Bootstrapping Using Services from The Netherlands to a $300M+ Exit: Quintiq and ActiVote Founder Victor Allis (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: What you’re describing is a track that we have called bootstrapping using services. It’s a tried-and-true path in which a lot of entrepreneurs have built companies. We have great regard for this method.

The services work, I understand. The product that you were developing, what was going to be in that product? How well did you understand the product, the requirements, and the positioning? What problem were you going to solve? How well did you understand all that?

Victor Allis: We thought we understood it really well. The reason was that we had implemented custom-made software for a few companies that had similar problems. In the consultancy where I had worked, we had done a few implementations where we started from scratch and built some systems for them. We realized that we can productize this. We can make a generic software package that could serve these different customers. The experience before was very helpful in setting a direction.

Sramana Mitra: So you consulted in that domain. You understood the domain. You had enough understanding of what needed to be in the product to be a product.

Victor Allis: Right.

Sramana Mitra: These services projects that you were taking, did any of that have anything to do with the domain in which you were building the product?

Victor Allis: No.

Sramana Mitra: You had a consulting experience for three years where you understood the problem that you were going to solve. You just needed cash to bridge you through the product-building process.

In some cases, people don’t have the domain knowledge. They’re trying to gather the domain knowledge and understand the problem through these service projects. In this case, we recommend people work within the domain and gather the domain knowledge. So in two years, you have a product. Did you have customers already?

Victor Allis: No. We had one relationship with one of the earlier customers where we had done some implementation for this other company. This other company could no longer service it, so we became the service provider. After two years, I announced to my colleagues that the product was done. We are ready. They said that a lot of things are missing. But if I sell it today and we need a few months to implement what was missing, you can fix those in a few months.

I also told them that although we think we know 100% of what needs to be there, 20% will always be missing. That 20%, we will not know until a customer tells us about it. I remember the date. It was December 17, 1999.

I had a seminar where we had seven potential customers in there. They were very intrigued by our offering. Two of the seven actually became our customers in the next year. We showed them a prototype of a product that impressed them so much that the two of them ended up buying it. We sold the first product on the 10th of March 2000. I know the exact date simply because those are milestones.

This segment is part 2 in the series : Bootstrapping Using Services from The Netherlands to a $300M+ Exit: Quintiq and ActiVote Founder Victor Allis
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