TSBPro subscription limits and competitors

[fortesque]

Thomas::):confused:
I have a question about whether you will be selling more subscriptions to TSBPro and allowing a new group of individuals or businesses to use TSBPro. The reason I'm asking is because I have a situation where a TSBPro application we built and named (designed for the consumer market) has its title now being used by a firm on one of their own products with far more resources and reach than our small software business has. This firm is in a niche that our business serves. The use of the title of our application may be coincidental but I may be overly generous on that score. Their product however is not the same and it seems to be a compilation of data sheets (which may be static, not dynamic and tied to a database) and is one of a six pack product offering. The six pack while offering some materials we don't is 4x the price of our total package.
I could offer this firm our application (which is far suprerior) or an undated version for them to resell under their brand name. However, if they had access to TSBPro they could easily offer a competetive product and with their marketing clout really put us at a comptetitive disadavantage. I may be paranoid and barking up a dead tree but given what's happened to date with similar title and idea to existing product I'm interested in knowing if more TSBPro subscriptions will be available for a competitor to acquire and use.
I realize we can't limit competition and sometimes joining "them" is better than "fighting" them.
If this message seems like a "conspiracy theory" case I apologize. Just spent a large number of hours working on getting ready for a new set of clinical trials.
Thanks,
John Burns

[Alton]

Well, I am not Thomas, but when I am creating a TSB based product that I really think is going to make me money, I go ahead and purchase a domain name of the same name. Consequently, one of the first things I do when researching an idea for a software, is to search on Google to see what product names are already being used. I don't want to use someone elses product name, and to help secure one for my software, I think buying the domain name helps. This is like time-stamping your idea, name, etc. Don't wait until the software is completely finished and go back to buy the domain name...it may be gone. :eek:

I can then setup a website for the individual software to sell. And, setup a page for it on my generically named home base website for all my software products. This gives you two sites from which to promote your product. And tells the world that this particular product name is yours. :D

[fortesque]

Alton:
I just checked out the domain listings and there are several available. However, having another domain doesn't seem to solve our problem. It may not be solvable in the sense that the other guys have more muscle than we do. Our basic product is one they can't replicate easily unless they do a lot of research and undertake a significant programming effort which I think they are unlikely to do. So, I consider that quite safe. I'm still wondering about offering them our ancillary product (the one they now have a similar name to ours) under their name. If so, what are your thoughts about the sales design? License it to them and collect a per use fee? Or some other approach. We don't have much experience in this end of the marketing, that is reselling or licensing so any ideas are welcome.
Best regards,
John Burns

[TigerSoftware]

Hi John,

Ya worried about competition? Nothing I can do about competition for you since it all comes down to marketing.

I will be selling more subscriptions. You and everyone else wanted more and more enhancements. Well, were do you think the money will come from? For last year it was out of my own pocket since I didn't want to market this version until I got it to this point.

If I did all this work on the product without the intention of selling it I might as well kept it to myself. That way I don't have you and everyone else on this forum as competitors. :)

How would they know about TSB Pro anyway?

I hope you are feeling better my friend.


Thomas

[philkes9]

How can we know or best be notified when TSBPro subscriptions are available again?

There are those of us that have been unfortunate and have never seen the gates open.

[TigerSoftware]

How can we know or best be notified when TSBPro subscriptions are available again?

There are those of us that have been unfortunate and have never seen the gates open.

Hi,

More than likely I will release some more later this year. I am focusing more on TSmaker at the moment in terms of marketing.


The pro version wasn't really released to the public which is why you haven't seen it. :)



Thomas