Where should Web software firm focus in 2009?
January 1, 2009 5:22 PM Subscribe
Where should our Web software development company focus in 2009?
My partner and I have a four person software firm in the Midwest that develops rich internet applications -- mostly for other startups. My partner is a systems architect and programmer. We also have an interactive designer and two programmers specializing in Ruby on Rails and Adobe Flex.
Although we've been busy, we feel that "work for hire" projects aren't our strength. We're very good at dbase design/devpt. and tying Flex to Rails, and our engineers have deep, cross-platform/device, and broad experience in a range of markets/industries. I bring a strong sales and marketing experience, plus an advanced degree in psychology. We believe we have a strong, interdisciplinary team that adds a lot of value to software startups.
However, since we know our limitations, and we're not so great at UI design and client management, we're thinking about developing and selling our own lower-cost products and services (home grown or open source/customized) that we can sell in volume. Along these lines we're trying to come up with specialty products/services where our programming strengths will be an advantage, and where we're not putting our weaknesses (UI design and client management) out front.
Some markets we're interested in include:
- aging/elderly/home-care/nursing-homes
- education
- greeting cards
- storage/backup
- product personalization via Web
- travel
- art
- anything where rich/multimedia editing or storage is involved
I realize this is an odd askmeta question, since it's so open-ended, but we're trying to dig deep into creative directions to take our business and metafites have never failed to stimulate new ideas for me.
FWIW, we're in the Midwest, so there are lots of older manufacturing businesses around -- many struggling or in transitions. Lots of back office operations for financial services companies too.
Thank you for any ideas or suggestions!
My partner and I have a four person software firm in the Midwest that develops rich internet applications -- mostly for other startups. My partner is a systems architect and programmer. We also have an interactive designer and two programmers specializing in Ruby on Rails and Adobe Flex.
Although we've been busy, we feel that "work for hire" projects aren't our strength. We're very good at dbase design/devpt. and tying Flex to Rails, and our engineers have deep, cross-platform/device, and broad experience in a range of markets/industries. I bring a strong sales and marketing experience, plus an advanced degree in psychology. We believe we have a strong, interdisciplinary team that adds a lot of value to software startups.
However, since we know our limitations, and we're not so great at UI design and client management, we're thinking about developing and selling our own lower-cost products and services (home grown or open source/customized) that we can sell in volume. Along these lines we're trying to come up with specialty products/services where our programming strengths will be an advantage, and where we're not putting our weaknesses (UI design and client management) out front.
Some markets we're interested in include:
- aging/elderly/home-care/nursing-homes
- education
- greeting cards
- storage/backup
- product personalization via Web
- travel
- art
- anything where rich/multimedia editing or storage is involved
I realize this is an odd askmeta question, since it's so open-ended, but we're trying to dig deep into creative directions to take our business and metafites have never failed to stimulate new ideas for me.
FWIW, we're in the Midwest, so there are lots of older manufacturing businesses around -- many struggling or in transitions. Lots of back office operations for financial services companies too.
Thank you for any ideas or suggestions!
Knock-offs of well known internet services, but for secure / private internal use (e.g. branded twitter for use inside an organization)
posted by bottlebrushtree at 5:49 PM on January 1, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by bottlebrushtree at 5:49 PM on January 1, 2009 [1 favorite]
Mobile applications that extend internal enterprise apps. Those old line firms don't want to invest in new systems. If you can help them extend the life of their legacy apps it will valuable to them.
posted by COD at 6:28 PM on January 1, 2009
posted by COD at 6:28 PM on January 1, 2009
I'm working on something right now with a colleague in one of the spaces you mention (I'll go into details when I announce on projects).
Our key learnings include (we're creating a SaaS product):
posted by lowlife at 6:36 PM on January 1, 2009
Our key learnings include (we're creating a SaaS product):
- There's nothing wrong with the "It's like X but for Y" business model, it makes it simple to explain to others.
- Get small (and real) - focus on a very specific niche. You can always grow later if you need to, but trying to built everything in version one is a roadmap to failure (population: you).
- Make it internally competitive - my associate is the marketing guy, I'm the coder. He's got a task of writing at least one blog entry per day, and I have to commit one useful addition to our codebase each day. We hound each other on these things in a lighthearted way.
- Build up a target market before you launch - the blogging is designed to create a presence in our potential buyers' headspace, so when they we hit them with the product, they're receptive to it.
posted by lowlife at 6:36 PM on January 1, 2009
Expand on the nursing home angle and spend time thinking about healthcare in general, which, for all intents and purposes will see large transitions in the coming years as the delivery of healthcare changes under the new administration. There are going to be issues of "compliance" that will probably require the integration of web based technologies to physicians' offices.
posted by bkeene12 at 7:32 PM on January 1, 2009
posted by bkeene12 at 7:32 PM on January 1, 2009
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posted by rhizome at 5:45 PM on January 1, 2009