How being honest makes Smart Bear profitable even now

Honesty in general is something everyone wants more of from companies and government.  True, gut-bearing, heart-wrenching honesty is so rare, even the smallest glimmer is well-received and much appreciated.

One of the (many) reasons we started this company blog is to tear down another wall and replace it with glass.  (But not glass brick.  Too 80's!).  It's not enough to just spit out tips and answers to frequently asked questions -- we also want to bring you in behind the scenes about where our decisions come from, how we think about business and software, and how we behave with our customers.

I've been writing on my own blog for a while about how we do business, from how we sell through geeking out to why visiting existing customers is the only way to know what to build next.

My latest rant is about honesty in business -- not about its conspicuous abscene, but rather exactly how to go about doing it, from stories of how I started Smart Bear and other companies to lists of ways we all could treat our customers better.

In particular, being honest about pricing is one way we both respect our customers and operate at a profit, even in this economy.

It's not enough to say you care about customers or that you're going to be straightforward with the world.  You have to put it in writing and permanently burn it into Google's cache.

Expect it from us.  Demand it from everyone.