Recurring revenue for drupal shops

Recurring Revenue for Drupal Shops

Manuel Pistner

Business Track

That's meManuel Pistner

CEO of Bright SolutionsDrupal since 2007

First time Drupalcon speaker@manuelpistner

Drupal.org/u/manuelbs

What to expect

„Why recurring revenue?“

„How to grow recurring revenue?“

First steps for you to start growing recurring revenue for your Drupal shop

https://www.flickr.com/photos/planeta/9028059107

Good and Bad revenue? You can grow to death

In the end profit counts

How much revenue remains

Say NO to bad revenue!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/light_seeker/6779884645

Project businessis dangerous!

Hard to predict

Hard to scale

Little sustainable company value

Always to many or to few projects!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ericconstantineau/5618576278

Dangerous dependencies

Many developers serve few customers

Few developers serve many customers

Will you survive loosing your most important customer or developer?

Value of your company? Assume all people leave

Value = Revenue - Expenses

Passive recurring revenuemakes your business valuable

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tadarammaradas/5185942886

Passive income

Build a revenue machine

Don't be the revenue machine yourself

Let your team care about growingan marketing your machine

http://www.industrialbrand.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/AEC-website-lead-generating-machine-marketing-automation.jpg

Why unpredictable

?Always unique

Fixed start and end

Big ONE TIME revenue

Big project revenue doesn't allow to predict the future

https://www.flickr.com/photos/light_seeker/6779884645

Why hard to scale?

More projects = More revenueMore projects = More people

Project stops = revenue stopsProject stops = PEOPLE STAY

Scaling project business = stuff up

https://www.flickr.com/photos/26073928@N03/2452304492

Transactional business

modelBig one-time revenue per client

No sustainable revenue

Hard to plan, grow, predict

Start every year from ZERO

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mo_ie_us/5275319814

Recurring business

modelSmaller revenue but recurring

Win customer ONE time, earn for a lifetime

Grow with new customers

Start new year based on last years success

https://rasica.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/printing-money-288.jpg

Care about your own

valuesCare about your own products

Invest in the short term

Benefit in the long term

Build your own product, build sustainable value

https://www.flickr.com/photos/limaoscarjuliet/154567026

Avoid volatility

Plan more reliablyReduce „bad months“

Focus on growth

https://smallimprovementsstartup.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/all-hands_july_2015_public1.jpg

What we wish for

Hold customers with good serviceGrow a sustainable teamPredict revenue for a year

Plan, grow and sleep well

https://smallimprovementsstartup.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/all-hands_july_2015_public1.jpg

ProductizeSolve ONE problem that MANY have

Sell it as a service (SaaS)

Use your cusomter base as innovation pool

(Don't disrespect NDAs)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gerlos/3119891607

ResellHosting

MonitoringUpdate automationPayment gateways

Integration platforms

Add additional value for your clients AND your busuiness

http://www.picserver.org/images/highway/phrases/adding-value.jpg

Strategic maintenance

Sell support contractsSell update SLAs

Sell development retainer

Use projects as a strategic tool to grow recurring revenue

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mourner/3273137788/

How to sell support

Keep the project team availableSell reliable dev time

Sell security update reaction time

Support fee is like an ensurance fee for your customer

Don't close deals as shown in this video :-)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mourner/3273137788/

Cooperate with

customersGreat idea but little money?

Build a product in cooperation

=> Your customer is your first product's customer

Don't be shy, this works great!

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/40/77346889_91ec153c36.jpg

Revenue share

Get paid for product successCover expense in the short term

Recurring revenue in the long term

Will pay off after one or two years

Maintain a distro

Sell supportSell integrated services

Sell as SaaS

Distro to transport and market paid service to niche customers

Panopoly

Many others athttps://www.drupal.org/project/project_distribution

Iterate step by step

Test with a landingpageGet first interested customers

Build, Meassure, Improve your product

Build your product with your customers and learn learn learn

https://www.flickr.com/photos/spidermandragon5/2922128673/

How-to templateStart with small steps

Try to solve your own needsBe open to find real world problems

Cooperate

If you fail, LEARN and fail often to improve using SMALL steps

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Otto_is_going_to_fly.jpg

Deliver more efficient

After finding out what REALLY works, AUTOMATE

Consider making your automation available for others

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Broadcast.svg/2000px-Broadcast.svg.png

Multiple examples - one

processDrop Guard to automate Drupal updates

ERPAL to build business apps fasterbright-guide.de (cooperation)MyFoam.net (cooperation)

DON'T LEAVE your core competency!DONT'T STEAL ideas!

test it ! landingpage ...

cooperatedevelop

improve succeed

Idea to change the world

4 things to take away

Use projects to grow recurring revenueProtect your values (and maintain them)

Use project ideas for innovationCooperate with customers to build products

Start small and improve continuously!

BoF: Support + Maintenance

https://www.flickr.com/photos/amazeelabs/9965814443/in/faves-

38914559@N03/

Right after this session

Topic: Brainstorming on how to buildand operate a support business as Drupalshop with value for both, the customer andthe Drupal shop.

==> Room 128

See you there!

Sprint: Friday

https://www.flickr.com/photos/amazeelabs/9965814443/in/faves-

38914559@N03/

Sprint with the Community on Friday.

We have tasks for every skillset.

Mentors are available for new contributors.

An optional Friday morning workshop for first-time sprinters will help you get set up.

Follow @drupalmentoring.