3 ms·

1. So the business already does mid to high 6 figures. But is there scope to increase it to a 50 million or even a 500 million $ company? Without knowing more

by ankeshk 16y ago

1. So the business already does mid to high 6 figures. But is there scope to increase it to a 50 million or even a 500 million $ company? Without knowing more about the industry, we can't answer that. But you need to find that out. 2. The 2 problems you are facing right now is: the code need major revamping. A dedicated sales person is needed. Because of your background, you seem to be putting emphasis on fixing the code first. Forget that. Make sales the priority. Join as a salesman and try drumming up new sales for the next 3 months. Without putting effort in revamping the code. This will show you: i. If the demand is actually there in the market ii. What features are essential and what are not iii. And if you can drum up new sales, this will give you the money that can be used to fix the code. 3. One client is invoiced about half a million $ a year. This client is an awesome company to bring on board as a partner. Get this client to fund future expansions. Either by pre-paying you for getting discount in price for the next year or 3. Or by giving you a loan. Or by taking an equity stake in the company itself.

throwaway1445 16y ago
Thanks for all the input. 1. Yes, there is a ton of room for the company to grow (market is young and expanding rapidly). 2. I definitely can see the logic in making sales a priority. I have absolutely no experience selling to businesses, and would be happy to jump in the deep end. However, I don't know how you actually sell to large corporations. In the past we have just waited for RFPs to come to us. Any suggestions on how to actually pound the concrete looking for clients? 3. Good suggestion. Unfortunately not applicable in this situation.
- triviatise 16y ago
  We really dislike RFPs. Usually RFPs are a procurement requirement and the team has already decided on a solution. Typically they will be worded to favor the incumbent. We have never won an RFP, but that may be because we suck :) Im not that good with inbound marketing, but we have been improving over the last few years. To get sales, people who are looking have to be able to find you. These days that means email campaigns, blog, SEO, adwords and conferences. Go to conferences and use them to start building a mailing list, before the conference identify who you want to meet and try to setup meetings beforehand. Personally I hate all that and in my startup Im trying to do pure inbound marketing via SEO, blog etc. Selling to large corps is hard, read spin selling and getting to yes for once you get in. The getting in is hard and the sales cycles are long. Basically you have to find someone that acts as a toehold to get you in and keep get referrals to eventually find the person who wants what you sell within the company. If there is one thing I would recommend, that is go after small to medium businesses instead. they have their own issues, but you will have small dollars from a large number of companies.

by ankeshk 16y ago

throwaway1445 16y ago

Thanks for all the input. 1. Yes, there is a ton of room for the company to grow (market is young and expanding rapidly). 2. I definitely can see the logic in making sales a priority. I have absolutely no experience selling to businesses, and would be happy to jump in the deep end. However, I don't know how you actually sell to large corporations. In the past we have just waited for RFPs to come to us. Any suggestions on how to actually pound the concrete looking for clients? 3. Good suggestion. Unfortunately not applicable in this situation.

triviatise 16y ago
We really dislike RFPs. Usually RFPs are a procurement requirement and the team has already decided on a solution. Typically they will be worded to favor the incumbent. We have never won an RFP, but that may be because we suck :) Im not that good with inbound marketing, but we have been improving over the last few years. To get sales, people who are looking have to be able to find you. These days that means email campaigns, blog, SEO, adwords and conferences. Go to conferences and use them to start building a mailing list, before the conference identify who you want to meet and try to setup meetings beforehand. Personally I hate all that and in my startup Im trying to do pure inbound marketing via SEO, blog etc. Selling to large corps is hard, read spin selling and getting to yes for once you get in. The getting in is hard and the sales cycles are long. Basically you have to find someone that acts as a toehold to get you in and keep get referrals to eventually find the person who wants what you sell within the company. If there is one thing I would recommend, that is go after small to medium businesses instead. they have their own issues, but you will have small dollars from a large number of companies.