Czech Software Company Rumored To Be Acquired by Corel

Tiny Software, Inc. develops
networking solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. Its flagship
product WinRoute is a software router and firewall for Windows. It
connects local area networks to the Internet with a high degree of security
and allows all of the computers in the network to share a single
Internet connection.

The company started in the Czech Republic in 1997 but recently moved its
headquarters to the U.S. “You can of course start your
company on the Net and sell through the Net but your sales will be
virtually zero unless you are really there [in Silicon Valley],” said
Mr. Roman Kasan, President & CEO of Tiny Software, Inc., in his
interview for Czech computer magazine Connect.

Tiny Software has adopted a business model which is becoming more and more
common among successful software and Internet companies from Eastern
Europe: a team of local developers at home, headquarters, marketing and
sales in the U.S., preferably in Silicon Valley, and sharp image of American
company. Tiny Software looks like one of numerous Californian startups,
with only one important difference: it didn’t use money of angel
investors. Instead, it used the money it started with to finance
all its activities. The 1999 total revenue reached US$ 2.3 million.

The next step is probably going to be direct sales to a large software
company. In 1998, Tiny Software was in talks with Microsoft but the
Redmond giant preferred a similar solution from another startup.
Currently, it is completing its acquisition talks with Corel Corp., who is
based in Ottawa, Canada.