July 28, 2021

Steve Schmidt is out to help grow your business – and is building one of his own along the way.

In the process, he’s also writing the next chapter in a story filled with twists, turns, challenges and successes.

For Schmidt, who founded the consulting firm Tidal earlier this year, it’s all about “challenging the industry as a whole that sales can be better,” he said. “It’s a job, and it’s a tough job, but … how can we provide this service for people without being annoying.”

Tidal takes a high-tech, strategic approach to lead generation, he explained.

Using artificial intelligence to better understand clients’ target markets, Tidal gathers information for them on why their potential customers are with a competitor and what would make them change. It can serve in a support role for a company’s sales team or be a sales team for an organization.

Schmidt has amassed a lot of publicly available contact information, but “we know not to spam people,” he said. “People buy from people. I’m not going to buy anything if I don’t like you,” he said.

“Anybody could buy all this software; it’s how does it work together. We use a heat map to say who you think is buying from you and who is buying from you.”

Schmidt gives credit to LinkedIn and the content he and clients post there for helping grow the business quickly.

“I think we’re really good at it, and … I spent a good chunk of time trying to understand how to crack the code on LinkedIn because I didn’t know how else to launch my business,” he said. “And I started doing video content and got on and was very authentic. Our business was built around LinkedIn.”

The focus is on “how do we create value through content, so when we have the conversation, it makes more sense,” he said. “Because businesses struggle to get in front of people and getting people to want to meet with them.”

Tidal has grown to 28 people between full-time employees and independent contractors and recently moved to a bigger office at 5000 S. Broadband Lane. At his growth projection, he expects to build his own office in less than three years, he said.

For the Brandon native, it’s the next chapter in a homecoming following years in the Twin Cities in business development for wireless companies. He decided to become a consultant two weeks before the pandemic started and was working with a company in China. He ended up getting into selling personal protective equipment, mostly masks, including to major medical centers.

“We got every contract at every major hospital and just went boom, boom, boom,” he said.

He left in March, driven to start his own company.

“I believed in myself. I really did,” he said, adding he’s recovering from alcoholism and dependence on an anti-anxiety drug.

“I’ve been sober for three years, and it taught me how to use my brain.”

With Tidal, his customer base is nationwide as well as international. He has some clients locally and said that while many lead-generation companies offshore their workforce, he aims to pay above market rate domestically and hire experienced people.

“I want to really make this important to Sioux Falls because I love the fact we can build this in the community,” he said. “I want to see the community thrive, and if we can put up more jobs than Amazon, that would be great.”