How many companies would agree to this?

Question

I'm a web/software developer looking to get clients for my own business.

I'd love to be able to talk to lots small-business owners/directors in any kind of industry, about what their business does, how it works, and where it's perhaps innefficient.

My goal is to find some kind of business scenario in which a software product could drastically improve business efficiency. Once I have that, I'd develop the software for that company entirely free of charge, and once it all worked, get a testimonial from the client.

After this, I'd make the product more general and market it to other companies in the same industry, and hopefully I could build a business around it.

What do you think of this idea? Has anyone tried anything similar yet?

Would there be business owners out there who don't mind having a quick meeting with me? (Completely free-of-charge, of course)

Answer 1

I would say by offering so much for free of charge, you're undervaluing yourself. No business is going to take you seriously if you offer your time for free. Now obviously the initial consultation should be free - especially since you're unheard of. If you end up developing software for them, you really have to charge for a number of reasons:

• They will never take you seriously if you don't
• Not charging destroys the client-consultancy relationship, and it will be easy to lose control of the project. For example, how can you say "We can change the spec but it will cost xxx"?
• Unless you have unlimited capital, it would be unbelievably risky to develop software for free up-front.

Edit Quoting from a comment:

...I don't really know about any industry apart from software/web development. And there's no way I'm going to devote time to learning a new industry, when I don't even know if software will be helpful in that industry.

In that case, the whole idea seems a bit odd. Basically, a lot of what you're doing is consultancy. If you have no industry knowledge, and you're not willing to immerse yourself in each industry you hope to improve and create software for, I really don't see how this plan can work.

Answer 2

In my very modest experience, if a company discovers a way to be more efficient (i.e., profitable) than its competitors, it will go to great lengths to maintain that edge, either by keeping the process a secret or by continuously optimizing it to stay ahead of the competition. It therefore seems like a bad business decision for it to allow you to release/resell the same (albeit modified) product to other companies.

You would need either a lot of leverage to make it happen or to provide a solution so general that it is the value added by the company itself that makes it effective.

Edit: An exception would be if the businesses are either the same, but not directly competing (e.g., restaurants in different cities) or are entirely different but have the same process (e.g., everyone uses some sort of payroll software, I think). In the former case, I am unsure of how much they can afford to spend and in the latter, it doesn't seem like the process in common would be sufficiently central (revenue-generating). There may be exceptions, and clearly this is where your focus should be.

Answer 3

I'd try to start with an industry that you know something about already. You have a better chance of being successful there because you'll be able to engage potential clients as an informed partner rather than as an eager student.

Answer 4

I mean no disrespect to your question, but in a nutshell, it just isn't that easy.

I admire your entreprenurial spirit, however you would be better off learning an industry, or subject matter inside and out by working in it for a few years... at least - maybe as a consultant. You will identify the inefficiencies you are seeking, and learn how applying software may create change. And, you should get paid for this.

Informational interviews aren't going to get you very far without in depth knowledge of the industry in which your subjects are working. If you have no foundation of knowledge to build upon, you'll have a hard time getting more than skin deep and a hard time getting people who are worth spending time with to take you seriously. Maybe this isn't true of all industries/business types... but those that it is true of represent your biggest opportunity.

Good luck.

Answer 5

I think it's a good idea.

It sounds like you're not too worried about making a salary right away. That's good, because you won't. Assuming that's the case, doing a market survey (like what you described, interviewing people etc), and analysis (what's the common factor here?), is a great way to suss out a viable product.

I would go about it as such:

1. Contact lots of small business owners, and ask to interview.

2. Collect user stories about what the biggest time and brain drains they deal with are. Group it by the market, size of company, region, etc..

3. Look for stand out issues in various markets, ideally issues that are cross market, ideally issues that larger companies that have more cash flow deal with.

4. Devise a way to solve the problem with software. Write up a clear proposal for this in short easy to grok terms for business manager types.

5. Follow up with all of the businesses showing them how you think you can solve their problem. Explain that you're willing to let a small amount of businesses into your beta testing program, in which they'd get early beta builds, help QA it, and then end up with a free license. Only sign up a few of them to do that.

