Ataraxis Software & Pudding, R.I.P.

I started this blog in May 2005. I created the Ataraxis Software, LLC company around September 2005. I kicked around a few ideas (Project Management app, Requirements Management app) and technologies (OpenLaszlo, Java, RealBasic), finally settling on an idea centered around, "electronic review and approval", and the Ruby on Rails platform. On June 8th, 2007 I was able to release 1.0 of Pudding.

A lot happened in those 2 years.

I got married, bought a house, got promoted to management at my day job, bought another house, sold the first house, and went through most of my wife's pregnancy (my daught was born about a month after Pudding launched on 07/07/07). These are not exactly activies you can "phone-in", if you know what I mean.

Trying to balance the day job, life, and building a product was insane. Most people in the software industry will tell you that taking 2 years to develop a web product is just blame dumb. And they're right. The lapse in time allowed a much more feature-full competitor to build, release, and grass-roots market their product. When I first saw ConceptShare I knew my opportunity to be the first and only product in this space was lost, and ConceptShare's drawing tool was a giant leap over what Pudding would be offering. (Before I saw ConceptShare I actually debated with commenters on this blog over it was a good idea to allow your clients to draw on your comps. ConceptShare is doing it, and they seem to be doing well!)

I knew I needed more help. I recruited a couple of friends to work on Pudding with me. There was a few discussions about what we were going to do, and a bit of code written. Unfortunately, I think they both lost interest. So I was back to just me.

Early last year I was ready to shut Pudding down. I was just completely burned out and I knew I couldn't keep up with the competition. They were working full time. They were a team of (I think) 3. I was still working a full time job during the day, and hacking away on Pudding at night and on the weekends. Before I threw in the towel, a buddy of mine offered to join the company. I accepted and we set the course to build an amazing Pudding 2.0. This kept me going for months. My partner was writing a bunch of code, and we were really headed down the right path.

Unfortunately, life once again got in the way. My partner hasn't been able to spend time on Pudding since about March or April.

This caused me to de-scope the 2.0 plans into a 1.5. Around June of this year I was about 95% of the way toward having a release ready. Unfortunately, around the same time I became very unhappy at my day job (well, I was always kind of unhappy at that place of employment). I started aggressively looking for a new job, and I found a fantastic position with Disney's Interactive Media Group, supporting the Walt Disney Resorts & Parks Online division. The down side of this transition was that the first 6 months on the job had me working on getting a gigantic project out the door, and man was it exhausting.

I've essentially done nothing with Pudding for the past 6 months, and I've decided that I need to stop lieing to myself. I'm just not going to be able to build a competitive product "in my spare time". I know it has happened for some people, and I commend these people for their accomplishments, but I've literally proven that I can't.

Not to mention, ConceptShare isn't the only source of competition these days. Recent entries in the market are Getsignoff and proofHQ.

I've had various subscribers to Pudding over the last year, just never enough to cover all my costs. My biggest thanks goes out to one client, Mr. John Lanza. He was incredibly patient with Pudding. He'd report bugs and provided a ton of feedback on the application. He was even nice enough to give me some quotes for my marketing site.

"I’m so glad I found Pudding. Pudding provides a cost-effective, super-simple solution to a sometimes complex problem – getting feedback and approval from clients. It’s VERY easy to get up-and-running with Pudding and the service is INCREDIBLE. I can’t stress this enough – the SERVICE IS TERRIFIC! I made a suggestion to change how text was displayed and the site was changed within a day."

-John Lanza of Snigglezoo Entertainment

"I really like the website and I think it is a very efficient way to communicate about changes and approvals for different products. I like the fit to screen/real size option and the comments section. Overall I really think the website is an effective way to communicate. ... I love the site!"

-Jaclyn Marcella, a client of Snigglezoo Entertainment

AtaraxisSoftware.com, ProjectPudding.com, and the main Pudding application at AtaraxisPudding.com should all be going offline soon. (Maybe by time you read this blog post.) I canceled all my clients subscriptions and informed them of this about 2 weeks ago.

I've learned an incredible amount over the last 3 years. I read a million articles and books on entrepreneurship, running a business, managing software and marketing. I became a better programmer and UI designer. I've been able to funnel all of these learnings back into my day job, which I attribute to my continued upward climb in my career.

I feel really weird about letting Ataraxis Software go. I had such a burning desire to start a software company, build an amazing product, and grow them both over time. That desire is still in there somewhere, but I think I'm going to take a few years off and focus on family, my day job, and my Xbox 360. :)

The next time I try building a product, I'm going to seek funding, quit my day job, and build it full time. I know funding has a bad rap, but it's better than just working a regular job-type-job, right?

Well, I guess it's time to say good-bye.

Thanks to everyone who has commented on this blog over the years, tried and paid for Pudding, and entertained the idea of joining Ataraxis Software. An extra special thanks to my wife Amy for putting up with this dream of mine for so long - I love you honey!

I'll probably do 1 more post on this blog before I leave it to collect dust (if it doesn't have enough dust on it already). I want to show everyone what Pudding 1.5 was going to look like. I think it was turning out to be a pretty slick app and I just want to show it off.