Ask HN: Should we create a new product company or keep it under one umbrella?

3 points by abhishekdesai 10 years ago | 4 comments

Need some advice from the HackerNews community.

We are a 12-year old software consulting company. We help startups build software products. And now we are in process of launching our own products.

We have launched a product couple of months back and are in process of launching another one very soon.

I wanted to know if we should have a separate product company to manage these 2 products or should we keep them under the same company as it has a stronger goodwill in the market.

Anybody, who has done this before? Would love to hear pros and cons of both the approaches.

patio11 10 years ago |

A similar thread recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11178940

should we keep them under the same company as it has a stronger goodwill in the market.

It is, candidly, unlikely anyone cares. Software products get the loyalty; the companies backing them are often unknown to the end-user and/or purchaser. This is true even in cases where you would swear blind that it cannot possibly be true. (Not at liberty to discuss specific conversations at ex-clients; suffice it to say that "How is it freaking possible that N% of our users of $FOO are unaware that we make $BAR even when they pay for both?!?" is a thing that has been said.)

abhishekdesai 10 years ago | |

Thank you for suggesting relevant thread and yes what you said makes sense. It is unlikely that users would care about the company, who is backing the product.

brudgers 10 years ago |

My recommendation would be to consult your lawyer, insurance agent, and accountant. Products and services can have very different liability profiles, e.g. in the US.

Good luck.

sharemywin 10 years ago |

If you could send an email to some of your current users and they would try your new product you might keep it as the same company.