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Ask HN: Best business advice for software developers

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Re: Ask HN: Best business advice for software developers

#51
post #45
post #39

If you choose to run a software development agency: - Shoot for between 3 and 10 clients. Any less and you'll be very stressed about losing a client. Any more and you'll be overwhelmed with juggling too many balls. - Fire bad clients. They aren't worth the stress, frustration, and opportunity cost. - Work on your process. Doing an hour of client works earns you one hour of revenue. Improving your agency processes can…

Can you elaborate on what you mean by improving your agency process?

> Can you elaborate on what you mean by improving your agency process?

I think he means what this person said: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14147079

Re: Ask HN: Best business advice for software developers

#52
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But... A few big jobs > many small jobs Low-paying jobs will consume more time than you expect. Be careful when quoting these. Always charge more than you think you need to cover your time.

Big clients tend to be very slow at signing contracts because their legals would examine every word and will keep asking you to revise the contract. Furtheremore, real big clients tend to be slow at adopting the techology they just bought, so you may not get feedback quick enough to improve your product. Big clients are more likely to argue for discount as they would use "I am big name" as leverage.

This, and sales concentration is a real risk as well. If you have few big customers and even one of them churns, the impact this will have on you is certainly going to be material.

Re: Ask HN: Best business advice for software developers

#54

The number one thing is understanding what customers want. Every business guru and product person in the valley will tell you to "talk to your customers". The major exclusion there is how you talk with customers. Simply asking people how you can improve your product or being more deliberate and saying "what do you want? If I could add any new feature, what would it be?" is wasted time. These questions feel normal and…

Two books that can help understand it in more detail:

. The Mom Test - good and bad questions for customer discovery

. Competing Against Luck - introduces the concept of "jobs to be done" - people are hiring your product for a specific job they need to get done

Re: Ask HN: Best business advice for software developers

#55
I have been walking the line between technology (working software engineer my whole career) and business (small business owner, technical cofounder, startup employee several times over) my whole life and if I had one thing that I wish I had known earlier it's this: trust yourself! Just go, learn, and repeat - action is king.

Let me elaborate on that a bit. Seeking more and more knowledge and wisdom in an effort to learn some kind of system or trodden path to success is understandable but can quickly consume all of your time & energy and likely won't provide much real value over the long term. Nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, beats jumping in, doing stuff, being objective and introspective enough to identify what works and what doesn't, and iterating. What people are doing now will change. What people are using to do those things will change. What won't change, though, is the value of being able to take action and move through that world with confidence and resilience.

Reading, research, and listening to people is good but you should trust the laboratory of action above all else, especially over other people's opinions. Why, if you're a normal, intelligent, rational human being, would you ever put the opinion of some arbitrary person above what you can observe yourself? Because it's on the web or in a book? That's silly. Be extremely selective in who you allow to be your advisors - you wouldn't indiscriminately sleep with just anyone at the drop of a hat, would you? Don't just take advice from everyone, either.

Don't let people pigeonhole you, don't let people project their ideas onto your passion, and learn to identify where you should spend your precious time & attention - most of the time, you should spend those on action, not navel gazing and not "preparation" for action.

There are maybe a handful of books and blog posts that are really worthwhile. Once you have read those, everything else is simply other people regurgitating what they have read and is therefore not very useful. Also, on points that are very crucial, like legal and financial matters, I would hope you have an attorney and accountant to help you make those decisions - don't try to learn everything yourself and carefully establish and nurture your inner circle so that you can focus on - you guessed it - action.

Re: Ask HN: Best business advice for software developers

#56
Even if you build something on a "build it and they will come" premise, you are right, and there really is demand, you still have to spend time and money to use it - ie. don't forget to test, measure and allocate time and money towards marketing channels.

Re: Ask HN: Best business advice for software developers

#57
post #20

It's a skill that can be learned like every other skill. You can take the "in 21 days" route or the MOOC / University course route, or constantly read business articles, Steve Jobs videos, etc. But some top tips stand out for me over time: * Talking to people, networking > Not talking to people * Bug free > Elegant code * UX > UI * Simple products that do one thing well > Complex products * Understanding entire marke…

I get some of these, but "don't procrastinate" and "understand the entire market" are kind of ridiculous. You might as well throw "know everything" and "work hard" in there.

Seriously. Your proof that you understand a market is only as good as the frequency that your understanding is tested, whether the test is profits or rote knowledge.

This is true for many things. I'm the best developer as long as I don't compare myself to a better developer.

Re: Ask HN: Best business advice for software developers

#59
post #2

I know you said one thing, alas here are 6 one things 1) It takes longer than you think/imagine 2) Start smaller, no smaller still 3) Self fund for as long as possible 4) Be positive, stay positive 5) Identify people you can talk to about your work 6) Be honest with yourself, hard/brutal honesty

Regarding (6), what were a few brutal truths you had to confront?

For me it was "nobody needs my app, except myself"

Re: Ask HN: Best business advice for software developers

#60
post #11

I found out pretty soon that setting up a successful software development business only receives 20-40% of your time developing software. Business, like developing software, is a strict discipline, and there is a vast amount of knowledge that only comes from experience. I found myself trying to do everything, until a friend taught me a clever trick: 1) Write down all of the tasks you have to do on a daily, weekly and…

For anyone who's interested in more advice like this, your friend's trick almost certainly originates from Michael Gerber's book The E-Myth [Re-visited]. Highly recommended reading for anyone starting a small business.

On GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/81948.The_E_Myth_Revisite...

On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0887307280

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