JMR's blog

14 Ways To Be A Great Startup CEO

 Everyone thinks that being a startup CEO is a glamorous job or one that has to be a ton of fun. That's what I now refer to as the "glamour brain" speaking aka the startup life you hear about from the press. You know the press articles I'm talking about... the ones that talk about how easy it is to raise money, how many users the company is getting, and how great it is to be CEO. Very rarely do you hear about what a bitch it is to be CEO and how it's not for every founder that wants to be an entrepreneur. I've spent a lot of time recently thinking about what it takes to be a great Startup CEO that is also a founder. Here are some of the traits I've found.

Be A Keeper Of The Company Vision

The CEO is the keeper of the company's overall vision. I'm not talking about the vision for the next few months, but the larger road ahead. The CEO needs to be able to keep things on course for the current quarter to make sure that the large overarching vision of the company can be achieved. The takeover the world vision of a startup usually can't be achieved in one year or even in some cases, like Google, in a decade. It takes a great startup CEO to keep the company on track to achieve that vision. A great startup CEO will often judge upcoming initiatives to see if they fit in as a piece of the large puzzle for the bigger vision.

Absorb The Pain For The Team

A startup CEO needs to be the personal voodoo doll for a startup. They need to be able to take on a strong burden of stress, pain, and torture all while making level headed decisions. You can't have the troops stressing and worrying about the difficult challenges at hand. A good startup CEO will absorb the stress, so the rest of the team can carry on. He also needs to be able to mask this pain and stress. Not that he should hide or lie to the team- I'm not encouraging that. Most of the day to day nuances+stresses of a startup aren't worth having the entire team worry about and the CEO needs to bear that pain.

Find The Smartest People And Defer On Domain Expertise

A startup CEO has a great knack for finding talent. The key is finding people that are smarter than you on specific topics. It might be technical team members/leaders or it might be a new VP of Biz Dev. A startup CEO has to have the ability to find these people and make relatively fast decisions to hire them. They also have to be able to show the fire and passion to convince them to leave what is most likely a better paying and more secure job to join the company. The real key to hiring as a startup CEO comes after the hire. A great startup CEO will be able to trust the hires that they make and defer to them on areas of domain expertise. It's hard to let go, but you have to learn to, especially when the company grows.

Be A Good Link Between The Company + Investors

Whether you want to believe it or not, you are not an investor's only portfolio company. Even if you are a superstar, they have a handful of other companies to help and a ton of incoming potential portfolio companies. A good investor will pick 2-3 new companies per year to work with. A good startup CEO will be a good link between progress, issues, and areas where they need help with investors. A good portion of early stage startups that raise money will have a board comprised of 3 people: the CEO founder, the investor, and an independent board member. You are the lone representative for your cofounder and other employees.

Be A Good Link Between The Company + Product

I have this unwavering belief that the best companies are those that keep a founder as CEO for the long haul. Not because the founders have the right to be CEO, but because the CEO needs to be close to the product vision of the company. Founding CEOs understand this the best and can carry out that same unified vision over time. To fill in the management gaps a great COO, other board members, and heads of divisions will come along. It's a strategy that Facebook has employed and why Apple has had a great resurgence with Steve Jobs at the helm. It's all about keeping the CEO as close as possibly linked to the product.

Be Able To Learn On The Job

Most startup CEOs didn't start out with an MBA or some background in growing a company from nothing to something. The best have an ability to learn along the way and embrace their failures to become a better leader. Zuck started when he was 19 and now 7 years later, runs the most powerful internet company. Don't worry about whether "you're qualified" as it's hard to put typical qualifications on the job. You'll learn the really core stuff along the way. The best startup CEOs will surround themselves with smart mentors to be a sounding board along the way.

No Experience Almost Preferred

It's almost better to have a blank slate of zero experience as a startup CEO. If you come in with preconceived notions and block out the scrappy methods of a startup founder, it actually hurts you. Traditional education often trains you to be CEO or manager for a much larger company, not for a startup of under 50 people. It's a different kind of leadership and company.

Have An Uncanny Ability To Say No

You will be inundated with a list of requests from potential partners, investors, employees, and more. They will all sound absolutely wonderful. As you grow, you will also have the resources to execute more of them. Don't. It's easy to say yes, but so very hard to say no. By having an uncanny ability to say no, you can keep your company on track with the large vision you maintain. It will also keep your team members (notice I don't like to use the word "employees") laser focused and feel more rewarded as they are able to focus on one thing for a good chunk of time. I've seen too many startups sink because the CEO keeps changing what the head of product and engineering should be doing.

Have Some Technical Knowledge And Skillset

A good startup CEO shouldn't be afraid of a little bit of code and a text editor. They don't need to be diving into the source code on a daily basis, but they need to understand the technical requirements. It's easy to say "go build this", but it's a whole other ball game to understand how to build it. What seems simple may be a huge mountain of a technical feat that just isn't feasible with the given resources and deadlines. It can also help lend some street cred with hiring early technical team members too.

