3 ms·

You missed the obvious next step -- Raise prices. If you have a loyal customer base who have been enjoying a "ridiculously cheap pricing-model", then there sho

You missed the obvious next step -- Raise prices. If you have a loyal customer base who have been enjoying a "ridiculously cheap pricing-model", then there should be no pushback to this. You immediately fix your monetization and have value. Or, you do get push back, and then you know that that your product is loved because it is cheap, not because it has found PMF. In which case, your desire for a high valuation is not reasonable and you need to chase that PMF just like everyone else. Either way, raise prices and find out where you really stand.

dinkblam 2y ago
Thanks for your idea! You touch on an important part of the problem: the product does not 'just work', it only works as long as we keep working on it. Apart from the obvious (keep the server running), it requires an elaborate daily maintenance routine that has been performed since mid-2018 literally each and every day. Generation 3.x of the app is sold with a remaining promised support for the next 12 months. How can we increase prices if the lifespan of the product is reduced with every passing day? Basically it was insanity to ever sell such a type of product without 'subscription'...
- collingreen 2y ago
  I'm skeptical that your product is so amazingly good and literally years ahead of anyone else but requires elaborate daily intervention and isn't able to generate revenue. If you think you can single handedly make someone many millions of new dollars simply by using your software then why are you not pursuing that from every angle? That seems like an easy win AND acquisition channel; I expect any business would happily acquire you for a few million if you actually did make them 10x that. How can you prove (to yourself, to the market) that your product is really as amazing as you say it is? Normally that's by selling it but you said people aren't paying much for it. What's missing from this story? My advice is to figure out the answer to that because the answer will help you figure out what to do next.
  - dinkblam 2y ago
    > literally years ahead of anyone its easy, there is no one else in that market anymore. :-/ > and isn't able to generate revenue. i just said we never seriously monetized it ourselves and don't have energy left to do it. since it hasn't been done, any projection about possible profits is just speculation. > why are you not pursuing that from every angle? how can you convince a publicly-listed company like Jamf that they absolutely need your tech? even if it is obviously true, i wouldn't even know about one angle, let alone every angle. > What's missing from this story? well yeah, thats the question i posed :)
    - collingreen 2y ago
      I don't know anything about the tech or the market or jamf. This might be moot since you say you dont have the energy to pursue this anymore but if I had something worth millions to a company and I was throwing a Hail Mary (either it works or I quit) Id try everything to get on their radar. - scour your network for any contact there at all, even former people - try to get in touch with their bd folks and the head of the department you have an impact on - do the same thing for all their vendors - do the same thing for all their big customers - run some hyper targeted ads for your product or a ghost product you brand as better than them or a jamf-killer or something. And/or about helping their competitors - email some investors in their industry and directly ask them for a contact; offer advisor shares for a successful result - email publications or authors in the industry and ask for their advice; offer to pay - email consultants in the industry and ask for their advice; offer to pay. Try to find ex execs from your target company. - create a demo / mvp focused on demonstrating the minimal version of solving this one problem, write about it a lot, promote it in every way possible. This will also help with every other part above. As for your original question, you need to polish up a really really tight, convincing explanation of why you have a golden goose. Simultaneously you need to be ready to convincingly explain why you did a good job creating that golden goose but aren't going to take it the last bit over the finish line and start collecting the proverbial golden eggs. Then you should start reaching out to some of the same folks as above, especially relevant vcs and consultants in the industry. You could approach this as wanting to take on a cofounder ceo or try to get money but the former will probably be easier (and won't prevent someone from offering to buy you out if they want that anyway). Venture studios and search funds are out of fashion these days but those kinds of things would be really good vehicles for you to offload this and have a chance at retaining some upside (or getting some cash).
- codingdave 2y ago
  Wait, you don't have recurring revenue from your customers? And you do have servers and maintenance tasks? "Insanity" is right, that is not sustainable. That changes my answer - this is not about pricing optimization, and it is not about selling. You have a non-viable company right now. You need a fundamental change to either convert to recurring revenue at a level that supports the maintenance, or... a change to the product to be run without back-end support, on local devices only, no support. I have no idea what your daily process is, but I'd be looking hard at automation. Unless there is some level of human judgment required every day, automate all the things. Once that is done, you can do the arithmetic on actual server costs, number of customers, and determine recurring pricing levels that customer will accept and that keep you alive. Only when you get to that point does it make sense to even start thinking about selling. Gosh, I'm actually intrigued, though. I love efforts like that. Maybe I'm the insane one, but making a big change like that actually sounds like fun.

