Random thoughts from the edge...
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Not that it matters, but I've spent the last 18 months getting a software company off the ground, and that is HARD work. It seems like it was easier the last few times!
Here we are, a group of gung-ho developers, a GREAT solution for mid-market distribution and manufacturing companies, and three real clients.
We'd really LOVE to sell a product. In fact we'd LOVE to get VC money. BUT, we don't really believe that we can sell the intellectual property to our clients for long.
What we do believe is that things have begun to change. Ever hear of Ars Digita? For years they were our heros. They were making it. Then they made it, they got VC $$$.
End result? The VC's slowly brought in "managers" that new more than the developers and quickly they were gone. Amazingly, Philip, the CEO, a guy with an EGO, handed over the reins to a more experienced CEO. Why would he believe that this would make sense?
Do we really think this is a good idea? Did Apple do better without Jobs? What about Microsoft? Are they better off now? I don't think so, they've always been rich, but now they are GREEDY!
At the same time, I just spent 4.5 years with a DotCom (still alive...). While we went from $0/month to $6 million/month in revenue, we also tried lots of off the shelf software.
From SAP to Epicor, and we ended up writing our own. Amazingly bad software in the mid-market! On top of that, the dirty little secret is how easy it is to create from scratch.
So we did. Our team has written a toolkit to build Enterprise software for the mid-market. And we will. But we're not counting on selling licenses!
We sell our knowledge. Let me repeat that, "WE SELL OUR KNOWLEDGE!"
When my competing CEO's wake up at night in a cold sweat, they wonder if they'll be able to meet development schedules that we could hit easily. On the other hand, I have to figure out how to transfer and capture the knowledge that we gain over time!
COLD SWEAT
Anonymous? [7:51 PM]