From the category archives:

Business Practices

Involuntary exactitude is involuntary servitude.

February 23, 2010
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Maybe because we’ve all been burned at one time or another by a boss or client who didn’t spec out the software we ended up trying to build. Or maybe it’s because we live in a world where everything that matters is true or false, none of this messy in-between stuff that’s impossible to code. [...]

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Disrupting the Law with a Lending Tree for Startups

January 25, 2010
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It’s been an axiom of mine for a long time: everybody wants justice, but you’ve have to have the money to buy it. And for bootstrapping startups and microISVs, lawyering up even when you desperately need to has been too damn expensive.
Legal River, a new Washington D.C based startup is standing that on its head. Instead of [...]

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Google Chrome OS – it’s about paid content.

July 8, 2009

Late last night Google announced it would build Google Chrome OS – a new operating system initially for netbooks. The online tech media immediately did its version of over-the-top Michael Jackson-like coverage: TechCrunch’s “Google Drops A Nuclear Bomb On Microsoft. And It’s Made of Chrome” was typical.
The announcement’s timing is strange: At 9:37 pm PT [...]

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Finding the right business partner.

May 31, 2009

As some of you know, I’ve spent the last six months writing The Web Startup Success Guide. One giant – and personally uncomfortable – lesson learned in all those interviews was the finding the right partner or two could make a huge difference in whether your small software company will succeed.
It’s not about getting funding [...]

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To Partner or not to Partner, that is the question.

May 22, 2009

Corey Maass, the creator of DubFiler, sent me an email he’s allowing me to share with you:
If you have a minute, here’s a quick question I’m putting to the start-up people I know. I’m going this alone. I’ve asked a few people to get involved but haven’t found the right fit. I’m wondering if you [...]

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Why should you do Twitter?

April 23, 2009

A friend of mine, Dave Collins (Shareware Promotions) has been trying to wrap his head around just what value Twitter offers for about the last month.
“I’ve been asking this question so long that my throat’s starting to hurt. So this time I’m going to throw in a reward,” Dave said in this BOS post. “How [...]

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Why robo email selling is a waste of time.

January 8, 2009

An email I got today:
Last month I sent you an email about selling your hats through our stores. I think they’d be a great fit.
We work hand in hand with thousands of department stores, specialty shops, large chains, mail-order catalog companies and internet shopping sites. We look for products we think will sell [...]

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Yes, You really should read this free book.

January 6, 2009

What do you do when you’ve launched a startup and you want to get some attention on it? If you’re Amy Hoy, who’s made a hell of a good name for herself in the Ruby/Rails community, you and your team put together a killer free ebook that every other startup should read on credit card [...]

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Which works better for a startup: a forum or a social network?

October 30, 2008

ISV asked a really good question this morning over at the Business of Software forum:
Would it be a good idea to consider using something like Ning instead of a forum? Anyone considered this?
I think a lot depends on what you’re going to build a social network around, and how much time are you prepared to [...]

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The law is the law.

August 6, 2008

…and you are far better off knowing the laws as it applies to IT about copyright, trademarks, domain names, software patents, trade secrets, NDA’s, NCA’s, open source licenses, consulting agreements, SLA’s, beta test agreements, EULA’s, SaaS TOS, commercial distribution agreements, privacy, digital content agreements, videogame publishing agreements, foreign distribution agreements, and what happens if you [...]

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Dealing with information overload: Lincoln and RSS.

July 21, 2008

Michael Slater – cofounder of BuildingWebApps.com – asked one of those questions I find keep popping up in my life: How to do you cope with the information flood? The techniques I used back last century fail utterly in a world of blogs, social networks, intermittent twitter service, iPhones and RSS. I’ve had to find [...]

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A great alternative to 30 day free trials

May 25, 2008

[Note - I was rummaging around my old posts here and found this one - true May 25, '07, true now.]
As some of you know, I’m now using a MacBook Pro running Windows Vista as my main non-Windows development box and as such, I’m accessorizing it with various Mac apps. One productivity app I really [...]

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7 MicroISV Anti-Patterns: Learning from a Llama

March 3, 2008

By Joshua Volz
Volz Software
Makers of Llama Carbon Copy
I’m a failure. And worse than that it took me a long time to figure it out. I’ve done almost everything wrong with my microISV. I don’t want anyone else to make the same mistakes I have made. Hence, I present a (probably incomplete) list of microISV [...]

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Two GTD microISV thoughts to ponder

December 19, 2007

If you use David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology to keep the wheels going round in your microISV, here’s two ideas to chew on for the fast-approaching New Year that I’ve been mulling over.
(If you don’t, but you’re looking for a way to get a lot more done with a lot less angst, I’d recommend [...]

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