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Thanks for that comment. I'm seeing a sales/marketing issue with this company. The sales pipeline has shriveled up and marketing is non-existent. The product i

Thanks for that comment. I'm seeing a sales/marketing issue with this company. The sales pipeline has shriveled up and marketing is non-existent. The product is fairly decent, nothing spectacular, but they are possibly playing in the wrong space, given the amount of capital they have and the competition they face from the big enterprise players. So from a re-build perspective, I am wondering if their owner can take on the risk of building a NEW product or are they better off doing what they are doing (except, do it better)?

trcollinson 11y ago
That's a hard question really without knowing more about the business (you are welcome to email me if you'd like, contact info is in my profile). Here's generally what I look for when I am looking at a company that is in a market with a huge enterprise competitor. Huge enterprise market competitors aren't a problem as long as you aren't competing against them. Often times the large enterprise market competitor has a gap in their software solution that a small company can capitalize on filling. For example, maybe the industry uses a huge enterprise inventory tracking system but that system doesn't have a good mobile reporting solution. A small company could make tens of millions of dollars on a mobile reporting solution specifically for the large enterprise inventory tracking system. If I were in your company I would be looking at WHY customers are currently buying your product and then work on capitalizing on that. If there really is no market left (which I doubt, honestly), then look for a gap that your competitors have which you can fill.
- HenryTheHorse 11y ago
  What stood out in your comment was the very last sentence. To be more specific, the part about "there really is no market left". Enterprises are always looking to solve the same two problems (cost and revenue) and there are always new ways to tackle those two issues. (Which, btw, also points me to a morale/enthusiasm issue at play with the owners. They think everything in the enterprise has been done.) Thanks again for your input.

trcollinson 11y ago

That's a hard question really without knowing more about the business (you are welcome to email me if you'd like, contact info is in my profile). Here's generally what I look for when I am looking at a company that is in a market with a huge enterprise competitor. Huge enterprise market competitors aren't a problem as long as you aren't competing against them. Often times the large enterprise market competitor has a gap in their software solution that a small company can capitalize on filling. For example, maybe the industry uses a huge enterprise inventory tracking system but that system doesn't have a good mobile reporting solution. A small company could make tens of millions of dollars on a mobile reporting solution specifically for the large enterprise inventory tracking system. If I were in your company I would be looking at WHY customers are currently buying your product and then work on capitalizing on that. If there really is no market left (which I doubt, honestly), then look for a gap that your competitors have which you can fill.

HenryTheHorse 11y ago
What stood out in your comment was the very last sentence. To be more specific, the part about "there really is no market left". Enterprises are always looking to solve the same two problems (cost and revenue) and there are always new ways to tackle those two issues. (Which, btw, also points me to a morale/enthusiasm issue at play with the owners. They think everything in the enterprise has been done.) Thanks again for your input.