BI software and enterprise software in general is a huge opportunity for startups - I know PG and YC had it as one of the RFS listings at one point. I'm not su

BI software and enterprise software in general is a huge opportunity for startups - I know PG and YC had it as one of the RFS listings at one point. I'm not sure that the winners will be those can deliver results fast and exhibit quick adaptability. In general, I agree that the Hacker News community is more than technically capable enough to do better than the big BI offerings. But I've been surprised (or shown my naivete if you prefer) at how much "old school" networking still accounts for sales in this space. To succeed, you are aiming at mid-level and higher execs who are used to (seriously) being wined and dined in a way that I think most hardcore tech companies would be surprised at. Figuring out how to circumvent the normal sales channels is probably at least as important as whatever tech you put in front of people for enterprise software. I've seen how successful some companies are at simply pushing software out to their existing customer channel and making $$ off of that. All that said, and I still have my eye on a little slice of that pie chart . . .