So I think that it is fairly obvious that this Kickstarter is not going as planned. I, as a donor, am disappointed in the community. Yet I also understand that there are many reasons that this might be the case. I’ll offer up my opinions:
The Problems I See
Bad Timing
SuiteCRM has only been around for, what, a year? I would guess that most of us have probably not even finished implementation. I myself did not find SuiteCRM until 6 months ago. As an open-source project, it is difficult to ask money of your users when our organizations are not really “dependent” upon it yet.
Management is absolutely on board with SuiteCRM. They love it. Yet, the concept is still unproven and we have only just begun to see the benefits of using an open CRM. You’re going to struggle to get funding until people have actually been using SuiteCRM for some time, after they’ve finished implementation, and when they are READY for new features.
Bad Marketing
This one’s aimed at you guys, SalesAgility. I am not okay with “you guys are the problem” emails and “Fu**ers” t-shirts. It’s unprofessional. I’ve never seen a company publicly complain to their users, ABOUT their users. I’m willing to forgive these oversights because you guys do an amazing job, and I know that managing a project like this is tough. But you really should show some restraint. You’re running a business and you are marketing to business users.
I was actually in the middle of requesting a large Kickstarter donation from my company when I directed the CFO to your website to look at it. Imagine my surprise when the first thing he sees is a gigantic, black image subtly berating SuiteCRM users. That was difficult to explain…
Bad Users
What I mean by this is that there are users who will never pay for SuiteCRM, ever. And they are probably the majority. This is very likely the reason that SugarCRM CE is no more. I, too, would love to see every member of these forums donate $10, but it is an unrealistic goal. So can do we do?
We either embrace these users, and take their help where they will offer it. We use their support on the forums, we merge their code into SuiteCRM, and we make them a part of the community however possible. So what if they can’t donate any money? They were told that they would never have to pay, anyway.
Or, we publicly shame them for not giving us money, which will likely rub them the wrong way. Which seems better to you?
My Recommendations
Be Patient
Users - and their funding - will come in time. CentOS was not profitable, either, until users had some time to adopt it. I want SuiteCRM 8 to happen as much as the next guy, but $200k is a lot of money and none of us have been using your product for more than a year.
Alternate Funding Options
I, for one, have not been able to get my organization to give you a large donation for the reasons mentioned above. Nor have I been able to secure a $200/month subscription for your support services. I do wonder if something like a $50/month support service would be more popular. We pay for dozens of Wordpress plugins with this pricing model - and I NEVER use their support. This price point is more palatable to my organization, and I could easily get that approved.
Hell, at $50/month I wouldn’t even half to ask for approval - I could just pull the trigger.
Another Kickstarter
You should try this again, maybe in another year or two. After you’ve proven to the community that you’re not going anywhere. And after the community has realized that they are so heavily invested in SuiteCRM that they NEED these features.
It would be helpful to market this a little better too. Show us some proof-of-concepts, not just a list of 100 features. Show us some pictures of what “Gantt Chart” might look like. Show us what the new UI might look like. Show us what we are going to pay for, because it is difficult to get excited about a list of 100 features without understanding exactly how you intend to implement them.
I’ll also say that I think your Kickstarter “goals” were a little strangely implemented. Perhaps a better way would have been to set the overall amount much lower, and offer a bunch of “stretch” goals. Like this:
SuiteCRM 8 @ $50k (At this point, the project is funded and will be developed no matter what. Only the most important ‘core’ features are included here.)
Bonus Features 1 @ $75k (At this point, you will get gantt charts, a new email client, and so on…)
Bonus Features 2 @ $90k (At this point, you will get x, y, and z)
Bonus Features 3 @ $110k (etc, etc, etc…)
Finally, I want to say THANK YOU!
Truly. Because of SuiteCRM, I just got a raise! Management is loving the potential and I am loving the product. I really think that SalesAgility is going out on a limb for us with SuiteCRM, and I fully intend to help my company grow with your product. I also intend to support you, where possible. Personally, I donated to the Kickstarter because I want to see you succeed.
But it is up to us, the users, to help it grow. Whether by supporting users on the forums, or getting our companies to spend some cash - it is our responsibility to not just be “moochers”. And so I challenge each and every one of you to be working on ways to support these guys. I will post back when - NOT IF - I can convince management to get a subscription.
In the meantime, keep doing what you guys do best. I want SuiteCRM to be the “be all, end all” of CRM’s - not just another dead open-source project that could never develop a community. Fortunately, SalesAgility, at 17,000 users - you have a good start. Give it some time, and I think you’ll find that in a few years from now, the community will be much different from what it is today.