Month: October 2005

John Gruber (via Ash Mishra):

I suspect that many Mac users — as well as some aspiring developers — have only a half-conceived notion of the economics involved with becoming a successful indie Mac developer.

The basic idea is that a developer comes up with an idea for an app, implements it, ships it, and starts selling software licenses for, typically, around $20-40 a pop. If he can sell 1,000 licenses in a year, that’s a nice hobby. Sell 2,000, and he’s getting close; at around 3,000 licenses per year, revenue is probably in the ballpark range of a full-time salary. (Keep in mind, however, that, say, $80,000 in software license revenue results in much less personal income than a job with an $80,000 salary; salaried jobs tend to come with things like health insurance.)

Arun Natarajan:

Business Week has a cute little quiz to help wannabe entrepreneurs find out if they have the stuff.

Jared Cosulich:

I really had no idea how lonely it would be to try and start a company by myself… I am very passionate about this project, dedicating every waking free moment I have to it, and I know that it would never work out if I tried to partner with someone who didn’t have the same passion for the idea. I also think that it would tough to start a company with someone who had significantly more years behind them and experience than I did as it would be difficult to see eye to eye on controversial decisions.

John Jantsch:

Look, this post is hard for me to write. I like to think of myself as an NPR kind of smart guy, but I have to tell you that the one place I turn to keep myself rooted in how the world thinks and buys, you know, marketing research, is PEOPLE magazine.

Peter Rip (via alarm:clock):

I think there is a real Entrepreneur Bubble these days in Internet software. Step A is seductively easy – buy some servers, write some code. Just understand that 10-100 other teams around the world are doing the exact same thing. How will you sustainably differentiate yourself? What will you do when 15 other similar sites appear in the next 12 months?

2006 Winter Founders Program:

Y Combinator is now accepting applications for the 2006 Winter Founders Program. The WFP is like our Summer Founders Program, but takes place in California. It will run from January through March 2006.

Startup Wiki:

This is the Startup Wiki for discussing and collaborating on all aspects of the startup life.

Greg Yardley:

Kevin Hale of the ever-excellent ParticleTree is at Paul Graham’s Startup School in Cambridge, and taking very extensive notes. Kevin, thanks for this.

Michael S. Hopkins:

Let’s compare notes. Here’s our tally of the diverse ways the culture, the economy, and entrepreneurship’s own history are combining to make this a great time–the best time, in fact–to be building a business.

3i (via alarm:clock):

The international venture capital and private equity industry has a language all of its own. To help beginners we have created a guide to the jargon.