New Year's Resolution: Build Your Own Micro ISV!
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New Year's Resolution: Build Your Own Micro ISV!

Is this the year when you'll launch a Micro ISV?

Every time a New Year rolls around I make a solid resolution that this is the year, finally, when i'll start my own little software company. And every year I fail.

But in 2006, as you know, I finally got there with TimeSnapper, in conjunction with Atli Björgvin Oddsson. And it actually wasn't all that easy. I can see now why it took so long, and why it's something that most people procrastinate about, and other people write books about.

Coming up with an idea was easy. Writing a free product was not too hard (particularly in my case, since Atli did all the work at that point). But moving from free to professional: that was a killer. Every step along the way was a potential for delays and confusion. The sheer number of steps was daunting.

What about you? Are you planning to start a software company some day? Have you let another year slip away?

There are pitfalls at every step.

If this is going to be the year for you, then maybe I can help. Do you need ideas? Encouragement? Practical advice? Serious help? (We all need serious help).

I've got a 25-point plan written out, of the steps we took to turn TimeSnapper from a give-away to a money making venture.

I've planned (but not yet written) a serious of blog posts about each one of these steps.

It's worked okay for me and Atli. We're not retired yet, but we've done a little better than we expected. And with sufficient feedback from the clever people who read this blog, this plan could be a useful one for others to read and learn from.

So stay tuned for the 25 steps to turn amateur software into professional software.

My new year's resolution is to work on sharing those 25 points.

The outline will be delivered soon. I'm looking at it now... nodding my head, hesitating and saying, yeh, i'll post this soon.

[Update -- see 25 steps to launching a Micro-ISV]





'Douglas Stockwell' on Fri, 29 Dec 2006 04:19:57 GMT, sez:

Sounds excellent, I'll definitely be following along.



'Simon' on Fri, 29 Dec 2006 04:55:32 GMT, sez:

Can hardly wait!



'Brennan' on Fri, 29 Dec 2006 06:27:11 GMT, sez:

Looking forward to it!



'Lee Alexander' on Fri, 29 Dec 2006 06:34:40 GMT, sez:

Yep it's lots of hard work. Me and a friend Stuart thought we would build an RSS reader, gotta be easy right? With synchronization and snazzy UI etc..Well it's taken more than a year and to a certain extent we're still not there...But we're trying :-)

Thanks for a great blog and Happy New Year!

Regards
Lee



'Lars Buur' on Tue, 02 Jan 2007 05:32:38 GMT, sez:

Sounds great - will definitely read it !



'Paul' on Tue, 02 Jan 2007 08:47:21 GMT, sez:

MicroISV... I eagerly await the series, sounds really interresting. I too am about to embark on the journey (and I expect many pitfalls, can't wait for the insights!)



'Haacked' on Wed, 03 Jan 2007 02:36:08 GMT, sez:

So how is TimeSnapper doing as a company? Is it now self-sufficient and profitable?



'Ben Hoskings' on Thu, 04 Jan 2007 00:07:51 GMT, sez:

Hi Leon, sounds like this'll be a great read—I'm trying to work out how to achieve just this at the moment.




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TimeSnapper is a life analysis system that stores and plays-back your computer use. It makes timesheet recording a breeze, helps you recover lost work and shows you how to sharpen your act.

TimeSnapper won last year's Developer Competition at Larkware.com, and is used by over 10,000 people.

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