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Launch HN: Vendr (YC S19) – Buying software so you don’t have to

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Re: Launch HN: Vendr (YC S19) – Buying software so you don’t have to

#21

Post by joe_lind »

Benjammer wrote: post #19

Have you talked to any government agencies about using this for larger, public sector, software procurements? I've worked for a govt software vendor in the law enforcement space for a few years, and it's very difficult to actually sell anything real, because the clients don't understand anything and fall for every single marketing/sales tactic from the big vendors. If there were a technically knowledgable middle-man…

Technology advising as a value-add for less technical buyers definitely sounds like a great opportunity, but it isn't on our roadmap yet. Government contracting and procurement (especially at the federal level) is very complicated, so we've focused initially on high-growth private sector companies.

Thanks a lot for bringing this up! We'll reply back to your comment if our strategy evolves to include this.

Re: Launch HN: Vendr (YC S19) – Buying software so you don’t have to

#25

Post by calto »

gxespino wrote: post #23

Do you negotiate for marketplace apps also? Like Slack apps, Github apps, etc. or is that too small fries for this?

If there is a salesperson involved then definitely. If there is a salesperson and it is a larger transaction, there will typically be an opportunity to save $$. If it's a smaller deal, there may not be a whole lot of room to save $$, but our goal would be to get on the phone and save time.

Re: Launch HN: Vendr (YC S19) – Buying software so you don’t have to

#26

Post by Benjammer »

joe_lind wrote: post #21
Benjammer wrote: post #19

Have you talked to any government agencies about using this for larger, public sector, software procurements? I've worked for a govt software vendor in the law enforcement space for a few years, and it's very difficult to actually sell anything real, because the clients don't understand anything and fall for every single marketing/sales tactic from the big vendors. If there were a technically knowledgable middle-man…

Technology advising as a value-add for less technical buyers definitely sounds like a great opportunity, but it isn't on our roadmap yet. Government contracting and procurement (especially at the federal level) is very complicated, so we've focused initially on high-growth private sector companies. Thanks a lot for bringing this up! We'll reply back to your comment if our strategy evolves to include this.

Thanks for the thoughtful response!

>Government contracting and procurement (especially at the federal level) is very complicated

Tell me about it... ha

I saw your founder Ryan say this in another comment here:

>we are testing non-SaaS purchases. As an example, we recently helped one of our customers save a bunch of money on their SOC 2 audit fees

My company also spends a significant amount of money on SOC2 audit every year. Feels like another synergy point here with public sector procurement and software vendors. You can theoretically help agencies find good software products at the right price-point, coming from certified vendors who you've already helped manage all their certifications and audits in an efficient way.

I know this is all pretty ambitious and not super well-aligned with what you guys are doing right now with private, growth companies, but I'm just spitballing here because this type of thing would have some really interesting effects in the govt software space.

Re: Launch HN: Vendr (YC S19) – Buying software so you don’t have to

#27

Post by erichurkman »

saasbuyer wrote: post #14
eganist wrote: post #13

Nice. Vendor reviews too? Or do you integrate with other vendors who perform said reviews (e.g. Whistic)?

Great idea. We don't do reviews today but are considering integrations like Whistic, G2Crowd, and others. That would help stakeholders get evaluation information before they commit to buying.

I think you can do better than the public review systems that exist today: you can authenticate the buyers, which improves the usefulness of the reviews. Your reviews cannot be stuffed by hyper aggressive sales members posing as fake customers.

And, a step above: you can show how ratings from the same buyer change over time as their price point, scale, and features evolved. (Solve for: would you rather buy a piece of software that makes you happy as hell on day 1 but miserable on day 366, or one that makes you modestly happy on day 1 but blissfully happy on day 366?)

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