The secrets of a system integrator. My Journey of Startup, Product + Project Development
First, we have to understand ideas. None are original.
Second, all ideas generally start with an opportunity. To sell. Either to someone you already have, or a way to reach them (adwords, etc).
Third, the idea has to be marketable in a way that you can market it. If you have connections in an industry, it’s not a bad place to start. I prefer to make the first few sales personally in-town to get the pitch and value presentation down before putting it online.
Having a profitable business alone isn’t success.
Every business needs cashflow (and profit) to survive like the body needs oxygen, food, and air. Just because a business has cashflow, doesn’t mean it’s a success, much like we aren’t a success in life just because we sat around and survived.
Anyone who doesn’t purchase extended warranty from Apple for their Macs needs to read this.
I put a lot of time on my 15″ Macbook Pro. An average of 8-10 hours a day. Every day. The last 3 years since I switched back to Mac (since we all started on Apples in elementary school) have been incredible. No longer have I been tied up dealing with Windows to do the smallest things like connect a new camera to get a photo to fight with drivers. For the most part Mac just works, gets out of the way and let’s you focus on the task at hand.
Then, there was the day the music died. November 16th, 2009, for me, to be exact. I remember it, like it was yesterday. I am working at the office, no problems. Arrive at a clients, and the screen won’t turn on. Try to reboot, no luck. Everything seems to be turning on, except the screen. Strange.
Part of any software startup is building an approachable, knowledgeable, living presence. We can do this through email newsletters, marketing through our website, twitter and blogs. Few are more powerful than a well setup, relevant and maintained blog. I will be covering blogging from the aspect of software businesses; what to do, what to look [...]
It’s simple. Building a product with less time developing the product, and more time building the business around the product (marketing, etc.,), the greater chance it will have of actually succeeding.
I recently read that a product is 80% marketing and 20% actual product. That probably would explain why garbage can succeed and great software can fail.
The truth is as developers, startup entrepreneurs, it’s critical to know how to sell and market. Without learning the ability to have the conversation to sell, there may not be much of a reason to start building anything.