Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with software and business

Need a cloud based invoicing / accounting program that is not Quickbooks

TwilightKid — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 07:50:31 -0800

Before I begin, I know the most popular and reasonable answer will be to learn and use Quickbooks. There is some sort of 'block' in my brain that will not allow me to learn quickbooks and I am content in using a different software to do the simple things I am needing to do... I run a promotional merchandise business. I am basically a broker. You need t-shirts for your band. I get them for you at my prices. I mark them up, and sell them to you. I pay off my sales people (if I didn't do the sale) and vendors. The remainder is profit. My company works as simple as that. 90% of the time, I will be paid in advance for services, so there won't be much net terms given to customers.

I am looking for a cloud based software program to help me run my business. Would love for it to generate estimates and invoices, that I can email directly to clients.

I use the company, Square to receive credit card payments, so hopefully the program can work together somewhat seamlessly.

The at the same time, for each order that comes in, I'd like to be able to enter my vendor info for each order, who with the same idea, I normally pay for via credit card at the time of my purchase as well....

My sales people are independent, so they would be treated as vendors and get paid on commission ...

I would love to be able to view each order via their own Invoice #...
example:

Order #11001
Customer - Joe Blow - 100 T-Shirts - Total $500
Vendor - JJ Shirts & Printing - Total $350
Vendor - Michelle (Sales Rep Commission) $50
My Profit at the end - $100

I would love to be able to enter an order # and see or access the complete transaction from customer, to paying off my vendors and sales rep, and seeing the profit at the end of the transaction....

That's all I need...I don't carry any inventory as each order is shipped directly to customer based on quantities they order...

When I try and tackle Quickbooks, it just seems that I wouldn't need to utilize 95% of what the program is capable of, and I just get overwhelmed so quickly when trying to set it up based around the small parameters my situation calls for...

I found an online service called InvoiceASAP that is simple to use, has a great mobile APP so i can do invoices on the road, and is only $7.99 a month..... However it lacks the other half of what I need which is the Vendor & Payment side of things.... I am looking for something that does both....And I'd love to keep it at less than $10-11 a month for the privlige.

Does this exist? Or do i just goto therapy and get over my fear of Quickbooks? I do have Quickbooks 2012 for my MacPro.....Their online version is more expensive then I can afford at the moment.....

Thanks

Conference trip - business or pleasure?

problemspace — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 19:32:53 -0800

I'm a Canadian software developer. I'm going to a conference in the US next month, and I'm not sure what to say when they ask if the trip is for business or pleasure. On the one hand, it's not a vacation - I'm going to the conference to improve my professional skills, and to network with other developers.

On the other hand, I'm paying my own way, and I won't be representing my employer at the conference. I won't actually be conducting any business on the trip.

What do you think? Or does it matter if I answer wrong?

I'm tired of sitting in a leaky rowboat... I wanna run a tight ship!

miss lynnster — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 14:43:14 -0800

I am *finally* getting an assistant to help me tackle my workload and upcoming projects, which has been a chaotic undertaking for one person. She's really smart and retentive in exactly the way an awesome assistant should be... we're determined to get super organized as a team so I want to start off on the right foot and be able to focusing on monetizing instead of answering email all day. Here's my question: what are the best apps/sites/software nowadays to manage and document big workloads, contacts, meetings, tasks brainstorms, and overall projects and stay organized easily as a team? I know there has to be some great new stuff out there that I haven't heard of. We are entirely Mac based: MacBook Pro, ipad, iphone. We'll be managing events, web content, and various other community, writing, consulting and marketing projects. I've got OmniFocus and Office installed, that's about it. Up until now I haven't been really using either much except to check mail and make word docs.

Thanks in advance for your help!!! :D

Case Studies required of Software Business Failures?

