5 ms·

I’ve been through the university procurement process. My experience wasn’t too bad. There’s a bit of red tape but the folks who want your solution are probably

I’ve been through the university procurement process. My experience wasn’t too bad. There’s a bit of red tape but the folks who want your solution are probably willing to minimize the process as much as they can (though you’ll still need to complete it). I would also consider charging for non recurring engineering fees (sort of like consulting). Instead of $16/mo/user charge a few thousand $s for integration or custom development. Paying for labor is something companies understand very well.

KyeRussell 4y ago
This is the first “boots on the ground” thing I learned being subject to a procurement process: if someone - or the right person - within an org wants your stuff, then you’ll be surprised how many on-paper “requirements” are able to just fall away.
- cldellow 4y ago
  Or they'll tell you the hidden requirements! I remember selling to a school board back in 2008. We wanted to issue them a bill with one line item: "Software, $100,000." Luckily, we had a champion inside who took us aside and gently proposed that we repackage it into several line items: site-wide licensing, installation support, training support, 1-year of tech support, custom development fee, etc. It tallied to the same amount, but looked a lot more "normal" for procurement purposes.
  - jmathai 4y ago
    Yup. You have to speak their language.
    - euroderf 4y ago
      I would think that this kind of itemization would also help them in cases where they are trying to detect fraud.
KhoiUna 4y ago
It’s not a big app. I spent like 50+ hours making the app. So charging thousands is out of their budget.
- jmathai 4y ago
  Don't make the mistake of assuming the hours spent is correlated to the amount they will spend. I'm not saying they will spend thousands of dollars but you might be surprised how big their budgets are and the numbers they are used to.
- hazmazlaz 4y ago
  It's not a factor of how long it took you to make it, but the value of it to the end user. If (in a contrived example) it took you 1 hour to create but saved the end user many hundreds of hours of expensive labor, it could be worth a great deal. Think about the output instead of the input when pricing your creation!

KyeRussell 4y ago

This is the first “boots on the ground” thing I learned being subject to a procurement process: if someone - or the right person - within an org wants your stuff, then you’ll be surprised how many on-paper “requirements” are able to just fall away.

cldellow 4y ago
Or they'll tell you the hidden requirements! I remember selling to a school board back in 2008. We wanted to issue them a bill with one line item: "Software, $100,000." Luckily, we had a champion inside who took us aside and gently proposed that we repackage it into several line items: site-wide licensing, installation support, training support, 1-year of tech support, custom development fee, etc. It tallied to the same amount, but looked a lot more "normal" for procurement purposes.
- jmathai 4y ago
  Yup. You have to speak their language.
  - euroderf 4y ago
    I would think that this kind of itemization would also help them in cases where they are trying to detect fraud.

KhoiUna 4y ago

It’s not a big app. I spent like 50+ hours making the app. So charging thousands is out of their budget.

jmathai 4y ago
Don't make the mistake of assuming the hours spent is correlated to the amount they will spend. I'm not saying they will spend thousands of dollars but you might be surprised how big their budgets are and the numbers they are used to.
hazmazlaz 4y ago
It's not a factor of how long it took you to make it, but the value of it to the end user. If (in a contrived example) it took you 1 hour to create but saved the end user many hundreds of hours of expensive labor, it could be worth a great deal. Think about the output instead of the input when pricing your creation!