4 ms·

Why is it only enterprise or consumer internet story?

5 points by monsterix 14y ago

nileshtrivedi 14y ago
Well, it's hard to say. Do you have funding for a year or two? With the consumer model, acquiring users is easier and monetization is difficult. With an enterprise model, getting users may be easy or difficult (depending on the product and target customers) but at least there is a plan in place for monetization. However, the focus should first be on building a product which users like. Once you have users, things like funding or enterprise customers will start falling in place for you. So the answer really depends on your target customers, and the length of your runway.
avlesh-singh 14y ago
It is a classic dilemma early stage companies face. I have seen a whole lot of founders stuck with this question. I am not trying to influence your decision here, but the ones that succeeded, did so by having a very clear cut focus. You either build a consumer internet company or an enterprise internet company. Trying to do both at the same time takes your focus away. I'd say stick to one.
- monsterix 14y ago
  "You either build a consumer internet company or an enterprise internet company." This is true, and thus responses from current layer of mentors/experts tend to tilt towards it. But what about companies like Paypal or Dropbox who have done/are doing both consumers and enterprise face simultaneously? Like I am sure that ours is a consumer app with an enterprise use-case - so why shouldn't I be pushing it as a complete thing, and not just a consumer app? I have this karma thing going on in my mind.
  - EwanToo 14y ago
    Dropbox sell to some enterprises, but nothing like Box.com does, that's the difference in focus. Both companies do almost exactly the same thing, but Dropbox is focused on end users, and Box.com sells to enterprises. Take a look at the box.com user list - there's all sorts of massive organisations on it https://www.box.com/customers/ https://www.box.com/customers/
EwanToo 14y ago
One thing that I've seen is that the English used on the Pricing page [1] needs some work, phrases like "^40 Team Size" don't mean anything to me or to enterprise buyers. And the answer to the "Are there any discounts?" question is just plain odd. If you're looking to sell to corporations, you're going to need to polish the pages they read more, or have an absolutely amazing product that they'll sign up to anyway. Other than that though, I don't think 700 free accounts to 1 paying account is that bad - the real questions seem to be can you afford to run the website at that ratio of free to paying accounts, and can you convert a percentage of your free users into paying enterprise accounts? [1] - https://bubbleideas.com/plans https://bubbleideas.com/plans
- monsterix 14y ago
  Yes, EwanToo we've received a ton of feedback on this. We'll update our app before day-break tomorrow. So you mean to say the language on the enterprise pages would be affecting the current sign-up rate. I agree, so perhaps a little more time to experiment with better iteration. [Edited for spellings]
  - EwanToo 14y ago
    I think it would affect sign ups, yeah - business buyers are generally very conservative, the bigger the company, the more conservative they become. Selling to big companies generally means you have to behave in a very dry, almost dull manner yourselves, though there are a few exceptions to the rule. Take a look at the Google Enterprise website [1], it's very different from a normal Google product page, with statements like "Maximize website ROI and internal productivity with Google-powered search for your website or intranet." [1] - http://www.google.com/enterprise/ http://www.google.com/enterprise/

5 points by monsterix 14y ago

Well, it's hard to say. Do you have funding for a year or two? With the consumer model, acquiring users is easier and monetization is difficult. With an enterprise model, getting users may be easy or difficult (depending on the product and target customers) but at least there is a plan in place for monetization. However, the focus should first be on building a product which users like. Once you have users, things like funding or enterprise customers will start falling in place for you. So the answer really depends on your target customers, and the length of your runway.

avlesh-singh 14y ago

It is a classic dilemma early stage companies face. I have seen a whole lot of founders stuck with this question. I am not trying to influence your decision here, but the ones that succeeded, did so by having a very clear cut focus. You either build a consumer internet company or an enterprise internet company. Trying to do both at the same time takes your focus away. I'd say stick to one.

monsterix 14y ago
"You either build a consumer internet company or an enterprise internet company." This is true, and thus responses from current layer of mentors/experts tend to tilt towards it. But what about companies like Paypal or Dropbox who have done/are doing both consumers and enterprise face simultaneously? Like I am sure that ours is a consumer app with an enterprise use-case - so why shouldn't I be pushing it as a complete thing, and not just a consumer app? I have this karma thing going on in my mind.
- EwanToo 14y ago
  Dropbox sell to some enterprises, but nothing like Box.com does, that's the difference in focus. Both companies do almost exactly the same thing, but Dropbox is focused on end users, and Box.com sells to enterprises. Take a look at the box.com user list - there's all sorts of massive organisations on it https://www.box.com/customers/ https://www.box.com/customers/

EwanToo 14y ago

One thing that I've seen is that the English used on the Pricing page [1] needs some work, phrases like "^40 Team Size" don't mean anything to me or to enterprise buyers. And the answer to the "Are there any discounts?" question is just plain odd. If you're looking to sell to corporations, you're going to need to polish the pages they read more, or have an absolutely amazing product that they'll sign up to anyway. Other than that though, I don't think 700 free accounts to 1 paying account is that bad - the real questions seem to be can you afford to run the website at that ratio of free to paying accounts, and can you convert a percentage of your free users into paying enterprise accounts? [1] - https://bubbleideas.com/plans https://bubbleideas.com/plans

monsterix 14y ago
Yes, EwanToo we've received a ton of feedback on this. We'll update our app before day-break tomorrow. So you mean to say the language on the enterprise pages would be affecting the current sign-up rate. I agree, so perhaps a little more time to experiment with better iteration. [Edited for spellings]
- EwanToo 14y ago
  I think it would affect sign ups, yeah - business buyers are generally very conservative, the bigger the company, the more conservative they become. Selling to big companies generally means you have to behave in a very dry, almost dull manner yourselves, though there are a few exceptions to the rule. Take a look at the Google Enterprise website [1], it's very different from a normal Google product page, with statements like "Maximize website ROI and internal productivity with Google-powered search for your website or intranet." [1] - http://www.google.com/enterprise/ http://www.google.com/enterprise/