Aaron Levie, the founder of Box and famous as the twitter comedic genius kick-starts the session with eye of the tiger (no I am not kidding, one of the best entrances for how to start a startup) and in this session Aaron will try to convince you to build for the enterprise (or at least make sure you don’t change your mind if you had already planned to build for the enterprise). The session is going to be of three parts:
- Quick background about the Box, just to understand the ecosystem when Box was created.
- Major factors that changed in enterprise software today, that makes it possible to startup.
- Patterns that are ways to recognize and go build a startup by yourself
To begin with Box was conceptualised in 2005 after realising that for some reason it was really hard to share files back then. It was either really expensive or really hard to move data around through corporate companies.
“Always look for the changing technology factors.”
Every market that has a significant change enabling factors was in an environment that is about to change in a very significant way and in the case of Box it was the cloud that was keeping the tech space on its heels. When they started out they were doing really good giving out free orders and having fun. But what they ran into was a common problem that, really, any startup runs into; their product was over serving the customers and under serving the enterprises and they had to any choose anyone path to lead from then.
Looking at the massive Global IT business which is roughly around 3.7 trillion dollar industry, they felt that the force was strong in the Darth Vader route (you’ll understand while checking the video out) and decided to go into the enterprise business. But there was one key factor they had to keep in mind and this is applicable for all startups looking for the enterprise customers.
“Only do enterprise if it could be done differently.”
A lot has changed in the enterprise scenario since then, for instances the need to personally install the software in every computer has been transferred to the cloud and also the cost has been reduced considerably so far. Another important change which would help to sell the enterprise software better is that the change has been from IT led to User led, that is, instead of approaching the IT team to implement a CRM you can move it via the Sales Executive as he is going to be the end user of the software.
“Every industry is changing”
There are only two moments of opportunity where a technology revolution will happen in an enterprise.
- The first is where raw materials change. So cost of computing goes down and they centralize and let people use it on demand.
- The second thing that can change, is the very people that these enterprises have to go after need new experiences at that enterprises product.
So in a world where enterprises are dealing with that kind of change, we are going to need new technology to help them create their business models, how they adapt to this disruption. This is why it’s such an amazing time to even start vertical software companies for industries. Right now every single industry is going through a business model and technology orientated disruption. Means they are going to need technology from start ups to help them work through this.
Looking for new enabling technologies that create a huge gap between How things have been done and How they can be done ? Check out the video !
Wanna know how to be a great founder? Stay tuned to Techstory !
Until then check out our How To Start A Startup Series !
