Software as a Service (SaaS)

It’s not hard to find online commentary declaring that a particular piece of technology jargon has gone out of fashion. All too often the folks writing these posts seem more interested in being provocative rather than accurate - trying to make themselves appear to be  ’ahead of the curve’. » Read the rest of this entry «

Almost a year ago, I posted a blog titled “The Case for ‘Revenue Performance Management’ in the Front Office” where I introduced this new category of performance management targeted to the unique needs of the Front Office, line of business users who control the top-line for a company.

I believe there is tremendous opportunity in delivering Back Office-like performance management techniques to the Front office to enable better business decisions by the lines of business, so I reached out to SignalDemand, one of the companies I mentioned in my last post, to test whether the framework I had developed has mapped to their experience on the ground.  » Read the rest of this entry «

Last year, I asked my friend Cary Platkin, a tech attorney specializing in SaaS/cloud issues, to contribute to this blog with a Q&A on the SaaS Business Model and Some Common Legal Questions.  That posting was so well received, I asked him to come back again with whatever issue was most pressing for his clients these days.

Not surprisingly, he said SaaS and cloud-based companies are struggling with the liability issues associated with customers’ number one concern – security.  Customers want vendors to assume unlimited liability for security breaches; vendors want to restrict and cap their liability. Negotiated subscription agreements often end up somewhere in the middle.  So, how can a vendor give its customers a high level of liability protection and still sleep at night?

Based upon my conversation with Cary, the answer may lie in a good cyber liability insurance policy. » Read the rest of this entry «

I just finished reading a post on Sandhill.com titled “Best of Breed vs. Suite in the SaaS Era“, a Q&A session between Maryann Jones Thompson, editor of Sandhill.com and Sina Moatamed, CIO of BendPak/Ranger.

The general premise of the article is that SaaS point solutions or “best of breed” are going to eventually be replaced by suites – just as what happened with traditional enterprise software applications. » Read the rest of this entry «

I am well aware that the stereotypical venture capitalist is portrayed as someone who barely pays attention to the entrepreneur’s business presentation, constantly checks his/her Blackberry/iPhone during the critical funding meeting, and appears to be more concerned about the weekend plan than the business plan being presented.

TheFunded is filled with critical commentary by entrepreneurs about venture capitalists and cite real life examples that reinforce this stereotype. » Read the rest of this entry «

Next week, we are scheduled to meet with one of the SEC commissioners, Troy Paredes, and his Counsel, Scott Kimpel. They will be here in Silicon Valley to meet with a number of venture firms to get our perspectives on:

• The investing environment / opportunities to sustain the growth and competitive advantage of the American economy
• The exit environment
• The capital raising environment for VCs
• The positive and negative impacts of rules and regulations on the venture community and its portfolio companies

» Read the rest of this entry «

You know a market is heating up when it feels like every company, start up or incumbent, is taking a position in it. That’s certainly the way it feels with ‘Cloud Computing’. Every company I meet with now seems to have some sort of Cloud Computing angle. » Read the rest of this entry «

I have to admit to harboring an extreme prejudice.

It rears its ugly head when a start up CEO comes into our office to take us through their business, introduces the management team and describes one of the executives as the “VP Sales & Marketing”. » Read the rest of this entry «

When I first took over the Siebel CRM OnDemand division in 2004, I realized very quickly there were a lot of differences – some subtle, some not so subtle – that separated a SaaS business from a software business.

At the time, many of the metrics that those who currently run or invest in SaaS businesses now take for granted were then relatively new concepts and not necessarily a part of a traditional software business  - Annual/Total Contract Value, Monthly Recurring Revenue, Cost of Customer Acquistion Ratio, LTV Customer, etc. » Read the rest of this entry «