only granted board members electronic access to information. StreamLink changes the value proposition by allowing staff to manage all of the complex disparate data that is collected around a nonprofit board.
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