What are the features of business management?

What is the right distribution channel to sell a new business software?

• My team develops a human-capital management software with lots of dynamic features for effective project-management and collaboration. We target the companies who have lots of projects, tasks and need effective knowledge-management. (For example automobile industry, banking, IT-companies, etc...) 1.) How can we get in touch with these big companies? 2.) What is the right distribution channel to sell a new business software? 3.) How can we get venture capital? 4.) What is the best way for a startup to be successful in b2b sector?

• Answer:

  Fundamentally, this question looks to define your entire business model which is just too much for my short attention span this morning.  The below cover some highlights and are not all encompassing: 1.)  Big companies might not be your best bet - big companies have big procurement and IT departments and very long sales cycles which include POC, Pilot, security testing et al, and, then tend to have their ERP/HR/PM software in place already. Try narrowing your industry focus and targeting smaller more agile customers; and, find the end-users and build a loyal base of users who you can draw on to advocate for you during a sale. 2.) In this case I don't think there is a single channel; your solution could easily be sold direct to the BYO business user or through a VAR.  While there are many pros/cons to a VAR-only model, it could give you the frontline sales boost you're looking for. Beyond traditional VARs, identify boutique consultants and technology integrators who specialize in HRIS/HCM/PPM software and consulting. 3.) You attract investors by having an amazing team able to create a new or innovative solution capable of exploiting a market need.  In lieu of a recognized gap in any given market you create one and sell into it. Capital won't just find you, so treat raising like any other marketing program - who are we targeting; what do we want/need; want will they want/need; how do we communicate our story. Before you go down the road of spending thousands telling others the terms by which you'll accept their money, figure out how much you need and whether you're open to debt/equity based funding.  Find out if you're even fundable before spending too much on legal stuff.  Your local angel groups, angellist etc...are all good ways to start building VC optics. 4.) Don't treat it as B2B. By all means court IT, HR and the PMO, but,   More than ever, you have the ability to influence enterprise buying decisions by addressing the end-user directly. A single user of a lightweight SaaS project management software at my last firm resulted in our selecting it for the entire dev and pmo teams.  Cost of sale for the SaaS company $0.  ARR went from $499 to $8,000.