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by Eric Sink
ERIC SINK ON THE BUSINESS OF SOFTWARE
Title Page
Dedication
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
Part One: Entrepreneurship
One: WHAT IS A SMALL ISV?
Two: WHINING BY A BARREL OF ROCKS
Remembering the Good Old Days
Teaching New Tricks to Old Dogs
The Importance of Barrel Research
Why Don't We See These Opportunities?
The Business of Software Products in 2003
Three: STARTING YOUR OWN COMPANY
Know Thyself
Have a Failure Plan
Choose Your Product
Make the Numbers Add Up
Four: FINANCE FOR GEEKS
Three Financial Statements
Profit Margins
Why Open Source Business Models Are Hard
Funding
The Perils of Getting Advice from Experts
Five: EXPLORING MICRO-ISVs
A Force of One
Shareware
My Problem
Introducing...Winnable Solitaire
Hypotheses
Bottom Line
Six: FIRST REPORT FROM MY MICRO-ISV
My Results So Far
Ten Things I Think I Think
Next Steps
Seven: MAKE MORE MISTAKES
Endless Decision Making
My Stories
Summary
Part Two: People
Eight: SMALL ISVs: YOU NEED DEVELOPERS, NOT PROGRAMMERS
Boundaries vs. Flexibility
Developers
Frequently Asked Questions
Nine: GEEKS RULE AND MBAs DROOL
The Tale of a Technology Decision
Some Unsolicited Advice for Mainsoft
"Fine, Eric, So What's Your Point?"
"So You're Saying That Developers Are the Only People Who Are Valuable?"
"But Aren't Developers Missing Some Skills?"
"Geeks Everywhere? Where Does This Madness Stop?"
"But...But...What About Steve Ballmer?"
Some Unsolicited Advice for Steve Ballmer
Back to the Matter at Hand
Ten: HAZARDS OF HIRING
1. Hire After the Need, Not Before
2. Realize That Hiring Is All About Probabilities
3. Know the Law
4. Get a Variety of Opinions
Hiring Programmers: The Usual Advice
Look for Self-Awareness
Hire Developers, Not Programmers
Education Is Good
But Too Much Education Is a Yellow Light
Look at the Code
The Very Best
Eleven: GREAT HACKER != GREAT HIRE
For the Love of the Code
Fussy About Tools and Platforms
Fussy About Doing Interesting Projects
Fussy About Interacting with Users
Bottom Line
Twelve: MY COMMENTS ON "HITTING THE HIGH NOTES"
A Serious Choir
The Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few...
"So Are You Saying We Should Forget About the High Notes?"
Two Kinds of Talent
Thirteen: CAREER CALCULUS
And You Thought Math Would Never Be Useful
Focus on the First Derivative
Constant Learning
Seize Your Mistakes
Bug 5909
Risks
Postscript
Part Three: Marketing
Fourteen: FINDING A PRODUCT IDEA FOR YOUR MICRO-ISV
Jump on the Micro-ISV Bandwagon!
Letters. I Get Letters.
The Algorithm for Finding an Idea
Build a List of Ideas
Evaluate the Ideas and Pick One
Your Next Steps
Fifteen: MARKETING IS NOT A POST-PROCESSING STEP
Positioning
Some of These Rules Can Be Bent. Others Can Be Broken.
What Position Do We Have Right Now?
What Position Do We Want to Have?
Is This Position Already Occupied?
What Features Should a Product in This Position Have?
Bottom Line
Sixteen: CHOOSE YOUR COMPETITION
Scout Work
You Need Competitors
How to Choose the Right Competitors
Accidental Competitors
Seventeen: ACT YOUR AGE
Four Groups
The Chasm
A Few Examples
Act Your Age
P.S.
Eighteen: GEEK GAUNTLETS
What Do Customers Want?
However...
Getting Fooled by the Early Adopters
Gauntlets of Fumbling
Stories
Gauntlets of Dexterity
Bottom Line
Clues That You Might Be a Geek
Nineteen: BE CAREFUL WHERE YOU BUILD
What Is a Platform?
The Pros and Cons of Large Platforms
How Are Platform Decisions Made?
A Word to the Businesspeople
OK, Now a Word to the Geeks
The Operating System
.NET Yet?
The Bottom Line
Twenty: THE GAME IS AFOOT
#include <You_Need_Competition.h>
Ping-Pong
Sorry!
The 100-Meter Dash
Golf: The Putting Green
Bridge
Gymnastics
Football
The Oscars
Rugby
Golf: The Tee Shot
The 19th Hole
Twenty-One: GOING TO A TRADE SHOW
Monday, 7:30 a.m.
Monday, 9:30 a.m.
Tuesday, 12:50 p.m.
Wednesday, 9:30 p.m.
Thursday, 8:00 a.m.
Twenty-Two: MAGAZINE ADVERTISING GUIDE FOR SMALL ISVs
Guidelines for Getting Started
Choosing Where to Place Your Ad
Ad Salespeople
Buying the Ad
What Happens After Your Ad Runs
Part Four: Sales
Twenty-Three: TENETS OF TRANSPARENCY
The Magic of Selling Software
1. Have a Weblog
2. Offer Web-Based Discussion Forums
3. Don't Hide Your Product's Problems
4. Don't Annoy Honest People
5. Offer a Painless Demo Download
6. Offer a Money-Back Guarantee
7. Share a Little About Your Financial Standing
8. Talk About Your Future Plans
Ways in Which You Might Want to Be Opaque
Practicing What I Preach
Bottom Line
Twenty-Four: PRODUCT PRICING PRIMER
Stating the Problem
It All Starts with Positioning
Think About Your Expenses
How Much Is Your Product Worth to the Customer?
High Volume/Low Price or High Price/Low Volume
Is Your Price Too Low?
Know Where the Lines Are
Price Is Not Just a Number
Complaints About Price
Loss Leaders
Temporary Pricing
Know the Law
Summary
Twenty-Five: CLOSING THE GAP, PART 1
Proactive Sales
Working with a Sales Guy
Characteristics of a Sales Guy
One More Mandatory Trait for a Sales Guy
Reasons to Have a Sales Guy
The "No Sales Guy" Approach
Twenty-Six: CLOSING THE GAP, PART 2
Responsive Sales
1. Make Sure Customers Know About Your Product
2. Make Sure Your Product Is Something Customers Want
3. Make Sure They Can Afford Your Product
4. Offer a Full-Featured Demo Download
5. Answer the Customers' Questions
6. Provide a Place for Community
7. Make It Easy to Buy Over the Web
"But We Can't Do It This Way!"
We're Not Perfect
Epilogue: JUST DO IT
INDEX
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