When putting together a startup for Software Engineering web based applications/systems, what would you consider to be a good mix of talent, when trying to find partners? This mix would involve defining the product and market, defining, implementing and validating requirements, and making the product polished and production ready. And...
This is specifically focused on a startup hiring its first employee, but also applies more generally. 37Signals says remote works well, but other people say only hire locally. This seems like a related question but is not exactly the same. ...
During practice of customizing VirtualPathProvider, I found that it the custom VirtualPathProvider can be registered in Global.asax or in AppInitialize method according to MSDN http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.hosting.virtualpathprovider.aspx. However, MSDN doesn't clearly describe the method AppInitialize. Does any s...
Hello, My friend and I are going to develop a new commercial web project. We have a kind of a document that lists all the things that we want to have and we are wondering what is the best way to actually start coding it. The thing is that we used to develop software either in solo-mode or join some projects that were in the middle of de...
My startup is planning to work with a recommendation system developer company to improve our product. The only problem is, that they wouldn't like to give us the source code at the end of the project because of the unique algorithms implemented. We plan long-term co-operation with this team, but the recommendation engine is a core part ...
Hello everyone. I'm just finishing up over 6 months of thought and labor on a project. The impact of my web app will send reverberations through-out the internet, for sure in terms of the technological idea behind it (it will definitely make TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb, etc), and, hopefully, reverberations with day-to-day users of the int...
I believe that In the past the decision as to how to deploy your application was largely a technology / architecture problem. How must I implement my code to best solve the technical problem at hand? Now I believe it is much more of a market decision. How can I reach the biggest market? What type of software do people now pay for? T...
I am thinking of opening my own start-up but my friends & family always advise me to do my freelance projects parallel for sometime and then leave my day job. My argument is: I am not able to give 100% to my freelance work becuase of my full-time day job, hence my freelancing work is affected and sometimes I feel that I don't have it in...
Jeff Atwood founded stackoverflow.com after leaving his previous position at Vertigo Software. He also enlisted the help of programmers moonlighting from their current jobs. He saw his idea through to fruition and it has shown promise as we are all benefiting from his efforts. A lofty goal was achieved with the right parameters (Jeff's...
If I was a webservice, such as Twitter, how does creating an API for people to access my data help me? I can see that they are extending your service to areas that you might not have the resources to expand to (in a way extending your own service), but is it worth all of the bandwidth and infrastructure costs associated with giving acces...
It has often been said that selling software is harder than writing it. With aspirations of having my own software firm one day I often wonder if I could sell the software I write and/or my services as a software developer. I will be relocating soon and have been thinking about my options. One idea I have thought of is taking a job in s...
I'm building a web application (Java/Flex) that I hope to one day sell, but am aiming for a private beta to start with. I've been looking for some resources that explain the mechanics of processing a user's registration and payment, and then making the web app aware of that user's credentials and entitlement, but have yet to find anythin...
I work for a start up that is currently researching what programming language they will adopt. The following criteria have been identified by management. The language will be used to develop web based applications. Having a system that allows for easy generation of business reports would be a bonus (iReport, Crystal Reports) Longevity...
I developed a handy little application that can help a lot of people. I would like to sell it for a few dollars/license, but I do not have any infrastructure for hosting or big money for advertisement. What do you suggest, where should I start? EDIT: I would also like to come up with a very catchy name, I need a (preferably free) nice ...
From the perspective of a software developer, given both opportunities, what are the benefits to either of the following: 1: Start a new software development company with like-minded programmers or 2: Start a new group within an established software company Assume that both would involve work in the same technical domain, and that O...
I always have heard this motto from many entrepeneurs: do what you are passionate about, do not do anything just for money! I agree on the money as a mean of interchange, but nevertheless I consider that as an important factor. What do you advise/think, IT entrepeneurs: focus on market/money or just what you are passionate about? ...
I am throwing puzzle of my mind towards community leaders for some answers. We friends decided to build products which already have some big names in the industry. Our motto is not to beat all those players (As we can't), but to develop basic product which is cost effective for some segment a customers. What we are trying to achieve in...
Is there some common method or methods they use? I can't believe they go to agencies because you just don't seem to get the really really good and passionate developers from those sources. So where is it that they go? I realise that a certain percentage of startups won't even need to look because they already have contacts that they ca...
I know Environment.TickCount exist but I have a big problem with that, it's limited to 25 days. what would be a good alternative that require no external module/dll and would work in a vanilla install of windows server 2003? thanks ...
I have this java swing application that I intend to sell over the internet. At the moment I'm leaning towards deploying the application using java webstart. The product will be licensed for the user to use the program on one computer at a time only. I am concerned about piracy with this model. I would like to install some security fe...