Ian's, "4 Rules for the Practical Entrepreneur"
If you're trying to start your own business, you might be interested in Ian Landsman's lastest blog post, "4 Rules for the Practical Entrepreneur". Ian contrasts a "visionary" and a "practical" entrepreneur.
My journey toward my own software company has been a mix of both. Bouncing between the two. My first idea coming out of college was a "visionary" new service, today it would be called a social networking service. Unfortunately my grand "idea" was a lot better in my head than it was when I tried mocking up the UI. It was also so frigg'n big (and complex) that I didn't (at the time) have the ability to implement it.
After that expierence kind of blew up in my face I decided to go the practial route. Web-based Project Management software. The first few months of this blog covered the start of my journey, so I won't rehash the canceling of the PM project.
My latest project is a web-based service for design companies to upload their work so their clients can review, comment, and eventually approval the pieces. I think it fits into the "practical" mindset. I don't think it is as safe of a bet as PM software, or Ian's own Help Desk software. But, I've identified it as a need of real people I've spoken to, and I think it's small enough of a project to finish in a relatively short time frame by 1 person (me).
I'd love to act on more of my "visionary" ideas, but frankly I need a revenue stream that can support me while I work on the riskier stuff. That's what I hope to achieve with my first few products/services. Get something out, and build from there...
Anyway, just wanted to share the link to Ian's story and give it a little of my own context.
My journey toward my own software company has been a mix of both. Bouncing between the two. My first idea coming out of college was a "visionary" new service, today it would be called a social networking service. Unfortunately my grand "idea" was a lot better in my head than it was when I tried mocking up the UI. It was also so frigg'n big (and complex) that I didn't (at the time) have the ability to implement it.
After that expierence kind of blew up in my face I decided to go the practial route. Web-based Project Management software. The first few months of this blog covered the start of my journey, so I won't rehash the canceling of the PM project.
My latest project is a web-based service for design companies to upload their work so their clients can review, comment, and eventually approval the pieces. I think it fits into the "practical" mindset. I don't think it is as safe of a bet as PM software, or Ian's own Help Desk software. But, I've identified it as a need of real people I've spoken to, and I think it's small enough of a project to finish in a relatively short time frame by 1 person (me).
I'd love to act on more of my "visionary" ideas, but frankly I need a revenue stream that can support me while I work on the riskier stuff. That's what I hope to achieve with my first few products/services. Get something out, and build from there...
Anyway, just wanted to share the link to Ian's story and give it a little of my own context.
posted by Michael Sica at
8:46 PM
2 Comments:
Hey Michael,
I really like your new product idea, and think you'll be able to find a good niche with it.
If I could make an application design suggestion, based on past experience with something similar, it would be to think in terms of "queues."
Good luck!
Thanks Mike.
I'm digging the idea you stated on your blog as well. I was going to build a requirements management application before this "designer" tool. I decided to go this route because of the scope.
Good luck and please feel free to drop by this blog anytime and leave a comment!
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