Software trends come and go in cycles. Currently we're in the midst of a focus on partners, ecosystems, and the small business market. Yet, that definition of small business is all over the map. Some vendors look at 1000 employees or less. Others size by revenue and say its $500M or less.

Yet, a great conversation this past Thursday morning with Ridgely Evers, the "Father of QuickBooks", set me straight on a market smaller than SMB! Ridgely's new company NetBooks passionately focuses on what they term a "True Small Business" or TSB.

Here are some key characteristics:

• less than 50 employees (typically 2 to 25)
• management by a founder or owner
• lack of "professional" management or capital investments
• profitable and growing organically
• focused on ease of use versus power

Ridgely proceeds to size this market at a conservative 5.1M TSBs in the US.

Based on the conversation, the NetBooks solution targets a very specialized but dynamic TSB niche looking for:

• Easy to use solutions
• High-touch support and deep relationships
• Hosted solutions
• Valued price points

With a full suite that covers production, inventory, compliance, shipping, book keeping, marketing, sales, and CRM, TSB prospects should keep an eye on NetBooks. Vendors competing head to head may want to evaluate whether a hosted model could best shrinkwrap.

(The personal contents in this blog do not reflect the opinions, ideas, thoughts, points of view, and any other potential attribution of my current, past, or future employers.)
Copyrighted 2007 by R Wang. All rights reserved