Be Able To Break Things Down Into Sizable Chunks + Milestones

Remember that huge unwavering vision that you are the keeper of? Odds are it only makes sense to you and your cofounder. You will need to break it up into sizable chunks and milestones for the rest of the team to understand it. You also need to be able to pick when and where to conquer things strategically. What is the past of least resistance so you can gain traction? What can you do first with your given resources?

Have The Ability To Call An Audible

Nothing goes according to plan. Things fall through, people quit, shit happens, servers crash, and other random things go bump in the night. You're going to have to deal with it and fast. This is a football term:

"Seen when the quarterback goes up to the line of scrimmage, sees a defensive alignment he wasn't expecting, and adjusts by yelling out a new play."

You're going to come up against things that you didn't expect and just be able to call an audible. Launch faster, spend more money here, or even abandon a project.

Can Motivate The Team Through Despair

People love to talk in this business. People love to talk even more when you're company isn't fairing well. A great CEO will be able to take those moments of public despair and keep the company focused. They will be able to debunk the rumors or even approach them head on by keeping the members of the company focused on the bigger mission at hand. It can come in simple 5 minute talks or motivational emails. The worst thing you can do is avoid the situation and be passive aggressive. I repeat: DO NOT WUSS OUT.

Be A Great Communicator

You need to be able to portray the energy and passion that you feel into others...over and over and over and over and over and over again on a daily basis. As a startup founder you need to communicate the vision and hope for the future of your startup to the rest of the world. You need to be able to break down the overall vision of the company into something that mere mortals can understand. You can't speak in crazy technical jargon or industry terms. It needs to be simple, clear, and compelling. You also need to be able to argue your point. Many will pick "fights" with you just to see how strong willed you are. Be respectful, but be very confident in your answer. Often wrong, but never in doubt my friend.

Don't Be A "Fake CEO"

Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga, makes a strong case for not being a fake ceo. In short, worry about things that produce results, not fame. If it's between going to a conference/doing an interview or completing a deal, get the deal done. Don't "leave it to someone else". You need to get your hands dirty every single day.

By no means is this an exhaustive or definitive list. In some cases, the traits listed above might be counter-intuitive. What are some traits you've seen in great founding startup CEOs? Not the glamorous job you thought it was, eh?

http://onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/34321/14-Ways-To-Be-A-Great-Startup-CEO.aspx

How to Build a Billion-Dollar European Software Company

  Courtesy of London Business School.

Here’s a great presentation by Bernard Liautaud, founder and eighteen-year CEO of BusinessObjects, explaining how he and his team created the first “European silicon valley startup”, growing the company from zero to a billion dollars in revenue, and then selling to SAP for $6.7bn. Bernard is now a General Partner of Balderton Capital, one of the largest venture capital funds in Europe.

How to Build a Billion-Dollar European Software Company

Develop Emerging Markets

From Tioga Venture: The following post is the translation of an oped contributed to the AFDEL (French software vendors association) December newsletter. Although, this article was originally targeted at French software vendors, we believe the idea to be very relevant for most European software vendors.

As the crisis seems to be coming to an end, the key question for businesses is when and where will the recovery happen. The French economy seems to have bottomed out and many experts are predicting a slight growth for the coming quarters. For software publishers, the question is now how to take advantage of it and where to invest.

Historically, many French software vendors have focused their international development in the U.S. and other developed countries. While it is true that the U.S. market is the largest homogeneous market for high technology, it is now mature and saturated. Operational difficulties for medium-sized publishers are real, both for recruiting and managing a good team as well as for the intensity of competition. Growth in Europe is hampered by fragmentation of markets in language, legal framework and competitive levels.  Moreover, the growth rates expected in Europe in 2010 are modest: from -0.5% in Spain to +1.6% in Germany - and +1.5% in France (source: The Economist). The software industry is now mature in these markets and initial equipment has now been replaced by support and maintenance contracts that are themselves under strong price pressure.

However, there is hope in the east and south: in the emerging countries, particularly but not only in the BRICs. It already appears that the way out of the global crisis will mainly be driven by the recovery in consumption and investment in emerging markets. Even in 2009, the GDP of China will grow at 8%, a level never reached by developed countries over the past 20 years. The expected GDP growth rates in 2010 are:

–     China: +8.5%

–     India: +6.3%

–     Brazil: +3.3%

–     Russia: +2.5%

Major software vendors, including US vendors, have already started to conquer these markets. In France, these countries, including China and India, have been considered providers as low cost engineers’ labor pool. The outsourcing of certain functions including IT development remains an important issue but whose success is far from guaranteed. Beyond these possible reductions in development costs, it seems important to consider these countries as markets to conquer in the short term: software is a revenue game more than cost cutting game. This approach is easier for the biggest companies who can simultaneously take on multiple countries leveraging their customers’ and partners’ networks. For medium-sized vendors, human and financial investments will be significant, but the risk profile seems favorable in the current macro-economic environment thus justifying the investment. Among the best practices of expansion in emerging countries developed with our clients, the simplest are often the best:

–     Follow-up customers . Any development in a new market is risky.

