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income does not cut the mustard

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    income does not cut the mustard

    You should all know, I do not work for alpha by now.

    Even if the numbers below are wrong and the real numbers are (say) 50% higher, it is still not a lot.

    If the printed numbers I have are correct, alpha needs to sell more and get more for it than they have in the past. I now believe they are not trying to bust us real hard, just make a little money. If the reported sales are at 5m and with 47 employees, that equals about 106,000 per employee. It costs over 45000 per year for a low paid employee to sit at a desk for 5 days a week in a year. You still have to pay everybody a salary/commission. Then there is insurance, matching fica, rent, lights, water, phones, advertising, etc and etc.


    Point is: This is not a lot of money.

    if you do a little math and say the averaged 750.00 per customer in the year , That would equate to 670,000 customers(or there about).

    If co chairmen take 250k a year each and the president takes 200k(these numbers are small), it is not enough for such an enterprise.

    Bottom Line is: They must love what they do!

    Scott Pardi, General Manager

    Other

    Jeff Kalwerisky, Chief Security Evangelist

    Martin McSweeney, Head of Business Development Efforts-UK

    Selwyn Rabins, Co-Chairman

    Richard Rabins, Co-Chairman of the Board

    Joseph Alsop, Director

    Director(s)

    Dave McCormick, Director of Communications

    Clifton Rabins, Director of Sniff Testing

    Vice President(s)

    Jim Dusoe, Vice President of Development

    Lenny Forziati, Vice President of Internet PRODUCTS and Technical Services

    Partner(s)

    Theresa Johnston, Partner
    Last edited by DaveM; 05-02-2013, 11:45 PM.
    Dave Mason
    [email protected]
    Skype is dave.mason46

    #2
    Re: income does not cut the mustard

    Are Chief Security Evangelist and Director of Sniff Testing real jobs?
    Robin

    Discernment is not needed in things that differ, but in those things that appear to be the same. - Miles Sanford

    Comment


      #3
      Re: income does not cut the mustard

      Hi Robin,

      I would think Alpha would know. I sure don't.
      Dave Mason
      [email protected]
      Skype is dave.mason46

      Comment


        #4
        Re: income does not cut the mustard

        Not sure about the Security Evangelist, but the Director of Sniff Testing is "for real"

        Clifton Rabins
        Cheers!
        Lyle Chamney
        http://www.2ninerniner2.com/
        Websites rebuilt with WordPress
        http://goodcheapfastwebsites.com/
        Complete, ready to install WordPress websites
        http://snifflevalve.com
        WordPress training and tutorials

        Comment


          #5
          Re: income does not cut the mustard

          According to LinkedIn, Kalwerisky is still contributing to Alpha but not on staff. Recently helped with mobile security.
          Steve Wood
          See my profile on IADN

          Comment


            #6
            Re: income does not cut the mustard

            I just happened to run across this online searching for something else and thought it interesting.

            In reality, the numbers I found may not be any indication of anything. The people may have changed out and into the company.

            I have had others tell me these numbers were high in many areas including true revenue and people employed. I don't know and none of my business.

            Just fun to play while waiting to find out what the future holds.
            Dave Mason
            [email protected]
            Skype is dave.mason46

            Comment


              #7
              Re: income does not cut the mustard

              If I were the co-chairmen and only earned $250k a year, I would do something else.

              bob
              Bob Alston
              -------------------------------------------------------------------
              http://webpages.charter.net/bobalston/bob1.htm
              Alpha five v11 Tips

              Comment


                #8
                Re: income does not cut the mustard

                Actually, if they earned $750.00 per customer and $5m revenue per year, that would equate to approx. 6,667 customers. I can't imagine that A5 has such a small customer base, but maybe so.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: income does not cut the mustard

                  Originally posted by bobalston View Post
                  If I were the co-chairmen and only earned $250k a year, I would do something else.

                  bob
                  I agree
                  Dave Mason
                  [email protected]
                  Skype is dave.mason46

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: income does not cut the mustard

                    I suspect that the active subscriber developer customer base is more like 3,500 as quite a few of the bigger clients will have multiple subscription developer licenses and also a significant chunk of that $5m would be revenue from deployment licenses.
                    As for the ad-hoc / hobbyist / occasional use developers, I suspect there are many thousands out there, periodically upgrading to the latest 'a la cart' option. It would be interesting to know if Alpha counts runtime users as customers in general marketing terms.
                    I agree that the turnover if accurate is not particularly earth shattering and would explain a lot about what has recently gone before with regard to proposed subscription pricing levels and what seems like a new lock-in loyalty approach by Alpha.
                    If these figures are accurate then financially, Alpha may possibly be existing between a rock and a hard place at the moment.
                    Personally, I don't like the lock in approach, but would not be put off paying $100 per month as a subscription if that included all updates, bug fixes and some decent documentation and basic training materials. I would happily pay for web server licenses as and when needed over and above the subscription, also desktop deployment licenses as and when needed (subject to a transformation of the product into a true RIA tool). I would also pay to attend classroom and/or web based training events geared to the more niche aspects of the toolset.
                    I truly believe that Alpha should be adopting these sorts of revenue garnering tactics and concentrate more effort on telling the world about their product, after all, it is the best set of tools out there and more customers would help to ease the cost burden for the existing base and of course pay for the vacations the Rabins so obviously need.
                    They should be working on the business not in the business. To me anyway, they come across as possibly too involved in all areas, maybe delegation is not their forte.

                    Any way, just my thoughts :)

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: income does not cut the mustard

                      Eloquently opined by John - a member of the Alpha 'linked in' forum:

                      Frank ****** � The angle here is that Alpha is a truly unique product not to be compared with other tools that only generate/create standard html,php or whatever code: if you consider the cost & time to develop a solution with those tools & compare that to the competitive advantage you & your customer have by using Alpha then the cost of the server license is nothing but a minor detail. Think of mobile for example: with the upcoming V12 I think that for many customers Alpha will simply be the difference between being able to afford a mobile application or not and again the cost of the server license will be nothing but a detail...
                      3 days ago

                      John **** � Frank, I have to say I couldn�t disagree more. Alpha is certainly a unique product with unique attributes. I like Alpha a lot and do think its special. But the bottom line is it�s a solution, a good solution, to create database backend web application. It�s a common mistake (more so than even the free lunch idea) that a product team thinks that their solution is so special that the rules of the eco system don�t apply. That thinking is a good way for Alpha to stay in it�s relatively small nitch. I believe Alpha could be at an inflection point with their web solution where they could break out, but not if they think they are so unique that the rules don�t apply. Developers looking at tools will compare. Alpha apparently knows this and pushes for as many magazine reviews and compares as possible.

                      An important point that shouldn�t be lost is that I�m not suggesting any kind of price cut. They should keep charging developers for a subscription. By giving it more universal appeal to run ANYWHERE (where have I heard that before) with out additional licensing complexity they will compare much better and sell many many more solutions. Charge what the market will bear for the solution (creation) just make that solution more valuable with simple, universal, implementation and Alpha will make more money. There are a lot of developers here in the valley that will pay handsomely for good tools but if they feel they are going to be impeded with implementing their solutions they will look elsewhere. The mindset is not too unlike DRM in music. One could argue that $0.99/song is a minor detail, but for some it wasn�t, but more importantly the lack of flexibility and control sent people elsewhere.

                      Frank, I do appreciate the technical suggestions, thanks! It�s also been fun bantering this around. But, while it can be fun to argue points for which I have no real input or control, or detailed data, I�m signing off on this topic now. Cheers.

                      Food for thought

                      Comment

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