Ask HN: What would you do with a profitable software company?

6 points by anon_for_this_1 15 years ago | 2 comments

I have a company that sells a few (old-school desktop/server -- ie, not web-based) software products. The company makes about $700K/year, with just me and one employee.

The products are already quite competitive in their niches, and I have a ton of ideas about improving and making them best in class. Also, not a whole lotta marketing is happening.

There is a few hundred $K in the bank as a cushion (I'm paranoid and low risk -- don't want to lose my house, or ever work for anyone else!)

What should I do? Get VC money so I can grow faster? Borrow from a bank? Risk the cushion and hire? Get a marketing agency involved so I don't have a long term commitment with a marketing employee??

Right now I'm doing it all, and it's working, but slow -- only so many hours in the day.

EDIT: Thanks for the feedback so far. I guess I want to grow the company to 10-20 employees and create a great place to work with a good work-life balance. To me that also means growing the company to $2-3 million/year. Also, I want to create some awesome software that customers will love.

Guess I'm not quite sure how to get to the "next level".

briandoll 15 years ago |

What you've already done has provided you with enough income to make almost any option work. The question really, is what do you really want out of your life?

You could make some key hires, and manage them and the company to become even more profitable. Is that what you want?

You could outsource some key marketing initiatives (buying adwords, competitive analysis, targeted marketing, etc.) and drum up extra business that way. Is that what you want?

You could dive into the products and make them even better, or even more useful to your existing customers (via upgrades or whatever). Is that what you want?

You also could angle for a sale to a larger company, take the money and live whim by whim. Is that what you want?

All of these options will "work", but you live with the consequences of each. Having employees isn't a cakewalk. Increasing your interactions with your customers may not be as pleasant as it initially sounds. Dealing with a new aspect of the business (marketing) may be more frustrating than you'd expect. It's really up to you. What do you want most?

If I were in your shoes, I'd outsource some marketing initiatives. You have good odds that it produces more revenue without the possibility of needing to maintain employees or modify your existing products and business model.

huhtenberg 15 years ago |

I can relate, I am in a similar situation.

It all depends on the niche. For some industries hiring a sales guy with good connections could make the revenue jump n-folds, for others hiring someone to set up an affiliate program would be a better option, for thirds - adding a specific technical feature can spur a viral growth.

But all in all, I would go with a short-term contracts and the cushion. If you want to borrow money, a bank should be the absolute last resort. Should you fail, they will want them back, and some other investors - will not. A marketing agency sounds like an overkill, but, again, depends on the nature of your products.