A software founder argues that profit isn't just in the product itself. Map the entire supply chain from platforms to onboarding to ongoing usage, then focus on the touchpoints that create the most customer value. That's where real profitability multiplies.
Find the profit in your supply chain. I think a lot of people who work in technology sort of imagine they're making a piece of software, they give it to the customer, they're now done. But the fact that there's more of a supply chain than that. There always is. There's going to be the platforms that you are hiring for doing your work, your development environments. There's going to be a supply chain within the offer that you have, like the onboarding, their setup, their ongoing use, the UI, the backend. That are all part of a chain that's delivering value to the customer. When you start to break this down, both things that are outside of your organization, but also things that are inside that you might otherwise think of being singular to your product, you can start to understand where the real profit is. And the profit isn't necessarily where there are highest margins. It's going to be where the greatest value is created for the customer. When you really focus in on that, you have an opportunity to substantially multiply then the profit profits of your business because you're focusing in on multiplying that value. So ask, look at the whole supply chain between you and the customer, where's the value?
