How software companies Grow green

Well, this is a bit of a headline party. Who doesn't want to do it as long as possible? What should you do if you want to be long?

In fact, if it is a start-up company, there is no sales, then it seems that there is no practical significance to the evergreen. Only when the accumulation of some funds, a little money, you should think about how to do business for a long time.

Now everywhere is hot money, turn on the TV is the Angel Investment Program, on the internet is who also won the B-round investment, friends Circle also common recruit venture partner's news, ... Feel not to start a business, do not take other people's money toss toss, is simply an idiot.

So what is the actual situation? Read a list of the list of startups that were once famous but eventually collapsed.

I would like to give you some reference through some practices of the Zoho company I work for.

When the company was founded in 1996, several engineers came from the founders who did not know what to do and wanted to prove themselves. One of the founders, who worked at T-T, developed a Java-based SNMP API. Then a Japanese printer maker bought the API, and the company had the first money. We think the OEM this direction is good, so began the WEBNMS business (one of the three business lines, is still active). WEBNMS's license started selling to $60,000 per user, but it's not that expensive. But you can imagine the company's first bucket of gold is still relatively rich.

This has been a good development, but 2000 years. The advent of the COM bubble burst has amply proved that "the only constant is the change itself ". In just a few months, 99% of business customers have been in a swish of the collapse. The company was dumbfounded. Fortunately at that time has accumulated some money (thrift is a virtue), can support the company does not have dried flowers for two years to think about what to do next. Think of several directions, and finally decided not to sell the software to the OEM, to the enterprise's IT department to do products. The Network monitoring tool was released in 2002, after which the second largest product line ManageEngine (Enterprise IT Management Suite) was developed. 2004 also developed the mailbox and CRM system. The online Office series was launched in 2005. This is the company's third-largest line of business-online software (SaaS business). Since then, the company has continued to develop new products in the last two lines of business. SaaS Line of business only, when we do the site statistics, there are 31 online products, of course, not all products are making money.

May be once bitten, ten years afraid of twice shy, CEO now the main job is the overall strategic layout. Line of business planning, globalization strategy ... He once said, I am not very busy, my main job is to talk, and employees in chat (a company's online chat products) talk, and team chat product roadmap, and media chat industry news ... From the company's current product line can be seen, is to put eggs in a lot of baskets. At present, the company's fourth line of business is also in its initial stage.

Some people may ask, zoho in the survival time, is how to determine the next direction of development? It's actually very simple. Zoho that year in the management of customer information with Salesforce CRM products, but too expensive, the company said, we are also doing software, why not develop a set of their own. Later I used to feel good, think, can sell to other companies, anyway, there is a need for the company certainly not only our family, we sell not as expensive as Salesforce. This slowly, Zoho CRM has some small market, by the word-of-mouth propaganda development. Zoho's investment in the market is only the last two or three years.

Now the slogan of Zoho SaaS Line is to do the operating system of the enterprise, let the business of Enterprise run on Zoho.

How do you feel about seeing this place? Zoho Walk is a safe road, he entered in every direction is already has the market has the competition, then goes the differentiation route. And when an investment company wants to buy him, the company feels that the company will soon grow bigger by accepting investment. But the investment companies want to be digital, will interfere with the direction of the development of enterprises, which are products when the children's product managers can not tolerate. So the company still firmly believes that "enterprises can not be debt, enterprises must have profits, so in a turbulent global financial environment can be stable, long-term development." Of course, the market environment of Western capitalist society is very different from ours. For reference only.

Copyright NOTICE: This article for Bo Master original article, without Bo Master permission not reproduced.

How software companies Grow green