A New Kind of Software Company

July 13, 2011

Building a New Kind of Software Company

Here are the decisions and mindset that built QlikTech, the world’s fastest-growing BI software vendor, its disruptive technology, and branding as a new kind of software company.

By Lars Bjork, QlikTech

I’ve been with QlikTech for almost 11 years from when it was a very, very small company in Sweden, not even knowing what business space we wanted to cover. We had 11 customers and did $2 million in revenue. This year we have close to 20,000 customers in 105 countries and are on track to do over $300 million in revenue. We’re one of the fastest growing software companies on earth of our size. In the last 10 years the company has grown a hundred times in revenue. I attribute our success partly to having made a few very smart decisions early on and also to the way we manage the company.

I say we’re a new kind of software company for two reasons. Our software enables our customers to be different in the way they interact with information. But it’s also because we sell our software differently.

Optimizing Recurring Service Revenue: Eight Questions CFOs Should Ask

Are you paying enough attention to an often-overlooked major profitability driver? Service revenue – from maintenance, support, and subscription contracts – contributes significantly to the bottom line. However, CFOs often assume that service revenue is like the weather: there’s not much they can do to influence it.

ServiceSource routinely helps customers increase renewal rates, on average, by over 15 percentage points and, in some cases, over 40 percentage points. This article outlines the eight questions CFOs should ask to get to the heart of renewals.

From Cloud Skeptical to Cloud Curious to Cloud First

Darren Cunningham of Informatica presents his interview of Andrew Bartels, Director of IT at a U.S. financial services firm, to learn about his advice for IT leaders seeking to gain a “cloud first” perspective in this post to the SandHill.com blog, The Cloud in Action.

Preventing Sales Hiring Remorse

Paul O’Dea of Select Strategies provides advice to early-stage companies on how to maximize the odds of success in building a disciplined sales hiring process in this post to the Sandhill.com blog, Best Practices: Software Sales.

IT Sales & Marketing Grows More Complex: Only 5% of CIOs Can Authorize IT Investments Alone

Tom Pisello discusses the findings of a Gartner study reflecting a crisis in CIO confidence and also shares his best-practice recommendations for solution providers in helping CIOs through this power shift in this post to the Sandhill.com blog, Best Practices: Software Marketing.

Poll: Optimizing Service Revenue

Which of the following best describes your company’s current situation?
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The Latest Software Business News on SandHill.com

News Summary: Whirling -- Outsize demand, dumped stake, bubble controversy, street view, and other recent software news.

VC Activity: Black Locus Gets $2.5Mil For Cloud Based Ecomm Analytics.

M&A Deals: BMC Software Acquires Aeroprise To Enhance Its Mobile Know-How.

Executive Moves: New executives announced at Cloud.com, JDA Software, Jive Software and other software companies.

Quote of the Week

“Chicago is definitely growing as a tech community - the degrees of separation are coming down. ... Now startups are putting down roots because it's become a lot easier to make those connections. ... In the last year, we've built a good network around Chicago.”

- Jonathan Pasky, President of Chicago startup consultancy, midVentures

This Week's Sponsor

Improve your service data and customer sales coverage with ServiceSource. Software vendors recognize that service revenue is a critical asset. But many companies that attempt to use product-focused systems and processes to manage the service revenue stream run into substantial problems that arise from inadequate services-specific data, expertise, and sales processes. Leading software companies worldwide, such as Adobe, partner with ServiceSource to improve service revenue performance, whether they sell direct or through the channel. Our software clients achieve improved data management, financial flexibility, international coverage and customer loyalty.
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