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Do you think there are 1-5 person companies doing millions annually with an ecom site?

by putnam 9y ago

mgkimsal 9y ago
There are definitely small (<10 people) companies doing millions with ecommerce. My inclination is that most of them are doing some/all via Amazon these days. But even outside of Amazon yes, there are some people doing that. Headcount is less important than technical headcount - there may be 8 people in the company, but they just outsourced a woocommerce shop and market the heck out of it. Margins matter too, not just headcount. Someone could do $2m/year but make less than someone doing $800k/year with better margins. Doing perf/security reviews of a niche like that (woo, magento, etc) would probably still be a place to focus and make money, if you want to stay 'back end' (or at least technical). But even then, some of the measurable stuff will be needed - "we reduced the load times by 45% on the checkout page, and conversions went up 17%, adding $87k in profit last year".
- putnam 9y ago
  Would it be easy to find these clients?
- borplk 9y ago
  Security stuff is notoriously difficult for demonstrating any kind of value. 99% don't care unless and until they get hacked, they will also forget about it all in 2 months. If they don't get hacked for years they will just attribute that to luck and probability, not valuable security consulting. And if they do... you can guess that one.
  - user5994461 9y ago
    There is a big market around security audits and certifications. They don't pay by value provided, there is hardly anything measurable, but they pay good rates for professional specialized work that has to be done.
    - borplk 9y ago
      Yes but it tends to be around bigger companies. Lots of smaller businesses just don't care. They also don't have "chief somethings" to tell them it's important, or to do it to save their own asses just in case. They just fly blind and in many cases they get lucky which further solidifies their beliefs. And in the odd case when they get screwed they just bury it and move on. Or post a "we are very sorry! security is our TOP PRIORITY!" message somewhere and move on. I mean just look at the Equifax fiasco. Then scale that down to the smaller companies and see what you end up with...
      - user5994461 9y ago
        Small companies rarely take consultants of any sort at any decent rate.

Do you think there are 1-5 person companies doing millions annually with an ecom site?

by putnam 9y ago

Do you think there are 1-5 person companies doing millions annually with an ecom site?

There are definitely small (<10 people) companies doing millions with ecommerce. My inclination is that most of them are doing some/all via Amazon these days. But even outside of Amazon yes, there are some people doing that. Headcount is less important than technical headcount - there may be 8 people in the company, but they just outsourced a woocommerce shop and market the heck out of it. Margins matter too, not just headcount. Someone could do $2m/year but make less than someone doing $800k/year with better margins. Doing perf/security reviews of a niche like that (woo, magento, etc) would probably still be a place to focus and make money, if you want to stay 'back end' (or at least technical). But even then, some of the measurable stuff will be needed - "we reduced the load times by 45% on the checkout page, and conversions went up 17%, adding $87k in profit last year".

putnam 9y ago
Would it be easy to find these clients?
borplk 9y ago
Security stuff is notoriously difficult for demonstrating any kind of value. 99% don't care unless and until they get hacked, they will also forget about it all in 2 months. If they don't get hacked for years they will just attribute that to luck and probability, not valuable security consulting. And if they do... you can guess that one.
- user5994461 9y ago
  There is a big market around security audits and certifications. They don't pay by value provided, there is hardly anything measurable, but they pay good rates for professional specialized work that has to be done.
  - borplk 9y ago
    Yes but it tends to be around bigger companies. Lots of smaller businesses just don't care. They also don't have "chief somethings" to tell them it's important, or to do it to save their own asses just in case. They just fly blind and in many cases they get lucky which further solidifies their beliefs. And in the odd case when they get screwed they just bury it and move on. Or post a "we are very sorry! security is our TOP PRIORITY!" message somewhere and move on. I mean just look at the Equifax fiasco. Then scale that down to the smaller companies and see what you end up with...
    - user5994461 9y ago
      Small companies rarely take consultants of any sort at any decent rate.