
Ask Paul: Is "smart" enterprise software interesting? - mattculbreth

======
jsjenkins168
I absolutely think it can be. I think it mainly depends on who you work with
at the enterprise software company. Its exciting to work around smart and
highly motivated people, even if the product is a seemingly "boring" B2B
application to us web hacker types.

Before I started working at my current company all I thought of as "cool" was
startups and cutting-edge B2C web services companies. It really expands your
horizon when you get the chance to work at an awesome enterprise software
company who is solving a real business need..

Business software CAN be cool..

------
mattculbreth
PG: I laughed along with most everyone else at Startup School after your line
about (paraphrasing) "if you're not smart then develop enterprise software,
since it's a sales business, not a technology business."

Good one, and definitely some truth. I've spent a bit of time in this field
and there's certainly the boring factor with some of it.

However--I'm assuming you'd find it interesting if people took a traditional
piece of "enterprise software" (big suites sold to big companies, I guess) and
Web 2.0-ified it.

Any comment there?

~~~
pg
I think there is probably a lot of opportunity for smart little startups to
compete with enterprise software in the way microcomputers competed with
mainframes. Just make something good that everyone can use, and eventually
businesses will realize they can use it too.

~~~
run4yourlives
That's right out of a "disruptive innovation" paper I read recently.

Nice to know the company I'm in with regards to my reading material!

------
cwilbur
The problem with enterprise software (at least as I understand it) is that
it's frequently bespoke data processing software, written in-house -- it's not
the sort of thing that you can do once and sell to multiple clients, it's the
sort of thing that needs to be customized for each client.

I think that it has the potential to be the most interesting software to work
on, because a lot of it is about real things, but because of its bespoke
nature the only way to get at the really interesting bits is to work for the
company that it forms part of the infrastructure for. And once you're in that
situation, you're dependent on (probably very risk-averse) management for
support for doing "smart" things with the software.

------
drop19
Absolutely it is; I spent a long time this year working with a small real
estate company that uses very primitive software and analog techniques to
track very complex business processes. Existing software that would help them
is too cumbersome or requires too much training; they can't afford to hire a
consultant to sort it all out for them.

This is the crux of my YC funding application, so I really hope the answer is
yes!

------
zach
"Enterprise" software is a market distinction, not a functional class of
software, right? Are you asking if the enterprise software market is
interesting if you're somehow smart about it?

~~~
dpapathanasiou
Enterprise software has a bad rap because it's such a jaded business;
decisions almost never get made for the right reasons, and the level of
politics and bs is absurd.

From my own experience: unless you're doing something really special (and even
then it's not guaranteed), it's tough to convince a large firm to license your
product if you're a startup or 2, 3 man firm.

The best way, actually, is through the proverbial "back door", i.e. make
versions available on the web or downloadable, and get a critical mass of
employees within the company to use it.

~~~
elad
I absolutely agree. I used to work for a big enterprise software company, and
it took me a while to get used to the fact that we're selling crappy software
for millions of $ a piece. I think the problem is that large enterprises trust
other large organizations to solve their problems. You can't really get ahead
in a large enterprise and become a manager with a budget to spend on software
solutions unless you have that kind of organizational mindset. You fear change
and fear failure, and so you'd rather spend tons of cash on a crappy solution
from someone "trustworthy" - so they can't blame you if the software you
bought sucks, than on a small startup's product that no one else in your
industry is using. BTW, Crossing the Chasm is a good book on the subject. I
recommend it to anyone considering going into enterprise software.

