Software as a service (SaaS) is pretty cool: It's convenient
for business as well as consumer end-users, and it's a major
headache relief for software vendors who wrestle with updates,
upgrades, and fixes. Plus, subscription pricing opens the door to a
more reliable, predictable recurring revenue stream. But, SaaS is
also fraught with peril. When you deliver over the ether called the
Web, how do you control licensing? How do you establish pricing?
How do you set up billing? Do you build or buy the necessary
infrastructure? We spoke to four software industry veterans to take
advantage of -- and share with you -- their insight, both strategic
and tactical, and experience, both successful and not-so-much. Tip
#1: You must plan for an initial hit to revenues. "Generally
speaking, we think there are four categories of things that
software vendors need to conquer," says Chris Holland, VP of the
Cloud Services Division at SafeNet . "Some we've solved, and some
we haven't." SafeNet has 28-year-old roots in software security.
Originally founded by two U.S. National Security Engineers (NSA)
engineers as Industrial Resource Engineering , the company was
renamed SafeNet in 2000 and has, over the years, acquired and
merged with...Read more
Sunday, January 8, 2012
With Ops in Europe and US, Self-Funded Wondergraphs Offers Software Startup Insights
Software startup Wondergraphs , with offices in Leuven,
Belgium, and Sunnyvale, Calif., has gotten rave reviews for its
analytics software, but is still tiny -- just three employees --
and still struggling to be seen as a center-stage player. Founded
in 1998 by Dirk Stevens and Kim Gressens, the company began as a
consulting firm. "We created a prototype for consulting," says CEO
Stevens, "and we presented at a conference where we got rave
feedback. That's when we decided to start a totally new company."
Wondergraphs' first customer came on board in late 2009. The
privately-held firm doesn't disclose revenues, but Stevens says
2010 sales were 90 percent above 2009, and "2011 is on track to do
well." The company is self-funded, though they did have an
investment offer; more on that later. "We built it from the ground
up, using some savings and consulting money," Stevens says. "We
took about one year to go from prototype to product." Stevens is
now "the product and business guy," based in California, while
Gressens handles the technical side. "He's still in Belgium, and
will stay there," says Stevens. "But we're pretty flexible." In
some respects, Wondergraphs represents a very typical startup
story....Read more
Belgium, and Sunnyvale, Calif., has gotten rave reviews for its
analytics software, but is still tiny -- just three employees --
and still struggling to be seen as a center-stage player. Founded
in 1998 by Dirk Stevens and Kim Gressens, the company began as a
consulting firm. "We created a prototype for consulting," says CEO
Stevens, "and we presented at a conference where we got rave
feedback. That's when we decided to start a totally new company."
Wondergraphs' first customer came on board in late 2009. The
privately-held firm doesn't disclose revenues, but Stevens says
2010 sales were 90 percent above 2009, and "2011 is on track to do
well." The company is self-funded, though they did have an
investment offer; more on that later. "We built it from the ground
up, using some savings and consulting money," Stevens says. "We
took about one year to go from prototype to product." Stevens is
now "the product and business guy," based in California, while
Gressens handles the technical side. "He's still in Belgium, and
will stay there," says Stevens. "But we're pretty flexible." In
some respects, Wondergraphs represents a very typical startup
story....Read more
6fusion CEO John Cowan Offers 11 Tips for Channel Development and Software Startups
Raleigh, N.C.-based developer 6fusion recently snared $7
million in Series-B funding to continue to develop and market its
cloud management products; this follows a seed round of $3 million.
That's a pretty healthy endorsement for a company that's been
around for only three years, and for founders who don't have a
star-studded string of IPOs behind them. Don't get us wrong:
Co-founders John Cowan and Delano Seymour are sharp guys with big
ideas. It's just that usually, when you read about that kind of VC
money, you find mention of big-name past successes in the founders'
backgrounds. Cowan, who serves as 6fusion's CEO, came from 12 years
of business and product development in IT and telecommunications.
Seymour, now 6fusion's CTO, is a Canadian engineer and developer
who spent most of his time providing IT services for offshore
companies in Bermuda. The big idea behind 6fusion is this: Cloud
computing needs a better way to simplify the metering, consumption,
and billing of compute, storage and network resources. To that end,
they developed what they call the Workload Allocation Cube (WAC) ,
which 6fusion says is the most granular and universal metric for
metering and delivering cloud computing on the market today....Read
more
million in Series-B funding to continue to develop and market its
cloud management products; this follows a seed round of $3 million.
That's a pretty healthy endorsement for a company that's been
around for only three years, and for founders who don't have a
star-studded string of IPOs behind them. Don't get us wrong:
Co-founders John Cowan and Delano Seymour are sharp guys with big
ideas. It's just that usually, when you read about that kind of VC
money, you find mention of big-name past successes in the founders'
backgrounds. Cowan, who serves as 6fusion's CEO, came from 12 years
of business and product development in IT and telecommunications.
