Comments for Smart SaaS http://montclairadvisors.com/blog by Kevin Dobbs Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:12:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 Comment on Hybrids, Cross-Overs and TaaS, Oh My! by Part 2: How Much Does It Take to Start a SaaS Co? | Smart SaaS http://montclairadvisors.com/blog/2009/01/hybrids-cross-overs-and-taas-oh-my/#comment-569 Part 2: How Much Does It Take to Start a SaaS Co? | Smart SaaS Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:44:14 +0000 http://montclairadvisors.com/blog/?p=84#comment-569 [...] only about half of the firms we tracked actually started out as a pure SaaS company.   These other Cross-Over firms started out as either Application Service Providers (ASP’s) or were traditional On-premise [...] [...] only about half of the firms we tracked actually started out as a pure SaaS company.   These other Cross-Over firms started out as either Application Service Providers (ASP’s) or were traditional On-premise [...]

]]> Comment on How Much Investment Does It Take To Start a SaaS Co? by Kevin Dobbs http://montclairadvisors.com/blog/2010/01/how-much-investment-does-it-take-to-start-a-saas-co/#comment-529 Kevin Dobbs Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:27:41 +0000 http://montclairadvisors.com/blog/?p=1128#comment-529 Josh, I agree that this would be interesting for the readers. I will provide an updated table later this week. Thanks for your idea! Kevin Josh,

I agree that this would be interesting for the readers. I will provide an updated table later this week.

Thanks for your idea!

Kevin

]]> Comment on How Much Investment Does It Take To Start a SaaS Co? by Josh Weinberger http://montclairadvisors.com/blog/2010/01/how-much-investment-does-it-take-to-start-a-saas-co/#comment-528 Josh Weinberger Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:20:24 +0000 http://montclairadvisors.com/blog/?p=1128#comment-528 Kevin - Really intriguing set of data; might be interesting to add a couple of columns for "Year Founded," "IPO date," and "Money raised via IPO." The first two would give the chart some context in terms of recency and longevity; the third might reveal some pattern about "big exits." (See this piece over at GigaOm: http://snipr.com/om0201 - Let’s Create a New Tech Startup Myth) j. Managaing Editor, CRM magazine @kitson on Twitter Kevin -

Really intriguing set of data; might be interesting to add a couple of columns for “Year Founded,” “IPO date,” and “Money raised via IPO.”

The first two would give the chart some context in terms of recency and longevity; the third might reveal some pattern about “big exits.” (See this piece over at GigaOm: http://snipr.com/om0201 - Let’s Create a New Tech Startup Myth)

j.
Managaing Editor, CRM magazine
@kitson on Twitter

]]> Comment on How Much Investment Does It Take To Start a SaaS Co? by Kevin Dobbs http://montclairadvisors.com/blog/2010/01/how-much-investment-does-it-take-to-start-a-saas-co/#comment-527 Kevin Dobbs Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:48:42 +0000 http://montclairadvisors.com/blog/?p=1128#comment-527 John I think that HCM/Talent Management buyers were early adopters of SaaS because of HR's need to reduce costs but still deliver high levels of service. SaaS adoption seems to be more rapid in market segments that have applications that service highly connected end users, CRM being another example. I also think that adoption of a lot of 'bolt-on' self service applications in the late 90's to core systems like PeopleSoft seemed to make SaaS apps a natural transition for HCM/Talent Management systems. John I think that HCM/Talent Management buyers were early adopters of SaaS because of HR’s need to reduce costs but still deliver high levels of service. SaaS adoption seems to be more rapid in market segments that have applications that service highly connected end users, CRM being another example. I also think that adoption of a lot of ‘bolt-on’ self service applications in the late 90’s to core systems like PeopleSoft seemed to make SaaS apps a natural transition for HCM/Talent Management systems.

]]> Comment on How Much Investment Does It Take To Start a SaaS Co? by Kevin Dobbs http://montclairadvisors.com/blog/2010/01/how-much-investment-does-it-take-to-start-a-saas-co/#comment-526 Kevin Dobbs Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:45:31 +0000 http://montclairadvisors.com/blog/?p=1128#comment-526 Jim you are right that m&a is increasingly important as companies are not only considering entering the SaaS market, net new but also as a way to begin or accelerate their transition to SaaS. Taleo and Kenexa are both firms that have used this approach. Good comment. Jim you are right that m&a is increasingly important as companies are not only considering entering the SaaS market, net new but also as a way to begin or accelerate their transition to SaaS. Taleo and Kenexa are both firms that have used this approach.

Good comment.

