Strategic Entrepreneurism in the New Economy

Designing a startup for acquisition means software entrepreneurs must follow a new path to success.

By Jon B. Fisher

There’s an old saying that if you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably never going to get there. This applies to starting up a company in more ways than you might realize.

If you’re going to start a software company, you’re probably going to think big. That’s what I did when I started Bharosa. And when the company was acquired by Oracle last year, it was not by accident.

Today’s founders need to think differently when they start a company. I call this new-economy approach “Strategic Entrepreneurism.” Launching a company today is more risky than ever. Following the new laws of Strategic Entrepreneurism can improve your chances of success.

Get the Context: Browse with RoamAbout

RoamAbout from Vysr is a free browser extension that puts contextual information, services and address books at your fingertips while browsing on the Web. The new business pack version of RoamAbout allows you to look up relevant current news or Wikipedia entries, share content with people in your address book, get stock quotes for any keyword or phrase you find on a Web page, and more. All the contextual information is delivered without having to leave the page you’re viewing. A 3-min screencast tour of RoamAbout can be seen here and the free browser extension can be added to your browser at the Vysr Web site, www.vysr.com.

From Bootstrapping to a $200M IPO

The success of RightNow Technologies has been impressive - especially considering its early days as a bootstrapped venture. Javier Rojas of Kennet Partners interviews CEO Greg Gianforte and discovers the challenges and the upside of launching a business without outside investors in this post to his new SandHill.com Blog, Return Leaders.

Think Twice Before You Re-Price

Too often, software vendors rely on raising prices to increase cash flow. Jim Geisman of MarketShare says there are better ways to improve a company’s financial position. Read two new ideas in Part 1 of this article posted to the SandHill.com pricing blog and learn more at the 2008 Software Pricing Workshop in Boston, Mass. in July.

Publish Your Perspective!

SandHill.com wants your opinions. Send your thoughts on the enterprise software industry to SandHill.com editor, Maryann Jones Thompson (maryann@sandhill.com) and have your opinions published on our site.

DON'T MISS: How Companies Act on Global Trends: A McKinsey Global Survey

Executives say that global trends have become increasingly important, but few companies are addressing them successfully. Read this article from The McKinsey Quarterly to find out how to identify those who do.

News Update: Their Way

Yahoo loses and UML wins; plus, iPhone apps amaze, Red Hat settles and Mini-IBM debuts. Read these stories and more software news of the week in the latest SandHill.com Software News Summary.

Poll: Built-to-Be-Acquired Startups?

What do you think of software startups that are developed exclusively as takeover targets?
Take our Pulse Poll >>

Last week, readers gave us their assessment of their companies progress on cybercrime.
Give us your opinion and see the results >>

More at SandHill.com:

Ten signs Jerry Yang made the right move.
Read the most important enterprise software industry news of the week >>

Lucid Commerce received $2.5 million.
Monitor the latest software venture capital deals >>

Belden bought Trapeze Networks for $133 million.
Size up last week's software M&A deals >>

SpringSource named Peter Cooper-Ellis as senior VP of engineering and project management.
See who's made it to the top in our list of recent software executive appointments.

Send us your feedback on this newsletter and the SandHill.com site.

Parting Thought

“The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.”
—Paul Valéry

Courtesy of Malcolm Kusher, The Kushner Group

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SandHill.com is published by Sand Hill Group, which provides investment and management advice to emerging leaders in the $600 billion enterprise software, services and solutions market. Sand Hill Group produces the Software and the Enterprise series of conferences for industry executives, and authors research reports on cutting-edge technology topics.