Capitalizing on major clients is a must. It is always easier to open a new country with a portfolio of clients in deployment. They will provide the basis for creating a team then a dynamic growth. Their local experience may prove useful in very different cultures. This rule also applies to partners and distributors. The more you go along with your usual ecosystem, the better the chances of success and the lower your risk.

–     Target markets . For a medium –sized software vendor, it is difficult to have the resources to address all these markets. The selection of target countries, or regions when China and India are concerned, is a key issue. The verticals vary considerably from one country to another (Aeronautics and commodities in Russia, manufacturing in China, services in India ...). Economic and demographic characteristics of targeted regions are important points to be included in the analysis process before making a decision.

–     Adapt your business model . While sales cycles are rather shorter in emerging countries, it is often necessary to adjust the original business model. The upfront investment in license are rarer, customers preferred rental or risk-sharing. Working with partners and customers already implanted allow finding the right mix before investing in a more significant deployment.

The expansion in emerging countries is not without risk. In addition to the necessary investments, the challenges of operational execution and focus are always present. The risk is overall higher than a geographical expansion in a European country but the long term potential is incomparable. The economic crisis is in this case an opportunity to redirect investment strategically.

The development of software vendors that will happen through the economic recovery in France will be moderate; on the contrary, the vendors looking for strong growth opportunities should now focus on emerging markets. Many companies are well positioned to target these markets now and be back on the growth path. The opportunities are theirs to seize.

SkyRecon, une ambition déçue

Par Christophe Elise, ZDNet. Un confrère de 01 Informatique titrait récemment un article sur la "lune de miel entre SkyRecon et Arkoon", faisant écho à un article d'un autre confrère évoquant le "mariage entre les deux français". Les formules sont joyeuses et chargées de promesses d'un avenir radieux et d'une longue belle histoire.

Ô que j'aimerais partager l'optimisme de mes respectables confrères. Je serais ravi de me joindre au choeur de louanges de ceux qui voient dans cette fusion "l'émergence d'un acteur majeur de la sécurité en France" (ainsi que le présente la communication officielle de ces acteurs). Hélas, c'est plus un sentiment de déception qui m'anime.

Pour rappel, Arkoon - spécialiste français de l'appliance de sécurité multifonctions - a fait l'acquisition de SkyRecon - éditeur de logiciels de sécurité - en septembre. Pour ce dernier, cette opération est l'ultime épisode d'une  année trouble. Laquelle a débuté en décembre 2008 lorsque de nombreux contacts de l'équipe dirigeante passée reçoivent un email les informant qu'elle cédait sa place.

Philippe Honigman, alors directeur général de l'éditeur, et Ravy Truchot, président du directoire, deux des fondateurs quittent le navire. Mais le quittent ils vraiment ou sont ils jetés à la mer ? Plusieurs mois durant, en savoir plus sur les conditions de leur dégagement, est chose impossible. La communication officielle évoque la nécessité d'entreprendre "un changement stratégique afin de permettre à SkyRecon d'optimiser son développement et de consolider sa position sur le marché".

Je suis d'autant plus surpris de ce flou artistique que je connais bien SkyRecon depuis sa création en 2003, et qu'à plusieurs reprises j'ai eu l'occasion de m'entretenir avec ses dirigeants. D'ailleurs, avant ce brusque changement de tête, c'est encore récemment durant l'été 2008 que nous discutions avec Philippe Honigman de la stratégie de l'éditeur. Laquelle est au coeur des raisons de l'imbroglio qui s'en est suivi.

Mi 2007, SkyRecon jette une tête de pont aux Etats-Unis, avec l'ambition de se développer sur ce marché. Ce type d'initiative ne peut se faire sans l'aval des actionnaires. Cependant il aura fallu à peine plus d'un an aux actionnaires pour finalement décider que l'idée était mauvaise, et exiger de faire machine arrière. Si on peut respecter la décision, on peut aussi s'étonner d'un tel revirement, crise internationale ou pas, et surtout de la brutalité avec laquelle elle s'est imposée.



Retracer le fil de l'histoire n'est pas chose aisée. Les protagonistes ne parlent pas ou peu. Je sens derrière chaque mot confié le poids de la crainte d'un procès, de tractations encore en cours, de conflits probables aux prud'hommes.

