Re:Ask YC: Ethical Question, possible fraud
by andreyf on Sunday June 29, 2008 @02:11AM
(#231015)
Curious to know, what would you have said in the same situation, would you have said we have 2 customers, one office, couple of customers, you would be third if we are lucky and hey guess what you are going to beta test our product.
No, but how about... "No, we are not a major corporation with millions of customers. This has many effects on how we'll do business with you. For one, it allows us to provide you with the kind of attention and customer service unmatched by our competitors. As one of our first customers, you have a strong influence on how our product lines evolve, what features we implement, and what bugs we fix first. We can also offer you {special service program}, something we will only offer our first {100} customers, to help us evolve our software to address all of your needs. Being a fresh competitor in {this market} also holds our product to a significantly higher standard - the purchases you make from us can't be justified as the 'market default', and so we have to compete on features and quality, such as {specific features and examples of better quality}."
But I'm just a programmer, not a good business person; I'm sure a good business person can make it sound much better.
No, but how about... "No, we are not a major corporation with millions of customers. This has many effects on how we'll do business with you. For one, it allows us to provide you with the kind of attention and customer service unmatched by our competitors. As one of our first customers, you have a strong influence on how our product lines evolve, what features we implement, and what bugs we fix first. We can also offer you {special service program}, something we will only offer our first {100} customers, to help us evolve our software to address all of your needs. Being a fresh competitor in {this market} also holds our product to a significantly higher standard - the purchases you make from us can't be justified as the 'market default', and so we have to compete on features and quality, such as {specific features and examples of better quality}."
But I'm just a programmer, not a good business person; I'm sure a good business person can make it sound much better.