An interesting article

Small Companies that Play Big
By: Julie Sloane, Justin Martin and Alessandra Bianchi, FSB Magazine

(FSB Magazine) -- The CEO of a Southern California software company recently contacted FSB to trumpet the success of his new product. It had about 400 users at a dozen small companies and had just received a glowing review in a top industry trade magazine. But he and his co-founder were tiptoeing around a matter that they regarded as so sensitive that they spoke about it only on condition that we not print their names: Except for four developers in India, their company has no employees.

Not even their customers know their secret. Thanks to a $99-a-month phone system and an actress who does voice-overs, a professional recording greets all callers and routes them to the company's sales, tech support, or marketing departments - but nine times out of ten, they'll reach the CEO. The CEO used $150 software to create an online video demonstration that walks potential customers through his product's features, giving his Web site a flashy, moneyed feel. And Web-based software lets customers see the CEO's computer desktop live, so he can personally demo the software without an in-person meeting. The cost: $70 a year. "If customers knew we were so small," says the CEO, "they wouldn't take us seriously."

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