Dès le mois d'octobre 2008, le sort de SkyRecon est scellé. L'ensemble des collaborateurs de l'éditeur a beau se mobiliser contre le départ forcé des dirigeants, il est acté en décembre 2008. Le navire perd alors son gouvernail. Deux mois durant, la Direction Générale de l'éditeur est assurée par l'ancien Directeur Financier et Secrétaire Général de SkyRecon, Jean-Paul Dupinay. Le bilan ? "Deux mois de folklore avec quelqu'un qui ne connaissait rien au monde du logiciel" selon une source interne. Un trimestre durant lequel les objectifs sont très faibles. Certes l'équipe R&D continue son travail, menée par Yann Torrent. Mais le moral de l'équipe commerciale est bas. Il faudra attendre l'arrivée de Patrick Prajs comme président du Directoire, fort d'un background conséquent dans la direction d'entreprise et commerciale, pour que l'éditeur retrouve un chef, et un cap.

Quel est il ? "Recentrage de ses activités sur le marché européen et sur le marché français" m'explique Patrick Prajs début octobre. Soit… C'est bien tout l'objet de ma déception. Je désespère de suivre un jour un acteur français de la sécurité à la notoriété mondiale. L'ambition affichée des dirigeants de SkyRecon à l'été 2008 était séduisante. Etait-elle démesurée ? C'est ce qu'on peut m'opposer. Pourtant, pour ne citer qu'eux, le russe Kaspersky, ou l'israélien Check Point Software, sont des exemples de réussite

Je persiste à penser que SkyRecon bénéficiait d'une expertise dans l'analyse comportementale au niveau du endpoint qui n'avait pas à rougir de la comparaison avec un Symantec ou un McAfee. Et dans le domaine du logiciel, les opportunités de développement sont nécessairement mondiales. Le marché américain a l'avantage d'être bien plus ouvert  aux nouveaux entrants que d'autres, dès lors qu'ils présentent une technologie de qualité, pertinente.

Il est louable de souhaiter se développer en France et en Europe, de s'implanter fortement d'abord dans ces territoires. Telle est la stratégie d'Arkoon. Cependant, je suis persuadé que cette fusion avec Arkoon sonne le glas des ambitions internationales de SkyRecon, qui désormais n'aura jamais une notoriété mondiale.

L'acquisition de SkyRecon par Arkoon profite surtout à ce dernier, société franco-française cotée, qui diversifie ainsi son offre. Présent sur le marché saturé de l'appliance d'infrastructure, Arkoon n'a de choix, pour assurer sa croissance, que de diversifier son offre, et d'étendre sa présence géographique. La croissance doit être organique car le marché français ne connait pas les conditions qui permettent à une société de sécurité de lever plusieurs dizaines de millions d'euros, comme c'est le cas aux Etats-Unis.

Thierry Rouquet, PDG d'Arkoon, le reconnaissait bien volontiers dès 2004 en me confiant: "Il n'y a pas en France de sortie par le haut - telle que le Nasdaq - qui favoriserait les grosses levées". Pour autant, ces sociétés persistent à voir leur expansion se limiter à quelques pays européens. SkyRecon voyait plus loin. Le pari était certainement risqué. Dommage qu'il n'ait même pas été tenu.

Software Top 100

Top 100 list – Highlights - News

#	Company	Software Revenues mln US$	Software Revenue growth	Total Revenues mln US$	Software Revenue share	Company Details

