In any startup scenario, there are two things you will never have enough of: time and cash - the latter at least until a successful funding round. A great practice for any startup is to practice being lean - it teaches you to be frugal with these two scarce commodities of time and money, so that when money is plenty, it need not be wasted. I have seen the Porsche swapped for the used <<fill your bland brand here>> at the birst of the .COM bubble - all the capital in the world could not save those companies from their burn-rate. The flip-side is to not spend anything, and keep running your business on spreadsheets until that breaks - usually at the time you can least afford that. So, is there a balance between being too frugal, and too lavish with spending cash? Sure - you could decide not to take that swanky harbour view managed office that costs you a fortune - but this blog is not about that. Let's explore how you can get enterprise grade software systems, for a fraction (a tiny fraction) of the cost. The assumption here is that your business should be able to operate with or without a dedicated office. Also, let's assume you are not a certified accountant, but you do want to keep control over your finances (if your target is to fill a shoe-box with receipts and hand that over to a bookkeeper to sort out, then you are probably not reading the right blog - or.... maybe this blog is especially for you - read on and decide for yourself.
What do you really need?
Let's start with listing some really basic stuff. What do you really need to run your business, and what does it cost? Is that cost monthly, yearly, or one off? When you add it up, it goes quickly - Let's make a list now:
- Domain (www.yourcompany.com)
- Website (building, hosting)
- Email (@yourcompany.com)
- Productivity tools (documents, spreadsheets, presentations, collaboration)
- Accounting software (with integration to your bank, and payment gateways)
- Project management and task management software (i.e. managing your Startup work across your teams)
Started adding things up already?
Let's add the following to that list:
- Customer Relationship Management software
- eMail campaign software
- Applications to manage your social brand
- Marketing funnel software
How does the financial picture look now? Have you incorporated the costs of getting the data flowing from one system to the next - either by integration services or manually?
What a smart lean startup does (after reading this SHAMELESS PLUG)
Let's start with what a smart lean startup does not do: it does not exchange efficiency for frugality, or vice versa. A lean startup knows how to create efficiency in their process without breaking the bank - without monthly commitments that they actually cannot afford.
Imagine - A system that has your sales, marketing, and support integrated into a seamless customer experience. Where you and your co-founders and colleagues can collaborate on product and customer experience. Where your finance systems are up to date with the latest bank feeds and customer payments - We are talking ERP functionality here. Imagine that this is available without the ERP complexity. Applications that just work out of the box, or with minimal configuration. Imagine that these applications integrate like LEGO blocks snap together - functional as an independent application, powerful when working together. Imagine just one monthly fee for your email, website, CRM, project management, marketing, accounting, inventory, productivity and collaboration needs. Now take that list you made earlier - what would such system be worth to you? $1000 per user per month? $500?
From a value perspective, you would not be far of the mark - but - it is available to you at a cost of around $45 per employee month (if paid annually, $50 if paid monthly) - No ifs, no buts - that is it. Zoho One is this system, and if you find it difficult to believe, start a free trial today - no commitments, see for yourself.