October 2nd, 2006
Blogger learns how to get the money
With $4 million in VC funding from Hummer Winblad and Morgenthaler Ventures Mule is now Mule.
Dave Rosenberg, who blogs about open source at Infoworld, is the CEO of the new venture, and says he learned a lot of things along the way to this day they don't teach you in business school (or in journalism school for that matter).
First, the things he did right. Do your homework. Get the data. Before even seeking funding Rosenberg knew his target customer set (big enterprises) and what they wanted first (management tools, not fancy GUIs).
Second, the things he didn't do right. Look for a lawyer fast (you'll be signing papers before you know it) and hire a helper monkey (someone from the community, to handle administrivia).
All these are vital lessons. But about the software.
Mule moves data around. It transforms it from data type to data type. It manages security. The generic term is Enterprise Security Bus. Its approach is like that of BEA Weblogic or IBM Websphere.
It's not a frontal assault. "We are a developer product. The product is for developers and architects."
This doesn't keep Rosenberg from offering a bit of snark to the big boys. "They tout their GUI-based business analysis tools that define the process. Those demo great, but they tend to spit out 3 pages of code when you only need six lines," said Rosenberg.
While Mule will get a GUI, Rosenberg said user feedback leads him to emphasize the management tools.
One more thing. The name. It doesn't come from politics. It doesn't relate to a book or even a movie.
It comes from creator Ross Mason's girlfriiend. She said he was doing "donkey's work." They're English.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 10/03/06
