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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

#281

Post by afarrell »

fny wrote: post #228
Bjorkbat wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll throw in that this doesn't necessarily mean just use Ruby on Rails and get coding. I mean, that will probably allow you to ship a bare bones MVP pretty quickly, but making improvements to said MVP in a timely manner may be a different story. Case in point: I used to work for a company that developed a product that was made in RoR and was probably actually pretty nice looking at one point. Unfortunately customers…

> Case in point: I used to work for a company that developed a product that was made in RoR and was probably actually pretty nice looking at one point. Unfortunately customers had ideas for what sort of improvements should be made to the MVP, and very few suggestions were turned down. So, after some time, the codebase grew pretty hellish, and it became harder to release substantial improvements in a reasonably timely…

The specific part of "code as craft" that you need here is a recognition of the value of what chefs call "mise en place". You need to have your work environment in an orderly state that it enables you to work efficiently.

Re: Ask HN: Best business advice for software developers

#282

Post by 20years »

bbulkow wrote: post #272
20years wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is excellent advice. There is a local company near me that has been working on their SaaS for almost 2 years now and still yet to launch. They started it on Angular 1 and are now re-factoring it on Angular 2 (or maybe 4 now). During this time they released a small open source Angular library but not even an alpha release of their own product. Keep in mind their product is not gear towards devs. They also hit eve…

Who are their investors, or if you can't name names, are they seed or angle or self funded or what?

From what I understand, the CEO had a previous company that repackaged, setup & sold custom social network software to companies. He made decent money while it was hot and is using that to fund this endeavor. I guess you can't really blame him if he is self funding. I don't feel right about calling them out by name. I hope it works out for them in the long run.

Re: Ask HN: Best business advice for software developers

#283

Post by sho »

wyc wrote: post #224
sho wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a couple of criticisms of your article. Firstly, you give a list of successful companies who made the "safe choice" you're advocating, but you fail to mention that at the time the companies adopted those projects they were actually the cool, risky new upstarts. Your first example, Twitter, started in 2006 - a mere 18 or so months after Rails 0.8. If Twitter had followed your advice of using a 13 year old web f…

I agree with you completely that these frameworks are old. They don't get features like websockets immediately. From a performance standpoint, they are lacking with respect to compiled languages. Statically-typed choices have come a long way. However, for new business owners who don't care so much about getting an A+ for technical excellence, I would still stand by this advice. The benefits of technology maturity and…

Well, I agree with you of course. Re-reading my comment, I overstated my case somewhat. The truth, as always, is somewhere in the middle. I suppose I was reacting to the previous comments as well, asserting that anyone choosing anything other than the boring, tried-and-true mature stacks for any new project whatsoever was being "seduced by technology" and otherwise an irresponsible and non-pragmatic neophilic dilettante who is not a Serious Businessman Like Me.

For the use case you're describing, I agree completely with your comments. Perhaps a useful razor is - if you can't state specifically why you can't use rails (and don't say "it doesn't scale"!) - then use rails. I concede that 90% of the time, this is probably the case.

And yes, harping on about its age was silly of me. Age does not inherently mean anything. I'd use postgres (1984!) over mongodb anyday. And erlang is older than ruby. Right tool for the job is far more important, thanks for pulling me up on that.

All that said - I still think that categorically stating "use boring technology" or "just use rails" for absolutely any new project is harmful. New technologies are not always just about the new shiny, they can provide capabilities and functionality simply unachievable with the old. Look at what you can do with concurrency with phoenix. Look at what you can do with react native. Roundly writing off the whole idea of using this new tech as "magpie development" is just lazy.

Re: Ask HN: Best business advice for software developers

#284

Post by yodha77 »

I have felt identifying your target customer quickly is the most important step in transitioning from developer to business. Target customer definition should be as narrow as possible and you should be able to list them (like atleast a hundred of them in a spread sheet with contact information). This helps you to talk to them, validate the problem, get feedback to your solution and sell it to them.

Re: Ask HN: Best business advice for software developers

#285

Post by jiahen »

"TALK TO REAL CUSTOMER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE" before I started this Venture. It seems that I have this barrier to reach out to them. For my case, it is architecture and construction industry. With luck + lots of meetings with people in this industry. I found my navigator of this industry, he is now my advisor. The company is generating 6000 dollar now and 1000 dollar monthly revenue and it is growing.

Re: Ask HN: Best business advice for software developers

#286

Post by lacampbell »

adeelraza wrote: post #79

I wrote a post on this topic back in 2013. Can a software developer be a successful entrepreneur: http://adeelraza.co/blog/can-a-software-developer-be-a-succe... 4 years later, happy to report that I have a successful startup.

Congrats

Re: Ask HN: Best business advice for software developers

#287

Post by apstyx »

throw20161123 wrote: post #5
apstyx wrote: 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?

Sales is tough.

The product is not as cool as you think.

Cash flow is king.

Interest does not mean shit, turnover is the only important indicator. The difference to gt somebody to go from excited to hand over money is day and night.

Nobody cares about how cool the code is. Nobody cares about how pretty the application is. Those are side issues, does it solve a problem that people are willing to pay to get solved. Excel solves many problems and people are already paying for it.

Your application/idea is not as unique as you think it is.

Disruption and innovation are words that have little meaning these days, most of the time one is trying to improve a process or business, that does not equate disruption/innovation only improvement. Improvement is a good thing.

There are going to be hard days, acknowledge those. Know that everyone who is trying it on their own has those days. Most people don't show them to the outside world it does not mean they don't have them.

Re: Ask HN: Best business advice for software developers

#288

Post by chauhankiran »

mattjaynes wrote: post #112

Since this is an audience of passionate technologists, here's the top piece of advice I have: Do not be seduced by the technology! I killed one of my startups this way. I've seen many many die this way. It can hurt your pride as a passionate technologist to choose non-cool but mature and easy-to-hire-for tools. But it's those tools that are the most economical. Remember, your customers care 0% about the backend techn…

Totally agree with you. In thread of "Linux is obsolete" Ken mentioned the same thing[0] as "...Most users could probably care less if the internals of the operating system they use is obsolete..." Although, He is talking about OS, but it is true for other as well.

[0]. https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.os.minix/wlhw16QWltI/P6...

Re: Ask HN: Best business advice for software developers

#289

Post by cpfohl »

andrewjrhill wrote: post #71
8draco8 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No you are wrong. In order to get there (build successful brand) you have to take care of your self. With coding marathons, buckets of coffee and fast food (because "I don't have time to cook") you will end up with heart attack before you achieve what you planned.

Not only that but adequate sleep, regular exercise and healthy eating contribute enormously towards healthier cognition. As a developer, I tend to find myself far more productive and successful in a shorter period of time when I am living on the healthy side of things. Everything that is me just works better when I go for a run three days a week, eat clean foods and get in a solid 8 hours of rest a night.

Tee hee. 8 hours of sleep.

Sounds like someone doesn't have kids.

Mostly tongue in cheek, but also slightly serious. There are plenty of life circumstances that preclude all those things.

Re: Ask HN: Best business advice for software developers

#290

Post by thecrazyone »

wonderwonder wrote: post #100
lprubin wrote: 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…

Fire bad clients. This is a very important piece of advice. Bad clients will kill your energy, drive and time.

Define bad clients. Is it: 1) clients not worth the money for the effort (but good learning), OR 2) clients who are unprofessional i.e. don't pay up etc (I'm sure there are multiple such delineations on what a bad client can be)
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