Website www.dandb.com Founder Jeff Stibel Type of business Private | Headquarters Malibu Founded 2010 | |
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Key people Jeff Stibel, Chairman & CEO. Products Business information, services, | ||
Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp was a privately held company headquartered in Malibu, California, USA until it was purchased by Dun & Bradstreet in a $320 million deal that closed in May 2015. The company provided credit and credibility solutions for businesses throughout the U.S. and Canada. The company was formed in July 2010 when it acquired the North American Credit-on-Self division, also known as the Self Awareness Solutions (SAS) operating unit, of Dun & Bradstreet after raising approximately $200M from Great Hill Partners. Internet entrepreneur Jeff Stibel was the chairman and CEO.
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History
In 2010, Dun and Bradstreet, formed in 1841, spun off assets that merged with newly created Credibility Solutions to form Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp., an independent company focused on credit and credibility solutions for small businesses. The company grew from 8 employees to over 600 after becoming an independent entity in 2010. Dun & Bradstreet said Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. is a 'separate legal entity' that pays D&B royalties for certain intellectual-property rights. These included "a perpetual license to use the D&B brand".
In nearly five years, Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. grew drastically, earning many awards including the "Best Places to Work" award for both their Los Angeles office for three consecutive years and Bethlehem office, 2 Small Business Champion award and an EY Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year award for their CEO, Jeff Stibel.
In 2012, it launched an advocacy initiative, Access to Capital, designed to help business owners understand the type of loans available and which may be right for their business. This initiative also included a widely quoted quarterly survey produced with Pepperdine University and a series of education and matchmaking events across the country. Also in 2012, the company launched its innovative 529 education savings plan initiative with a multiple match, which was discussed within the Wall Street Journal the New York Times and US News. Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp., through this EdAhead initiative, donated $150,000 to the Santa Monica-Malibu school district in 2013, as well as additional amounts to school districts in Bethlehem, Tucson and Guilford County.
Products and services
Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp products and services include the DUNSFile, which establishes a business’s DUNS number and basic credit file, CreditBuilder, which helps businesses monitor and build their credit file, giving them full access to the D&B scores and reports, and the ability to submit trade references to D&B for its acceptance and approval, CreditAdvisor, which allows the businesses to see other companies' reports and receive email alerts when competitors’ scores or ratings change, Credibility Review, which allows businesses to take control of their online presence and CreditSignal, a free product offering which provides companies with alerts, informing them of changes in their D&B credit scores and ratings.
Failure wall
The company maintains a "failure wall" to acknowledge and learn from company and employee mistakes and failures. The failure wall first came about when Stibel had the idea to create a wall on which employees, himself included, would be able to write out a failure they had experienced.