dinkblam 2y ago

Thanks for your idea! You touch on an important part of the problem: the product does not 'just work', it only works as long as we keep working on it. Apart from the obvious (keep the server running), it requires an elaborate daily maintenance routine that has been performed since mid-2018 literally each and every day. Generation 3.x of the app is sold with a remaining promised support for the next 12 months. How can we increase prices if the lifespan of the product is reduced with every passing day? Basically it was insanity to ever sell such a type of product without 'subscription'...

collingreen 2y ago
I'm skeptical that your product is so amazingly good and literally years ahead of anyone else but requires elaborate daily intervention and isn't able to generate revenue. If you think you can single handedly make someone many millions of new dollars simply by using your software then why are you not pursuing that from every angle? That seems like an easy win AND acquisition channel; I expect any business would happily acquire you for a few million if you actually did make them 10x that. How can you prove (to yourself, to the market) that your product is really as amazing as you say it is? Normally that's by selling it but you said people aren't paying much for it. What's missing from this story? My advice is to figure out the answer to that because the answer will help you figure out what to do next.
- dinkblam 2y ago
  > literally years ahead of anyone its easy, there is no one else in that market anymore. :-/ > and isn't able to generate revenue. i just said we never seriously monetized it ourselves and don't have energy left to do it. since it hasn't been done, any projection about possible profits is just speculation. > why are you not pursuing that from every angle? how can you convince a publicly-listed company like Jamf that they absolutely need your tech? even if it is obviously true, i wouldn't even know about one angle, let alone every angle. > What's missing from this story? well yeah, thats the question i posed :)
  - collingreen 2y ago
    I don't know anything about the tech or the market or jamf. This might be moot since you say you dont have the energy to pursue this anymore but if I had something worth millions to a company and I was throwing a Hail Mary (either it works or I quit) Id try everything to get on their radar. - scour your network for any contact there at all, even former people - try to get in touch with their bd folks and the head of the department you have an impact on - do the same thing for all their vendors - do the same thing for all their big customers - run some hyper targeted ads for your product or a ghost product you brand as better than them or a jamf-killer or something. And/or about helping their competitors - email some investors in their industry and directly ask them for a contact; offer advisor shares for a successful result - email publications or authors in the industry and ask for their advice; offer to pay - email consultants in the industry and ask for their advice; offer to pay. Try to find ex execs from your target company. - create a demo / mvp focused on demonstrating the minimal version of solving this one problem, write about it a lot, promote it in every way possible. This will also help with every other part above. As for your original question, you need to polish up a really really tight, convincing explanation of why you have a golden goose. Simultaneously you need to be ready to convincingly explain why you did a good job creating that golden goose but aren't going to take it the last bit over the finish line and start collecting the proverbial golden eggs. Then you should start reaching out to some of the same folks as above, especially relevant vcs and consultants in the industry. You could approach this as wanting to take on a cofounder ceo or try to get money but the former will probably be easier (and won't prevent someone from offering to buy you out if they want that anyway). Venture studios and search funds are out of fashion these days but those kinds of things would be really good vehicles for you to offload this and have a chance at retaining some upside (or getting some cash).
codingdave 2y ago
Wait, you don't have recurring revenue from your customers? And you do have servers and maintenance tasks? "Insanity" is right, that is not sustainable. That changes my answer - this is not about pricing optimization, and it is not about selling. You have a non-viable company right now. You need a fundamental change to either convert to recurring revenue at a level that supports the maintenance, or... a change to the product to be run without back-end support, on local devices only, no support. I have no idea what your daily process is, but I'd be looking hard at automation. Unless there is some level of human judgment required every day, automate all the things. Once that is done, you can do the arithmetic on actual server costs, number of customers, and determine recurring pricing levels that customer will accept and that keep you alive. Only when you get to that point does it make sense to even start thinking about selling. Gosh, I'm actually intrigued, though. I love efforts like that. Maybe I'm the insane one, but making a big change like that actually sounds like fun.