6. Write it, then field test it with the beta users, and when they love it, find out what they would have paid for it.

7. Follow up with all the other businesses, and see if they are interested in getting licenses. Sell the licenses cheap for the first year, since they helped with with the survey.

It's certainly a viable plan, if you can stick it out, and get people to pay attention to you. The best way is just to be straight-forward with what you're doing, and make sure you don't waste their time.

Answer 6

I am interested in discussing various business processes that we have if you think you can develop a software from them.

I think this process of discussing should be private and not on stackoverflow.

my personal email is yogiyang007 at gmail . com

Answer 7

One good first step might be talking with your friends and family in different industries and getting your first cache of ideas from people you're already comfortable communicating with. Once you've developed and researched some of the ideas that spawned from those initial conversations, you'll be much better equipped to speak with business owners. Going in cold might prove to be considerably more uncomfortable than what you may be imagining now.

When I first struck out on my own, I tried a similar approach to the one you're describing. I talked with a number of different business owners in the Philadelphia region. I did get a few small clients, but the most valuable part of the experience was developing business communication skills and becoming more confident with my ability to speak about my capabilities to people with very little technical inclination.

I'd talk with people you know first and move forward from there.

Answer 8

Consulting is as much a set of skills, knowledge and experience as software. If you want to do consulting, then you will either need to learn how to be a consultant, or make all the mistakes once yourself, since you will have no one to teach you.

In addition to being a software developer, you will need to know about the following:

Sales
Marketing
Requirements analysis
Estimating
Negotiations
Contract law
Budgeting
Accounting
Public relations
Project management
Risk assessment
Writing proposals
Developing requirements
Writing specifications
Technical support
Collections

I expect they won't be eager to allocate their executive resources to educating you about their business for free. What can you promise them in return? When? How much will it cost them? How much education time will you need before you can say?

Answer 9

In essence you're talking about freelance, and free, Business Analysis.

Offering it for free because you want ideas for a product is a bit of a hit and miss way to do it. You're going to waste a hell of a lot of time sifting through industries and businesses and their myriad technological issues, trying to find something to productise.

And after all this effort you're aiming to make $0 off your initial development. !!

If you're interested in productisation, maybe do something a little more traditional, like fielding contracts until you come across a suitable industry (one that adheres to a particular standard) / solution (one you can implement and productise), then productise it and sell it on, with the co-operation of the company you develop it with.

You'll have to suss out details of IP with the company, if you're lucky they'll simply let you retain it. If you're not you might have to give them a discount. If you're really unlucky you'll have to profit-share.

But, this way you'll be doing your industry research and BA just as you wanted, and you won't be going broke waiting for a golden opportunity.

Answer 10

Sometimes and for some kind of business people, the earnings from a project are directly related to the cost of the same.

If you offer them a 2 million dollar project, that "might" signify, they'll get 4 - 6 million in profits.

If the project cost is 100 dollars, they may be not so interested in make 600 dlls.

The point here, is that for some business people is not the cost, but the profit what matters.

I am not saying that THIS is the nature of all business. Some other will appreciate your model.

Answer 11

After this, I'd make the product more general and market it to other companies in the same industry, and hopefully I could build a business around it.

I think you are making an assumption here: a product for a specific industry can be generalized for other industries. When you do something like that, you are most likely talking about a business function software like a ERP module (ex. CRM). Please consider testing this assumption, it will save your time.

Another point is that efficiency is highly coupled with business process and they are generally unique for each company. And bare in mind that not all companies want efficiency, it really depends on business strategy. For SME, I think they usually use Customer Relationship Strategy because they are usually in a highly competitive market and their intellectual asset is their relationship with their clients. For them, efficiency is not the top priority on their list but customer relationship is. Maybe CRM is a good starting point.

If you think you are improving general business process for everyone, there should be books on standard business process. After all, you might like to research onto how IT will improve process and dig into that topic. Then you will find some good ideas on what kind of innovative technology you want to develop.

More thinking: Please think about what you want to achieve. It is vital because it will give you some direction on your plan, strategy and market.

Consider reading books on entrepreneurship and strategy and they will provide good insights:

Harvard Business Review on Entrepreneurship

Strategy: Create and Implement the Best Strategy for Your Business