1	Microsoft	49453	10%	61900	80%
2	IBM	22089	11%	103630	21%
3	Oracle	17560	17%	22102	79%
4	SAP	11604	8%	16111	72%
5	Nintendo	7245	113%	19886	36%
6	HP	6243	6%	117837	5%
7	Symantec	5692	8%	6152	93%
8	Activision Blizzard	4622	73%	5032	92%
9	Electronic Arts	4268	29%	4268	100%
10	CA	3936	4%	4305	91%
11	Adobe	3361	10%	3544	95%
12	EMC	3171	3%	14876	21%
13	Konami	2083	16%	3318	63%
14	SunGard	2015	17%	5596	36%
15	Cisco	1984	14%	39455	5%
16	Autodesk	1982	1%	2303	86%
17	Dassault	1605	3%	1855	87%
18	BMC	1585	2%	1698	93%
19	Namco Bandai Games	1569	21%	4738	33%
20	Sage	1496	-7%	2244	67%
21	Ubisoft	1486	10%	1486	100%
22	Take 2 Interactive	1452	48%	1452	100%
23	NCR	1431	6%	5315	27%
24	Sega Sammy Holdings	1407	0%	4535	31%
25	Intuit	1383	-3%	2800	49%
26	Sony	1334	16%	87701	2%
27	Synopsys	1200	11%	1341	89%
28	Citrix	1180	11%	1583	75%
29	VMWare	1178	30%	1881	63%
30	Apple	1131	29%	34526	3%
31	SAS Institute	1130	5%	2260	50%
32	Infor	1100	5%	2200	50%
33	Trend Micro	985	16%	985	100%
34	Salesforce.com	959	45%	1049	91%
35	THQ	917	-17%	917	100%
36	Cadence	905	-39%	1039	87%
37	Qualcomm	890	7%	10875	8%
38	Thales Computers	880	-9%	19874	4%
39	Teradata	849	-4%	1762	48%
40	Siemens (UGS)	800	0%	1200	67%
41	McAfee	795	25%	1600	50%
42	Novell	794	16%	1122	71%
43	Software AG	749	13%	1002	75%
44	Reynolds & Reynolds	744	0%	967	77%
45	Compuware	726	-1%	1145	63%
46	Avid	714	-11%	845	85%
47	Wincor Nixdorf	697	0%	3320	21%
48	Check Point	691	10%	809	85%
49	Cegedim Dendrite	690	21%	1180	58%
50	PTC (Parametric)	624	10%	1043	60%
51	Intergraph	606	11%	808	75%
52	Capcom	582	-3%	831	70%
53	Sybase	574	9%	1132	51%
54	Open Text	571	12%	711	80%
55	McKesson	567	1%	105834	1%
56	Square Enix	565	6%	1507	37%
57	Nuance	549	19%	868	63%
58	Philips	532	13%	36675	1%
59	Red Hat	526	22%	631	83%
60	Sterling Commerce	526	16%	634	83%
61	F5	496	21%	662	75%
62	Diebold	469	11%	3170	15%
63	Quest	468	13%	735	64%
64	Progress	465	6%	513	91%
65	Lawson	463	9%	810	57%
66	Mentor Graphics	457	-18%	797	57%
67	Aspect Communications	450	0%	600	75%
68	Real	444	6%	605	73%
69	Misys	444	-24%	974	46%
70	Fair Isaac	405	-17%	722	56%
71	Pitney Bowes	400	16%	6262	6%
72	Tibco	389	7%	635	61%
73	ESRI Pvt	387	0%	773	50%
74	Acxiom Corporation	384	-17%	1327	29%
75	Ansys	372	25%	478	78%
76	Kaspersky Lab	360	177%	360	100%
77	ADC Telecommunications	346	4%	1383	25%
78	Autonomy	335	46%	503	67%
79	Google Inc.	333	455%	21796	2%
80	Bentley	333	11%	500	67%
81	Eclipsys	330	7%	516	64%
82	Unit4 Agresso	326	13%	547	60%
83	Attachmate	313	57%	470	67%
84	ACI	299	6%	418	72%
85	Emblaze	296	53%	591	50%
86	Websense	296	40%	296	100%
87	Wind River	295	10%	357	83%
88	Rockwell Automation	285	14%	5698	5%
89	Blackboard Inc.	283	32%	312	91%
90	Epicor	283	5%	488	58%
91	Informatica	282	14%	456	62%
92	JDA	276	10%	390	71%
93	NCSoft	275	-22%	275	100%
94	National Instruments	274	11%	821	33%
95	SPSS	273	4%	303	90%
96	Omniture	267	102%	296	90%
97	The MathWorks	267	0%	400	67%
98	Trimble	266	9%	1329	20%
99	DST Systems	264	-5%	2285	12%
100	Jack Henry & Associates	263	4%	739	36%

 

Systran lance un service gratuit de traduction en ligne des flux RSS

ITR: Systran annonce la mise ne ligne de son nouveau service de traduction en ligne sur son site  www.systranet.fr qui permet également de traduire les flux RSS des media sociaux.

Le service Systranet permet de traduire du texte et des pages web dans plus de 40 paires de langues, et innove en proposant des fonctionnalités inédites comme la traduction de flux RSS, la traduction interactive (au fur et à mesure de la saisie des mots), la traduction de fichiers bureautiques, la création de dictionnaires personnels pour affiner les traductions et la consultation de dictionnaires bilingues.

Depuis le lancement de la version Bêta le mois dernier, plusieurs milliers de nouveaux utilisateurs se sont inscrits au service gratuit de traduction en ligne Systranet. Ce service est aujourd'hui totalement déployé.

Pour traduire des textes, Systranet guide l'utilisateur en affichant les sens alternatifs des différentes expressions incluses dans les traductions. L'internaute a alors le choix de sélectionner par un bouton radio la meilleure signification. Par cette action, il améliore la qualité de ses traductions et informe aussi Systranet de son choix pour que ses préférences puissent être conservées pour de futures traductions. Systranet apprend automatiquement des comportements de chaque utilisateur et améliore ainsi son système de traduction automatique.

Microsoft seven big bets for 2009

ZDNet. For the past few Februaries, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer makes the trek to Wall Street to provide analysts with an annual “Strategic Update” overview, in which he covers the areas where Microsoft plans to invest and why.

