Help me do my new jobs and save our company.

October 13, 2005 3:12 PM

Our small company has been spun off and now we're in startup mode; luckily we have four software products (we make network-control apps) almost ready. Suddenly I've got more hats: from being a lowly install programmer, now I'm also to write docs, do phone support, organize product packaging and fulfillment, and set up our website for online sales including choice of download of software or mailed CD. All by the end of the month, spending as little as possible. The first three are manageable, but although I’m a programmer I don’t know web stuff, and need advice please.

First thing that seems obvious is to go for ready-made ecommerce and not roll our own shopping carts etc. Preferably it will be a ready-made that can fit into a template, which I’m asking a graphic-design friend to create for the rest of our website (originally designed a long time ago in-house, and it shows.)

Our web hoster (Verio) has three online store offerings, but they don’t seems to connect to download capability; the monetary cost for their store is minimal, but there are manhour costs of course. I’ve been told MIVA Merchant has a download plugin module, but haven’t looked at it yet. And there are probably lots of others.

I’ve used Dreamweaver some, in helping local non-profits’ websites, but only know the very basics and have never created a page from scratch. I know perl quite well, with a smallish bit of SQL. Unfortunately our current site uses ASP, which I don’t know at all (yet?) How realistic is it to think I can cobble something together from the pro-designed template plus off-the-shelf ecommerce? In two part-time weeks?

Any advice will be very welcome. The company can keep going only a few months before either getting sales up or cutting heads, and I’m high on the chop list by virtue of the other people here being founders and me being the new guy. If I can pull this off it will be a big plus in staying here -- and once we get over the initial pain there's a good chance of doing well in our special niche; I'd like to hit the jackpot!

posted by anadem to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

once we get over the initial pain there's a good chance of doing well in our special niche; I'd like to hit the jackpot!
Make sure ALL your work is documented. Example, a customer order needs your assistance in completing its fulfillment. Have the company employee or customer requesting your assistance first document it in writing, e-mail, or ect.. Or, your jackpot will be equal to a voice, non-touchable.
posted by thomcatspike at 3:25 PM on October 13, 2005

With such a tight deadline I don't recommend tackling an additional obstacle on your own. Get the site built right so it can facilitate sales, thus increasing your chances of keeping your job. Hire someone to build the site and fix bugs before/after launch. Craigslist is your friend. With such a close proximity to San Francisco (provided you're in Santa Cruz?) the talent pool should be deep and possibly affordable due to competition.
posted by quadog at 3:28 PM on October 13, 2005

Response by poster: Unfortunately it's unlikely to be possible to hire someone to do the web work, except for strictly design work (of templates to plug stuff into.)
posted by anadem at 5:39 PM on October 13, 2005

You might take a look at comparable websites, and mimic what they do (looking at the source code for the pages). For example, fogcreek.com sells shrinkwrapped software.
posted by WestCoaster at 7:56 PM on October 13, 2005