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HOT TOPICS
- The Startup Velocity Question
- Platform as a Service
- Man and Superman
- Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS)
- The Future: End of Capitalism
- Capitalism 2.0
Concur CEO Steve Singh (Part 9)
As a smaller company, Concur does have to compete in a very deliberate manner with industry stalwarts such as SAP and Oracle. In order to win, they must have a definite comparative advantage. Here I search to understand what Concur believes is their unique advantage. SM: When you compete with SAP, what is your competitive
Concur CEO Steve Singh (Part 8)
SM: Most of the expense reporting is around travel. However, there are other expenses to be incurred, right? SS: That is exactly correct, there are expenses which occur outside of travel. The same solutions can be applied whether it is business travel or taking a client out for lunch. The core point is that as
Concur CEO Steve Singh (Part 7)
Another beneficial attribute of the company was a very specific focus and area of expertise. Maintaining that focus has allowed them to develop into pureplay domain experts, and depth of expertise is always valued. SM: OK, so the focus has been on-demand expense management solutions. That has been the case from 2001 until now, right?
Concur CEO Steve Singh (Part 6)
Dealing with and properly addressing change is a substantial aspect of the success or failure of companies. Shifting to the on-demand model without any other examples to follow was visionary, but if implemented incorrectly could have been devastating as well. SM: How did you change the channel at this point? You shifted to an on-demand
Concur CEO Steve Singh (Part 5)
The stock price of Concur dropped before the dot com bust, but while the rest of the industry was faltering, Concur began to climb. SM: You changed course in 2001. Was that due to the market? SS: The change actually happened in 2000, and it was due to our business strategy transition. The market did
Concur CEO Steve Singh (Part 4)
SM: 1998 you went public with $6M a quarter revenue. What happened after that? SS: The company did well in the public market for a period of time. One of the major changes for us was in April 2000, before the bubble burst. A true story, which gives you some context about us. I was
Concur CEO Steve Singh (Part 3)
SM: What are your pricing guidelines now? SS: We actually don’t share that publicly, but it is not too different than payroll processing costs. The core point is if you look at the paper model, and you go to companies and ask them how much it costs to process an expense report via paper, it
Building the Electronic Arts of Casual Gaming: PlayFirst CEO John Welch (Part 10)
SM: What are some of your key learnings from this journey so far? JW: At my first startup we cut off our consulting business to focus on raising venture capital that never materialized. Cash is king. Build the business that makes you money and keeps the doors open; it can finance your riskier investments. During