20 years of 'collective' experience is the key word that needs to be there to make it (slightly) less of a complete bullshit line.
But that's the least of the problem with false claims ...I recently met the owner of another local web firm who was telling people they've been 'in the business' for 30 years. I don't think I need to point out the error in math there.
Right, distinction is important. We use "combined experience" to call out the width of our expertise, not depth, on our publishing services page for mobile development. I think it helps reassure some prospectives that while young, we have a broad range of experience in multiple industries.
Getting sign off on a ~5-6+ digit services project takes a fair amount of work, and more so without a thick portfolio. Vertical software sales benefit from tech diligence and product demo as part of the buying decision.
In reality I don't think it works as you expect. Most people have come to see these "collective experience" lines as excuses for not having anyone on the team with more than a few years of experience.
Would YOU want to get a heart transplant from 5 medical students with "10 years of collective experience"? The reality is that this collective experience is not really additive. If you have 1 person with 20 years of experience in some area, they've seen a couple of cycles and progressions of technology. No amount of people with 3 years of recent experience can ever really match this.
The mobile software market is young (relative to it's tragic past) and we're a small shop of mashups => advertising/web/software engineering. I have roughly 10 years of experience but it's not about me, it's about us and when combined — we have a lot to offer as a young company that's trying to get off the ground.
I'm very transparent when communicating our strengths and weaknesses to make sure the project+expertise = good fit on both ends of the deal. I agree with your point about wisdom, but heart surgery is rather linear and you better be highly specialized in your trade for that line of work. :)
ps. It's not that I disagree with ASmartBear, I just feel the post is a bit generalized in its advice. Selling client services does not benefit from a prebuilt software product that can sell itself.
But that's the least of the problem with false claims ...I recently met the owner of another local web firm who was telling people they've been 'in the business' for 30 years. I don't think I need to point out the error in math there.