A rare peek at the books of a DS company

March 4, 2008 by Dave Haynes

One of the great things about going public is getting a lot more cash in the door to execute on plans.

One of the not-so-great things is that everyone gets to see how you’re doing.

Such is the case with Wireless Ronin (disclosure: competitor to my masters), which since its IPO is required to release financial statements.

The company released its annual numbers Tuesday, and they show revenues up 90%, but costs still well ahead of that. I suspect that’s the story at a lot of companies who are waiting for all these RFPs and quotes to turn into Purchase Orders.

What’s interesting to me is how the revenues break down, as the biggest revenue source is hardware, followed by services and finally software. It looks like about half of the gross profit came from margin on, presumably, reselling panels and PCs. Out of $6 million in sales, $600,000 is from software.

You can read the numbers here. 

I don’t know much about the company, even though they were about 10 feet away at DSE. The bungee strap they hook to you when you work a show booth means you don’t get to wander even across the aisle. The stuff certainly looks good.

What I do know is they are focused on some key verticals like fast food and auto, which I think is smart. With so many players in this space, and seemingly a buncha new ones from India, its getting really important to be known for something.

BTW, on the road again so not a lot of time to post. That and most of what’s come on my radar the last little bit has been press releases announcing stuff that may or may not have already been announced … or falls in my “Hey, great. Whatever.” category of interest and enthusiasm.