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 08:51:42 -0800

I would be interested in hearing case studies for software business failures that have occurred due to one or both of the following factors: - Wholesale replacement of entire engineering staff (e.g. firing all staff in original location and replacing with staff in a new location). - Winding down product development on existing products with the expectation that it will be replaced by a new platform in the future (I'm thinking along the lines of Ashton Tate here and their DBase product). I would also be interested in hearing any examples of where either of these strategies has been put into effect, and it been a success, rather than a failure. Background:
I work for a successful software and services company that is the market leader in a particular field, and has a pretty firm stranglehold on that market. The company has just fired virtually all its engineering staff world-wide working in that particular market, and plans to create a new cloud based version of the (rather specialist) software with staff it is planning to hire in Eastern Europe. I should note that this software portfolio is also integral to the services side of the business; without one the other can't exist (in its current form at least). Internally, it seems like a no brainer that this is a staggeringly bad strategy (though the board clearly seem convinced - perhaps down to the sophistry of the business unit's CEO). I would like to read about where this approach has been taken before in other businesses, partly out of curiosity, but also in case there are concrete parallels or lessons I can ensure are feed up the chain to the board.
Note - this restructuring hasn't been announced to our customers or shareholders (and won't be!), which is why I'm keeping this anonymous.

How to protect idea for database and apps after showing it to someone?

brynnwood — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 02:51:33 -0800

I sent a video outlining an idea I came up with for a DB and series of apps to a contact I made at a big org. I received a terse reply that appeared to be claiming the idea as theirs. What is the best way to respond? In the last month I was invited to attend a brainstorming session for a large organization on a narrow aspect of their business. While I was there, and a bit bored, I had an idea that I believed would be huge for their business, but was off topic of the symposium. I wrote the idea down during the conference and shared it with my colleague, who attended with me. I also mentioned the idea in rough outline to a couple of people in their org , including one very senior person, their President of Digital Stuff, whom I talked to during one of the breaks. They were interested and in one case really enthusiastic, That's a big idea!

The idea is for an opt-in database and series of apps. More than apps, though, the building of this database is the basis for new relationships with this company with retailers and a stream of revenue in its own right.

I decided to made a short video, teeing up the problem this organization faces, and a set of proposed solutions I devised with my colleague, and send it to the senior guy I'd met and one other person there. I didn't provide them all of the answers, but undoubtedly gave a lot of the idea away in what I sent. I did it because I believed those I sent it to would respect the idea's provenance and would lead to a conversation between us about how the company I work for could help them build this. I was probably really naive.

I received a terse reply that said. "Thanks for reaching out. Certainly an area we're working on." No more.

Is there any reply I can send that indicates that I consider what I sent my intellectual property? What is the proper response to a rebuff such as I received? Of course, I have no way of knowing whether they had been working on a parallel set of tools, though no one I spoke to at the conference indicated that.

Help Me Write a Business Plan for Software? I think?

Buffaload — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 07:09:41 -0800

So I have an idea for software related to my industry. I've thought about it, sketched it out, looked at existing/similar products and talked to some friends in the same line of work -- and I still think it's a good idea. Next step is ...? I'm not a programmer. Where do I go or what resources are there to test whether I should take the next step, or at least to figure out how much this might cost? (I assume at some point this would involve hiring a programmer). The end-result of my dreams would be this: I develop (cause to have developed) this piece of software that I could market and sell myself to this niche I'm a part of. Has anyone done anything similar? Read anything relevant?

Sales tracking for a small business?

Equiprimordial — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:31:51 -0800

I am looking for an online or software-based solution to track monthly/quarterly/yearly sales numbers across multiple markets. As a small company, we are not opposed to paying for the service, but cannot afford anything too expensive. Any suggestions on programs you have used?

Affordable, multi-currency small business/accounting software for dummies?

wingless_angel — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 03:27:03 -0800

Affordable, multi-currency small business/accounting software for dummies? I am looking for accounting/book keeping software to manage my accounts. I am self-employed, and live in the UK. However, I need multi-currency friendly software as I bill and receive income in different currencies. I prepare my invoices separately because of client requirements, but invoice generation and tracking might be a nice to have. I use a Mac, but I do have a copy of Windows 7 if a Windows solution is best. I can export OFX files from bank.

I have never been very good at book keeping, and currently do everything manually tracking income and expenses for taxes on an excel chart. I would say that looking after finances is one of my weaker points, so I don't want a really complicated system. I have previously tried out iBank, Moneydance, FreshBooks and stopped using them for various reasons but would be willing to try again if they fit requirements. Prefer desktop based, not cloud or monthly fees.

Any suggestions appreciated. Budget: Up to 200 GBP?

When does the founder need a boss?

