Google’s Halloween Surprise
(Gmail, Google Drive, Reader and a bunch of other services went down (temporarily) in the past 15 minutes. They appear to be coming back, with sporadic disruptions currently.)
Actual Cloud – The One To Chose
I’ve been a part of, or at least a witness to, a huge number of battles about what constitutes the “real cloud.” These battles seem to generally be fought on a Sunday afternoon U.S. time – that kind of suits me fine because it means the Monday mornings in my time zone have enough entertainment [...]
Enterprise software: Beware the loud voices of charlatan thought leaders
Beware of advisors who lack experience and give you bad advice. Never hesitate to ask consultants, analysts, and other thought leaders the tough questions.
A Little Less About Pricing. A Little More About Deal Size. Please.
It’s not that this is rocket science. It isn’t. But if you haven’t lived it, understand that Deal Size is the single most important factor in your SaaS business model. Because it will completely define how you do sales and marketing, and to a just somewhat lesser extent, prioritize feature development and product/engineering.
We’re Still Waiting for a Cloud That Just Works
SaaS entrepreneurs shouldn’t need a TechOps team until they hit $20m in revenue. I’m willing to write a piece of the Series A check to whoever can really fully solve this problem so that TechOps becomes a side issue.
3 Things Companies Do Wrong by Developers, The New King Makers
I’m sitting on the train heading from Seattle to Portland today. I live in Portland, but spend a significant amount of time in the beautiful Emerald City. The time on the train is immensely useful to think about concepts, thoughts, introspect, code and generally be uninterrupted in focus. All the while it makes the 3 plus hour trip productive [...]
GreenQloud and Xeround Launch Cloud Database on 100% Renewable Energy
A year or two ago a minor storm circled around the cloud community after a report was published questioning the environmental impacts of cloud computing. The report was pretty flawed – it omitted to take into account the generally lower per-unit impact of cloud as opposed to traditional IT, but that didn’t stop some hand [...]
The Shifting Sands of SaaS Relationships. Here’s How to Handle It.
I know why Steve Jobs was so very, very mad at Google and Eric Schmidt. Why he pledged to go “thermonuclear”. Why he vowed to spend up to $100 billion dollars (Apple’s cash) to “bury Google”. It couldn’t have been about Android per se. Google bought Android (the company) in 2005, a “software system for [...]
Waiting to play: Overcoming ‘The CIO Paradox’
CIO’s face significant challenges regardless of their skill, experience, and ability. Learn how to align with the business to drive innovation and transformation.
Innovation and inclusion – a matter of space and time
I am not sure anymore on relationship between innovation and inclusion . Need to think through it during the long flight to India tomorrow — Vijay Vijayasankar (@vijayasankarv) October 26, 2012 Vijay Vijasankar and Ethan Jewett dragged me into a conversation on innovation and inclusion. Well of course they didn’t, I butted in as usual [...]
2B or Not 2B
I have worked the majority of my career from various executive suites. As a part of senior management I see many corporate leaders. I am unusual in that much of my early career was not climbing the corporate ladder through successive management ranks. I was an engineer who was happy doing engineering until some unusual [...]
Actually, Cars that Fly and Float May Not Be So Bad
Apple CEO Tim Cook left behind his old metaphor of “fridge and toaster” and is now calling Windows 8 a car that flies and floats, while not exactly doing either function very well. I am not exactly a Win8 fanboy, but there are a few (emphasis on few) things Win8 is doing well: informative tiles [...]
Beware of the Confidence of High Win Rates
The other day I was meeting with the founder of a really cool SaaS start-up. Great logo customers, great early traction, plenty of capital, fun space. This founder pretty much had me until he told me the classic line, “And we win almost every deal.” >> If there’s any sign you aren’t pushing hard [...]
Open Discussions On Open Cloud
As I go from conference to conference, I’m seeing more and more examples of people talking about the “open cloud.” Proponents talk about choice, flexibility and the inherent safety of the open cloud. Opponents, on the other hand, point to fragmentation, immaturity and concerns about anything that is available without
Mambu Aiming to Power a banking Disruption
A recurring theme that I talk about is how traditional sectors, bloated with process and seemingly unable to innovate, are ripe for disruption. Two areas of particular interest are the telecommunications and banking industries. banking in particular is an industry that is heavily protected by regulation. This regulation helps it
