Most software companies, especially early on, do a good job of listening to their customers. In fact, in newer spaces, a kind of “Silicon Valley Rule” is often adopted. The software company partners with 3 or 4 big customers to build out their custom requirements into a new “standard” product - then hope it’s something you can resell. What next? “Rinse and repeat.”

What makes this model work, at least for some & at least for a time, is that each customer provides enough revenue to make the inevitable customization & introduction of complexity “worth it”.

The downside (and downfall) comes when the company’s flagship product, which once seemed so fresh and exciting, becomes unwieldy and complicated. Customer-driven development, in effect, has driven implementation costs up and ease of use down. In the end you have bloatware - ugly, uninspiring, and, while functionally rich, nearly impossible to use.

At Coupa, we wanted to avoid this trap. Now and into the future we compete and win on simplicity, speed, and affordability. We are throwing out the Silicon Valley Rule of “rinse and repeat”.

There is no other way to achieve our goal of popularizing e-Procurement - and bringing our software’s benefits to thousands of organizations around the world. We remain intensely customer-centric - but recognize the importance of valuing simplicity over endless choice.

It’s a balancing act, and one we are working very hard to get right. Our business model, one where our very affordable pricing ensures no one customer has undue influence over the product, keeps us on the straight and narrow.

-dave