Penny Wise, Pound Foolish

April 19, 2011

Penny Wise, Pound Foolish

Startups often make a classic mistake of being penny wise and pound foolish. Distributed teams can work for well-defined and regimented work. But startups working on new, disruptive initiatives don't fall into that category.

By Todd McKinnon, Okta

There is no shortage of advice out there for startups. Just Google that exact term and you'll find guidance on topics ranging from funding to advertising, recruiting to business plan development, and everything in between. There are also – literally – hundreds of billions of dollars up for grabs as new companies crop up and grow to disrupt huge markets.

Startups are often strapped for cash, and need to make business decisions with ROI in mind. This is a given. That's one of the reasons the offshore development model has become so popular. Your expensive lead architect and UI designers are in New York, so why not have the rest of the engineering team in Eastern Europe, executing at a fraction of the cost? Variances of this model can also be seen on our own shores. After all, it's less costly and more convenient, right?

Software CEO/CFO Outlook 2011 Webinar

Last month, more than 100 software and SaaS CEOs and CFOs shared their forecasts for their companies and their predictions for our industry in the Sand Hill Group CEO / CFO Outlook 2011 survey. Join M.R. Rangaswami, CEO of the Sand Hill Group, TOMORROW, April 20, at 11am PT, 2 PM ET as he presents the key survey findings and discusses them with executives from Adaptive Planning, Intacct, Black Duck and Jaspersoft.

Attend the Software CEO/CFO Outlook 2011 Webinar and learn what your peers from leading software companies think about the business outlook for the next 12 months (and why they are so optimistic about it), what companies are forecasting for revenue growth, hiring and expense in 2011, and why cloud computing is becoming a major driver across all aspects of software company operations. When you attend, we'll send you a complimentary copy of the full survey report (a $295 value). Register today!

What Can ISVs Do to Onboard Customers More Quickly?

Larry Steele of Savvis discusses how to onboard SaaS customers faster, resulting in recognizing revenue sooner and increasing customer satisfaction, in this post to the SandHill.com blog, SaaS Secrets for Success.

SAP Cloud Webinar Series: Mastering the Cloud in 8 Easy Steps

The fourth quarter of 2010 saw a dramatic leap in the adoption of cloud computing, according to Sand Hill Group's 2011 research data. More than 50 percent of business leaders Sand Hill interviewed implemented game-changing cloud solutions in the last six months. The second Webinar in the series presents real-world examples of bottom-line business benefits that leading adopters of cloud computing are already realizing. Click here to register.

Future of Open Source: Enterprise, Mobile and Open Data

Tim Yeaton of Black Duck Software discusses the robust, open ecosystem that is developing because of the mobile segment and explains how this will lead to the automobile industry opening up to open source in this post to the SandHill.com blog, Mobile Moves.

Also, be sure to take the "Future of Open Source" survey at the end of the blog.

Face Off: Value Propositions vs. Sales Messaging (Why Your Value Prop is Losing and What to Do About It)

Michael Cannon of Silver Bullet Group shares the underlying problems that cause most value propositions to be ineffective and explains how to differentiate the value prop from sales messaging in this post to his SandHill.com blog, Best Practices: Software Marketing.

SaaS Webinar Series: Making the Most (Money) with Your SaaS Offering

This information-packed SaaS webinar series is designed to help you succeed in the fast-paced and ever-changing SaaS marketplace. You'll hear from SaaS industry experts, including Jeff Kaplan, Managing Director of THINKstrategies and Jim Geisman, Founder of Software Pricing Partners, as well as SaaS thought leaders from Flexera Software. Each 30-minute webinar in the series will address key issues and provide strategies for optimizing the monetary potential of your SaaS offerings.
Click here to register.

Sparking Creativity in Teams: An Executive's Guide

Senior managers can apply practical insights from neuroscience to make themselves—and their teams—more creative. Read about four practical ways for executives to apply this thinking to shake up ingrained perceptions and enhance creativity in this article from The McKinsey Quarterly.

Poll: Startup Costs

Which of the following best describes your company's situation as a startup?
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The Latest Software Business News on SandHill.com

All Headlines: The Cloud Threat to the Software Business.

VC Activity: Venture-cap investments rise in 1Q.

M&A Deals: Intertainment ntertainment to buy mobile software and app developer Commobility.

Executive Moves: Wang Qun named President of Greater China for Informatica Corp.

Quote of the Week

“Software companies have been trying to shore up the crumbling edifice by issuing ever more complex policy guidelines that 'reinterpret' the language – in effect unilaterally changing the contract to their own advantage.”

- Forrester Research, in its "Software Pricing and Licensing trends 2011" report

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