I can only second edw519's comment, and add a bit to it.
Building enterprise software is not only about building software, it's also about processes. Every company with more than a dozen employess has processes for dealing with just about everything. How information flows from A to B, who controls it, who can edit it, who can view it and who approves it.
This is primarily a strategic decision. Enterprise software has to accomodate processes and play by the rules, powergames and politics set forth by the firm it is used by. This is different than building B2C apps where the goal is more transparent. If you build dropbox the goal of the software is pretty obvious. If you build enterprise software there are a lot of stakeholders with diffferent agendas and priorities, and if you want to sell to them you need to accomodate all of them. So you need to knwo how firms operate behind the lines, and you definitely have to know how to sell to them. How good the software is is only one of many priorities.
This is a large portion of why enterprise software sucks - accommodating all those processes is a huge pain in the ass, it tends to scare off many of the people who think that software should be elegant, and it tends to result in overly-complicated, byzantine software from the rest.
There's a lot of money to be made for those willing to cut through the bullshit, but be aware that there's a lot of bullshit to cut through.
Absolutely. I think the hardest part would be defining requirements that nail the most important 90% of functionality. You would need strong mentorship from several experienced enterprise veterans to even stand a chance, though.
Building enterprise software is not only about building software, it's also about processes. Every company with more than a dozen employess has processes for dealing with just about everything. How information flows from A to B, who controls it, who can edit it, who can view it and who approves it.
This is primarily a strategic decision. Enterprise software has to accomodate processes and play by the rules, powergames and politics set forth by the firm it is used by. This is different than building B2C apps where the goal is more transparent. If you build dropbox the goal of the software is pretty obvious. If you build enterprise software there are a lot of stakeholders with diffferent agendas and priorities, and if you want to sell to them you need to accomodate all of them. So you need to knwo how firms operate behind the lines, and you definitely have to know how to sell to them. How good the software is is only one of many priorities.