Hi, 

I'm Franz, and I'm just a guy who runs a small business. I'm not rich, and I'm not hob-nobbing in San Francicso trying to sell concrete5 to google. 

You need a website. You've been told you need a content management system (which I agree with) but the reality is you're shopping for control. If programmers were cheaper and available to turn around work immediately, you wouldn't need a CMS. That's just the truth, you're here because your organization needs a web presence that works - not because you need a CMS. It's just a means to an end. It's part of my job to represent your needs to our core team of developers and our open source community, so let me share what I think you're feeling:

  1. You have your own job, and chances are it's not web design. It doesn't take a computer science degree to make some basic edits to a MS-Word document, and the same should be true for your website. However you manage the content your site, it should be intuitive and non-threatening.  

  2. Things need to work. No software in history has ever been bug free, but you've got a right to expect things to mostly work well. If you're installing some new add-ons on your site, they should do what they said they would, and they certainly shouldn't break your site if it was working before. If you do find bugs, there should be some mechanism to get them addressed. 

  3. You shouldn't be tied to a contractor. Chances are the construction company which built your home has long since moved on, but you can still find a contractor to do some renovation work. Your website should be like that. 

  4. Websites change over time. Your organization changes and your needs mature. You solve one problem, and you realize you have several new ones. You shouldn't have to throw out all the work that has gone into your website just because you want to add some new features. 

  5. The more DIY energy you put in, the less money you should have to spend. 

I want your website to be a tool in building your organization, not another problem for the organization to manage. Every decision we make is tempered by these concerns. Chances are our feature list is awfully similar to the competition, so ask yourself if we "get it" at a deeper level.

Best wishes
Franz Maruna
CEO, Concrete CMS Inc.