Frozen yogurt has been the next big thing at least three times over the last 30 years.  When it first came out I’m pretty sure they just threw some yogurt (“yoghurt”?) in the freezer at a time when it only appealed to a cult of health nuts. (Full disclosure: including me.) Not surprisingly, the market remained cult-sized. Then there was Penguin’s in the ‘80s. They hit the right balance between healthful and sinful.  Where else could you order non-fat yogurt covered in hot fudge and Reese’s Pieces? Less guilt but all the sugar. Penguins exploded and franchised until Big Ice Cream joined the froyo fray. Baskin-Robbins added frozen yogurt to the menu and it wasn’t long before Penguin’s slid into Chapter 11. Sadly, their assets were frozen. After that, frozen yogurt seemed to fade into the woodwork until a year or so ago when an innovative new trend emerged: SELF SERVICE!

Non-fat Software! 

Now it seems self-serve yogurt shops are popping up everywhere. The idea is simple. You grab a cup and decide how much you want; which flavors and toppings. Get your personalized concoction weighed at the counter and you pay by the ounce/pound.   It’s faster, more hands-on and more fun. It occurred to me that self-serve frozen yogurt aligns perfectly with the popularity of SaaS. Software as a Service is the culmination of 30 years of software evolution. It represents a fundamental change in the way software is purchased, used and delivered. Pay as you go and just pay for what you need. SaaS is non fat software whose time has come thanks to low cost bandwidth, anywhere access plus a growing confidence in “the cloud”. Like self-serve frozen yogurt, SaaS has combined the right ingredients into a winning business model.

Fundability's Frozen Yogurt

We embrace the SaaS model and just launched our second Fundability SaaS product. It’s called CoFund – Company Fundability  – and is designed for private company CEOs and CFOs who need a secure way to communicate with prospective investors and current shareholders. CoFund is personalized and highly configurable (self-service!). It provides tools for raising a round of capital plus a secure platform for ongoing investor reporting. CoFund is the complement to our InFund SaaS product which helps VCs and other private equity investment firms manage their deals. Both products are sold on a monthly fee model. What’s also great about SaaS is that you can try before you buy. We don’t have sample spoons like a yogurt shop but we do offer a 14-day free trial on CoFund and InFund.  It’s all-you-can-eat (the full product) and guaranteed to make your business a little healthier.