> Do you actually sell features? As in: Is your revenue directly tied to the number of shipped features per year? If so, who pays for the perpetual maintenance?
I have worked for years in different places where the answer is yes, we sell features. This happens any time you are in a competitive deal where customers want software that does certain things and solicit bids from software providers. Your software does some things out of the box and you need to customize or extend it to do other features the customer wants that the system does not yet currently do. You demo what you have, describe how you would do the rest, and do a bid for total cost to the customer. Your competitors do the same. Maintenance can work different ways.
But yes, people pay money for features. And when properly managed, it is possible to make features add up to a product that provides value and earns money.
I have worked for years in different places where the answer is yes, we sell features. This happens any time you are in a competitive deal where customers want software that does certain things and solicit bids from software providers. Your software does some things out of the box and you need to customize or extend it to do other features the customer wants that the system does not yet currently do. You demo what you have, describe how you would do the rest, and do a bid for total cost to the customer. Your competitors do the same. Maintenance can work different ways.
But yes, people pay money for features. And when properly managed, it is possible to make features add up to a product that provides value and earns money.