Seymour, now 6fusion's CTO, is a Canadian engineer and developer
who spent most of his time providing IT services for offshore
companies in Bermuda. The big idea behind 6fusion is this: Cloud
computing needs a better way to simplify the metering, consumption,
and billing of compute, storage and network resources. To that end,
they developed what they call the Workload Allocation Cube (WAC) ,
which 6fusion says is the most granular and universal metric for
metering and delivering cloud computing on the market today....Read
more
11 Marketing, Sales, Money Insights from E-commerce Disruptor Tinypay.me
Here's another young company that's using its venture funding
to (metaphorically) rent a U-Haul truck and move to the
(metaphoric) center of the software universe: San Francisco.
Tinypay.me , founded in March 2010 in the Netherlands, snagged $1
million from Aksoy Internet Ventures , based in Turkey, in August.
Chairman Taner Aksoy told TechCrunch that he thinks Tinypay.me will
be a big hit globally. So what does it do? Tinypay.me is an
e-commerce platform that makes it easy (and quick) for people to
sell physical and digital items. After login, a user can, within 60
seconds, put an item up for sale, notify friends through Facebook
and Twitter , and immediately receive payments through PayPal . As
a platform, Tinypay.me also lets other websites and developers
offer the same e-commerce experience to their own users, via an API
. In a recent interview, Tinypay.me co-founder and chief marketing
officer (CMO) Richard Straver gave us his company's history and his
take on what makes software startups grow. Tip #1: Your seed money
can sprout from unexpected places. The funding from Aksoy is "kind
of a funny story," Straver says. "We had a couple dozen investors
approach us because we won some...Read more
to (metaphorically) rent a U-Haul truck and move to the
(metaphoric) center of the software universe: San Francisco.
Tinypay.me , founded in March 2010 in the Netherlands, snagged $1
million from Aksoy Internet Ventures , based in Turkey, in August.
Chairman Taner Aksoy told TechCrunch that he thinks Tinypay.me will
be a big hit globally. So what does it do? Tinypay.me is an
e-commerce platform that makes it easy (and quick) for people to
sell physical and digital items. After login, a user can, within 60
seconds, put an item up for sale, notify friends through Facebook
and Twitter , and immediately receive payments through PayPal . As
a platform, Tinypay.me also lets other websites and developers
offer the same e-commerce experience to their own users, via an API
. In a recent interview, Tinypay.me co-founder and chief marketing
officer (CMO) Richard Straver gave us his company's history and his
take on what makes software startups grow. Tip #1: Your seed money
can sprout from unexpected places. The funding from Aksoy is "kind
of a funny story," Straver says. "We had a couple dozen investors
approach us because we won some...Read more
CEO Survey Index
Previous CEO surveys here at SoftwareCEO. Vote in the latest
poll on the homepage ! You can also vote in polls here that you
have not yet voted in, and see the results. Human Resources RD
Sales Distribution Pricing Licensing Strategy
Leadership Internal/Demographics MA and FinancingRead
more
poll on the homepage ! You can also vote in polls here that you
have not yet voted in, and see the results. Human Resources RD
Sales Distribution Pricing Licensing Strategy
Leadership Internal/Demographics MA and FinancingRead
more
Software Sales Advice from E-commerce Bright Star BigCommerce
BigCommerce began creating its own identity in June 2009, as
a subsidiary of Interspire , which was founded in in Australia in
2003 by Mitchell Harper and Eddie Machaalani. Interspire
headquarters are still in Sydney, but the U.S. operation has now
become the dominant face of the organization, with 50 employees in
Austin, Texas (versus 30 in Sydney). Revenues are up 680 percent
over last year, and BigCommerce now has 15,000 paying clients for
its SaaS e-commerce software. This past summer, BigCommerce snagged
$15 million in Series A funding from General Catalyst Partners .
The BigCommerce platform gives retailers and merchants an easy and
affordable way to manage e-commerce online, including search,
inventory, marketing, SEO, and online payments. Packages range from
$25 to $300 per month, depending on the number of products, logins,
bandwidth, and storage needed. We recently caught up with Lee
Sellers, BigCommerce sales manager, to get his perspective on
software sales. Sellers came to BigCommerce from Dell , where he
had 10 years of experience with B2B lead generation, nurturing, and
selling. Tip #1: Pick the brains of the best brains. "W hat we do
very well is ask a lot of questions of others in the...Read
more
a subsidiary of Interspire , which was founded in in Australia in
2003 by Mitchell Harper and Eddie Machaalani. Interspire
headquarters are still in Sydney, but the U.S. operation has now
become the dominant face of the organization, with 50 employees in
Austin, Texas (versus 30 in Sydney). Revenues are up 680 percent
over last year, and BigCommerce now has 15,000 paying clients for
its SaaS e-commerce software. This past summer, BigCommerce snagged
$15 million in Series A funding from General Catalyst Partners .
