http://ask.metafilter.com/tags/entrepeneur Questions tagged with 'entrepeneur' at Ask MetaFilter. Thu, 17 Sep 2009 06:58:37 -0800 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 06:58:37 -0800 en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 http://ask.metafilter.com/133097/iPhoneDevFilter%2DSmartphone%2Dapp%2Dor%2Ddedicated%2Ddevice What are the relative advantages and disadvantages of creating an iPhone/smartphone application vs. building a dedicated device? A friend is interested in building and selling a handheld electronic device. In general terms, it's intended as a data-tracking aid for a particular sport popular with middle-class suburban folks, and their kids.<br> <br> He has no technical background, and he's asked for my advice on how to proceed (I'm a software developer). His first inclination is to build a dedicated device... the interface would/could be fairly rudimentary, a half-dozen buttons and a small LCD screen would work for starters. He also wants USB-enabled upload capability, to suck the data onto a proper computer for further analysis.<br> <br> My first thought here is "build an iPhone/smartphone app". You admittedly miss folks who don't own a fancy phone, but I think there's a reasonably high (and increasing) percentage of smartphone users who are also in the target demographic for his application. The upside is that you don't have to deal with messy hardware programming, manufacture of the device, physical distribution, etc.<br> <br> I also think there's potential for building some community around his app... like a website that houses all the collected data, displays it in nice charts, maybe some friendly competition between users, Facebook tie-ins, etc. None of this would be impossible to accomplish with the dedicated hardware, just more difficult, I think.<br> <br> I admit up front to relative ignorance of hardware programming and manufacturing, and I have a natural bias towards software... but as a "something I want to try on the side and not quit my day job" kind of venture, I know I'd prefer to be selling bits rather than atoms.<br> <br> Thoughts on this? What advice would you give him? tag:ask.metafilter.com,2009:site.133097 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 06:58:37 -0800 entrepeneur hardware iphone smartphone jplane http://ask.metafilter.com/56040/Best%2Dbrainstorming%2Dpractices A good buddy of mine and I are thinking of starting a business together. We are meeting tonight for a brainstorming session. The goal is just to start the dialog. We are going to take inventory of our strengths and weaknesses and start to throw ideas out there to research in the coming weeks. What are some good things to discuss in this very preliminary meeting? What are some good ways to make sure we make the most of our time tonight? tag:ask.metafilter.com,2007:site.56040 Tue, 30 Jan 2007 13:09:23 -0800 entrepeneur start up ieatwords