This year, Ballmer was more about circling the wagons than staking out new, far-flung territories Microsoft planned to conquer in the next 10 years. (Here is the list of Ballmer’s strategic bets he outlined in 2007; here’s Ballmer’s  list from 2008.)

During his hour presentation (Webcast), Ballmer outlined seven areas “where we invest serious money.” He told Wall Streeters that Microsoft planned to engage in careful cash management; to maintain “right-size enterprise overhead”; and to put about three percent of its spending into research and incubation projects in the coming year.

Ballmer emphasized that he believed “the economy will be relatively weak for a relatively long period of time” and was adjusting his investment priorities to reflect this fact. Ballmer’s list of seven investment areas for the coming year:

1. Windows — Netbooks are the lone bright spot in the PC market. Microsoft needs to think through how it will handle SKU pricing with Windows 7 for netbooks, Ballmer acknowledged. While business PC sales are “the most impacted” part of the business due to the economy, it’s still where Microsoft is having a lot of success upselling customers and convincing them to “attach” other Microsoft products. Ballmer called out Internet Explorer as an area where the company is losing market to its competitors, specifically Firefox. “Browsers are not commodities,” Ballmer said. “There’s a lot of work we need to do” to gain market share, he acknowledged. (Microsoft is expected to release IE 8 to the Web in March.)

2. Mobile — Windows Mobile operating systems and gaming/Zune entertainment services — not a combined hardware/software platform like the iPhone — is where Microsoft is investing, Ballmer reiterated.

3. Desktop productivity — This is Microsoft’s most profitable business — Office, SharePoint and ERP/CRM products and services — area at present. No Office 14 until 2010, but higher-priced client-access licenses and strong “attach sales” of other Microsoft products are keeping the business strong.

4. Server and tools — Ballmer cited the high percentage of annuity licensing deals as insulating the S&T business a bit from the IT spending slowdown. Ballmer cited new growth areas as its “Online” family of Microsoft-hosted services (like Exchange Online and SharePoint Online); the still-unrealized goal of getting more server customers to attach systems-management software; and new, soon-to-be-released Microsoft wares in the security-management, authentication, conferencing and collaboration space.

5. Enterprise software — This is the segment that includes Microsoft’s SQL Server database and middleware. Oracle is Microsoft’s biggest competitor here and Microsoft’s primary strategy is to take market share by finding a way to beat Oracle’s higher prices and contract lock-ins, Ballmer said.

6. Search and advertising — No new hints about what Microsoft is going to do, other than not throw in the towel. Ballmer talked up Cash Back; new deals with search distributors like Dell and Verizon Wireless; and better search and advertising algorithms as the keys to its strategy. Ballmer said he’d still like to figure out some way for Microsoft and Yahoo to “pool their resources” to take on Google, but pooh-poohed (for the umpteenth time) any talk of an acquisition. He admitted Microsoft still has about 3 to 4 percent of the global search share and that share is “the leading indicator” of progress in this market. “I don’t want to be a Jerry Yang in this market,” Ballmer quipped, referring to Yahoo’s former CEO. I know “how shareholders can get frustrate by leaders who aren’t serious about performance,” Ballmer added.

7. Entertainment and TV — It’s not just about Xbox here, Ballmer told analysts. “The real opportunity is a device next to or in every TV set,” whether that device is a PC, a gaming console, a set-top box, or a new appliance device. Microsoft’s strategy is to bring its gaming, entertainment and other servics to the PC, phone and TV.

In previous years, these Strategic Updates weren’t so much a reiteration of where Microsoft is putting its money today as where it planned to invest over the coming 10 years. It’s clear that the economic downturn is putting a damper on Microsoft’s blue-sky spending plans. Ballmer’s acknowledgment that many investors want Microsoft to get out of search and advertising, was interesting — as was his justification that “once you get out you can’t get back in” for not abandoning the market owned by Google.

Service-now SaaS Mashups & IT Mgmt Integration

Rhett Glauser, 858.345.1408, rhett.glauser@service-now.com, http://twitter.com/rglauser

 
Service-now.com Customers Succeed with SaaS Mashups and Integrations for IT Management

 Dozens of existing integrations help customers quickly get the most out of their IT investments

LAS VEGAS – Pink Elephant 13^th Annual International IT Service Management Conference & Exhibition - Service-now.com, the pioneer of IT service management via SaaS, today announced several dozen available integrations between Service-now.com and common IT management applications. Service-now.com delivers simplified integrations with other software-as-a-service (SaaS) and traditional client / server applications leading to increased interoperability across IT systems.

The University of San Francisco Online Support Service Desk runs on Service-now.com and is available to more than 12,000 students, faculty, staff, alumni and affiliates. "We use Service-now.com for incident, problem, change and configuration management, and we’ve integrated it with our implementations of RightAnswers and LANDesk,” said Jim Uomini, service level manager for the University of San Francisco (USF). “The Service-now.com platform allows us to more quickly implement enhancement requests and we plan to add features we’ve never considered before.”

