SurvivalWare's Mission
To make business fun for entrepreneurs, and help them survive and thrive. Face it, if it weren’t for the worry about finances and people problems, business would be fun just about 100% of the time. Most entrepreneurs I meet LOVE the game of business, but feel like they are shouldering a huge burden of worry about cash flow. We may not be able to help with the people problems, but we sure can help reduce the cash worry. Surviving implies healthy and predictable finances for the company, but also implies good physical and mental health for the entrepreneur. Whatever we can do to help the entrepreneur survive and thrive, fits within our “Just Cause.”
Brief Background
SurvivalWare was started in 2000 by Rusty Luhring, after a long career doing financial modeling for large corporations. His first startup, Ferox Microsystems, Inc. was one of the early providers of PC based financial modeling software, with RCS – the MicroModeler released for the Apple II in 1980. It was re-christened as Micro DSS/Finance in a publishing deal. When that deal turned sour, ENCORE! was developed for the IBM PC in 1983. The fact that there was a bitter lawsuit involved in the deal turning sour – with massive legal bills and onerous settlement terms – propelled Ferox to chart new territory in cash flow planning needs over an extended period of time. The original SurvivalWare product was aimed squarely at companies in crisis.
SurvivalWare enjoyed early success as a free download, but it was tough to get companies in crisis to cough up cash money for software. Luckily, all companies need to plan, not just the ones in trouble. SurvivalWare evolved into a more traditional financial planning tool for businesses, and gained a foothold with Franchisors wanting to help their franchisees with budgeting and cash flow. The automation tools built into SurvivalWare allowed some franchise systems to build out systems that allowed them to rank and compare financial performance across their network of franchisees.
In 2015, the CFO of Issuetrak, Inc. retired. Rusty Luhring had been a long time board member of his brother’s company, and was doing a fair amount of consulting for them to build a forecasting model and analyze customer profitability. The company was having trouble recruiting a Sales VP. In what can only happen in a family business – Rusty was recruited to fill both positions – CFO and Sales VP, with marketing and professional services thrown in for good measure.
He put SurvivalWare on back burner, with the understanding from Issuetrak that he could still take care of customers. It was a convenient time, because the software was showing its age, written in a language (Visual Basic 6) that was on its way to the dust heap of legacy software that just won’t die. Until it could be migrated to newer technology, it didn’t make sense getting new customers. Things like printer compatibility problems would only get worse.
The last five years turned out to be a great opportunity to build a completely new SurvivalWare, while preserving the underlying concept and structure. Certain pieces had to be completed before others – because there was an urgent need to use it for Issuetrak’s planning and reporting needs. As a CFO wearing multiple hats, Rusty needed to maximize his CFO efficiency. It only made the software better.
Recently new management has taken over at Issuetrak, and Rusty is in the process of stepping back gradually over the next year from his role as Issuetrak CFO. A very capable younger generation of managers has stepped up. The company is in good hands.
And with the blessing of Issuetrak, Rusty is pursuing his life long dream of helping companies survive and thrive with SurvivalWare.
SurvivalWare enjoyed early success as a free download, but it was tough to get companies in crisis to cough up cash money for software. Luckily, all companies need to plan, not just the ones in trouble. SurvivalWare evolved into a more traditional financial planning tool for businesses, and gained a foothold with Franchisors wanting to help their franchisees with budgeting and cash flow. The automation tools built into SurvivalWare allowed some franchise systems to build out systems that allowed them to rank and compare financial performance across their network of franchisees.
In 2015, the CFO of Issuetrak, Inc. retired. Rusty Luhring had been a long time board member of his brother’s company, and was doing a fair amount of consulting for them to build a forecasting model and analyze customer profitability. The company was having trouble recruiting a Sales VP. In what can only happen in a family business – Rusty was recruited to fill both positions – CFO and Sales VP, with marketing and professional services thrown in for good measure.
He put SurvivalWare on back burner, with the understanding from Issuetrak that he could still take care of customers. It was a convenient time, because the software was showing its age, written in a language (Visual Basic 6) that was on its way to the dust heap of legacy software that just won’t die. Until it could be migrated to newer technology, it didn’t make sense getting new customers. Things like printer compatibility problems would only get worse.
The last five years turned out to be a great opportunity to build a completely new SurvivalWare, while preserving the underlying concept and structure. Certain pieces had to be completed before others – because there was an urgent need to use it for Issuetrak’s planning and reporting needs. As a CFO wearing multiple hats, Rusty needed to maximize his CFO efficiency. It only made the software better.
Recently new management has taken over at Issuetrak, and Rusty is in the process of stepping back gradually over the next year from his role as Issuetrak CFO. A very capable younger generation of managers has stepped up. The company is in good hands.
And with the blessing of Issuetrak, Rusty is pursuing his life long dream of helping companies survive and thrive with SurvivalWare.