Ask HN: Should we create a new product company or keep it under one umbrella?

[abhishekdesai]

Need some advice from the HackerNews community.

We are a 12-year old software consulting company. We help startups build software products. And now we are in process of launching our own products.

We have launched a product couple of months back and are in process of launching another one very soon.

I wanted to know if we should have a separate product company to manage these 2 products or should we keep them under the same company as it has a stronger goodwill in the market.

Anybody, who has done this before? Would love to hear pros and cons of both the approaches.

[patio11]

A similar thread recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11178940

should we keep them under the same company as it has a stronger goodwill in the market.

It is, candidly, unlikely anyone cares. Software products get the loyalty; the companies backing them are often unknown to the end-user and/or purchaser. This is true even in cases where you would swear blind that it cannot possibly be true. (Not at liberty to discuss specific conversations at ex-clients; suffice it to say that "How is it freaking possible that N% of our users of $FOO are unaware that we make $BAR even when they pay for both?!?" is a thing that has been said.)

[abhishekdesai]

Thank you for suggesting relevant thread and yes what you said makes sense. It is unlikely that users would care about the company, who is backing the product.

[brudgers]

My recommendation would be to consult your lawyer, insurance agent, and accountant. Products and services can have very different liability profiles, e.g. in the US.

Good luck.

[sharemywin]

If you could send an email to some of your current users and they would try your new product you might keep it as the same company.