You could join a freelancer programmer cooperative to share the risk and tell them that you cooperate with x others.
Asks HN: Solo founders-How to respond when customers ask how big is your company
41–50 of 64 posts
Re: Asks HN: Solo founders-How to respond when customers ask how big is your company
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Side note on escrow - we get asked this from time to time. We respond, we're happy to provide it on certain plans and quote them for it. No one has ever taken us on it. In b2b you never say no, always have an option for what they're asking and charge more for it.
This is the right way. Never say No but also don't just say Yes. A lot of times B2B customers are just doing a checklist and once they hear that it will cost more, they would drop it. I have been asked for escrow by customers paying $299/mo and I laugh internally first and then tell them "For escrow, you will need to be on our enterprise plan starting at $xx,000 per year with a minimum 3 year contract. let me know if…
Out of curiosity, what reason would you give if they asked why escrow requires a more expensive plan?
Re: Asks HN: Solo founders-How to respond when customers ask how big is your company
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the right way. Never say No but also don't just say Yes. A lot of times B2B customers are just doing a checklist and once they hear that it will cost more, they would drop it. I have been asked for escrow by customers paying $299/mo and I laugh internally first and then tell them "For escrow, you will need to be on our enterprise plan starting at $xx,000 per year with a minimum 3 year contract. let me know if…
Out of curiosity, what reason would you give if they asked why escrow requires a more expensive plan?
Risk, administrative burden.
Re: Asks HN: Solo founders-How to respond when customers ask how big is your company
#44I'm guessing most of the people here who are saying "be truthful" have never started a company. Sometimes you just gotta fudge the numbers a bit and do what needs to be done to get your company off the ground. I've been in your shoes and I recommend saying something like "we are a team of 5".
"I'd love to meet the team!"
Re: Asks HN: Solo founders-How to respond when customers ask how big is your company
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the right way. Never say No but also don't just say Yes. A lot of times B2B customers are just doing a checklist and once they hear that it will cost more, they would drop it. I have been asked for escrow by customers paying $299/mo and I laugh internally first and then tell them "For escrow, you will need to be on our enterprise plan starting at $xx,000 per year with a minimum 3 year contract. let me know if…
Out of curiosity, what reason would you give if they asked why escrow requires a more expensive plan?
Never try to justify your pricing. The moment you go down that rabbit hole, there is no coming back. You will give 1 reason and they will continue to challenge it.
Best way is to just say "It is company policy and I am afraid we cannot work around that. I am happy to discuss alternatives" and go from there.
Re: Asks HN: Solo founders-How to respond when customers ask how big is your company
#46Lie like hell --- and try to turn small into a positive. But truthfully, you really do need at least 2 people as a bare minimum to sell a viable product. Lots of customers will want some assurance that if you die in a car crash on the way home, there is someone left to continue on with.
> Lie like hell --- and try to turn small into a positive. Don't do that. Unless you don't care about your reputation. > But truthfully, you really do need at least 2 people as a bare minimum to sell a viable product. When did this become an immutable law? > Lots of customers will want some assurance that if you die in a car crash on the way home, there is someone left to continue on with. One can also figure out a b…
Place code in escrow
Doesn't help most customers because they lack the expertise to use it. Most people looking to buy software are not in the software development business and don't want to be.
subcontract some of the work
What about the rest of the work?
avoid writing software that only runs when a specific person is constantly tending to it.
If it is a hosted solution, someone needs to tend to paying the bill. If it is not, someone needs to tend to support and make adjustments when needed.
The quick, simple, easy, all purpose answer to this line of questions for a small startup is, "My partner can take care of it".
Re: Asks HN: Solo founders-How to respond when customers ask how big is your company
#47I'm guessing most of the people here who are saying "be truthful" have never started a company. Sometimes you just gotta fudge the numbers a bit and do what needs to be done to get your company off the ground. I've been in your shoes and I recommend saying something like "we are a team of 5".
“We are a small company and don’t discuss employee counts as a matter of policy.”
Re: Asks HN: Solo founders-How to respond when customers ask how big is your company
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Out of curiosity, what reason would you give if they asked why escrow requires a more expensive plan?
Never try to justify your pricing. The moment you go down that rabbit hole, there is no coming back. You will give 1 reason and they will continue to challenge it. Best way is to just say "It is company policy and I am afraid we cannot work around that. I am happy to discuss alternatives" and go from there.
I find that being a solopreneur (or just as CEO of a small startup), it's hard to invoke "company policy". You can say your board won't go for XYZ, but if your customer knows you own most of the company, that wouldn't fly either.
Tips?
Re: Asks HN: Solo founders-How to respond when customers ask how big is your company
#49The question is predicated on the argument that 'small is bad'. As stakeholders in the industry, and active participants in the community, it is our job to try and change any negative perception of small enterprises. We have to show examples of 'small is good', and be truthful.
It's not predicated on that. It's predicated on risk. I've been a buyer of software and the last thing I want to worry about is a guy gets hit by a bus (figuratively) and then I am stuck.
The irony being that the number of employees a company has is a poor proxy for answering that concern.
I think that at most large companies I've worked for (including my current one), there have been projects that had a key employee that would cause the project to screech to a halt if they got hit by a bus.
Re: Asks HN: Solo founders-How to respond when customers ask how big is your company
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
You’re arguing against a straw man. Nobody is claiming another person will improve chances of survival. It will improve chances of a sale
How do multiple people increase the chance of a sale? I was responding to "if you die in a car crash on the way home, there is someone left to continue on with." Which seems pretty clearly attached to survival.
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