Micro ISV Startup

When is a good time to start?

microisvstartup — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 13:22:36 +0000

If you ask anybody that is already on their way, they will tell you to start immediately without delay. This is sage advice considering the longer you stay idle, the harder it is to get started. “I’ll start tomorrow” seems to be the mantra-of-the-day for the procrastinator, right?

But, I’d like to add a caveat to such sound advice.

You have to decide how starting a company is going to fit in your life.

For some, a startup is their life. And for many startups this is really the only option. Sometimes what you are doing just requires all you’ve got. You have to quit the day job, and put your house and savings on the line. The biggest benefit of this approach is that if your company is going to fly, this method is the most likely to get it off the ground. (No, I’m not guaranteeing success, so don’t go there.) Some startups require “x” amount of time, “y” amounts of money and “z” amounts of effort. And not offering enough of any of those is simple starvation.

And, what if you’ve got six months to your biggest sales opportunity of the year and seven months worth of work, well… you do the math. If you miss it, it will be slim pickings for another year!

These are all factors, sure.

But what about the factor, of let’s say, quality time with your family? Like vacation or your kids’ sporting events, dance recitals, camping, etc.?

Since I’m more about being a good dad than a software tycoon, I guess you can figure out what my obstacles were this summer…In my mind, the fall and winter months are best for a startup. Fewer kid events, vacations, weddings, family get-togethers and family outings. And yard work is almost non-existent. Not to mention the fact that most time off from your day job is during the fall and winter!

Side note: I did have the crazy idea of using a week’s vacation just to do a kickoff. I think it’s very sound, but I don’t have a way of guaranteeing undistracted work. So for now, I’ll keep that idea on the back burner.

My partner also had all of these problems so we decided to put the project in low-drive until October. We decided to work at our leisure with no expectations. We will meet at the end of September and re-vitalize the whole project. This is what’s great about having a partner; it’s a natural anti-procrastination pill…

Learning How To Run A MicroISV

microisvstartup — Wed, 09 May 2007 04:01:37 +0000

The Basics

Although I’m pretty familiar with business basics, I have to admit that I didn’t know the first thing about running an ISV. I knew that some parts were the same as any other business, but I was pretty intimidated by what I thought I didn’t know. For example, when I started studying on the various facets of operating an ISV, I had a short list of about three ideas for a product. After a few weeks on learning about product selection, I was able to quickly scratch all current ideas off of my list. Bummer.

My First Step

Just like you try to find a product that solves a problem, I saw starting an ISV as a solution to a pretty critical problem that I was dealing with. I was feeling thoroughly disgusted with my own personal dealings working for small in-house development shops and ultimately a small software company. But then one day I was introduced to the Joel On Software web site. I have to admit that Joel’s web site struck a very deep nerve. Reading his forums was like listening to the Bob Dylan of our time as he is leading a developer revolution against an oppressive software development industry that had spent too long trying to mold the industry into some outdated code factory where the workers respond primarily to a hollow-sounding steam whistle. Man was I ready for the message!!!

I think to start an ISV you have to have the right frame of reference. I think your mind has to be open. I think your mind has to be done with how things are done. I know there are people, that we all look up to, hint, hint, that will say, “I was just standing around, minding my own business and not really looking for anything to do and POOF! I make a million dollars a year now.” Sounds humble, but I find it a little tough to believe that anyone could put themselves out there starting a company and be so cool they could piss ice cubes and say that they were totally unmotivated by how they felt about their old condition or they say they were only motivated by some material benefit or, even more puzzling, they were bored. I quit smoking a few years back and that took a LOT of motivation to be successful. Starting a software company has to be harder than to quit smoking. Right?

My Second Step

Read. Google MicroISV. Read everything in the first 100 pages. Read everything that those 100 pages link to. Go out and buy the books that all of those sites hock and read all of those. Highlight all of the good info as you go. And when you are done, go back and read it all again. Or you can condense it to my list below:

- Joel On Software – http://www.joelonsoftware.com

- Eric Sink – http://www.ericsink.com/

- Bob Walsh – http://www.todoorelse.com/ and http://mymicroisv.com/

- Ian Landsman – http://www.userscape.com/blog/

- Dharmesh Shah – http://onstartups.com/

- Patrick McKenzie – http://microisvjournal.wordpress.com/

Obviously these sites are no where near a complete list, but I found that these are the ones I keep going back to on a weekly basis for info. The books I’ve read (specific to ISV) are:

- MicroISV: From Vision To Reality – Bob Walsh (I consider this book my ISV Bible)

- Eric Sink on the Business of Software – Eric Sink (This book is loaded with nuggets)

- Five Myths of Consumer Behavior: Create Technology Products Consumers Will Love – Paul Allen Smethers/Alastair France (Must Read!)

