SAN JOSE, CA — (Marketwired) — 02/29/16 — Hoopla, the team performance platform that connects and motivates entire companies, today announced that Rick Kawamura has joined the company to serve as vice president of marketing. Kawamura will lead a high-growth customer acquisition strategy as Hoopla continues its rapid expansion. Leveraging his extensive marketing experience at several software startups focused on SaaS, marketing automation, big data and mobile networking, he will oversee global marketing, communications, lead gen, free trial conversions, content development, social media and sales development for Hoopla during this growth phase.
With more than 500 customers already subscribed to its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution, Hoopla is positioned for significant growth among businesses of different sizes across different industries. Hoopla–s platform for motivating and improving individual and team performance continues to resonate with small and medium-sized businesses as well as large enterprises, including major league sports teams, financial services organizations, public and pre-IPO technology companies, auto dealerships, major hotel chains and real estate branches. Kawamura plans to build on this momentum by growing new user acquisition, referrals and add-on business as Hoopla expands its offerings and opens up to new verticals.
“Rick has a growth-hacker, performance-marketing mentality that–s built on an analytical, data-driven and continuous improvement approach to finding customers efficiently to grow businesses at scale,” said Hoopla CEO Mike Smalls. “We–re thrilled to add a seasoned marketing leader that can execute growth strategies that drive customer acquisition through new and existing channels and bring Hoopla to new industries and user profiles.”
Kawamura has more than 15 years of experience leading enterprise B2B and B2C marketing focused on driving sales momentum for highly innovative products and services. Before joining Hoopla, he served as vice president of marketing for the online marketing startup LocBox, growing the company–s customer base of local and small and medium-sized businesses. He was previously on the executive management team at the Big Data integration and analytics company Kapow Software, where he led a global marketing staff focused on product marketing, lead gen, partnerships and sales enablement. Kawamura holds a bachelor–s degree in electrical engineering from UC Davis and earned his Master of Business Administration degree from UC Berkeley.
“Joining Hoopla during this phase of rapid growth offers an exciting opportunity for me to build on my passion for innovative solutions that create value for customers, and in this case, help businesses improve the performance of their sales, marketing, call centers, HR, support and engineering departments,” Kawamura said. “We–ve already seen a tremendously positive response from an impressive range of customers and we look forward to bringing Hoopla to new audiences across the globe.”
Hoopla amplifies performance for businesses of all sizes through its team performance platform. Hoopla–s live broadcasts of key accomplishments, leaderboards and announcements empower companies to foster a culture of connectedness, transparency and recognition. Customers including GM Financial, Marketo and Zillow use Hoopla to celebrate achievements and keep employees energized, engaged and motivated. Visit to learn more, or find us on Facebook at and on Twitter at .
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Michael Salmassian
BOCA Communications
(415) 738-7718
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