A VC« Pining for Kinja | Main | ASP vs. License »
Customer Obsessed Companies
That's what I want to invest in going forward. That's where you can make money. It's going to get harder and harder to build value in core technologies that have broad horizontal markets. The value is going to get created in providing technology-enabled solutions for customers. And if its the customer that matters most, instead of the technology, then I want to invest in customer obsessed companies, not technology obsessed companies.
I was with the CEO of a company that I've invested in today. He is about to close a round of financing and start to invest in people and resources to grow the business. He was asking me where he should focus most of his energy and talent and hiring in the next 6 months. I told him in the customer facing side of the business and in particular account management and customer service which are the "eyes and ears" of the organization and in product management (the "soul" of the organization) to synthesize this feedback into new and better products.
I was reading Ross Mayfield's notes from the Enterprise Software Summit today and he quotes extensively from the panel on "White Spaces in Enterprise Software". While he doesn't give us any insight into new emerging white spaces, he does talk alot about customer obsessed companies. Maybe customer obsessed companies are the white space in enterprise software.
Ross says:
Build your organization around your customers. Only 10% of it is technology, creating efficiencies comes from this focus, the people, business processes and business rules.
and
Why are 80% of CEOs claiming its (the it being customer service) the top priority while only 40% are surveying their customers on a regular basis? Most CEOs visit the customer service center when it opens or closes. The average CSR gets 5 hours management attention per month. 56% of consumers believe good service as the greatest impact on customer loyalty, the largest factor. Good service can make up for product problems and provides differentiation in commodity businesses. 80% of consumers say customer service has a major influence on their impression of a company, 85% would drop a product after a bad experience, 56% have stopped using one. The younger the people the stronger the response. Loyalty, revenue, reputation and market share can be easily taken away.
I like to say the way you start a company is you build something for not a lot of money, sell it to a few brave customers who you then develop deep relationships with, listen to them very closely, follow their lead and improve your product and develop new products around your customers feedback, and soon enough you'll have a good business that will be profitable and loved by its customers. It's not easy to do but that's the model I like best.
Comments (5) | | TrackBack (4)
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451b2c969e200e55022166f8833
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Customer Obsessed Companies:
» Customer-obsessed companies from new dog old trick
Ed Sim's post on Building Your Business Around Customers points to and also expands on a post by Fred Wilson. These are two very good posts for anyone trying to build a business - particularly anyone trying to build a [Read More]
Tracked on Feb 8, 2004 12:35:01 PM
» Ed Sim: Building your business around customers from .Text Blog
[Read More]
Tracked on Mar 5, 2004 10:09:10 PM
» Build Your Business Around Customer [Ed Sim] from Yadong @ iAnywhere Solutions, a Sybase Company
[Read More]
Tracked on Apr 30, 2004 8:46:38 PM
» A VC that gets it from It's the customer, stupid
Fred Wilson, Managing Partner with Flatiron Partners, has a blog and he's got a great entry on how he wants to invest in Customer Obsessed Companies. It's so refreshing to see this, it gives me hope. Ahhhhhh......... [Read More]
Tracked on Jul 5, 2004 9:42:10 PM
Posted February 4, 2004 in Venture Capital and TechnologyComments
This is a subject dear to my heart. Inverting the product philosophy is always good... understanding that technology is just an extension of humanity, not the other way around. Products come from ideas, ideas come from philosophies, philosophies come from character etc.
My attitide is: if all products are just extensions of infomation, then the best products are just extensions of wisdom.
Posted by: hugh macleod | Feb 5, 2004 10:54:13 AM
It's nice to see that CEOs are embracing a customer focus. When looking for ways to evaluate a company's focus on the customer, you may want to read Creating Customer Evangelists.
In Creating Customer Evangelists, authors Ben McConnel and Jackie Huba state that focus groups are outdated and costly. There’s a better way: Customer Plus-Delta--a fast feedback loop between you and your customers--runs circles around other market research methods.
Combine Customer Plus-Delta with Bite-size chunks and you now have a marketing model for creating products. Bite-size chunks are small samples that customers can try before they buy. You can think of a prototype as a bite-size chunk. When you have a prototype, use Customer Plus-Delta and you will end up with an application that users embrace.
Posted by: Steve | Feb 5, 2004 4:04:34 PM
Sorry I didn't post about the white spaces, must have happened when I got up to speak.
One of the most important customers you need to listen to, carefully, is yourself. Sometimes users as developers reveal latent demand.
