5 Idea Management Software Success Stories [2024]
Idea management software is designed to help businesses and teams collaborate and track their ideas. The act of managing ideas can heavily influence the outcome of teams and projects, which can mean the difference between success and failure for a company.
You'll need to ensure that you have a solid foundation of coding and prototyping to build this kind of software. On top of that, you'll want to have good sales and marketing skills to sell this software to companies and executives.
In this list, you'll find real-world idea management software success stories and very profitable examples of starting a idea management software that makes money.
1. IdeaScale ($9M/year)
Rob Hoehn, Co-Founder of IdeaScale, came up with the idea for the crowdsourcing software after hearing the question from business contacts: "How are we supposed to get answers to the questions that we don’t know to ask?" With a background in programming and freelancing, Rob and his team developed IdeaScale to help organizations gather and transform ideas into innovative products, policies, and campaigns. Now, ten years later, IdeaScale has grown to almost $750,000/month and is committed to ethical business practices, including being the first idea management software company to go carbon neutral.
How much money it makes: $9M/year
How many people on the team: 53
IdeaScale, a B2B SaaS company with a focus on innovation, has grown to almost $750k/month by listening to its customers, investing in inbound search optimization, and prioritizing customer retention and support.
2. Idea Drop ($2.4M/year)
Charlie de Rusett, CEO and Founder of Idea Drop, came up with the idea for the business while running his previous company, Yellowball. He realized that there was a lack of user-friendly software for capturing and implementing ideas within teams, so he decided to build his own web-based prototype. After seeing the positive impact of the ideas generated within his own team, Charlie saw the potential for Idea Drop to revolutionize idea management for businesses of all sizes and sectors.
How much money it makes: $2.4M/year
How much did it cost to start: $50K
How many people on the team: 25
UK-based Idea Drop is a software-as-a-service (SAAS) allowing businesses to identify, refine and execute innovative ideas through its platform, which is already being used by MT, Ericsson, and the Kent Police Force, offering a public challenge facility allowing clients to crowdsource ideas, with one Covea idea implemented via the platform estimated to save the company £2.5m over five years.
3. Viima ($1.8M/year)
Jesse Nieminen, Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer of Viima, came up with the idea for their innovation management software while studying computer science at Aalto University. They realized that companies needed a way to test their ideas in the market sooner, based on their own struggles, and developed Viima to help organizations collect, develop, and manage ideas all the way through to innovations. With over 13,000 organizations using their platform and a growth rate of around 70% year-over-year, Viima has become the most widely used and highest-rated innovation management software in the world.
How much money it makes: $1.8M/year
How much did it cost to start: $3K
How many people on the team: 10
Viima, a Finnish-based bootstrapped innovation management software company, has managed to grow their recurring revenue at a rate of around 70% year-over-year, with more than 13,000 organizations from all around the world using their platform to manage innovation ideas, showing that online and inbound marketing are indeed the most effective ways to create a low-cost customer acquisition machine and a leading brand in the field.
4. COR ($1.24M/year)
Santi Bibiloni and his co-founders came up with the idea for COR when they realized that many professional service companies struggled with low profitability due to poor budgeting and project management. They wanted to create a solution that would help these companies increase their profits and provide better opportunities for their creative and professional teams. After launching in 2016, COR attracted top clients such as Ogilvy, Wunderman Thompson, and Leo Burnett, and recently closed a Series A round with $6 million in funding.
How much money it makes: $1.24M/year
How much did it cost to start: $7K
How many people on the team: 70
COR, an AI-powered solution for Advertising Agencies and Professional Services firms that offers project management, financial management, and resource management, has reached a current MRR of $103k and just closed their Series A round having raised $6M after almost 5 years in the market.
5. illumisoft ($792K/year)
Dan Prince, founder of illumisoft, started the company because of his passion for technology and creating innovative solutions. He realized that many technical projects fail because of a lack of understanding between business and technology. illumisoft bridges that gap by understanding the client's needs and designing solutions that meet their expectations. With over $10 million in projects and zero failed projects, illumisoft has become a trusted software development company in the healthcare industry.
How much money it makes: $792K/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
How many people on the team: 2
Illumisoft, a software development company specializing in cloud migration, web applications, business solutions, and data management, has experienced consistent growth and success with 42 completed projects worth over $10M, 30 different clients, and 100% 5-star reviews, while focusing on providing services solely to the healthcare industry and changing lives of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
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