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
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
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
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
Concur CEO Steve Singh recently did an interview with me to discuss the development of Concur Technologies (CNQR). Concur helps corporations lower travel and expense processing costs by streamlining the expense reporting process. It is one of the companies I have covered as part of my Enterprise 3.0 series. SM: I would like to trace
If you want to come hang-out with me on August 15th, and kick around the Enterprise 3.0 concepts, register for this MIT Club of Northern California event at Cooley Godward. Also, if you have an exciting Enterprise 3.0 concept, and email me in advance, I will work you into the discussion. If you come, for
Kaustav Bhattacharya sends this open letter: Ten years ago a young gentleman by the name of Shashank Tripathi set out to organize a train journey around India for 200 gifted students to commemorate 50 years of India’s independence and visit the change makers who were defining and shaping India.
SM: What was the market landscape like when you founded the company? Competition? Competitive Positioning? JW: There was no formal publisher in the casual games space prior to PlayFirst’s entry. It was like authors not only writing books with no editor and no research staff but also having to scurry around from bookstore to bookstore