I plan to have a series of posts about
The Business of Software
by Michael Cusmano. I had already read his earlier books “Microsoft Secrets” and “Competing on Internet Time” before I started off on this one. This book provides the foundations for thinking strategically about a software business. Here is a list of questions that are posed for every software entrepreneur:
- Do you want to be mainly a products company or a services company?
- Do you want to sell to individuals or enterprises, or to mass or niche markets?
- How horizontal (broad) or vertical (specialized) is your product or service?
- Can you generate a recurring revenue stream to endure in good times and bad?
- Will you target mainstream customers, or do you have a plan to cross “the chasm”?
- Do you hope to be a leader, follower, or complementor?
- What kind of character do you want your company to have?
While this book has very strong academic foundations it also contains priceless anecdotes. Here is one from Chris Peters that I really agree with
Everybody in a business unit has exactly the same … job description, and that is to ship products. Your job is not to write code, your job is not to test, your job is not to write to specs. Your job is to ship products … You’re trying not to write code. If we could make all this money by not writing code, we’d do it.