I wrote a great software library for specific web development problems back in the dotcom boom.
I learned a few things, much of you hear already but is worth repeating :
* The MVP thing is real. I had a competitor that regularly released simple things that barely worked - while I continued to polished my project. By the time I'd finished the competitors stuff was all over the internet few a year or two and no one was really interested in my product. Plus by then the dotcom boom was pretty much starting to bust - I was way too late.
* Developing software is the easy part. I figured when I was done people would be lining up which is of course naive. Selling and support is harder and takes more time and effort than writing code.
* Writing software for developers sucks. No one wants to pay for anything as there is usually a cheaper way of doing it. The exceptions being big firms that really don't like small independents. Its better to write software to solve real problems - not software problems.
I learned a few things, much of you hear already but is worth repeating :
* The MVP thing is real. I had a competitor that regularly released simple things that barely worked - while I continued to polished my project. By the time I'd finished the competitors stuff was all over the internet few a year or two and no one was really interested in my product. Plus by then the dotcom boom was pretty much starting to bust - I was way too late.
* Developing software is the easy part. I figured when I was done people would be lining up which is of course naive. Selling and support is harder and takes more time and effort than writing code.
* Writing software for developers sucks. No one wants to pay for anything as there is usually a cheaper way of doing it. The exceptions being big firms that really don't like small independents. Its better to write software to solve real problems - not software problems.