This document discusses the benefits of running an enterprise SaaS company using a cloud-based model. Key advantages include minimizing real estate costs by allowing a distributed workforce, leveraging a global network of talent, and focusing resources on product development and customers rather than facilities. A cloud-based model promotes a results-driven organization with performance-based compensation and an emphasis on customer impact over headcount.
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Running an Enterprise SaaS Company in the Cloud
1. Property of Buzzient, Inc.
Running an Enterprise SaaS
Company in the Cloud
Tim Jones
CEO, Buzzient
tbj@buzzient.com
2. Property of Buzzient, Inc.
The Cloud IS Liberating
Cloud is not just an environment to deploy your product
Cloud can be used to deploy YOUR COMPANY
You’d never imagine building an on premise product in 2013 …so…
Why would you design a company as premise-bound?
Don’t just push your product to the Cloud, push your Company there as
well!
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3. Property of Buzzient, Inc.
What is a Cloud Company?
SaaS product
Distributed development team w/external partners for scale
Distributed sales/service team (“JetBlue Model”)
On-demand back-office infrastructure
Minimizes hard assets via the sharing economy
Leverages a global network of talent
Enables an organically funded company to scale and compete
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4. Property of Buzzient, Inc.
Why move your Company to the Cloud
Real Estate is a luxury, not a necessity
A big expense, but is only utilized ~50% of the time at most
Why can’t ALL hard assets be like AWS, with ability to spin up/down capacity
and where you need it?
Ability to tap into a larger talent pool
Breaks the “Tyranny of high cost locations” in high tech
Especially for Enterprise companies, puts your resources near your
customers
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5. Property of Buzzient, Inc.
Product Strategy
Key element in product development is TRUST; team members have to trust
that everyone will do their part regardless of location
Developing your product with a distributed team isn’t easy , but…
Once the product is GA, you don’t need the team in the same place
Git has moved the scrum meeting to the cloud; AWS, the server room
So, why not let everyone work from home/the mountains/the beach once
your product is deployed?
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6. Property of Buzzient, Inc.
Talent in the Cloud: We are all 1099’s
Everyone a contractor, even senior management
Performance based compensation; no base/or small base salaries
Large upside potential from profit sharing, options and shadow stock
P/L rolls up from each individual person
“Profitability begins with YOU”
Aligns investor/customer goals with the company
Allows for parallel “gigs”
If you’re meeting your objectives, why not play in a band on the side?
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7. Property of Buzzient, Inc.
Development Talent in The Cloud: Destroy
“Tyranny of Location”
Who to Hire
20-something who deployed to Iraq
Ran combat team as a squad
leader
Came back to US, enrolled in top
5 engineering program with 3.8
GPA in MS program
NOT in a major city, so “off the
radar”
Who Not to Hire
20-something who’d never left his
home state
Complains about office chairs and
type of cola in the fridge
3.0 GPA from a top 50 Engineering
program
In a major city, so automatically a
highly sought after development
“ninja”
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8. Property of Buzzient, Inc.
Customer Service in the Cloud
“The JetBlue Model”
Provide the best service, regardless of location and personal profile
Tap into a larger potential workforce
Service doesn’t need to be centralized
Rural, Global, Regional talent enables low cost service and follow-the-sun
The Cloud puts EVERYONE in the service team, there’s no contact center in
another building
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9. Property of Buzzient, Inc.
Enterprise Sales in the Cloud
Enterprise selling requires customer intimacy and knowledge
Only so much can be done over the phone; sub-$100K deals yes, but not $100K+
Customer demand is global; your HQ is probably not near your customers
Result: High T/E cost to visit key accounts
Enterprise Sales offices are more dead real estate => “Glengarry Glen Ross”?
Other than a place to keep the coffee machine…???
Conclusion: Selling should be done over the phone/web/on customer
premises
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10. Property of Buzzient, Inc.
Enterprise Marketing in the Cloud
Inbound Marketing, while not yet proven for $100K deals, gets you in the
door.
The best digital marketers are…well…digital
Not sitting in a CMO’s office, but in a small agency or studio building
Marketing talent is highly fragmented – no one person knows it all
Conclusion: A network of on-demand marketing professionals brings more
to the table than a single dedicated team
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11. Property of Buzzient, Inc.
What do you give up?
Managing real estate, facilities, all the “stuff” which doesn’t add value to
customers
Interrupts driven by service providers and other “payroll expanders”
“Geography = Destiny” behavior
“We must be good ‘cause we’re in Palo Alto!!!”
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12. Property of Buzzient, Inc.
What do you gain from a Cloud Company?
Clear, constant focus on 2 things: Product and Customers
Results-driven organization
Everything is performance based
Agility and Flexibility
“You can sleep in your car but you can’t drive your house”
Emphasis shifts from “Payroll Footprint” to “Customer Imprint”
The ultimate dent you make in the Universe is not the size of your payroll but the
positive impact you have on your customers
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13. Property of Buzzient, Inc.
Running an Enterprise SaaS
Company in the Cloud
Tim Jones
CEO, Buzzient
tbj@buzzient.com