Now we are five

Five years ago TechMarketView launched its research services and won its first orders. Of the first ten customers we won, only one is not still with us having had the misfortune of being acquired by 2e2! It now feels pretty amazing that big companies like Logica (now CGI), Fujitsu and Atos signed up in the first week on nothing more than a promise from Anthony & I. I guess we must have fulfilled that promise as they are all still with us – indeed the relationships are bigger and deeper than they ever were.

Launching any new operation is fraught with risk. According to recent research, 25% of all start-ups fail in the first year and 55% have failed by year 5. So we’ve already done better than the majority! But to have done this in the depths of one of the severest recessions in my lifetime in the UK is perhaps even more noteworthy.

We have around 100 very loyal, paid-for subscribers which include practically all the majors from  Microsoft, HP and BT – UK leaders in their respective Software, IT services and telecomms sectors. And some pretty important HMGovt clients too. We are equally proud of our SMEs – particularly those that have come on board as part of our Little British Battlers programme.

In five years we have added five new streams to the Foundation Service launched on Day One – PublicSectorViews, BusinessProcessViews, ESASViews, InfrastructureViews and, most recently, FinancialServicesViews. We’ve built up a fabulous team of equally fabulous analysts. All leaders in their respective fields.

I guess our flagship is still HotViews and its daily email. Now read by around 20,000 top executives.

Commercially we are now well north of a £1m annual revenues, profitable (something we rather believe in at TMV) and now earning revenues from a variety of sources as well as subscriptions including analyst briefings, sponsorship, our annual TMV dinner, banner advertising and Sponsored Posts – launched today.

Most of all we are proud of our influence. Widely quoted and widely respected.

Not bad for five years. Wonder what the next five years will bring?

Posted by Richard Holway at '15:54'