Aaron Swartz: How To Launch Software

Post by hbien » Sat, Aug 23, 2008, 1:27 AM UTC

run4yourlives wrote: post #22

The big elephant in the room that nobody here seems to be taking into consideration: 37Signals charges their users to use their product. The Hollywood launch allows for such a case, whereas this example makes that much more difficult. Do you force beta users to pay? Do they pay the same amount as others? Etc etc. Hollywood launches allow you to broadcast a product as "finished". The issues Aaron cites seem to arise f…

Post by jlouis » Sat, Aug 23, 2008, 7:36 AM UTC

ComputerGuru wrote: post #31

Can people please stop using "software" and "webapp" interchangeably? I realize most members here are founders of startups that deal with webapps, but there are some startups that deal with traditional desktop applications - true "software," who share similar interests. That said - I wonder which of these two approaches is better for desktop software development. I'd imagine the fact that a user has installed your so…

Post by rsheridan6 » Sat, Aug 23, 2008, 2:10 PM UTC

emmett wrote: post #6

tptacek wrote: post #3

37Signals has launched four (4) commercial products, and takes in (by my guess, from headcount and subscription numbers) mid-high 7 figures from them. Aaron Swartz has launched, by my count, no successful products (unless I'm wrong and Reddit wasn't already a success story when he got there). From Aaron's own web page, here's what I get when I click on his "my day job" link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29804691@N02/…

While I agree 37signals has a much more impressive product track record than Aaron does and know quite a bit about marketing their products, the source of a statement has nothing to do with its validity. Either Aaron's argument is right, or it's wrong, independent of Aaron's status as a developer or entrepreneur. That being said, I think Aaron is right about the proper method to launch a website, and also that if you…

Post by NewWorldOrder » Sat, Aug 23, 2008, 4:58 PM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #26

aaronsw wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Geez, that's a lot of ad hominem . Did I accidentally murder your dog or something? I wasn't saying anything about what 37signals does , I was criticizing what they recommended . You know, in their book. That I link to in my first paragraph.

So, while 37signals doesn't break it out as clearly as you did, they do in fact recommend the same closed testing that you're recommending. For instance, in their book "Getting Real", they talk about how they do closed beta testing of individual features inside of their applications to selected groups of users, just like Google Mail does. They also publicly did closed beta testing of Highrise, their most recent appli…

Post by emmett » Sat, Aug 23, 2008, 7:24 PM UTC

rsheridan6 wrote: post #46

emmett wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree 37signals has a much more impressive product track record than Aaron does and know quite a bit about marketing their products, the source of a statement has nothing to do with its validity. Either Aaron's argument is right, or it's wrong, independent of Aaron's status as a developer or entrepreneur. That being said, I think Aaron is right about the proper method to launch a website, and also that if you…

I actually agree with Aaron, but I do think his experience is relevant. Yes, he's either right or wrong regardless of his track record, but the intended reader doesn't know whether he's right or wrong, and won't know it without trying it. If you don't have reasonable way to verify whether what somebody says is true, looking at their credentials is probably the best you can do. In practice, we do that all the time. Fo…