Desirable Attributes for Global Growth

The following is a wish list of the attributes of the perfect company to seek help from A into G.

We recognise your company won't fulfil every criteria, but this guide should highlight for you areas to look at.

By far the most important criteria are

Scalable with low integration requirement and low service requirement: The higher the service based component, such as training implementation etc required the more difficulty it will be to get scale. Whilst it's true these services can contribute revenue ultimately this revenue is less valuable than software license revenue.
Proven, at least 50 users/sites (problems mostly 0 to 25) Experience has shown that the higher the number of users the less technology risk may lay within the product. If your user numbers are less than 50 we would expect to see a high level of customer satisfaction and would want to look more closely at your product during due diligence.
Open platform and tools. Ideally your product will be written in a well known and supported language and proven tool set with an open database. A product developed in C# with an Oracle or SQL database will be more attractive than a Delphi based product with a JET database.
Vertical market preferable to horizontal. Traditionally horizontal products require a broader marketing approach and have a higher inerrant risk and reward. It is a lot easier for A into G to validate vertical markets which typically offer lower risks and rewards.

In-depth vertical industry knowledge by principal. We expect you or a senior member of your team to have proven and in depth experience in your market. You need to have a solid understanding of customer's wants and needs.
Systems in place to provide user support. Processes to a manage support are important to maximise company profitability and ensure your product scales quickly if the market opportunity unfolds quickly.
Internal product development capability. Contracted development resource is acceptable but there will need to be tight process control to secure IP and meet customer expectations.
Core competency on current open tools. If your product is not written in current tools we would at least expect to see a clear migration path and the required skills available within your team to migrate to open tools in the reasonably near future.
Preferably MS SQL- or Oracle-based. The choice of database is extremely important to secure business oriented customers who typically look less at product features and more at the company that stands behind the product.

Large market opportunity. A large opportunity is much more valuable to investors than a small one. Although it may well be more competitive a large growing market supports many vendors. In the US a large market is considered to be one where the revenue is in excess of $100m.
Multiple vendors operating in the market. The existence of competition best validates that a market actually exists. Lack of a proven market is a far bigger problem than competing with other vendors.
One to three dominant vendors. Ultimately over time markets consolidate down to a small number of vendors. Of those the top three have by far the highest value. Businesses that plan to be in the top three positions are much more desirable to investors.
Strategic partners in or around the market. In few cases can a company on its own supply a whole product. To get rapid adoption there must be a complete value chain in the market and relationships must be established (negotiated) with partners to supply the whole product.
Similar vertical markets in many countries. I most cases vertical markets are very similar. People around the world catch the same diseases and by and large the same processes and drugs are used for example, In some cases a government picks up all or part of the tab, in other countries an insurance company does but there are far more similarities than differences and this leads to economy of scale for software providers.

A few good people. First and foremost, good people, willing to listen, determined to succeed and seeking help to get there. The more complete the management team the better; a solid sales capability is highly valued.
Confusion in the marketplace. The biggest competitor is always apathy. Without sudden and compelling pain (a knitting needle in the eye is pain, a headache is not) there is little incentive for customers to buy now. Rapid adoption and pain in the market lead to confusion and opportunity for vendors.
A monster market. A large market with capacity to pay and a willingness to pay now to make pain go away now.
Attractive potential returns. A small share of a big market will be more valuable than a large share of a small market. Positioning before an imminent tornado is best.

Tight focus initially on one product or segment. Every SME in the world is not a target market. Public hospitals in the state of Arizona with more than 300 beds is a target market.
Commitment to high quality and customer satisfaction. Whilst its true that too high a focus on product leads to the epitaph nice guys who finished last there must be a basic fitness for purpose and your product must meet real customer needs.
Customer input valued, e.g., wish lists, user groups. Responsiveness (Within reason) to customer requests is a key determinant for early stage technology businesses
Respected in marketplace by customers, peers and competitors. A business rather than a product and a team of proven people are highly desirable attributes.
Staying power if new market has a high mortality rate. A defendable home base is desirable with an annuity revenue stream that is growing in dollar terms whist declining in percentage of revenue terms is a very healthy sign.