Managing a software company

For a very long time, I have been wondering and trying to find out the answers to this very question.
"What are th best practices to manage a small growing software development company ?"

I am a software developer but dream to start my own company someday. I want to gain all the experience and want to hear from all the young and old entrepreneurs in this business about "what does it take to manage a s/w company" . I know there are lots of things you need to stick to and be very strict about, like meeting the standards (coding and design), process, testing, right people at right places, etc.
I want to explore more into that.

How did Larry Page & Bill Gates do?
Is it all about managing people ?
Is it about good marketing skills?
Is it about good programming skills ?

Lots of questions are cropping up in my mind.. I know many of you must also be thinking the same.. but I am looking for the answers..

I hope this post does make some sense..

 

I'd rank managing your people #1. Not only the people but the process and the technology to support your development. You have to maintain the proper balance of people, process, and technology. If you imagine this as a three-sided triangle, you can see if that if any area is neglected a big piece is missing.

Programming I'd rank #2, some may not agree. I'm on the business side of the equation in my day to day life but I deal with many large development organizations. The one constant that you can manage is the people, don't focus on dissecting code all day long. A good managed process that is consistent across the product lifecycle will flush out bad code in a hurry. You can deal accordingly with the developer(s) that are the source of this code.

Marketing I'd rank three in this equation. Keep in mind that a great marketing program is worthless with no product to deliver. Also remember that marketing takes on many forms. Traditional, viral, etc. Worry about creating a solid product first and focus on marketing later. This is more important in a start up than an established company. Even the big players like us, IBM, CA, etc all release 1.0 stuff (and beyond) that isn't exactly fully baked

 

I've been in the web software business for over five years now and have seen success with it. The business has grown every year and I've learned a lot along the way. Here are 10 things you should know (in no specific order):

1. Build a product that people actually need.

2. Make sure the market for your product is big enough to justify building the product or has the potential to be big enough.

3. Make sure the market for your product isn't over saturated.

4. Never, every copy or clone a product that you see as the current market leader. Doing so will always put you one step behind. Invent!

5. Provide excellent support. This is very, very important.

6. From the very first line of code use PHP Doc (http://www.phpdoc.org/) to comment your code. You can use the comments later to compile documents for developers. This is something I've started doing recently and swear by it now.

7. Decide if your product will be completely open source, closed source or partially open source. If your product will be closed or partially closed source be sure to invest in an encoder such as ionCube (http://ioncube.com).

8. Use distribution and licensing software like PHPAudit (http://phpaudit.com). Using PHPAudit enables you to focus on developing your product by handling licensing, billing, customers and distribution.

9. Pick a product to develop that you have a personal interest in. Plan to use the product that you will be developing.

10. Never, ever give a release date until you actually have the release complete and ready to distribute.

 

There was an excellent article in the Boston Globe yesterday. I am posting the link (I hope this is allowed):

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/01/14/why_good_products_fail?p1=email_to_a_friend

From a business perspective, this has been my experience...Often times a person who starts a company has an area that they excel in. From your post it is the technology. The best thing you can do is put the best people in place for the areas that you don't know as well, Operations, Customer Service, Marketing, Finance, Product Management, Sales, and so on. You don't have to be the expert in all aspects but make sure you hire the experts.

The most successful product launches I have been a part of have been when I have been part of a cross-functional team. Everyone has to take ownership of the product and the product launch. If marketing isn't on the same page as engineering, than the product launch dates and marketing program launch dates won't match and that means a ton of money wasted. It is important to have a team representing all functional areas of the company meeting and updating everyone.

From the marketing side of things...You do need to spend money to make money. Hire a good marketing person that thinks out of the box and does so within the confines of your budget. Make sure your marketing people will work closely with engineers. I am not from a technical background, but I make the technical stuff not so technical. I do this by meeting with the engineers, and asking a lot of questions. I get it to a level that I can understand it, explain it to an engineer in a less technical way...and have the engineer say "Exactly". It is then up to me to put the marketing sizzle on it, bring it back to the engineer to make sure no key functionality has been lost and out goes the collateral, PR, whatever it is. Point being, hire someone that has a respect for what an engineer knows and plans on soaking up every drop of technical information they can.

Often I have found that the technical people have an idea about what market to go into and how to do it. It may be the correct way and it may not. You need to trust your marketing person. While you know technology - it is our job to identify targets, trends, and ways to enter into a marketplace. Work together. It is no secret that technical people are not fond of marketing people, but play nice together...It is for the good of the product.

Most importantly have fun!!! The fact of the matter is we all spend more time at work than we do anywhere else. Set an upbeat, positive company tone. Every person in your company is a potential sales person! The more excited your employees are and the more they believe they are making a difference - the more productive work you will get out of them!!!

Best of luck with your new venture!!!!

 

if you are going to start 'small' i dont think managing people should be your 1st priority. managing yourself, maybe.

choosing a product, developing that product to fit every single use it could be integrated into (not just the usual - take classified ad directories: some used for job searches, some material goods, some for personal ads etc)

commenting is good, but not necessary if you intend on selling closed source (??)

plus....advertising. yep: right people at right places, id say is important; conferences, advertising agencies etc... (seo)

 

Thanks for all of your time guys.. I have had some very great feedbacks.. I saw one thing common in all your posts, that you all are dicussing about the Product based company. I would also be interested in directing my goal towards Customized Software Development, Outsourcing, delivering projects to various clients etc.
Where should one focus to establish a great software development company ? Is it about the process that you should follow?
Is it about sticking to the coding standards ?
Is it about Task Assignments to Employees?
etc..
What I want to gain and learn from your feedbacks is, what should I concentrate on to build up a strong profile.. I know Customer Support would be one of the important task. But then, is it all pragmatic and feasible to provide the best work in this harsh competition around you.

What type of Development process can one follow to make max profit by minimizing cost and time..

I hope I am making all sense here..

 

After running my own software biz now for a few years and having sales in the millions ..i can tell you YES to all of thoses.

get a crew that you can ALOMST live with DAILY and get a defined proccess that you redifine DAILY.

Start down that path and I bet you make yours in no time. Make sure to build wealth in what you do.

trust me the projects are the easy part..lol ..time lines and people are what make it a real headack sometimes.