Thursday, February 12, 2009

On Technology for startups. Idea vs tech!

Last night a friend messaged over IM that Microsoft had selected him for some entrepreneurship sponsorship. He wanted my thoughts on a lot of freebies that came with the package. Excited as hell I replied 'ok. kinda busy tho'. Don't want him to know how excited we are, do we? :)

So I headed over to the page... Microsoft Startup Zone.

He was shouting 'its free man! all you need to do is pay $100 at the end of 3 years'. Eh? No free lunch. The 'What do I get?' page has the following:

  • All the software included in the Microsoft® Visual Studio® Team System Team Suite (VSTS) with MSDN® Premium subscription
  • Expression® Studio Version 2
  • VSTS Team Foundation Server (standard edition)
  • Production use rights to host a “software as a service” solution (developed during participation in the BizSpark Program, on any platform) over the Internet, with regard to the lastest versions of Microsoft products including:
    • Microsoft Windows Server® (all editions up to and including Enterprise)
    • Microsoft SQL Server® (all editions)
    • Microsoft Office SharePoint® Portal Server
    • Microsoft System Center
    • Microsoft BizTalk® Server
    • Microsoft Dynamics® CRM (coming soon)
  • In addition to the core program offering, BizSpark startups will be eligible for other Microsoft offerings, such as:
    • Microsoft Azure Services Platform
Not bad I thought... as a marketing plan of course. They pull you into their sofwares for free till you build up a considerable switching cost! Smart.
(But Azure would be fun to try out though.)

Anyway what got me thinking was not Microsoft. Rather this: he's got a business idea quite faraway from IT services. Nevertheless IT can help. Why would you need such a suite?

His explanantion 'I need to develop websites and I need a CRM system'. I can't disagree more, I believe that the Relationshiop should come before the Management part.

Bottom line: Build customer relationships, then see what technology can be useful. Don't retro fit your business idea into technology. Technology is dumb and will not get you money. Ideas will.

2 comments:

Harsha said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Harsha said...

well said...perfect! sooner or later you'll end up spending more time deciding whether you should use adobe flex or simple html for your website. You'd rather spend time talking to your customers...if you have defined that someone you are looking for.