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Many people do not realize that Github has an enterprise product called github:enterprise. Aside the money they raised for this round, there are also help come

by siong1987 14y ago

Many people do not realize that Github has an enterprise product called github:enterprise. Aside the money they raised for this round, there are also help comes together from the VC, Andreessen Horowitz in this case. I don't have any experience in enterprise sales. But, from what I know, enterprise isn't a market that the best product always wins. Yes, Github definitely has one of the best products out there. But, they definitely don't have the required experience to push their enterprise product to the market(look at the developers heavy team). The VC will definitely help in this case. Now, look at another similar product in the market, Atlassion, which raised about 60 millions almost two years ago from Accel. That was also after years of bootstrapping from Atlassian itself. 2 years ago, the funding market was definitely not as good as the funding market today. Yet, Atlassian managed to raise 60 millions. So, the 100 millions Github raised today seems reasonable to me.

pnathan 14y ago
enterprise sales are radically different than open source evangelism, b2c sales, and small biz sales. The difference is (literally and metaphorically) there is are suits involved. A few key thoughts which are likely to apply: - Per-customer customizations - $100K+ per sale per customer - 3 month to 3 year sales cycles - Usable on Windows XP and IE6 (most likely). - Certifications/audits (e.g., ISO9001). I can easily see hiring 20-30 guys to sell/consult/customize for the enterprise market.
- lnguyen 14y ago
  The product market for enterprise VCS/SCM is also quite a bit different. It's no longer enough to make it easy for developers; you need to be able to provide better access controls/security and start managing the code lifecycle. Github has quite a bit of work ahead of them to be on par with say IBM/Rational ClearCase/ClearQuest or CA Software Change Manager (aka Harvest). Definitely wish them luck.
  - pnathan 14y ago
    What do you see as the Clearcase wins vs. github? (I can't think of any, sorry! :) )
    - lnguyen 14y ago
      I'll readily admit that the core of ClearCase leaves much to be desired from a technology, administration and user perspective. Especially in comparison to git. But that's the difference a few decades of progress can make. But what's built on top of it are definite wins in comparison to git and Github: UCM and lifecycle integration with ClearQuest. Most developers don't know how/when to branch. UCM at least sets up a structure and process for that. There's also enough out-of-the-box security to control access to everything that most enterprises would care about. This is supported, documented, etc. Managing an application's lifecycle is probably far more important in a large organization than most people experience in a small project or startup. Integration with ClearQuest allows everything to be tracked. Since all of this are essentially "add-ons" to a core versioning tool, there's nothing to say something similar can't be done with git/by Github. It's just that they're not available _now_.
    - kyrra 14y ago
      customization, process definition, support, control. While I don't like Clearcase/clearquest, large companies like them because it allows them to define their own rigid ideas of control within their company. Large companies have a team of people who's job it is to create, manage, and train to that process. Tools like clearcase allow them to create these custom workflows and processes within the company in such a way that they must be follow. this allow for some pretty complex controls on who can do what, what signoffs must happen for certain code commits, and such. Git and Github do not offer that fine-grain control that managers of large organizations like. So until you see that type of functionality, don't expect to see Lockheed Martin deploy Github throughout their company.
- geon 14y ago
  > - Usable on Windows XP and IE6 (most likely). I'd imagine a company that needs VCS can handle multiple installed browsers or even virtualized OS:s.
  - vulf 14y ago
    When github says "We are disrupting how software is written in the enterprise", the very first thing that comes to my mind is not catering to companies that won't give up IE6.
- kingnothing 14y ago
  For what it's worth, 30 guys at $150k per year is only $4.5MM per year.
rdl 14y ago
Yes, github:fi (renamed to github:enterprise) has really been an afterthought to github. I hope they build up a real support team and market it well, because it's technically superior to the alternatives.

pnathan 14y ago

enterprise sales are radically different than open source evangelism, b2c sales, and small biz sales. The difference is (literally and metaphorically) there is are suits involved. A few key thoughts which are likely to apply: - Per-customer customizations - $100K+ per sale per customer - 3 month to 3 year sales cycles - Usable on Windows XP and IE6 (most likely). - Certifications/audits (e.g., ISO9001). I can easily see hiring 20-30 guys to sell/consult/customize for the enterprise market.

lnguyen 14y ago
The product market for enterprise VCS/SCM is also quite a bit different. It's no longer enough to make it easy for developers; you need to be able to provide better access controls/security and start managing the code lifecycle. Github has quite a bit of work ahead of them to be on par with say IBM/Rational ClearCase/ClearQuest or CA Software Change Manager (aka Harvest). Definitely wish them luck.
- pnathan 14y ago
  What do you see as the Clearcase wins vs. github? (I can't think of any, sorry! :) )
  - lnguyen 14y ago
    I'll readily admit that the core of ClearCase leaves much to be desired from a technology, administration and user perspective. Especially in comparison to git. But that's the difference a few decades of progress can make. But what's built on top of it are definite wins in comparison to git and Github: UCM and lifecycle integration with ClearQuest. Most developers don't know how/when to branch. UCM at least sets up a structure and process for that. There's also enough out-of-the-box security to control access to everything that most enterprises would care about. This is supported, documented, etc. Managing an application's lifecycle is probably far more important in a large organization than most people experience in a small project or startup. Integration with ClearQuest allows everything to be tracked. Since all of this are essentially "add-ons" to a core versioning tool, there's nothing to say something similar can't be done with git/by Github. It's just that they're not available _now_.
  - kyrra 14y ago
    customization, process definition, support, control. While I don't like Clearcase/clearquest, large companies like them because it allows them to define their own rigid ideas of control within their company. Large companies have a team of people who's job it is to create, manage, and train to that process. Tools like clearcase allow them to create these custom workflows and processes within the company in such a way that they must be follow. this allow for some pretty complex controls on who can do what, what signoffs must happen for certain code commits, and such. Git and Github do not offer that fine-grain control that managers of large organizations like. So until you see that type of functionality, don't expect to see Lockheed Martin deploy Github throughout their company.
geon 14y ago
> - Usable on Windows XP and IE6 (most likely). I'd imagine a company that needs VCS can handle multiple installed browsers or even virtualized OS:s.
- vulf 14y ago
  When github says "We are disrupting how software is written in the enterprise", the very first thing that comes to my mind is not catering to companies that won't give up IE6.
kingnothing 14y ago
For what it's worth, 30 guys at $150k per year is only $4.5MM per year.

rdl 14y ago

Yes, github:fi (renamed to github:enterprise) has really been an afterthought to github. I hope they build up a real support team and market it well, because it's technically superior to the alternatives.