]]> Comment on How Much Investment Does It Take To Start a SaaS Co? by John Hathaway http://montclairadvisors.com/blog/2010/01/how-much-investment-does-it-take-to-start-a-saas-co/#comment-524 John Hathaway Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:19:29 +0000 http://montclairadvisors.com/blog/?p=1128#comment-524 Interesting data Kevin. One thing implicit here that jumps out at me is that 7 of 15 of these companies are in Talent Management, Performance Management, Human Capital Management, and/or Learning Management. A couple possible thoughts on why at: http://velocitymg.com/explorations/leveraging-learning/why-are-talent-performance-learning-dominating-the-cloud/ Would love to hear you thoughts on why such a concentration in that direction. Interesting data Kevin. One thing implicit here that jumps out at me is that 7 of 15 of these companies are in Talent Management, Performance Management, Human Capital Management, and/or Learning Management.

A couple possible thoughts on why at:
http://velocitymg.com/explorations/leveraging-learning/why-are-talent-performance-learning-dominating-the-cloud/

Would love to hear you thoughts on why such a concentration in that direction.

]]> Comment on How Much Investment Does It Take To Start a SaaS Co? by Jim Williams http://montclairadvisors.com/blog/2010/01/how-much-investment-does-it-take-to-start-a-saas-co/#comment-523 Jim Williams Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:21:45 +0000 http://montclairadvisors.com/blog/?p=1128#comment-523 This list also fails to take into consideration acquisitions and the cost to build those acquired companies prior to the acquisition. LPSN is a good example there as they have grown through several large transactions (relative to the $41.6MM investment noted above) such as HumanClick, Proficient and Kasamba. This list also fails to take into consideration acquisitions and the cost to build those acquired companies prior to the acquisition. LPSN is a good example there as they have grown through several large transactions (relative to the $41.6MM investment noted above) such as HumanClick, Proficient and Kasamba.

]]> Comment on How Much Investment Does It Take To Start a SaaS Co? by Kevin Dobbs http://montclairadvisors.com/blog/2010/01/how-much-investment-does-it-take-to-start-a-saas-co/#comment-522 Kevin Dobbs Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:01:26 +0000 http://montclairadvisors.com/blog/?p=1128#comment-522 David, Good catch on the Constant Contact. I agree that the market cap is often a bi-product of the amount of sales and marketing spend that the company uses to launch and grow their distribution channels. Your other comment is very relevant, because transitioning from an on-premise model is quite difficult. Several of these firms are still operating a bit of a hybrid model, some with significant legacy portfolios. We are the at the beginning of a 10-year shift to SaaS and Cloud Computing so I will continue to update this information over the course of 2010. Thanks for your comment! Kevin David,

Good catch on the Constant Contact.

I agree that the market cap is often a bi-product of the amount of sales and marketing spend that the company uses to launch and grow their distribution channels.

Your other comment is very relevant, because transitioning from an on-premise model is quite difficult. Several of these firms are still operating a bit of a hybrid model, some with significant legacy portfolios.

We are the at the beginning of a 10-year shift to SaaS and Cloud Computing so I will continue to update this information over the course of 2010.

Thanks for your comment!

Kevin

]]> Comment on How Much Investment Does It Take To Start a SaaS Co? by David Dobrin http://montclairadvisors.com/blog/2010/01/how-much-investment-does-it-take-to-start-a-saas-co/#comment-520 David Dobrin Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:31:37 +0000 http://montclairadvisors.com/blog/?p=1128#comment-520 Some of the companies mentioned above started out with non-cloud products. (Concur a good example.) So the investment is a bit deceiving. Also, if you take a page from Marc's book, the really interesting number would be sales and marketing. Probably correlates better with overall market cap, that is, the more you spend on it, the higher the cap. Btw, I think you mean Constant Contact. Some of the companies mentioned above started out with non-cloud products. (Concur a good example.) So the investment is a bit deceiving.

Also, if you take a page from Marc’s book, the really interesting number would be sales and marketing. Probably correlates better with overall market cap, that is, the more you spend on it, the higher the cap.

Btw, I think you mean Constant Contact.

]]> Comment on SaaS Business Profile: Kenexa by Steve Wang http://montclairadvisors.com/blog/2009/07/saas-business-profile-kenexa/#comment-514 Steve Wang Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:28:09 +0000 http://montclairadvisors.com/blog/?p=534#comment-514 Not to be nit-picky, but you can certainly spell appraisal without "praise". Try it. Not to be nit-picky, but you can certainly spell appraisal without “praise”. Try it.

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