Why I Love Software As a Service

Six months ago I left my position as CEO of Q Interactive an Interactive Marketing Services company that I helped start ten years ago.  I ran it as a public company for the last five years and we took it private in December 2005.  We had 160 employees and last year reported revenue growth of 78% to $68 million.  Within two weeks of leaving in late July, I started a new company called Viewpoints Network and four weeks later had secured the first round of funding for $4.8 million.  This post is some of the nuts and bolts lessons I have learned about how to take advantage of the numerous new companies who offer their services as a “Software as A Service”.

First a little bit of background.  After having raised $100 million to launch and grow my previous company, I wanted to take a more measured approach this time.  I have come to appreciate and value very lean and efficient businesses that “stick to their knitting” and focus on improving their unique value add.  Therefore, I intended to keep the company very small (less than 15 people) for as long as I could.