Comments on: Technology to Sales: The Evolution of a Software Startup

By: Jun Jie

Jun Jie — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 13:34:33 +0000

Being in the sales and marketing department just means, You can talk to other people. You actually understand what they are saying to You and You know how to make other people what You want them to do.

I really wonder why so few technical guys know about this. They don’t even try to educate themselves in that direction. Courses are available everywhere and You can buy a book about this in almost any bookstore. At least here in Hongkong, but that should be the same in any place.

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Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:15:13 +0000

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By: CFI Guy

CFI Guy — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 21:09:42 +0000

From my brief period spent in sales, I’d even go as far to say that if you can figure out a way to get some sales guys on board from the beginning (by offering high commission and no base salary or something) you can really benefit if you find the right sales people. It’s amazing what a strong sales force can do for you.

By: Cliff Thornton

Cliff Thornton — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:12:19 +0000

The key is to be able to support your existing customers as you grow and keep an open line of communication with them as your develop new versions of your product. You have to be able to sell to your existing base and to greenfield, but you’re not going to be able to sell to your existing base if they are not happy— this happened to Microsoft with their base of server customers– of course there’s a lot of reasons for this! You’ve also got to be able to to keep a hold of your human intellectual capital because as a start-up to lose this is a huge cost! Just imagine if a captain had to switch-up his senior officers in the middle of an active deployment– that would cause a great deal of confusion, inefficiencies and could lead to major hazards and failures. You don’t want to put your start-up in that situation– so you’ve got to keep your start-up a place people want to stay. Finally, you need a strong infrastructure– financially, CRM, contract records, HR, etc……a building is only as good as its foundation. Again this is why you need to keep your leadership in place. Focus, focus, and focus— you’ve got to keep focused on your core competencies and target markets. Also, know your key competitors in these spaces like the back of your hand. The way you keep a step of your competitors is to be the BEST at providing what your customer needs and providing with services they don’t know they need, but desperately need it. Being in business today is like being a jet fighter pilot…..a bogey can come out of the sky at any time and knock you out unsuspectingly…..this is why you and your team have to remain vigilant!

By: Jeff SKI Kinsey

Jeff SKI Kinsey — Sat, 31 May 2008 14:39:31 +0000

Loved it. Reminds me of, well, me! Zig Ziglar has been preaching as long as I have known him (30+ years) that EVERYONE is in sales. –ski

By: Ben Yoskovitz

Ben Yoskovitz — Sat, 31 May 2008 01:50:17 +0000

@Andrew Biss: That’s a good example of just how important sales & marketing are to software companies. Small ISVs can live for years off maintenance revenues or yearly renewals (for SaaS companies)…but if you’re trying to really grow and scale a business you’ll have to knock on customers’ doors and move faster.

Thanks for all the comments!

By: Mike at Pacebutler Recycling

Mike at Pacebutler Recycling — Fri, 23 May 2008 01:08:52 +0000

As a marketer, I meet tech people everyday with outstanding applications painstakingly developed and you’re right in pointing out that the initial stage in a software company’s evolution is heavily biased towards the technical side. Interestingly, most of these guys already have an idea of who their target market is and some road map on what the tilting point is in terms of customer acquisition before the company makes money. Their need is to spread the word and make those connections, and the sooner the company complements the tech side with a marketing initiative, the faster its evolution will be.

I think you’ve hit the nail when you said “And, those strategies will impact product development. Just think about the viral components or features you might be able to build into your software application that could help with gaining traction…” When the company starts marketing and engaging its market, product development tends to become “market-driven” instead of the opposite approach of molding the market around your product. Thanks for this great article.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:36:33 +0000

As a software company ourselves we have started out in the exact oposite way! Those of us who started the company originate from Sales, Marketing and Accounting backgrounds. We sub-contract in the best consultant for each specific job as it’s won. That being said we are a reseller as opposed to developing the software ourselves, and we all have product knowledge from previous companies, I have seen a few other businesses starting up this way recently.

By: David

David — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:13:52 +0000

Great post our business plan outlines this, and then the migration to marketing and sales in 3-6 months.

By: Andrew Biss

Andrew Biss — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:24:34 +0000

Good post.

A special case I have seen is technically strong ISVs with little or no idea of sales and marketing. What made them special was a strong maintenance stream from their early adopters. The maintenance revenue allowed them to keep going without sales and marketing. This went on for decades, until, of course reality finally caught up with them. It came as a surprise to the managers of those companies, but not to anyone else…