Even though investment slowed down toward the end of the year, 2015 was a banner year for HR technology — the best since 2001 for U.S. startups and a year that included a billion-dollar quarter. Depending on whose numbers you look at, investment in HR and HCM startups was north of $2 billion for the year. What should industry watchers expect in 2016 as this capital begins working its way into the system?

It’s that time of year — when folks start looking back at what they’ve accomplished and start looking forward to what’s possible in 2016. 

At The Starr Conspiracy, we don’t wait until the end of the year to evaluate progress or make course corrections. We implemented a system for gathering client feedback every month — called the Net Promoter Score, or NPS — to monitor successes and challenges in real time.

Brand matters more than ever in B2B marketing. Why? Because too many B2B brands have been guilty of thinking that brand was only for B2C companies. They thought demand generation was more important. 

The HR technology industry was one of the bigger laggards in B2B. There was an unspoken idea that because we sell serious, compliance-driven solutions, we need to present ourselves as serious and buttoned-down. The result? Boring brands, driven by bizspeak clichés and bad stock photography.