CIOs Spurn Web 2.0 Startups - Enterprises Want Suites and Large, Incumbent Software Vendors

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/cios_spurn_web2_startups.php

by danw • 19 years ago

6 6 19 years ago

pg• 19 years ago

They spurned microcomputers at first too. Big cos will always be the last to adopt new technology.

This doesn't mean things are hopeless for startups, though. It just means they won't get the big cos as customers till they themselves grow larger. Or to put it more optimistically, that they will grow larger by gradually consuming the market share of the "incumbents."

danw• 19 years ago

It took a long time for most bigcos to adopt mobile phones too.

From what I've heard trying to sign a bigco up for anything is a lot of work, usualy far more than a small startup can afford to spend on a single customer. The company will spend so long evaluating your software that you'll have run out of cash before hearing a yes/no from them. Better to chase individuals/small biz at the start because they're easier to sell to. Of course there will always be exceptions (loopt and boost springs to mind despite not being an enterprise app).

myoung8• 19 years ago

one of the important questions is: are bigcos resistant to the software itself or the notion of buying software from a small startup?

from what i've heard about all things at the enterprise level, corporate accounts are notorioulsy sticky because of the process (it takes uncountable pages of paperwork to get anything done).

so maybe CIOs are reluctant to switch because they already buy from IBM/MS and it's just easier that way.

their loss...

drop19• 19 years ago

We should all be planning to fly under big companies anyway and not targeting these kinds of large organizations at first.

chwolfe• 19 years ago

1) Make YOUR users happy 2) Get bought out by big company ABC 3) Let ABC worry about selling it to the suits (They'll be better at it anyway).

awt• 19 years ago

If business wants slow response time and lack of innovation then they're welcome to it.

CIOs Spurn Web 2.0 Startups - Enterprises Want Suites and Large, Incumbent Software Vendors

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