I've been working my way through UNSCRIPTED , and finally I feel like I have a map to success. As it seems, I'm only getting more clarity by doing stuff- in other words, if I don't make moves I learn nothing and literally cannot move forward until I do something and analyze the feedback or my thoughts on the topic. So I'm trapped in a positive cycle. My business will revolve around selling a specialized accounting/financial program.
June 2017
Built a working prototype in Excel. Took a fair amount of time because I aimed to make it as unbreakable as possible, and as streamlined as I could (i.e. no wasting of space with large "calculation sheets", etc).
Present
I had planned to sell it as an Excel package. After posting here, thinking about pricing justification, value skewing, and realizing that I can't build a brand off an Excel addon, I have decided to turn this into a fully fledged desktop executable. Fortunately, the majority of resources I have can transfer over, along with my development of problem solving skills and information gathering. I believe C++ will be the most suitable language for me to build this in (since it plays well with other niche languages I need to make my value skews stronger). I've already started learning.
Planning wise, I definitely think I should pursue this. Although searches for my app's category rank from 1-10K a month locally, that's still a lot of money, and my pricing model can also adapt to a type of subscription. After a question thread on reddit, I'm uncovering blindspots and inefficiencies with existing market solutions. Having worked with two of the mentioned existing solutions myself, I have additional insight. Saturation does exist, however I've got two/three really good value skews that I think will push me ahead, assuming my base app is really solid. I'll open the business to people locally first, and then once I've covered some ground here, I'll open it to the internet. CENTS analysis looks solid as well but two caveats I'll have to plan for.
Learning to Code?
The sentiment/impression I'm getting from a lot of site material is that it's a waste of time to do that for web, let alone for a full desktop app.
I believe efficiency is king, and if I can do/learn something fast, I will. What I learned from becoming proficient at excel is that what affects your learning speed the most, is the books, resources, and information you use. Given this, if I select the right starting points, I could build the app and know C++ competently in 6-10 months. Learning a language suits my pre-existing talents and skills, and I trust myself and the knowledge I will develop over a freelancer. Knowing one will give me total control, instant changes and I can manage the flow, process, and style of the program. The time is a small price to pay for something that will pay off huge dividends in terms of money and time saved from freelancers in the future. It also forces me to commit to starting a business, and allows me to shift into "solution selling" if my product fails.
I also want to start this business with zero debt incurred and keep it that way. Call me idealist, but I hate the concept of debt and I'm going to do my best to make a debt-free launch happen. I've got my budget and it looks possible.
From here, I'll continue to develop my programming knowledge. Between learning, I'll be studying up on some major/heavily theoretical concepts and books related to my value skews. Beyond that, I'll be making notes of businesses who already have the value skews I'm aiming for, and I'll work on how to improve what they've got.
June 2017
Built a working prototype in Excel. Took a fair amount of time because I aimed to make it as unbreakable as possible, and as streamlined as I could (i.e. no wasting of space with large "calculation sheets", etc).
Present
I had planned to sell it as an Excel package. After posting here, thinking about pricing justification, value skewing, and realizing that I can't build a brand off an Excel addon, I have decided to turn this into a fully fledged desktop executable. Fortunately, the majority of resources I have can transfer over, along with my development of problem solving skills and information gathering. I believe C++ will be the most suitable language for me to build this in (since it plays well with other niche languages I need to make my value skews stronger). I've already started learning.
Planning wise, I definitely think I should pursue this. Although searches for my app's category rank from 1-10K a month locally, that's still a lot of money, and my pricing model can also adapt to a type of subscription. After a question thread on reddit, I'm uncovering blindspots and inefficiencies with existing market solutions. Having worked with two of the mentioned existing solutions myself, I have additional insight. Saturation does exist, however I've got two/three really good value skews that I think will push me ahead, assuming my base app is really solid. I'll open the business to people locally first, and then once I've covered some ground here, I'll open it to the internet. CENTS analysis looks solid as well but two caveats I'll have to plan for.
Learning to Code?
The sentiment/impression I'm getting from a lot of site material is that it's a waste of time to do that for web, let alone for a full desktop app.
I believe efficiency is king, and if I can do/learn something fast, I will. What I learned from becoming proficient at excel is that what affects your learning speed the most, is the books, resources, and information you use. Given this, if I select the right starting points, I could build the app and know C++ competently in 6-10 months. Learning a language suits my pre-existing talents and skills, and I trust myself and the knowledge I will develop over a freelancer. Knowing one will give me total control, instant changes and I can manage the flow, process, and style of the program. The time is a small price to pay for something that will pay off huge dividends in terms of money and time saved from freelancers in the future. It also forces me to commit to starting a business, and allows me to shift into "solution selling" if my product fails.
I also want to start this business with zero debt incurred and keep it that way. Call me idealist, but I hate the concept of debt and I'm going to do my best to make a debt-free launch happen. I've got my budget and it looks possible.
From here, I'll continue to develop my programming knowledge. Between learning, I'll be studying up on some major/heavily theoretical concepts and books related to my value skews. Beyond that, I'll be making notes of businesses who already have the value skews I'm aiming for, and I'll work on how to improve what they've got.
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