THE 2000 SOFT-LETTER 100.
What a wild and crazy year. Internet IPOs! Linux! The Microsoft
antitrust suit! Mergers! Collapsing share prices, executive churn, and
turnaround turmoil! Software may be turning into a mature . . .
DATA POINTS: THE NEW-SKU RATIO.
[CHART OMITTED]
Measuring the payback from new products can be tricky,
but--according to recent PC Data statistics--there's a surprisingly
consistent tie between new SKU introduction and market . . .
COMMENTARY: CAN LINUX SURVIVE SUCCESS?
Against all odds, a scruffy band of open-source programmers--with
no venture funding, no PR budget, no charismatic CEO--has produced
explosive growth for an obscure Unix derivative. Corporate . . .
HOW TO STRUCTURE A SALES COMP PLAN.
Chuck DeVita has fine-tuned sales compensation plans for a long
list of technology clients, and he's always surprised at how many
companies spend large amounts of money--typically 8%-11% of . . .
CHECKLIST: WEB STORE FEATURES FOR B2B BUYERS.(Internet/Web/Online
Service Information)
Web marketers have finally noticed (surprise) that it's really
tough to make a living by selling to online consumers. In fact, the real
money- makers on the Web have always been "business . . .
NOTES ON THE BENCHMARK CHARTS.(Industry Trend or Event)
Data for this survey is compiled from annual reports, 10-Ks, and
other financial data supplied by public companies that meet the basic
eligibility requirements for our annual Soft-letter 100 . . .
2000 ANNUAL FINANCIAL RATIOS.(Industry Trend or Event)
It pays to be big. That's the basic lesson of our latest
Soft-letter survey of topline financial benchmarks, which this year
shows that the industry's largest public PC software companiesn
(those . . .
DATA POINTS: THE LINUX CONFIDENCE LEVEL.(Product
Information)
Linux fans are everywhere, but the tough question--especially for
commercial software developers--is whether these enthusiasts trust Linux
enough to use it as a platform for serious applications. A . . .
CHECKLIST: HOW TO PITCH A CONFERENCE SPEAKER.(Industry Trend or
Event)
Over the years, we've plowed through literally hundreds of
speaker proposals for conferences and seminars we've helped
organize. Sadly, almost all of these pitches ended up on the cutting
room . . .
BLUEPRINTS FOR GROWTH.(Industry Trend or Event)
As companies grow, the CEO and board of directors often spend a
good deal of time tinkering with the org chart, redefining job titles
and shuffling reporting channels. "A lot of energy goes . . .
THE X-BOX: "THE TRADITIONAL SOFTWARE ROYALTY
MODEL".(Product Development)
Is Microsoft irrelevant? Steve Ballmer posed that quasi-rhetorical
question earlier this month at Esther Dyson's PC Forum, and then
reassured the attendees that the world's largest software . . .
DATA POINTS: COO SALARIES.(Industry Trend or Event)(Brief
Article)
For COOs, bigger companies are where the money is
Company Revenues Base Pay* Incentive* Total*
$1-$2.9 million $93,874 $33,978 $124,726
$3-$9.9 million $115,000 $32,600 . . .
THE ROLE OF THE COO.(Industry Trend or Event)
There isn't much question about what a chief executive officer
does for a living. Defining strategy, making decisions, shaping
products, talking to the public, keeping the bank account full--in . . .
DATA POINTS: OPTION GRANTS BY JOB TITLE.(Industry Trend or
Event)
As part of its annual software industry compensation survey,
PricewaterhouseCoopers recently polled privately-held software companies
on the stock options they give out for 29 different job titles. . . .
SALES TECHNIQUES: "WHY PEOPLE DON'T BUY
THINGS".(Industry Trend or Event)
One of the prime directives of good salesmanship has always been:
"Sell benefits, not features." Harry Washburn and Kim Wallace,
a couple of veteran market researchers, have now added a . . .
HOW TO PROSECUTE PIRATES.(Industry Trend or Event)
International counterfeiting rings and Web auction sites may look
like the hotbeds of software piracy these days, but Peter Beruk points
out that publishers still lose millions of dollars a year . . .
TOUCHPOINTS.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief
Article)
"You guys picked [Company] as a top ten online store. You have
to be joking... Where is their privacy statement? There isn't one.
Where is their returns policy? There isn't one. Where is . . .
DATA POINTS: E-COMMERCE MARKET ESTIMATES.
No Internet business plan is complete without numbers that show the
awesome size of the new company's business opportunity. But how
trustworthy are these numbers? Not very, judging from the lack . . .
FOUR WAYS TO WIN MORE AWARDS.
Is there a secret trick to winning product competitions? Not
really, says Lynne Marcus, a marketing consultant who compiles an annual
directory of high-tech awards events called Marketing With . . .
HOW TO BECOME A POWER PANELIST.
Conferences and trade shows usually dedicate more than half of
their speaking slots to panel discussions, but media trainer Michelle
Bowman points out that few presenters really know how to be . . .
|
|