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In search of organic software

pketh.org

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Re: In search of organic software

#41

Post by jabo »

alar44 wrote: post #40
jabo wrote: post #5

One trait I’ve seen in “non-organic” software is the use of the Enterprise SaaS playbook. Start bottoms up, give away free or low/no margin services, gain adoption, capture the market, then with the pressure to grow, they start moving upmarket, go after 100K+ deals and raise prices, and eventually price out / fire vast chunks of their early adopters. Been personally bit by this a few times, so these days I tend to ve…

That's... just how you run a sustainable business. As you grow, you simply can't support the small guys with their legacy shit and corner cases. Every service business does this. You have to.

I've actually heard the opposite. Once you have a few large enterprise customers who bring in disproportionate amount of your revenue, you end up having to service their bespoke needs and corner cases, at the risk of losing them as customers. So the product ends up inviting a lot of complexity.

Re: In search of organic software

#42

Post by nanomonkey »

hmmdar wrote: post #28
theIntuitionist wrote: post #27

I think “organic” is prob the wrong word. It’s already a rather tortured word, even in just the farming world where it’s legislated. My brother, a small organic farmer with about 5 acres really groaned recently when telling me that hydroponic veggies can be labeled organic. And when I see it on non-far products (like salt, which is a real example that will make any nerd’s hair stand on end), it just feels like intent…

I recently had a similar experience. I purchased a bag of citric acid, and it was boldly labeled as non-GMO and "approved for use with organic food".

That is because most citric acid is made in genetically modified black mold grown on GMO produced corn syrup. Sounds crazy, but it's true, and likely pretty safe. A similar process is used to produce most vitamin C supplements.

Re: In search of organic software

#43

Post by _virtu »

jabo wrote: post #41
alar44 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's... just how you run a sustainable business. As you grow, you simply can't support the small guys with their legacy shit and corner cases. Every service business does this. You have to.

I've actually heard the opposite. Once you have a few large enterprise customers who bring in disproportionate amount of your revenue, you end up having to service their bespoke needs and corner cases, at the risk of losing them as customers. So the product ends up inviting a lot of complexity.

Having worked at a startup that was beholden to a very large client in the space. I too can agree that this is more like what actually happens. The tail wags the dog.

Re: In search of organic software

#45

Post by mro_name »

I watch out for the scale. Has the organisation/corporation any similarity with mine/me?

So e.g. at a farmers market, I don't care about organic in the first place. I can look the vendor in the eye and build trust. If they say organic, nice. They better not spend too much of an effort on certification. That invites cheating. The trust has to be personal. And that is a harsh limit for scaling.

So if I am an individual or small entity, I prefer business with other small entities. If I am a big one, likewise. The latter we see all over the place. The former we should more, too, and rely far less on the megacorps.

Re: In search of organic software

#46

Post by alar44 »

jabo wrote: post #41
alar44 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's... just how you run a sustainable business. As you grow, you simply can't support the small guys with their legacy shit and corner cases. Every service business does this. You have to.

I've actually heard the opposite. Once you have a few large enterprise customers who bring in disproportionate amount of your revenue, you end up having to service their bespoke needs and corner cases, at the risk of losing them as customers. So the product ends up inviting a lot of complexity.

Exactly. You support 5 big ones or die trying to support 100 little ones.
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