Posted by: Ross Mayfield | Feb 6, 2004 3:17:14 AM
It's been a long time since I so enjoyed reading posts in the net. Two thumbs up! Port aBuayar: http://www.cosmicbuddha.com/blog/archives/001169.html , Revelations of John
Posted by: Alexander Kolt | Sep 10, 2005 11:20:44 PM
amateur couple amateur gay amateur gratuit amateur libertin amateur nu amateur porno amateur sex amateur sexe amateur video amateur webcam amateur x amateur anal fisting anal anime asiatique nu asiatique bite black anal blacks on blonde webcam gratuit webcam sexe femme black webcam chat cul cul gratuit couple amateur erotique ejac feminine ejac facial defloration coquin blonde salope bondage voyeur gratuit erotique gratuit bukkake cul de femme black teens ejac faciale chatte chatte humide double anal film x amateur free porn movies femme mature femme nu femme erotique femme facile xxx fetichisme femme mure film amateur femme en chaleur femme cochon film sexe femme sex x amateur femme coquin femme mure nu femme sexe fille facile femme nu gratuite film sexe gratuit femme photo hardcore gros penis grosse salope hentai x histoire erotique young porn gros teton gratuit sexe jeune gay video grosse femme grosse bite jeune femme gros sein gros cul gros sexe jeune amatrice hentai jeune chatte jeune femme nue hard sexe jeune lesbienne mangas erotique jeune nu voyeur france mangas sexe jeune vierge mature lesbian mature gratuit lesbienne nu mamie jeune gay masturbation femme lesbienne photo lesbienne gratuit lesbienne gratuite jeune sexe jeune salope lesbienne jeune fille voyeur mature mature sex sex mangas sexy lingerie video coquin video de cul transsexuelle sexe video sexy mature triple penetration video amateur video amateur x sexe vieille sexe mature sexe porno sex xxx teen amateur sexe webcam sex femme video cul gratuit sexe video gratuit teen porn sexe video gratuite sex mature sexe photo mature women photo gratuite sexe photo de cul photo gay gratuite photo de cul gratuite photo amateur mure petite chatte photo salope photo lesbienne mature sexe video hentai video lesbienne photo gay gratuit photo femme video erotique partouze photo cul gratuite photo sexe amateur photo de chatte penetration photo gratuite femme nu photo fille photo xxx portail du sexe photo sein photo sexe gratuit video salope porn porno asiatique photo sexe porno mature porno black sein de france video mature photo sexe gratuite sein salope gratuit photo transsexuelle porno amateur photo voyeur porno sexe poitrine salope salope gratuite video sexe sexe femme video xxx gratuit sexe hard gratuit sexe fr sexe amateur gratuit sex amateur gratuit sexe en direct sexe gratuit photo sexe hard sexe gratuis sexe gratuit sexe feminin sexe amateur sexe gratuit video video sexe gratuit video xxx sein enorme sein gratuit sexe sexe gaulois sex amateur sexe extreme sexe hardcore blague codec divx ad aware antivirus divx a telecharger antivirus en ligne chanson a telecharger codec telecharger carte postale ancienne antivirus gratuit blague humour divx codec carte postale virtuelle blague blonde divx dvd clone cd bitdefender carte postale antivirus a telecharger antivirus gratuit a telecharger emule telecharger gratuit film gratuit a telecharger film porno a telecharger film porno gratuit a telecharger film x a telecharger fond d ecran a telecharger horoscope horoscope cancer divx gratuit edonkey edonkey 2000 emoticone a telecharger emoticone a telecharger gratuit emule france emule gratuit emule telecharger film a telecharger emule film x gratuit a telecharger firewall horoscope taureau horoscope verseau jeu a telecharger jeu pc a telecharger jeux a telecharger jeux a telecharger gratuit jeux a telecharger sur pc jeux de voiture jeux flash a telecharger horoscope capricorne horoscope chinois horoscope du jour horoscope gemeau horoscope gratuit horoscope lion horoscope poisson horoscope sagittaire horoscope scorpion horoscope vierge imesh kazaa msn messenger 7.5 telecharger messenger 7.5 mp3 gratuit telecharger mc afee logiciel gratuit mp3 gratuit msn messenger telecharger kazaa telecharger messenger mp3 telecharger logiciel antivirus msn messenger plus kazaa lite telecharger kazaa lite logiciel architecture mp3 telecharger gratuit msn 7.5 telecharger msn messenger 7.5 messenger msn recette partition guitare nero burning rom partition de musique musique mp3 musique mp3 a telecharger nero 6 norton antivirus 2005 nero express nero norton 2005 musique a telecharger gratuite musique musique a telecharger gratuitement norton musique a telecharger gratuit nero burning musique a telecharger msn telecharger partition gratuite recette minceur recette de salade shareaza telecharger recette gateau chocolat recette punch recette courgette recette gateau recette cocktail sims 2 telecharger recette sangria recette pain recette facile sims 2 telechargement recette paella recette crepe recette de cuisine recette dessert recette de julie recette de confiture recette barbecue telecharger kazaa lite gratuit telecharger emule telecharger les sims gratuitement telecharger kazaa little telecharger kazaa gratuitement telecharger gratuitement msn telecharger kazaa lite telecharger emoticone telecharger emule gratuit telecharger kazaa en francais telecharger gratuitement kazaa telecharger e mule gratuit telecharger gratuitement msn messenger telecharger divx gratuit telecharger les sims 2 telecharger les sims gratuit telecharger jeu flash telecharger kazaa gratuit telecharger gratuitement logiciel telecharger emule gratuitement solution jeu telecharger divx solution jeu video telechargement gratuit de film telecharger clone cd telechargement film x gratuit telechargement logiciel telechargement film divx telecharger antivirus gratuit solution telecharger codec divx telechargement film telecharger chanson skype telechargement film porno gratuit telechargement film porno telecharger acrobat reader telecharger antivirus tablature guitare tablature telecharger mp3 telecharger mp3 gratuitement telecharger msn telecharger msn 7.5 telecharger msn 7.5 francais telecharger msn 8.0 telecharger msn gratuit telecharger msn gratuitement telecharger msn mesenger telecharger msn messenger 7.5 telecharger msn messenger 8.0 telecharger msn messenger plus telecharger msn plus telecharger music mp3 telecharger musique gratuite telecharger logiciel divx telecharger logiciel gratuit telecharger logiciel mp3 gratuit telecharger messenger telecharger messenger 7.5 telecharger winamp telecharger windows messenger telecharger winzip telecharger winzip gratuit telecharger yahoo messenger zone alarm telecharger nero telecharger nero 6 telecharger nero gratuit telecharger nero gratuitement telecharger norton antivirus 2005 telecharger shareaza telecharger shareaza gratuit telecharger shareaza gratuitement telecharger video telecharger video porno gratuit telecharger video sex telecharger video x
Posted by: amateur couple | Nov 30, 2005 7:57:28 AM
Main RSS Feed of All Posts
VC and Technology Posts Only
