Hi everyone, I'll cut straight to the chase. I've been recently facing a dilemma regarding either taking over my family's business or continuing on my own plans.
I am self-taught software engineer. I've been in this field for around 3 years now and the market is pretty rewarding if you know what you are doing, plus putting in the hours. The pay is great (around 3x the base salary, here in Greece) and I love what I am doing. I've been thinking of starting a side-hustle SaaS app for salons, after taking into consideration the CENTS commandments.
On the other side, we own a family business (kitchen furniture & wardrobes manufacturing) which used to employ around 30 people in the past, but after the economic crisis they were all gradually fired. So during the last decade or so, my father solely manages everything (from manufacturing to customer communication, etc.). I also have a fair amount of experience in this field. By applying the correct marketing strategy and focusing on smaller furniture, there a potential to achieve around 40-50k MRR, easily.
So, I am skeptical about all that mechanical equipment being left off, as well as the solid customer base and the existing capital (building, materials), in general. I've come down to combining my knowledge on software plus taking advantage of this economic asset, not just to "continue the business", but completely transform it into something new by providing an innovative and personalized customer experience when buying and using furniture. I am thinking of smart furniture using raspberry PIs in combination with a robust web platform and smartphone app.
Sure, there are other competing companies, but no one is utilizing existing technology as they should. For example, we are the first furniture company in Greece (probably in many other countries, too) to produce high quality, 3d animated videos demonstrating the assembly process of some products. So, the value skew would be the empowering of the average customer to access smart furniture without paying a premium (this would be possible due to the fact that I don't need a team of engineers to make it happen). From there, the possibilities are endless: Humidity sensors, inventory management & online grocery shopping interface, etc.
However, SaaS is an entirely different business and IMHO outcompetes any manufacturing company, because it has a big green check on every single CENTS rule.
Sorry for being too elaborate. Any thoughts on this?
I am self-taught software engineer. I've been in this field for around 3 years now and the market is pretty rewarding if you know what you are doing, plus putting in the hours. The pay is great (around 3x the base salary, here in Greece) and I love what I am doing. I've been thinking of starting a side-hustle SaaS app for salons, after taking into consideration the CENTS commandments.
On the other side, we own a family business (kitchen furniture & wardrobes manufacturing) which used to employ around 30 people in the past, but after the economic crisis they were all gradually fired. So during the last decade or so, my father solely manages everything (from manufacturing to customer communication, etc.). I also have a fair amount of experience in this field. By applying the correct marketing strategy and focusing on smaller furniture, there a potential to achieve around 40-50k MRR, easily.
So, I am skeptical about all that mechanical equipment being left off, as well as the solid customer base and the existing capital (building, materials), in general. I've come down to combining my knowledge on software plus taking advantage of this economic asset, not just to "continue the business", but completely transform it into something new by providing an innovative and personalized customer experience when buying and using furniture. I am thinking of smart furniture using raspberry PIs in combination with a robust web platform and smartphone app.
Sure, there are other competing companies, but no one is utilizing existing technology as they should. For example, we are the first furniture company in Greece (probably in many other countries, too) to produce high quality, 3d animated videos demonstrating the assembly process of some products. So, the value skew would be the empowering of the average customer to access smart furniture without paying a premium (this would be possible due to the fact that I don't need a team of engineers to make it happen). From there, the possibilities are endless: Humidity sensors, inventory management & online grocery shopping interface, etc.
However, SaaS is an entirely different business and IMHO outcompetes any manufacturing company, because it has a big green check on every single CENTS rule.
Sorry for being too elaborate. Any thoughts on this?
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