I was talking with a friend the other day about negotiating a deal and I had a few pieces of advice:
Good luck!
We’ve been debating switching our Ruby on Rails application over to jQuery from the Prototype JavaScript Framework that comes standard with Rails. Several different items prompted us to evaluate our strategy:
After lots of researching and testing we’ve decided to make the switch. So far so good…
I joined the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) three months ago and I have nothing but great things to say about it. According to the EO website, EO is:
The Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) is a global network of business owners, all of whom run companies that exceed US$1M in annual revenue. We engage leading entrepreneurs to learn and grow through executive education and other tools for business owners.
One of the most important aspects of the organization is what’s known as Forum. Forum is a group of 8 – 10 entrepreneurs that meet on a regular basis (usually monthly) and it acts as your own personal advisory board. This is an invaluable way to learn from other entrepreneurs and (hopefully) minimize potential mistakes and maximize opportunities. If you’re an entrepreneur, I recommend you look into EO.
Do your CRM, CMS, ERP, etc systems “talk” to each other? If a customer calls up do you have one interface to see their entire history? Even with the profiliferation of affordable, high-quality systems like Salesforce.com, Pardot, and Parature, most companies don’t have a way to see the history of interactions with a client from one screen. Typically, companies also have custom spreadsheets or applications where related customer information is kept, in an even more siloed fashion.
One major benefit typically found in true SaaS systems (not fake ones) is that of an open web services API (typically SOAP or REST). An open API, and a system that isn’t in your own private network (who wants to keep ports open in their Firewall?), is a good recipe for integration. More companies should invest in consolidated systems as part of a larger strategy to divest of non-core IT functions (like CRM and CMS).
Attitude and effort is what really matters. Think about it: 99% of the business issues you run into relate to those two items. Pretty simple, isn’t it?
What matters to you?
I was talking to two young entrepreneurs last Monday at Startup Riot (thanks Sanjay) about their stealth company. After asking tons of questions, I was finally able to distill it down and come up with a simple one liner. Fortunately, I read as many technology and entrepreneur blogs as I can (via Google Reader, of course) and had lots of example companies to choose from when coming up with the one liner.
Why is it so difficult?
Well, often times it is technology based, and sophisticated at that, so it is difficult to explain in layman’s terms. I recommend coming up with two one liners: one for technologists and one for your grandmother. Here are the one liners for one of my products:
What are your one liners?
Working on the brand for a new product is an interesting and rewording part of the development cycle. I like to wait until after the product is in an alpha state to start the branding process as it takes a while to understand the feel and personality of the application. The first and most important part of the brand is the logo. Nowadays, it is easy and cheap to get a logo done. I’d recommend looking at one of the following:
Adapting is a more important skill than predicting when it comes to building companies. Too often entrepreneurs and leaders think they have to decide every little detail in advance and follow the plan. Wrong. It is much more important to adapt and be perceptive of the market around you than it is to stay the course.
In a similar vein, you have to make decisions with imperfect information. Markets, products, and conditions change too quickly to spend months coming up with a plan. Getting something down on paper and communicating that things are going to change as the plan is executed is the best path to take. There’s a famous quote that summarizes it well:
A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.
— George S. Patton
Another SaaS benefit that isn’t readily apparent before going live is the relationship between quick product enhancements and reference customers. Because you can update and enhance the product so fast, customers that make small requests can see the changes within a matter of days or weeks (assuming you accept the tweak and it fits in your opinionated vision!). This goes a long way towards having them become a reference account that you can use for future prospects. With installed software, it is difficult and time consuming to keep making little patches so customers often have to wait several months for the release cycle to happen before they can actually appreciate that your team has been working hard on their request.
Near instant gratification with product change requests is something many clients have never experienced. Please make sure and temper expectations that it won’t always happen but that you’ll always be there to hear them out and be understanding.
Pricing for a new product is really just a shot in the dark. What features go into what editions? What are the up-sell hooks? In my experience it is much easier to lower prices than to raise them. I’d recommend starting out with a price that is twice what you feel is right. Why? It is very easy to give “preferred customer discounts” and come down on the pricing, making the new client feel special. Throw in membership to your “product advisory council” and you’re golden.
Another huge consideration: credit card price range or CFO price range. This is a big deal. Having a buyer be able to put the product or monthly fee on their credit card is a much easier sale than one that requires a purchase order and needs sign-off from the CFO. Wait, aren’t there plenty of deals between the $1,000 (credit card) and $50,000 (CFO sign-off) range? Yes, those are available but you don’t want to play in that space. The amount of time to complete a $20,000 deal is the same effort as a $50,000 deal. If you have to do a full-service, long sales cycle process, make sure your package is at least $50,000.
My final thoughts: don’t spend much time on pricing, go to market quickly, and listen to your prospects.
David Cummings on Startups 