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 06:48:17 -0800

I'm the founder of my company, but I think I need a manager. Has anyone been in a similar situation where they actually hired a boss for their own company? I'm a software developer. I've been very lucky over the past few years and my little suite of applications have been quite successful. I've got a group of contract developers that work for me and a dedicated customer service person. I've tried to clear as much of the non-development work off my plate so that I can concentrate on improving the applications. The problem is that I'm not good at balancing my time between business concerns and development. I find myself increasingly heading off on tangents that have little to do with the long-term success of the company. So far my lack of focus hasn't had a negative impact as the products keep selling, but I can tell that I'm just spinning my wheels. The application release schedule has ground to a halt.

My closest confidants (spouse and friends) have suggested I hire a business/product manager.

Any advice from the Mefites on this arrangement?

Any idea how to structure it so that the new hire feels comfortable managing the development (ie me and my work)?

How do I obtain a license to publish another company's old, non-monetized software?

Lakmir — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 11:19:28 -0800

I'm interested in obtaining a license to distribute a modified version of someone else's software from a large multinational corporation. How would I go about doing this? What sort of contracts would I need, who should I contact, and how can I ensure that I get the best deal? Some details: The software in question is part of a larger IP umbrella that has not made the rights holder (Capcom Co Ltd or some subsidiary thereof) any money in at least six or seven years. In fact, this particular title has not been published by the current rights holder; it was transferred to them as part of a large corporate sale in 1999. Further, it was only ever published in Japan.

I am, of course, just one person, and it's kind of intimidating to approach a corporate giant of Capcom's size with a business proposition that might not even make them all that much money. At least at base, my proposal would be to offer to handle all of the publication, advertisement, and distribution details while paying a royalty for each sale - essentially, risk-free money. If they're worried about it flopping their name need not be mentioned except buried in whatever licensing legalese has to be included with each copy.

I guess I'm just feeling really overwhelmed by the scope of this, and I don't really know how to approach it. I want to develop a definite plan of action before I make any rash/drastic phone calls, but I also don't want to let my fear of this get the best of me. Help!

Need advice on shutting down a commercial software project.

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 10:47:07 -0800

I've reached a point where I don't have the desire to continue developing my commercial software product. I need some help on deciding what to do with it. It's supported me for the last 7 years, and I have had many thousands of customers. I suspect that less than 10% of the user base still uses the application though, and annual sales are currently 25% of what they once were.

My first instinct was to open source the entire project, announce that it was ending, and stop taking sales orders. However, the application depends on multiple commercial libraries which I've licensed over the years. Three of those libraries have been abandoned without the copyright owners providing contact info, and two of the components are still being sold and can not be open sourced. Those five components are critical to the application, and there aren't open source equivalents.

With the added complication of the commercial libraries, I'm leaning on just ending the project and discontinuing support after myapp's terms end (basically I agreed to provide email and forum support for 1 year after purchase).

So my thinking is that I can announce the application will be discontinued at a certain date, stop taking sales on that date, then continue to support it for a year, then close shop.

My customers run the gamut from individuals to large corporations, and in some cases I know it's part of an established corporate workflow. I want to help my existing customers, but I can't imagine this thing going on forever.

Any ideas? Have you been in this situation before? What was your expectation as either a customer or a developer?

FWIW, there are applications that do something similar, though not exactly. I cater to a particular industry, and this industry is somewhat ignored by the big players. The application is in the $50-75 range. Why do I want to quit? I really want to do something else with my life now. I've worked 80 hour weeks for years and I've saved enough to take some serious time off. I'd like to wake up and not look at a computer screen. I'd also like to do this in an upstanding way. Throwaway email: shutitdownwithoutwrecking@gmail.com

Good tools for project proposal effort?

olinerd — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:33:38 -0800

Are there good third-party software packages or tools that can be used to manage labor and material estimates during a project proposal process? It's a little bit of project management and a little bit of sales. Specific needs include... (Rough) Inputs:
-- Labor rates by year by type of employee
-- Estimated labor hours by type of employee or by department
-- Labor hours spread by month
-- Tasks
-- Material costs
-- Other costs (travel, subcontractors, etc)

(Rough) Outputs:
-- Total cost
-- Price (based on a specified markup)
-- Staffing model by month
-- Spending model by month
-- Work breakdown structure

The strictest use case is a defense project that has specified a WBS with 150 tasks and needs BOEs and lots of other backup. The simplest use case is a project with 2-3 tasks involving maybe five people.