- The Business of Software – Michael Cusumano (A little dry, but good read)

- The Change Function – Pip Coburn (Good Read)

- Crossing the Chasm – Geoffrey Moore (Outdated references, but still a great read)

My Final Step

Out of all the great information that I picked up from all of these awesome resources, I want to single out two specific resources for getting me off my duff.

First, a friend asked me to sit down and watch the Twelve Weeks with Geeks documentary that Joel’s company had made about their summer internship. This video convinced me that I did not need a bunch of pre-established hoo-ha and VC money to start a software venture.

Secondly, and probably more importantly, was Patrick McKenzie’s blog on how to start an ISV on a shoestring. It was such a huge motivator to finally just squeeze the trigger. Learning so much stuff makes starting something like a software company seem like such a gigantic undertaking. Every week I felt like I still had one more thing to learn or I would somehow lose my house. Until. Until I stumbled across how one person had the daring to start something, which I thought was so huge, on such a tiny budget and schedule. It made me realize how big I had made something so small. Relative to my own product, I had coded apps ten times as large in three to six months. Why had I projected my own product to take years and hundreds of thousands of dollars? I’m no psychologist, but it was probably out of fear. Maybe something as simple as a fear of trying? A fear of risk? Maybe a fear of success?

Who knows.

So, start right now. One baby step. Name your company next week. Today? Right down a hundred ideas for a product. Just squeeze the trigger.

Knowledge: I play golf with my best friend of 27 years. I think he takes unnecessary risks all the time. I frequently jokingly call him Phil (Mickelson) because Phil is a bit of a risk taker. One risky play is using a fairway wood out of deep rough when he’s in trouble. On the course, one day, I said to him, “Why do you bother hitting a three wood out of eight inch rough (ala Phil Mickelson meltdown at Winged Foot in 2006)? Hit a safe club and get it into play!” He fired back, “If it’s going to take me two strokes to get there anyway, I might as well as try for the green in one! Besides, I’ll be damned if I’ll pitching wedge it all the way there!” He did duff that shot. But I’ll use that admonishment for the rest of my days as words to live by in everyday life. Just get up there and whack that sucker. Would do you really have to lose? A half attempt could just as easily go awry.

Of course Nike says it more succinctly with “Just do it.”

Why did I decide to start a Micro ISV?

microisvstartup — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 00:12:56 +0000

Well… I’d love to say that I was always born to do it or something equally intelligent. The fact of the matter is that although starting a company was always a dream that I had, I was too aware of the sacrifice it would require. I do have a young family. And I do like them. I put two and two together a long time ago. I had this plan that if I spent all of my time making my million when I’m young I could retire early at age 45 and spend all of my free time with my family! Did I mention that I like them?

But one day while waist deep busy making my million I had one of those epiphanies. A really big epiphany. An epiphany-the-size-of-Texas, epiphanies … You get the idea. Out of the blue it dawned on me that by the time I retire at the ripe old age of 45, my kids would be old enough that they wouldn’t want to hang around with dear old dad, or more probable, be off to college or, yikes, married and out of the house with their own families! And to make matters worse, my wife would decide to go back to work to give her something to fill her day after being a stay-at-home mom for the past 15-20 years. Inevitably, my brilliant plan to conquer the world, er…, retire early.., would amount to me being home alone tinkering on the puter and bored out of my mind beating Starcraft™ for the millionth time and wondering what was coming on Jerry Springer…

A-humph….. I think I’m gonna need a new plan.

In the end, I decided to give those years to my family and help them pursue those things that I never had the chance to. It meant that my plans for my version of financial freedom would have to wait. I feel rather great about the decision and I’m having a ton of fun with my family. I’m just glad that my plan imploded when they were still only babies. I’ve been able to enjoy a ton of stuff. On a side note, it did tell me why so many people that start their own business are usually much older. Although experience and maturity are big factors, as well as a diminished job market for seasoned citizens, I’m convinced it has a lot to do with being 45, or so, years old, with no kids to chase after and probably a wife that’s enjoying some personal fulfillment with a second lease on a career.

