The Startup Playbook, 2nd Edition

Chapter 6Vetting Your Vision

In the early 2000s, I (Rajat) had the idea to base a company on a web-based application service for small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs). The idea was to package together all of the software that SMBs would need into one web-based portal. Think Microsoft Office, QuickBooks, contact management/lightweight CRM, and more, all in one spot that people could access via the web. Sounded like a no-brainer back in the early 2000s when there was so much complexity of implementing software.

As we began the process of researching the details, things began to unravel quickly. Not all of the customers wanted the same software. The solutions that we were including had never been hosted in the cloud at scale, not to mention that people barely knew what the cloud was at the time! The software partners we needed didn't have what is now known as SaaS business models, so they felt like we were cannibalizing their revenue and margins. And, back in the early 2000s, most SMBs didn't even use the web or internet for much business use other than email.

While I am sure that if we could have adjusted the vision in a number of ways, we could have potentially built a significant company, the chances for that particular vision working were about zero. So, luckily, we pulled the plug on the idea before we raised money and gave it a shot. We never formally founded the company. It was really tough to let go of the idea after investing so much time into it, but just think what ...