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Moving from programmer to entrepreneur

ianlandsman.com

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Re: Moving from programmer to entrepreneur

#11

Post by malandrew »

zengr wrote: post #2

"Code is 5% of your business" Really? Of the business yes, but for the product too (beautiful code is reflected in a beautiful product)?

Stating how much of your business is code, design and hustle is extremely relative. The relative proportions of each are a lot like fertilizer numbers. Some plants require one ratio of nitrogen, potash and phosphate and others require a completely different ratio of each. The ratios are a function of things like audience (awareness, inertia), competition and the status quo of your market.

Re: Moving from programmer to entrepreneur

#13

Post by rogerchucker »

ricardobeat wrote: post #8

I have to disagree with the first points: 1. Code is 5% of your business: no, it isn't. If you have a watchmaking company, is making watches 5% of the business? Marketing, sales, and operations are only important as long as you have a quality product. 2. Design is everything: it can used to great advantage, but let's keep it real. There are plenty examples of successful "gray boxes" applications, don't confuse aesthe…

I think the word "Design" is being thrown around a bit too liberally. User experience is what people mean when they talk about design because the former covers more than aesthetics and is an essential part of a software program's usability. Any mundane looking yet extremely utilitarian command-line based software program needs to be usable, especially in the middle of a heavy-duty workflow.

Re: Moving from programmer to entrepreneur

#14

Post by jakejake »

nodemaker wrote: post #3

As a single founder I am sort of confused about these things too.Here is what my plan is -> Basically become a code monkey for a first four-five months and do minimal promotion marketing.Once MVP is ready then do full time marketing pitching and fix bugs once in a while.If you get funded hire more people and more coding. Anyone see a problem with that approach?

As hard as it is to admit as a programmer, I think it can be smarter sometimes to flesh out the idea and get a feel for the market before spending much, if any time coding. Building wireframes and screenshots can be enough to show investors if you're going that route.

Of course if it's just you and you're committed to launching your product regardless of whether you get investment or not, then you might as well code it up and see what happens!

Re: Moving from programmer to entrepreneur

#17

Post by djt »

ricardobeat wrote: post #8

I have to disagree with the first points: 1. Code is 5% of your business: no, it isn't. If you have a watchmaking company, is making watches 5% of the business? Marketing, sales, and operations are only important as long as you have a quality product. 2. Design is everything: it can used to great advantage, but let's keep it real. There are plenty examples of successful "gray boxes" applications, don't confuse aesthe…

I agree that its higher than 5% but if you think that your product is the majority of running a business then please explain the Snuggy.

Re: Moving from programmer to entrepreneur

#18

Post by chmike »

nodemaker wrote: post #3

As a single founder I am sort of confused about these things too.Here is what my plan is -> Basically become a code monkey for a first four-five months and do minimal promotion marketing.Once MVP is ready then do full time marketing pitching and fix bugs once in a while.If you get funded hire more people and more coding. Anyone see a problem with that approach?

I would say you put yourself at risk to have wasted the 5 to 6 months of programming. For some applications the risk is low or the possible loss acceptable.

A preferable approach is if you can test the business/app soundness before investing 5 to 6 months in programming effort. If you can test two or three app ideas in that same period you significantly increase your chances to hit gold.

Re: Moving from programmer to entrepreneur

#19

Post by chmike »

nodemaker wrote: post #5
eLobato wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like if you cut off time programming and spend that time working on building hype you might be able to earn a bunch more of customers earlier, which might turn out to be the difference between not needing external funds and needing them. Or the difference between being able to getting them and not getting them, if that's what you want. Anyway best of luck!

Thanks for the advice.Can you please point me towards where I can find some knowledge about building hype.I have seen some companies do this (Recent Example - LightTable). In my case my product is really different and I dont know how I can get people to understand what it is without actually getting them to play with it.My belief is that my MVP will be the best tool for building hype.

Check the story of dropbox. This is one approach to test your idea. If it succeed, things get much easier.

Re: Moving from programmer to entrepreneur

#20

Post by ricardobeat »

djt wrote: post #17
ricardobeat wrote: post #8

I have to disagree with the first points: 1. Code is 5% of your business: no, it isn't. If you have a watchmaking company, is making watches 5% of the business? Marketing, sales, and operations are only important as long as you have a quality product. 2. Design is everything: it can used to great advantage, but let's keep it real. There are plenty examples of successful "gray boxes" applications, don't confuse aesthe…

I agree that its higher than 5% but if you think that your product is the majority of running a business then please explain the Snuggy.

Snuggy? Google didn't help.
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