We currently have a beastly Excel spreadsheet that has no flexibility and can't quite do all of the above very well. If there's something a bit fancier that'll do the job I'd love to hear about it.

Please note that this is a hardware system so actual consideration for materials, manufacturing labor, etc is pretty important -- basically, anything that is software-project-centric probably won't help.

AccountingFilter: ready to get my act together. How?

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 18:20:29 -0800

I'm self-employed. How do I keep my books when I've never kept any books? I'm self-employed as a writer. I usually make less than $25,000 a year. I have never kept any formal books -- or any books at all. I've been winging it for years, by just sending out invoices I create in Word and saving them in a file on the computer. I deposit payments into my bank account (not a separate business account). I've been filing taxes using H&R Block online (based on the 1099s my clients provide), sorting through receipts but often taking "best guesses" for my expenses. I'm ready to get it together but have no idea where to start. Do I need to do anything to clean up my books retrospectively, or should I just find a system for going forward? Any suggestions for software? Should I get an accountant, and how appalled will they be at my current lack of organization? Posting anonymously because this is embarrassing!

The programmer and the tester should be friends?

Anonymous — Sun, 08 May 2011 20:26:03 -0800

Is the relationship between QA and programmers naturally antagonistic? If not, what can you do to get the QA or QC engineers and software engineers to work together rather than try to tear each other apart? I recently took a position at a medium-sized software firm after spending most of my years working for small shops or on my own. One of the first things I noticed is how much animus is mutually held by the QA department and the software engineering department.

The relationship is remarkably dysfunctional -- QA will refuse to accept code, engineers will try to sneak things past QA, both sides yell a lot. In fact, I'd argue that despite both sides saying continually they have the "customers' best interest" at heart, they really care more about this weird power struggle.

Is this normal? Do QA engineers and software engineers normally fight like Mommy and Daddy? Or is the normal relationship less dysfunctional? And if so, how can you make this relationship better?

Admittedly, this could be less the relationship between QA and engineering and more a startup that's trying to transition into being a profitable business. But regardless, this doesn't seem right to me.

(Anonymous to protect me from angry QA engineers at firm who might read AskMe.)

Questioner that just won't quit. HELP!

foggy out there now — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:34:08 -0800

How to deal with a customer that just won't stop asking pre-sale questions? I run a small software company, and all our customer interactions are e-mail based. I have a potential customer that just won't stop e-mailing us questions. We're on e-mail number 38 as I speak. It is basically one-a-day for the last few weeks. It seems the more info we give, the deeper this person tries to understand the product. They seem obsessed with "getting the most" out of the application, even though the application's selling point is frankly its simplicity.

We take a lot of pride in our communications with customers, but in 5 years this is the first time that someone has basically "outlasted" me.

Context: It's a simple web publishing program. We have a 80-page user manual online. Cost is modest (~$50) for what it does. English appears to be their native language, and all e-mails have been in English.

Resources for making US software work in South America

rmless — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 11:45:25 -0800

Could you direct me towards information about what it takes to make a US software product available and work in countries like Mexico, Brazil, Argentina? So my company wants to make a product available in Central and South America, and to start with we need to figure out how to deal with logistical issues like:
-translation
-collecting payment (both front end like Paypal and back end like what do we do about local taxes)
-csv file exportation when people use commas instead of decimals in numbers
-local helpdesk/call centers for support
-I am sure I am missing issues that I don't even know to think about yet

Are there any helpful resources you can point me to so I can learn more about these things and what other companies have done to make this work?

Websites, books, your own personal tips are all welcome. Assume I am starting from square one.

How do I launch my webapp?

tempythethird — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 16:39:22 -0800

How to launch a webapp that derives its value from a community when it has no community? I'm nearing release on a webapp I've been working on for a while. It has a community aspect, though the app is more than just a community.

When it has a community the app will be easier to disseminate and will be more clearly valuable, but I can't pull a community out of my hat. This is a chicken and egg scenario that I'm sure has been overcome many times, but to the best of my knowledge, no one who's managed the trick is talking about it. How does one launch these kinds of apps? How did flickr get started?

