“This is really a Rip Van Winkle story about the rebirth of a proven technology that we’re now making even better! Back in 2007, we were working for a leading manufacturer who was bought out. The new company wasn’t interested in the software tech we developed and had already deployed to about a thousand customers. So it basically went to sleep. We went on with our jobs and other ventures,” said Joe Razum.
Flash forward a decade and suddenly I am asked about that old offering by someone in a totally different industry. So of course, I asked this prospective customer if they would be interested in an update. That was enough spark to pull the team back together. Now, it is like waking up and finding the technology has evolved and it is better than ever!”
Joe’s enthusiasm has been a catalyst behind the awakening of what is now TCO Toolkit, a Software as a Service (SaaS), vendor-neutral total cost of ownership (TCO)/value calculator. The new offering fills a gap in the marketplace to help sourcing leaders determine TCO in a uniform, scalable, and yet customizable way. The original product it evolved from was a Harvard Business Review Best Practice, and Plant Engineering Product of the Year when first introduced and companies clamored for it. Joe is sure the new offering will be even more successful.
That’s because TCO has been identified as the #2 criteria (behind product quality) in strategic sourcing, yet many still use cumbersome methodology, like spreadsheets, to determine this vital component of sourcing success. With its latest updates and cloud-based platform, the easy-to-use TCO Toolkit utilizes a single code for both mobile and PC application.
Joining Joe on this entrepreneurial journey are Sanjay Sharma and Brad Trapp, whose operational, architecture and coding expertise were critical to the rejuvenation of the old platform into its latest version. Each member of the team has slightly different motivations.
“Bringing this live again in a new form and format, with new technology is very exciting for me. That’s what got me onboard. I am inspired by the opportunity to come together again as a team, with our experience from the past and yet taking on the new challenges and requirements, and learning how we can improve.” [Sanjay]
“For me, it’s about the freedom being an entrepreneur brings. I’ve always been very entrepreneurial and while that isn’t a guarantee of success, doing this for ourselves is one of the primary ways to be free to control what I do.” [Brad]
“We were tasked with developing the original product to help us sell at a time when American manufacturers were getting a lot of competition from offshore manufacturers. So it was all about helping us retain and bring back work going elsewhere. It really felt like we were working on something important. It is satisfying to do that again, and the economic potential is nice, too.” [Joe]
TCO Toolkit currently has paid subscription users for its Beta offering, so Joe and the team are feeling good about that economic potential. And they have also received valuable insight from mentors at the Technology Incubator of Rock Hill, SC Launch and 1 Million Cups Charlotte.
This Rip Van Winkle story is proving technology can reawaken a sleeping opportunity!
Biz Beginnings 