Next year, Subscribe-HR celebrates 10 years in business! For us, the last decade has been a journey of the road less travelled in tech. We've consciously made many choices that were different to the status quo for a tech startup in the SaaS space. Taking the road less travelled has not been without its challenges, however, we know they were the correct choices. They've resulted in Subscribe-HR being one of the only profitable HR Software businesses in the country. We did that by implementing a sustainable business model and built an independent, service and customer-driven business - all without tapping VCs, selling shares, or going public. Many HR Software businesses are built on massive amounts of debt, little to no equity and more often than not, generate zero profit. We're proud to say that we're now ten years strong and our business model is the exact opposite of that. AND. We're also proud to add a bronze medal for Cloud HR Software in the HRD Service Provider Awards 2018 to our cap.
Building a Profitable Business with a Sustainable Business Model
Subscribe-HR is a home grown, Australian made Cloud HR Software business. We're proud to have been the first proper Cloud HR Software to market in Australia. We've watched an avalanche of HR Software businesses join us in the marketplace during the last decade. Many of them hoping to be the next Unicorn, chasing growth at any cost, often with a singular aim of generating a billion dollar exit for the founders. We're living on a finite planet with finite resources that requires us to operate in a sustainable way. However, today's tech business models mean that many organisations run in a manner that is perilously risky and promotes a culture of irresponsible business practices. You don't have to look far to understand the consequences that this lack of responsible operations and a negligent culture has on the community at large. Tune into the Financial Services Royal Commission and those consequences are writ large for all to see.
Building a startup is one of the most challenging and stressful things you can do. Taking on massive amounts of debt and a growth at any cost mindset doesn't just put stress on you, it transfers that stress throughout your business and places on the shoulders (and into the nervous systems) of all your employees. The natural flow on effect is that this stress can also translate all the way through to your customers. That's the very antithesis of what HR Software products are meant to provide for customers. There's great infographic on the 'Think Productive' website that illustrates the impacts of a high stress workplace and how dangerous it is to our health:
- 33% increased risk of stroke.
- 13% increase in heart problems.
- 112% increased risk in acquiring Type 2 Diabetes.
- 2X double the chances of suffering from depression and anxiety problems.
In Japan there's even a word for death by over work: Karoshi.
Not only that, when you're chasing rainbows, or rather Unicorns, dreaming of billion dollar exits and growth at any cost, it means that there is no guarantee that your business will be there in the long run, supporting the customers who rely upon your product to run their business. In the HR space, being able to rely on a stable, reliable, profitable business takes the pressure off everyone. Putting your faith in an HR Software provider (or any provider for that matter) that is buried up to the eyeballs and beyond in debt, probably isn't the smartest business decision. Customers trust their providers to create secure systems with fantastic features, but they also want their HR Software providers to operate as responsibly as they do. After all, everyone in that lifecycle; service provider, customer and employees, should have the interests of the end-user at the top of the priority list.
Reality Check - The Responsible Way to Build Your Business
There's a great article on Startup Grind called 'Don't Build the Next Unicorn – Aim for This Instead,' and it reflects the road less travelled we've taken to get to ten years supporting small to mid-sized businesses in Australia. That article highlights the pitfalls inherent in the current tech obsession with Unicorns. The problem is, many of the so called Unicorns are actually unprofitable (think Uber and Snapchat) despite billion dollar valuations. Snapchat is losing money, Facebook took forever to find its footing, and Uber isn't just losing money its practically haemorrhaging it. Some 'Unicorns' have revenue, but the problem is, revenue isn’t and has never been the yardstick of a successful business. You know what is? Profit.
Unfortunately, profit, in our current landscape, is secondary. That is a scary proposition. Something is rotten in Denmark when the smartest men and women in our generation can attach a billion dollar valuation to a company that doesn’t have a working business model. The investors and the entrepreneurs heading these companies are always chasing the next round of funding. Their only hope is that their runway doesn’t disappear before they crash headlong into their wall of debt because they can't get liftoff.
As outlined in the article, there’s no such thing as a limited runway when you build a business with a sustainable model predicated on profit. Generating profit means you can potentially run your business forever. There ARE startups doing it, but they’re probably not billion dollar companies. Well, except for Atlassian, but they were considered un-fundable until they were already making tens of millions of dollars. There are a group of startup founders who have chosen to take the less glamorous, less travelled route in the tech startup world. Those founders have chosen to build companies the old fashioned way – through a great product or service, and by generating profit. Instead of chasing growth at all costs, such businesses have embraced creative problem solving, collaborating with their customers to meet their needs and generating organic growth. They also seem averse the toxicity and turmoil that comes with chasing growth at all costs.
You probably won't hear about this type of business being featured in TechCrunch as the startup that’s disrupting industry X, Y or Z. These types of startup aren't sexy enough, indebted enough, daredevil enough. Instead, these types of startup are doing something much more important. They’re providing a service their customers need, employing people all over the world, and allowing everyone involved to work and live sustainably.
That's how we've grown to become the most mature and reliable HR Software provider in Australia. We've been here the longest, and we believe our sustainable business model makes us the strongest.
To celebrate ten years in business and our bronze medal, we've got a special offer for ALL NEW customers in 2019. Simply click on the button below to discover more about how to access our special offer!
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