And of course I will share it on mefi projects when its ready, but I'd like to have at least a few strategies beyond that.

Microsoft SharePoint - ability to file-share with outside companies/collaborators?

beammeup4 — Fri, 28 May 2010 09:23:09 -0800

Microsoft SharePoint - ability to file-share with outside companies/collaborators? My company is evaluating whether or not to migrate from eRoom to SharePoint. One eRoom feature that is very useful is the ability for an admin to easily provision password-protected file repositories that collaborators around the world can use to check-in and check-out files.

Does SharePoint have this functionality?

References and/or screenshots showing this functionality would be helpful as I'll be making a presentation about my findings, and as much as I trust MeFites, management is a different story.

Do businesses spend way more on software than regular folk?

mpls2 — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:12:23 -0800

Am I correct in believing that the $$ spent on software by businesses (purchased from other companies or developed in house) is vastly, orders of magnitude greater than is spent on "consumer" software (OSs, productivity suites, games, etc.)? Is there data to support this?

Is there software that can help me sell my band's music online?

ejfox — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:46:54 -0800

How can I sell my band's album online? I'd like to use software hosted on my own server so that someone can pay me and get a digital download. We want people to navigate to my band's website, see our bio and album art and all of that, and listen to some previews of our music.

Now I want to let people download the whole album (in a .zip) by either paying me through PayPal or using a "download code" that I give to them when they pay me in person.

My band is also considering a "pay-what-you-want" system, so if anyone knows how that might be executed (similarly to Radiohead's system) I would appreciate pointers in that direction.

I am specifically looking for software I can host myself on my own server. I am imagining a PHP script or something similar, but I am open-minded.

I'd rather not upload my music to a third-party website to sell my music, but if you have suggestions of really great websites that do that I would appreciate those as well.

Thank you so much in advance.

Pros & Cons of bringing web development in-house?

MeatLightning — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:33:22 -0800

Pros & Cons of bringing web development in-house? Hi all -
I manage a mid-size e-commerce website. We currently work with an agency to build and maintain our site. We are considering hiring a dev (C# / .NET, SQL) and taking over development... or at least much of it (still may go out of house for UX, front-end dev).

Anyone have any advice, experiences, warnings, etc they can share?

Have you gone down this road? How did it go? What should we watch out for?

thanks in advance!

Where to find business advice for open source software

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 07:52:38 -0800

Where can I find professional advice on the business possibilities for an open source software project? Is there a good location to ask a very specific question and get an experts advice. Its for a large project, of which 75% is already completed. I've already asked for advice on it from a couple of forums I frequent with no response besides the usual "make it and find out". I need to get a better idea before I dedicate too much more time to it. I just recently discovered a site had developed a hosted version, which might negate my efforts so far.

I need to find somebody who knows the business aspect of these things as i only know software.

So, what do the big boys play with?

converge — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:48:33 -0800

I'm looking for some really good helpdesk software. It does not have to be free. Any suggestions? We're a small IT company with a lot of clients. Ideally, this software would do the standard ticketing/tracking, but I would also like to do time management and billing with it. Also, some of our users will be remote, so it needs to feed the same database over the internet, either in realtime or at the end of the day. Offline use would be nice to have. Windows based. Ideally, it would have ACT integration, but that isn't a must. The ones I've tested so far do not work as described. Is there an industry standard? Thanks, in advance.

Is this the new corporate vanity web site?

ignignokt — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:55:03 -0800

How would I figure out how big the market is for iPhone apps that are basically collections of videos? I've noticed a few iPhone apps that are basically bundles of videos (locally stored with the app on the iPhone) with menus for navigation. They tend to be instructional in nature. Here's a few examples.

I'm speculating about a side gig making this kind of app, but I really have no idea how many other companies would want an app like this made for them. How can I find out?

painting company organization software

jellywerker — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:37:20 -0800

business management software for a painter My boss would like some form of software that organizes his clients. Something where he can create a file and put in a name and contact info, paint color used, etc...

Sort of like a beefed up contacts organizer I guess.

He'd also like to be able to link a picture of the job the the client's file, as well as have some sort of way to input the bid, preferably in a format that he can print out as an invoice.

The ability to organize by date input would be very helpful.

Anyone know of any software that can do this? Or most of this?