During my time as a Sales Director in the software sector, I was increasingly coming across businesses (manufacturers, distributors, retailers and service providers) that were requiring more sophisticated tools to manage their pricing.
These companies were typically reliant on spreadsheets, and a simple cost plus pricing strategy. Although this method does ensure that you always make money on every sale, it’s simplicity misses out on opportunities to increase profitability.Also, in using Excel as a tool, it makes it very difficult to record a history of pricing changes, identify what rules are not working, and is prone to human error, with the possibility of only one incorrect formula drag to screw up calculations.
What started out as an idea in September 2015, saw us join the Accelerator Academy run by Ian Merricks and Katie Lewis at the beggining of this year. Our business plan was prodded, tweaked and improved, and by Easter, the name BlackCurve was born.The word ‘black’ was borrowed from the banking term ‘you’re in the black’ meaning your bank account has a positive cash balance. The word ‘curve’ symbolises how our software will help businesses increase their profitability.
What is BlackCurve?
This is where BlackCurve comes in, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution, that will be instantly available through our website. The software will allow you to setup more advanced pricing rules, model the potential impact of these rules, and analyse the actual performance on an ongoing basis, in order to get to the best price point for all your goods and services.
Think of it on the one hand as your pricing feedback loop, and on the other, your pricing communication tool to your sales staff and customers.
Our team
BlackCurve is a family business, headed up by myself, Philip Huthwaite. I learnt the ropes working as a Sales Director at Innoware, prior to which I was a Technology Consultant at Accenture, following a degree from University College London.
My father, Charles Huthwaite, is our Technical Director, and has experience across 12 programming languages following a background in technology that has spanned 30 years. He is supported in building BlackCurve by Robert Dexter, our Lead Software Engineer.
The team also includes Moira McCormick, who is responsible for researching and publishing blog content, and Emmanuel Aremu, our Digital Marketing Executive who leads all marketing activities.
BlackCurve is coming...
The team have been busy behind the scenes getting ready to unveil our first product to the public. We look forward to sharing it with you, to help your business get smarter at pricing and grow profitability.
Don't miss out on our launch - sign up for a free 30-day trial.