The BigCommerce platform gives retailers and merchants an easy and
affordable way to manage e-commerce online, including search,
inventory, marketing, SEO, and online payments. Packages range from
$25 to $300 per month, depending on the number of products, logins,
bandwidth, and storage needed. We recently caught up with Lee
Sellers, BigCommerce sales manager, to get his perspective on
software sales. Sellers came to BigCommerce from Dell , where he
had 10 years of experience with B2B lead generation, nurturing, and
selling. Tip #1: Pick the brains of the best brains. "W hat we do
very well is ask a lot of questions of others in the...Read
more
Startup Genome Can Find Your Software Company's Failure Points
What makes a startup successful? We can talk until we turn
blue about all the touchy-feely components: vision, leadership,
focus, luck, and the like. But now, thanks to the efforts of four
young entrepreneurs, you can apply an empirical grid to your own
company's chances for success. The 67-page Startup Genome Report ,
created by Bjoern Herrmann, Max Marmer, Fadi Bishara, and
Aleksandra Markova, began with data from 3,200 startups. As a
result of heavy interest over the past few months, the input now
exceeds 15,000 firms. (The report is free, though registration is
required.) The starting point is the Startup Genome Compass , a
free benchmark survey for your firm. "The more companies that use
the Compass, the thinner we can slice the data," says Bjoern
Herrmann. "We can predict your trajectory." What insights have
surfaced so far? What separates the winners from the losers in the
land of software startups? We spoke with Herrmann to listen and
learn from Startup Genome's findings. Tip #1: Innovation is not
enough; you need data. "I think of the analogy of the fountain of
youth," Herrmann says. "Startups are considered to be the fountain
of youth. Until now, it was super-hard to...Read more
blue about all the touchy-feely components: vision, leadership,
focus, luck, and the like. But now, thanks to the efforts of four
young entrepreneurs, you can apply an empirical grid to your own
company's chances for success. The 67-page Startup Genome Report ,
created by Bjoern Herrmann, Max Marmer, Fadi Bishara, and
Aleksandra Markova, began with data from 3,200 startups. As a
result of heavy interest over the past few months, the input now
exceeds 15,000 firms. (The report is free, though registration is
required.) The starting point is the Startup Genome Compass , a
free benchmark survey for your firm. "The more companies that use
the Compass, the thinner we can slice the data," says Bjoern
Herrmann. "We can predict your trajectory." What insights have
surfaced so far? What separates the winners from the losers in the
land of software startups? We spoke with Herrmann to listen and
learn from Startup Genome's findings. Tip #1: Innovation is not
enough; you need data. "I think of the analogy of the fountain of
youth," Herrmann says. "Startups are considered to be the fountain
of youth. Until now, it was super-hard to...Read more
Can You Save the Planet and Still Make Money? Software Startup Simple Energy Bets Yes
Boulder, Colo.-based startup Simple Energy has an ambitious
game plan: Help millions of consumers save energy through a
combination of web networks, behavioral modification tools, and
demand response. Of course, the company would also like to make
money. Apparently, many industry veterans think that they can:
Simple Energy recently attracted $900,000 in seed capital from a
well-connected group of angel investors . Founded (and
bootstrapped) in September 2010, Simple Energy now has four
employees and is searching for four more. Founder and CEO Yoav
Lurie says he expects that the headcount in a year will be
somewhere in the range of 12 to 30. The first version of Simple
Energy's product was released in June 2011 -- and this was a
radical departure from the founders' original idea. Which leads us
to the first of several great tips from Lurie: Tip #1: Your idea
may not be the right one, so listen up. Last year, the Simple
Energy founders visited a local utility company to pitch their Big
Idea. "We actually went in with a slide show for a totally
different business," Lurie says. "It was a hardware product that
we'd give away for free. A thermostat. "The feedback we...Read
more
game plan: Help millions of consumers save energy through a
combination of web networks, behavioral modification tools, and
demand response. Of course, the company would also like to make
money. Apparently, many industry veterans think that they can:
Simple Energy recently attracted $900,000 in seed capital from a
well-connected group of angel investors . Founded (and
bootstrapped) in September 2010, Simple Energy now has four
employees and is searching for four more. Founder and CEO Yoav
Lurie says he expects that the headcount in a year will be
somewhere in the range of 12 to 30. The first version of Simple
Energy's product was released in June 2011 -- and this was a
radical departure from the founders' original idea. Which leads us
to the first of several great tips from Lurie: Tip #1: Your idea
may not be the right one, so listen up. Last year, the Simple
Energy founders visited a local utility company to pitch their Big
Idea. "We actually went in with a slide show for a totally
different business," Lurie says. "It was a hardware product that
we'd give away for free. A thermostat. "The feedback we...Read
more
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