Comments on: You will not see us in your accounts http://roman.stanek.org/2009/02/18/you-will-not-see-us-in-your-accounts/ BI, SaaS, travel and everything else... Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:04:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Sean Murphy http://roman.stanek.org/2009/02/18/you-will-not-see-us-in-your-accounts/#comment-292 Sean Murphy Tue, 12 May 2009 14:09:58 +0000 http://roman.stanek.org/?p=332#comment-292 "The best armor is to stay out of range." Italian proverb This is a great post. There is no point in starting out by attacking established competitors where they are strong: "Any sufficiently disruptive technology should be first deployed in a market segment that is seen as secondary or completely irrelevant by the big guys." By definition a disruptive technology embodies a new business model that makes it attractive to a different set of customers than those prized by the established vendors. Great post! “The best armor is to stay out of range.” Italian proverb

This is a great post. There is no point in starting out by attacking established competitors where they are strong:

“Any sufficiently disruptive technology should be first deployed in a market segment that is seen as secondary or completely irrelevant by the big guys.”

By definition a disruptive technology embodies a new business model that makes it attractive to a different set of customers than those prized by the established vendors.

Great post!

]]> By: TE http://roman.stanek.org/2009/02/18/you-will-not-see-us-in-your-accounts/#comment-218 TE Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:03:58 +0000 http://roman.stanek.org/?p=332#comment-218 Alas, Roman the stealth intruder shares his end user positioning with the world. What a refreshing insight, creating value early and often. Alas, Roman the stealth intruder shares his end user positioning with the world. What a refreshing insight, creating value early and often.

]]> By: Nathan Wenzel http://roman.stanek.org/2009/02/18/you-will-not-see-us-in-your-accounts/#comment-217 Nathan Wenzel Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:23:25 +0000 http://roman.stanek.org/?p=332#comment-217 Don't forget the 300 different ways to format a date. Don’t forget the 300 different ways to format a date.

]]> By: Nathan Wenzel http://roman.stanek.org/2009/02/18/you-will-not-see-us-in-your-accounts/#comment-216 Nathan Wenzel Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:41:16 +0000 http://roman.stanek.org/?p=332#comment-216 I've never seen all the pointless topics of debate that slow down progress of sharing information put so succinctly and with such clarity. The debates are reminiscent of some of the conversations at doomed dot-com companies in 2000; lots of boxes checked, lots of dollars spent, but very little actually accomplished. Great post. I’ve never seen all the pointless topics of debate that slow down progress of sharing information put so succinctly and with such clarity. The debates are reminiscent of some of the conversations at doomed dot-com companies in 2000; lots of boxes checked, lots of dollars spent, but very little actually accomplished. Great post.

]]> By: Steve http://roman.stanek.org/2009/02/18/you-will-not-see-us-in-your-accounts/#comment-215 Steve Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:37:58 +0000 http://roman.stanek.org/?p=332#comment-215 Hi Roman - although I don't follow your space, thought it might be useful to point out why we as an analyst firm ask that question. Since our focus is on understanding the adoption trajectory of disruptive technologies, we ask that question for several reasons, actually. The first is for context - since we direct most of our vendor research energies on smaller companies, we want to understand where you fit into the technology landscape. Secondly, it's to assess whether the competitor set a vendor identifies is consistent with technology positioning (if you tell us one thing, but then claim to compete with someone who does something else, that's a red flag and suggests a disconnect between product and marketing). Thirdly, it's to ensure that we aren't missing out on anyone (and potentially, an interesting perspective on an emerging market). Fourthly (?), it's a useful way to begin to extrapolate on the different, sometimes disparate, approaches to solving a problem that will eventually compete for the same dollars. Our experience has shown that if a company has genuinely disruptive technology, it will be a while until large technology vendors 'get it' - it's the period between initial funding and the point when the three-letter vendors actually have a viable product that we are trying to understand and provide some insight. (Of course, that's not all we do). Also, we have a lot of other ways of determining a company's longevity - finding out whether and why customers are happy (or not), iteratively capturing basic growth metrics (with the full expectation that fudging will happen) speaking to partners, investors and competitors and our own assessment and analysis on how well a vendor reacts to market changes and opportunities over time. Hi Roman – although I don’t follow your space, thought it might be useful to point out why we as an analyst firm ask that question. Since our focus is on understanding the adoption trajectory of disruptive technologies, we ask that question for several reasons, actually. The first is for context – since we direct most of our vendor research energies on smaller companies, we want to understand where you fit into the technology landscape. Secondly, it’s to assess whether the competitor set a vendor identifies is consistent with technology positioning (if you tell us one thing, but then claim to compete with someone who does something else, that’s a red flag and suggests a disconnect between product and marketing). Thirdly, it’s to ensure that we aren’t missing out on anyone (and potentially, an interesting perspective on an emerging market). Fourthly (?), it’s a useful way to begin to extrapolate on the different, sometimes disparate, approaches to solving a problem that will eventually compete for the same dollars.

Our experience has shown that if a company has genuinely disruptive technology, it will be a while until large technology vendors ‘get it’ – it’s the period between initial funding and the point when the three-letter vendors actually have a viable product that we are trying to understand and provide some insight. (Of course, that’s not all we do). Also, we have a lot of other ways of determining a company’s longevity – finding out whether and why customers are happy (or not), iteratively capturing basic growth metrics (with the full expectation that fudging will happen) speaking to partners, investors and competitors and our own assessment and analysis on how well a vendor reacts to market changes and opportunities over time.

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