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Just because YC doesn't fund companies like that doesn't mean that they don't fund companies that BECOME that. Listen: You don't launch an enterprise product i

Just because YC doesn't fund companies like that doesn't mean that they don't fund companies that BECOME that. Listen: You don't launch an enterprise product in 3 months. You launch a consumer product. MAYBE you launch a product for SMB, because that's what you are ( http://blog.asmartbear.com/blog/youre-a-little-company-now-act-like-one.html http://blog.asmartbear.com/blog/youre-a-little-company-now-a... ). In a few years, eventually you have enough market smarts and momentum to confidently sell stuff to big companies. YC funds companies that can reach ramen profitability OR reach the point where they are worth investing in (angel or Series A). The B2B path is a longer (but maybe safer?) one. Eventually, you'll either get profitable, stall out and/or prove that it's worth spinning up a sales team (which may well require add'l funding). Note: we are a 1.75 year-old YC company and we have lots of 5 and 6-figure deals in the sales pipeline. 12 months ago, I NEVER used the phrase "sales pipeline". b2b YC companies include (off the top of my head): RescueTime, Frogmetrics, Xobni, Virtualmin, Snaptalent (deceased), etc.

SwellJoe 17y ago
You're quite right. Righter than my reply, actually. We didn't have, and still don't have, a "sales pipeline", but our new cloud computing management product turns out to be exactly the sort of product that does need such a pipeline...and it could very well turn out to provide a majority of our revenue (it's already at about a quarter to a third of our revenue each month). A sales guy is probably not our next hire, but it'll probably come pretty soon after.
ig1 17y ago
Sure you can go to b2c -> b2b, but there's a huge market for software that only makes sense in a enterprise b2b market. Plenty of startups exist solely targeting large enterprises, it's not something you have to "grow into". For example: * Adapters to connect Hospital ERP systems to Pharma companies * Financial market liquidity masking servers that combine internal trade books with market trade books. * Industry specific databases * Warehouse logistics management * Ultralow (microsecond) latency middleware None of these are particularly sophisticated, and are all areas with active startups. But they're all in areas where the only companies who the software is useful to are large enterprises.

SwellJoe 17y ago

You're quite right. Righter than my reply, actually. We didn't have, and still don't have, a "sales pipeline", but our new cloud computing management product turns out to be exactly the sort of product that does need such a pipeline...and it could very well turn out to provide a majority of our revenue (it's already at about a quarter to a third of our revenue each month). A sales guy is probably not our next hire, but it'll probably come pretty soon after.

ig1 17y ago

Sure you can go to b2c -> b2b, but there's a huge market for software that only makes sense in a enterprise b2b market. Plenty of startups exist solely targeting large enterprises, it's not something you have to "grow into". For example: * Adapters to connect Hospital ERP systems to Pharma companies * Financial market liquidity masking servers that combine internal trade books with market trade books. * Industry specific databases * Warehouse logistics management * Ultralow (microsecond) latency middleware None of these are particularly sophisticated, and are all areas with active startups. But they're all in areas where the only companies who the software is useful to are large enterprises.