

Lessons Learned from a Software Developer’s First Attempt at Launching a Startup - oreilly
http://www.softwarebyrob.com/2011/08/24/lessons-learned-from-a-software-developers-first-attempt-at-launching-a-startup/

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wgx
>"...building the product was the easy part"

A new 'thought experiment' I've been working with lately is: "Imagine the
(minimum viable) product was already built - what now?"

It's easy to get caught up in the challenge of 'The Build' when really that's
just a part of the business.

If you want to build a _business_ around a web/tech product, then you need to
consider a whole load besides the product.

~~~
5hoom
This makes me think of my first attempt at an iOS app.

I'd read about all the successes stories & decided to jump on the app store
bandwagon.

After months of furiously working at learning Objective-C & Cocoa, development
& testing, I released my creation on the app store and with high hopes and…

nothing.

It sank like a stone off the new releases page never to be seen again. I think
it sold one copy in Egypt (thanks whoever you are!).

It was only as I sat scratching my head over why my crappy ill conceived app
hadn't set the world on fire & made me instantly wealthy that it occurred to
me that without some sort of business & marketing plan I was wasting my time.

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acangiano
Perhaps off topic, but you really should consider reading Rob's book if you
plan to bootstrap a startup or run a micro ISV.

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systemtrigger
Maybe so, but he should also probably revise his website starting with the
confusing and grammatically bad copy:

"MicroMaximus is a simple on-demand service designed to assist Reward Checking
Account holders' to supplement their monthly transaction requirements.
MicroMaximus users will be able to schedule $1.00 transactions online quickly
and securely enabling a higher rate of return."

~~~
aparadja
Anyone up for iterating that copy for practice? Here's my attempt:

"MicroMaximus helps you fill your monthly Reward Checking Account transaction
requirements quickly with $1 transactions."

~~~
bluena
"Fill your monthly Reward Checking Account transaction requirements quickly
with $1 transactions."

~~~
drusenko
Have a Rewards Checking Account?

Use $1 charges to meet minimum monthly transactions

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Khroma
These types of posts are posted really often. Is there a conglomerated list of
all these "lessons learned" posts? I think that would be really useful.

~~~
bugsy
That's a good thought, aggregating them. Or better yet, curate a yearly print
journal of product Post Mortems. Hard to get people to disclose details
though, really hard to find these on the corporate level. Most published post
mortems seem to be from really small companies or from former government
contractors. I appreciate these posts a lot as I find post mortems to be much
more useful and enlightening to read than books written by consultants who
have never run a successful business containing their latest theory on what
should probably work if someone would try it.

My own theory is that the best way to achieve success is to avoid doing all
the things that ensure failure.

