OpenERP (TinyERP)

Modular ERP system very popular in the West. According to the website the daily number of installations about 500. Russian is supported, but transfer is made by OCHEN poor. The system of the help available through WEB - English-speaking. Very detailed interactive management, there are training rollers. Includes about 200 modules, the order of specialized modules is possible. A system is written in the Python language, there are options for Windows and Linux. Current stable release 7. Earlier a system had the name TinyERP.<

Description

OpenERP has about 100 employees and 900 participants in the community. The software is loaded 1000 times a day, and there are more than 500 komyunit of developers (community-developed) of software modules. More than in 40 countries there is a network of partners.

Forgive to SAP we will make you

I want to change the world. I would like … You know how it happens when you are young, big dreams, there is a lot of energy and naive nonsense. My dream was to create the program with open the source code for enterprise management. (Also I wanted the company from 100 employees up to 30 years and the independent company in respect of finance, but I did not manage it for several months).

To feed my motivation, I had to select with whom to fight. In business, as at the playground. When you pass into new school and if quickly you want to become a leader, you should select the hooligan, is more senior than you which terrorizes young children and to hit him in full view of all. It was my strategy, the choice fell on SAP — the enterprises the giant of the software.

So, in 2005 I started TinyERP product development, the software which (at least in mine consciousness) had to change the world of the enterprises. In a set-up time by "day of fight" in 2006, I purchased the domain SorrySAP.com. I parked it, and waited for 6 years, expecting a right moment to use it. I thought, it will take 3 years, but to resist to the company with 77 billion dollars only because opened by the code it so abruptly. Sometimes better for most motivation not to face reality …

But all can occur, I worked hard, very much. I worked 13 hours a day, 7 days a week, without holiday within 7 years. I lost friends and left my girl (but fortunately, I found present my wife for 1 million euros (I will explain later why it costs 1 million euro :).

Three years later, I detected, you cannot change the world if you "tiny". Especially, if the United States are a part of this world where BigERP, but not TinyERP is better to be. May you imagine what small you feel before directors of Danone with his question; ", but why we should pay millions of dollars for the tiny program?" Thus, we renamed TinyERP into OpenERP.

Persistent work began to bear fruit. We developed tens of modules for OpenERP, open source. I could pay salary to all employees for the end of month, without fear (which pursued me within 4 years).

In 2010 at us was 100+ of the staff of the company selling services of support of OpenERP and it was the powerful, but ugly product. It occurs when the customer service delivery distracts you from creation of an exclusive product. Time has come, to change a business model.

Turn

We wanted, to pass from service company to the company which creates program providing. It will allow will give up all our efforts to research and development. As a result we changed our business model and decided to stop provision of services for clients and to focus on creation of a strong partner network and maintenance. It will cost money so I had to get several million euros.

In several months of probing of investors, I received about 10 LOI (intent declaration) from different VC (venture the companies). We selected Sofinnova Partners, the largest European VC, and Xavier Niel the founder of Iliad, the only company from France, for the last 10 years reached assessment in 1 billion euros.

I signed LOI. I not up to the end realized everything, but this agreement could turned me into the bum. (I already had a dog, and everything that I would need to lose it a lot of money to become homeless). Fund raising was based on assessment of the company, but there was no funding mechanism for repeated assessment of the company up to м€9.8 depending on turnover in the next 4 years. I had to receive the order converted into actions if we reach the target turnover designated in the business plan.

At night before obtaining the order before going to the notary, my wife checked contracts. She asked me, concerning taxes on these orders. I called the lawyer and what you think? Belgium, perhaps, the only country in the world where you should pay taxes on orders when you receive them and even if you will never reach conditions of converting them in an action. If I accepted these orders, I would have to pay 12.5%, a tax on м€9.8 therefore the tax of ¼€1.2 would be subject to payment within 18 months! So, my wife costs 1.2 million euros. I would finish the life of the bum if not it, I at that time even had no salary.

We changed the transaction, and I received 3 million euros. It allowed me to make the pumped-over team.

Being the mature company

With this money on our bank account, we increased two departments: R&D (researches and development) and sales. We burned two million euros within 18 months, generally on the salary. The company began to grow even quicker. We developed a partner network from 500 partners in 100 countries of the world, and we began to sign contracts with 6 zero.

Then, everything changed. You know, these tiresome things as human resources management, meetings of the Board of Directors, dealing with big contracts of clients, travel for start of the international subsidiary companies. We really did to a boring thing, such as budget, pits, a meeting etc.

2011 was difficult year. We did not meet our expectations: reached only 70% of the predicted sales budget. Our meetings were intense. Pressed obligations. We were not satisfied by itself. We had a permanent feeling that we passed something. This strange feeling, we do unusual things, but were not proud of ourselves.

But in one day, someone (I do not remember who, my head full of holes) made the diagram of a monthly turnover for the last 2 years. It was as awakening in darkness. Actually, it was not so bad, we increased by the 10th our monthly turnover for about two years! And then we understood that OpenERP is a marathon, but not sprint. In the nature of things height of 100% a year if you can hold a rhythm within several years.

OpenERP monthly turnover

As usual, I had to listen to my wife. She thinks more clearly, than I. Every week I complained her "it not rather well, we should grow quicker what is not enough for us?" and she answered; "But you already the most fast-growing the company in Belgium!". (Deloitte awarded us as the most quickly growing the companies in Belgium from 1549% growth of a goods turnover between 2007 and 2011)

Change of the world

Then, the dream began to become a reality. Here what already occurs, and the world began to change:

• 1.000 installations a day, we became the most set program for enterprise management in the world,
• Analysts from Big 4 began to prefer more OpenERP against SAP,
• OpenERP is an obligatory subject for bachelors in France now as Word, Excel and Powerpoint of 60 new modules are issued every month (we became Wikipedia program providing for management, thanks to our strong community)

Something occurs … And this big!

OpenERP 7.0 will be just about released, and I know that you will be struck with it. The official release is planned for December 21. As predicted the Maya, it is the end of an era, old ERP of dinosaurs. This time to pull out the domain SorrySAP.com which I purchased 6 years ago.

Fabien Pinckaers, Founder of OpenERP