But I’m only 40-ish, you say?!? Not quite 45, yet. So what part of my plan has changed? Am I short-changing my plan by 5-8 years? Well, several things have changed, actually.

The first reason is that I have the opportunity. My kids are approaching their teens. Kids start wandering off about 12-13 years old, not 17-18 like I originally thought. Although they’re still not quite teenagers, I’ve found that they’re getting plenty from me and I still have enough downtime between their needs to put together a respectful little company on my own time limit and not feel rushed or overloaded to produce something in the midst of some crisis. And as it turns out, my wife says that she gets enough of me the way it is. Stop laughing. That’s all I’m going to say about that. The second reason is that I’m tired of getting stuck by the man. The economy has caused companies to treat and compensate programmers rather poorly. I’m sure it’s mostly to do with the whole supply-and-demand thing, but the whole thing is left a really bad taste in my mouth and my opinion of the average software shop is at an all time low. But, suffice it to say that it’s definitely been an employers market for some time now.

And finally, I’ve got a lot of things to learn to run my own company. I’d rather take my time at my own pace and not have to rush into anything and feel like I’m forced to make it work or my family will go hungry. I have 2-3 years instead of 2-3 months. The stress factor is much more manageable. Make no mistake; I’m full aware that I jeopardize my own success by not throwing ever ounce of resources at my disposal at this company. At first I was worried that I’d only have enough resources and “go-gettum” to do this once. I now believe that I do only have enough for just one. But it’s I only have enough for one company, not one product. If the product doesn’t do that well, and from what I read most don’t, I’ll still have plenty to do another. I think good companies are built with patience and attention to detail and just taking your time to do it right. I would like to add that my wife is one of those types of people who breaks out into hives anytime a risk is about to be invoked in her vicinity. So I have the added self-imposed constraint that I would not risk our house, belongings or savings. I would risk the credit limit on an average credit card of $5000 and 500 hours to get a product to release. (Remember, I have a partner with this same commitment. So 1,000 hours with $10,000!)

So here I am starting my own Micro ISV. If anything, I would have to say my main reason is the dissatisfaction with where many software shops are going. I’m just glad the other parts of my life are affording me the opportunity to shake the dust off of an old dream. Whatever your reasons, make sure you’ve thought through how it will affect your family and your social life. Have a very clear boundary in your mind of what you will and will not risk making it work.

Messagebox.Show (“Hello world!”)

microisvstartup — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 03:41:38 +0000

First, I would like to extend a very warm welcome.

So. Here you are. You want to know how to start your own Micro ISV and hoping that I may have some nugget of knowledge to help you? I intend to use this blog as a journal so that others may use it for whatever purpose suits them. I’m convinced it will be useful to others. Even if I only serve as an example of what NOT to do.

I have been studying for nearly a year about how to start my own software company. I have studied a lot of what’s out there on the subject. Fortunately, it looks like learning how to run a business is very similar to learning how to write code. It seems that most of what’s to be learned will be coming from working in the trenches.

I’ve found that most of the information from people like Joel Spolsky, Dharmesh Shah , Eric Sink and Bob Walsh to be highly enlightening. But the most inspiring to actually get off of my duff and do something has been a blog by Patrick McKenzie. Thank you sir. Unfortunately, although Patrick’s blog comes the closest to anything that resembles an actual nuts and bolts how-to, because of his particular criteria he’s working with, it’s still feels like there are gaps in the process. I hope to fill these in through this blog.

Since we are still in early design and development, I will keep all details of what we are doing under lock and key. So to help you feel like you won’t be following this for nothing, I will tell you now that we are two-person partnership, and both still full-time employed at a day job where we are software developers, developing a C# .NET 2K3 app with an ASP.NET and a database (SQL Server?? probably) component. I will keep my partner’s real name out of this to protect his identity to prevent any trouble if our employers should find out. I don’t care if my company has a cow about me, but I wouldn’t want him to lose his job before we could go full time.

My plans are to add articles several times per week, but you never know how these things will work out. I will try to post articles at least once per week. I mean, afterall, if I’m blogging I ain’t coding and we all have to respect the 1440 rule.

Knowledge: The Rule of 1440. There are only 1,440 minutes in a day. No more, no less. Minutes do not care whether they are used for progress or waste. It’s going to take you X minutes to get from wherever you are to wherever you are going. So pay it now, or pay it later, but you will pay it.