 

Uomini added, “We’ve experienced significant efficiency improvements and in our first three weeks on Service-now.com, we more than doubled the number of self-service tickets. As users more easily help themselves, our IT operations run more efficiently and we’re able to respond more quickly.”

 

Service-now.com easily integrates with many third-party applications and data sources to populate the Service-now.com configuration management database (CMDB), utilize other IT service management applications, monitor IT services and administer users and single sign-on. Some of the most common customer integrations include:

• Active Directory
• HP Operations Manager
• IBM Tivoli CCMDB and Netcool
• Microsoft System Center
• Nimsoft NimBUS
• RightAnswers Unified Knowledge Suite
• Salesforce.com
• Symantec Altiris
• Numerous competing service desk tools (bi-directional task management) such as BMC Remedy, HP ServiceCenter and HP Service Manager

“Customers using Service-now.com and RightAnswers have found that SaaS mashups for IT management are easy to implement. Together, we combine the best in SaaS for IT service and knowledge management so our customers can efficiently support their users through Web-based technology,” said Simon Yelsky, RightAnswers VP product management and client success.

Service-now.com is built on a service-oriented architecture (SOA) and Web services to make bi-directional data integration naturally available to all data objects. The Service-now.com architecture uses direct and mapped Web services to make integration clean and efficient.

 

Additionally, the Service-now.com platform offers a rich interface for importing data sets from various sources like HTTP, FTP and SCP using file formats like XML, CSV and XLS and industry standard technologies that use SOAP or WSDL. A direct JDBC database connection is also available. Service-now.com forms, lists and reports can be accessed with a simple URL to facilitate UI integration between two or more SaaS or Web applications.

Fred Luddy, Service-now.com CEO, said, “All of our customers have some requirement to integrate Service-now.com with other IT management applications. Our customers can build new applications, tailor workflows and integrate with other systems faster with Service-now.com than with any other IT management product. The future is open systems that communicate across standard protocols and Web services. Service-now.com was built to be integrated.”

Pricing and availability
Service-now.com provides available integrations to customers at no cost and more than three dozen are available now from the Service-now.com wiki. Service-now.com works with customers to develop new integrations as requested.

Knowledge09 user conference  in San Diego, May 4-7, 2009 has created a community of professionals dedicated to solving the challenges of IT service management using modern technology and common-sense best practices.

Service-now.com enterprise IT service management software integrates ITIL v3 processes, software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery, and Web 2.0 functionality to provide a flexible, intuitive and self-managing application. Service-now.com was founded by Fred Luddy, former CTO of Peregrine Systems and Remedy. The company is based in Solana Beach, Calif. and has more than 235 enterprise customers worldwide. For more info, visit www.service-now.com.

LinkedIn keeps growing

LinkedIn founder and CEO Reid Hoffman is shepherding a moneymaking tech company

and expects more growth next year. That is no small achievement. The social-networking site, which lets business professionals create online profiles to network, is adding members faster than ever.

"LinkedIn is the office, Facebook is the barbecue in the backyard, and MySpace is the bar," says Hoffman, referring to the three major social-networking sites battling it out for millions of consumers and billions of dollars in online ads.

"Every individual is a small business or brand," Hoffman says. About 1 million people flock to the network every 2 weeks now, compared with 1 million per month earlier this year. The site has 33 million members from 8 million 2 years ago.

"I use it as a way to network as more people use LinkedIn," says Tim Whitman, a 36-year-old PR specialist in Boston with 335 connections. "It is a great networking tool in today's unstable environment." Hoffman expects good tidings in 2009: "We are poised to drive the company to the next level. Many potential members do not know how LI can help them, week after week."

To reach the unfamiliar, LinkedIn revamped its site. It unfurled a recruiting service for HR departments, a survey application for market research firms and several advertising services. It launched a new search platform, mobile service, company profiles and a redesigned home page. And it served up Spanish and French versions of the site.

LinkedIn's new additions have made it easier for its members to collaborate not just with co-workers but people outside of their jobs, says Jeremiah Owyang, an analyst at Forrester Research.

"LinkedIn hasn't quite figured out how to encourage frequent participation," says Marissa Gluck, analyst at Radar Research. Dave McClure, angel investor in Silicon Valley, thinks LinkedIn can improve its retention of customers. But he says it remains "tops" among social-networking sites in creating revenue because it is the business network of choice.

