Enterprise Software Is “Sexy Again”
According to this TechCrunch.com article by Aaron Levie, CEO of Box.net, “enterprise software is sexy again”:
“With prohibitive pricing, long product cycles and user interfaces only a mother could love, the enterprise offerings of Microsoft, SAP, Oracle and other big vendors are about as appealing as Steve Ballmer in a bikini. Not surprisingly, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists have been turned off by these unappealing traits, the near-monopolies held by big players, and the suspicion that problems being solved for the enterprise are less exciting.” [Read More]
Aaron continues:
“Given all this, why have I decided to go down the road of building a hard-core enterprise software company? It’s simple. Enterprise software is sexy again. Just ask consumer tech guru Marc Andreessen, who recently confessed to being attracted to the new wave of enterprise software companies, or Peter Thiel, who thinks Palantir is hot to the tune of a $750M valuation.” [Read More]
Perhaps one could argue that the article should really be titled “Enterprise Software Is Sexy Again To Venture Capitalists“, however, the points are valid. The essence of Aaron’s post is that there is an opportunity for new entrants to the enterprise software market to disrupt the dominant positions of the larger vendors mentioned in the quote above and therefore gain a highly lucrative market share that may be higher than can be attained by attempting to create the next Twitter or Facebook. He offers a few pointers for smaller players looking to establish a foothold:
- Make customers feel like they’re a part of your company.
- Align revenue with customer success and consumption.
- Build usable technology that people are excited to experience every time.
- Move quickly, stay youthful in approach, and innovate.
- Solve an enterprise’s big problems — the bigger the problem, generally the bigger the reward.
Read the rest of the article here >>
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