Software Platform Consulting

SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

Sunday’s Business Insider had a great article on, Cargomatic, a company promising (as do many others) to be the “Uber for Truckers” By that, Cargomatic means it will match shippers with goods to ship with truckers with excess capacity. On paper it is a great idea in a huge market: less than truckload (LTL) shipping. As with all B2B SaaS marketplaces, however, the challenge is not the total available market, it is solving the “chicken and the egg” adoption problem

Marketplace as a Service 40

Marketplace as a Service SaaS B2B Technical Review 40

Software Platform Consulting

SEPTEMBER 27, 2016

Early (and Fuzzy) Saas Metrics From B2B Networks. Until a B2B Network catches on, the metrics can be gloomy. (The first few years of the Ariba Network were pretty dismal, for instance.) The result is that for the first few years of a B2B network’s life you tend to see silly press releases from these networks touting their growth in all manner of odd metrics: percentage growth versus growth in absolute numbers (always huge when you start from zero). new partnerships. awards. salespeople h

Metrics 40

Metrics SaaS Payment Solutions Payments 40

Software Platform Consulting

MAY 9, 2017

Established in 1995, Angie’s List was the pioneer in the home services marketplace. Home Advisor (IAC) announced last week it is acquiring Angie’s List (ANGI) for more than $500 million. (This price represents a 44% premium over Angie’s List’s depleted closing stock price (see below)). I am sad to see Angie’s List go.

Business Model 53

Business Model Business Marketplace as a Service Software Review 53

Software Platform Consulting

MAY 16, 2017

I love the word “oligoply” It’s a fancy word for a market structure in which a few companies have the large majority of market share. The recent news reminds me just how many markets are becoming oligopolistic–especially those dominated by platform software. Before We Get to Software… Warren Buffett recently announced that he was buying airline stocks.

Payment Solutions 40

Payment Solutions Payments Software Airlines 40

Software Platform Consulting

JUNE 26, 2018

Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of American Express (Amex) in an antitrust case 11 states had brought against Amex (see here ). If you are interested in two-sided markets, platforms, and pricing you will want to read the Supreme Court’s decision written by Justice Thomas and the dissent written by Justice Breyer (see here ).

Merchant Services 45

Merchant Services Marketing Payment Solutions Payments 45

Software Platform Consulting

MAY 6, 2019

There are many great articles about SaaS metrics on the web (e.g., see here , here and here.) There are also great resources for metrics specific to marketplaces (see here ). But much of my work is with a special kind of network, where one side of the platform is an enterprise buyer (or supplier) and on the other side is their supply base (or customers).

Payments 60

Payments SaaS Payments SaaS Metrics 60

Software Platform Consulting

MAY 8, 2019

Fleetcor (FLT) closed on its acquisition of privately-held nvoicepay on April 1, 2019. Fleetcor’s first quarterly earnings report since the acquisition provides insight into the economics of the B2B payments space. Nvoicepay. Nvoicepay is interesting, in part, because it is a pure-play payments provider. The company takes a payment file from a buyer.

Payments 56

Payments Payment Services Payment Solutions Payment Methods 56

Software Platform Consulting

MAY 14, 2019

Last week I wrote a post about Fleetcor’s acquisition of Nvoicepay. The acquisition represented an opportunity to learn more about the economics of B2B payments. The acquisition also prompted me to review Bottomline’s financial reports. Bottomline owns Paymode-X, the largest B2B payment network in the US. Paymode-X boasts payments of more than $200 billion annually and over 400,000 payees.

Payments 40

Payments Payment Solutions Payment Services B2B 40

Software Platform Consulting

MAY 20, 2019

Fiverr, a marketplace for freelancers just joined the parade of software companies going public. The Fiverr filing sets up a comparison of Fiverr versus Upwork, the grand-daddy of freelancer marketplaces. (Upwork went public last year.) (See here and here ). Upwork Versus Fiverr: A Different Approach to Services. The most basic difference between Upwork versus Fiverr is fascinating.

Marketplace as a Service 40

Marketplace as a Service Software Review SMB Business Model 40

Software Platform Consulting

MAY 22, 2019

A couple of posts ago , I started a series on SaaS metrics unique to enterprise-driven B2B Networks. In that first post, I covered the Buyer-Supplier revenue mix. This time, let’s consider modifying the concept of LTV/CAC to include an enterprise’s ecosystem. Modified LTV/CAC. There’s already too much written about LTV/CAC (see here , here , here ), so I will be brief.

SaaS 53

SaaS B2B Enterprise Metrics 53

Software Platform Consulting

MAY 28, 2019

Source: [link]. This is the third in my series on SaaS Metrics for Enterprise-Driven B2B Networks. I spend very little time on issues of compensation on this blog. But it turns out, this is a really important issue for Enterprise-Driven B2B Networks. As discussed in the prior post , many networks of this type, subsidize one side of the network, to make money from the other side.

SaaS Payments 56

SaaS Payments SaaS Enterprise Metrics 56

Software Platform Consulting

JUNE 3, 2019

Welcome to the last, and most important, in my series of posts on metrics unique to Enterprise-Driven B2B Networks. The last metric, buyers per supplier, is easy to calculate if your platform is architected as a network. (If you did not architect your platform so suppliers have one account for all buyers, shame on you.). Suppliers Per Buyer. Every enterprise-driven B2B network proudly tells you they are great at enabling your enterprise’s suppliers.

SaaS Payments 40

SaaS Payments B2B Enterprise Metrics 40

Software Platform Consulting

JUNE 25, 2019

Change Healthcare is going public (again). The IPO provides another opportunity to examine a massive B2B inter-enterprise network, Change Healthcare’s Intelligent Healthcare Network. I previously wrote about this network when it was called Emdeon ( see here ). It’s a story of how a small EDI player became an impressive company through acquisition and organic growth.

Payments 56

Payments Healthcare Payment Solutions Payment Services 56

Software Platform Consulting

JULY 1, 2019

My last post was partly about healthcare payments in the form of Change Healthcare’s Intelligent Healthcare Network. I did not set out to write another post about healthcare payments, but reading Phreesia’s S-1 compels me to. Phreesia has three “businesses” in one: SaaS applications, payments, and life sciences advertising.

SaaS Payments 40

SaaS Payments Payment Services Merchant Services Payments 40

Software Platform Consulting

AUGUST 5, 2019

Gartner recently published its 2019 Magic Quadrant for Procure-to-Pay Suites. Once again , I have superimposed valuation information onto the Magic Quadrant. (I still don’t understand why Gartner has not varied the size of the “dots” to add more information to the charts. For instance, each vendor’s dot could be sized in proportion to their NPS scores, revenue, or valuation.

Revenue 40

Revenue Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence Metrics 40