LinkedIn has not suffered a dip in advertising, which accounts for about 20% of its revenue. The business-contact site has prospered through banner ads from the likes of Porsche and Microsoft; premium subscriptions for members; job postings charged to corporations and small-business owners; and corporate sales to Symantec, MTV and others. USA Today

10 Business Objects lessons for start-ups

 It takes 2 to build a start-up

Because a start-up is a risky business, the founders are always a key element of success. Following the steps of Bill Gates & Paul Allen or Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak, the founders of Business Objects were two young collaborators of Oracle France, Bernard Liautaud (master's degree in engineering from École Centrale -France- and Stanford University), Marketing manager and Denis Payre, Sales manager (degree from ESSEC graduate school of management).  In 1990, when working for Oracle, Bernard & Denis met a French engineer, Jean-michel Cambot, who had pioneered an innovative way to access databases. Oracle turned dow the opportunity to use this technology and the 2 French boys seized the opportunity by licensing this technology, to be called "Business Objects". Starting in a "garage" (a flat in Courbevoie) on August 1st, 1990, they quickly hired Alexandre Dayon, a young engineer from SUPELEC.

Vision is everything

Business Objects technology was fostered by 10 years of R&D but at the latest Shareholders meeting, Bernard Liautaud explained again the importance of the very first idea which triggered the beginning and success of Business Objects: software products which allow non-IT users to access databases.

This vision was also key in convincing Venture Capital funds and new customers, year after year. When the vision is good enough and wide enough, there always is plenty of room for growth!

The IPO is only the beginning

4 years after its inception, Business Objects founders brought the French start-up to the doors of the US stock exchange for high growth companies, the NASDAQ.  Business Objects IPO was impressive enough to make some investors & employees think the stock would always go up. In 1996, Business Objects stock when from $55 to $7 during the first company crisis, due to a hard and painful product transition. Denis Payre, co-founder of Business Objects left the company in troubled times, in 1997. Overcoming this crisis leads to the next lesson...

9 quarters in a row

In order to regain market confidence, Bernard Liautaud is used to saying that you need 9 quarters of growth in a row, because it actually is the time it took for the stock to get back to its initial level. This challenge was also achieved by making two succesfuls moves. First by actually moving to the USA, as Bernard relocated with his family to Business Objects headquarters in San José. Second, by hiring a seasoned CFO, Thomas Weatherford, who was key in making sure that growth predictions and real numbers would fit, 9 quarters in a row...

Go multinational

Business Objects is well know for its trans-national culture and mindset because it was quick to open offices around the world, and by establishing a strong presence in the US. Business Objects management is equally distributed, mostly between French and US citizens.

While it took several years for US operations to take the lead in revenues and growth, this effort is now key in the ability of Business Objects to keep its momentum and increase market share. Business Objects latest subsidiary was opened in Brazil in June 2001.

Pre-sales are key to sell

Everyone understands the importance of sales and marketing people to find and close deals. Of course, many companies have tried to invent new roles (thus the importance of "Business Development" teams today), for instance Apple Computer pioneered the "evangelist" job description.

Business Objects went a step further, being one of the first software companies to put pre-sales people (employees with a IT background and a sales sensibility) at the same level as sales and marketing people. Because pre-sales help actual sales by demoing the product, answering request for information from customers and partners,... Business Objects management enforced their roles and presence year after year.

Pre-sales presence at Business Objects is approximately one for two sales representatives.

Get back to the university?

Headed by Jean-marc Bellot then by Martin Cooke, Business Objects University is the way to go for new hires. Including a one week program for every employee, and an additional two weeks technological course for R&D and pre-sales new hires, Business Objects was clearly ahead other software companies in Europe, even before reaching the 1,000 employees milestone.

Use Stock Options for real, please

In order to motivate employees, Business Objects was one of the first French companies to widely distribute stock options to all employees.

While it is true that employees of public companies spend some time monitoring their stocks through the corporate intranet or WAP phones, stock options are key to retain people and also to make them share common objectives. When the CEO announces quarterly results, employees feel they are part of the game.

Denis Payre founded Croissance Plus (then co-founded Growth Plus) which was instrumental in helping members of the governments and CEOs in Europe to understand why a better fiscal treatment for stock options was a key factor of success for young start-ups.

CEO summit every quarter

Because of its impressive "distributed environment" (more than 25 offices worldwide), Business Objects CEO was not always very present and close to its troops, even in his French homeland. A rendez-vous every 3 months was established through a phone conference, quickly enhanced by a WW powerpoint presentation. While this may seem logical and easy to achieve, start-up entrepreneurs should understand that these sessions were succesful because of their formal and unformal format: while presenting the latest news was the biggest part of the show, distributing awards to select employees worldwide was a key element for employees to attend and react to these sessions.

Bring your employees to Quota Club

Business Objects drew the media attention when a French TV show, "Capital", followed the Business Objects founders from their IPO in New-York to the ... Quota Club in Cancun.  Even if France is the country of "Club Med", the very idea of bringing employees around the world once a year was far from being a common nature of French companies at the time. A sales-driven event,  the Quota Club is a way to thank the "best of the best".