Tag Archives: business

SaaS: the good, the bad, the ugly

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Which one was Blondie, anyhow?

Which one was Blondie, anyhow?

I’ve extolled the virtues and pitfalls of running a software as a service business. ((Photo courtesy of Rufus Gefangenen)) This morning I discovered a glitch in my SaaS website that, while it doesn’t cause anything to actually malfunction, creates a very obnoxious problem on a lot of the pages.  The site is written in WordPress1 and the entire SaaS component of the site is built out of plugins.23 Basically, one of the plugins creates a form that is used in one of the pages.  The malfunction is that the form is now included on every page.  Ugh.  This is going to be a really fun bughunt because even when I disabled every single plugin, the problem persisted.  Apparently the glitch started appearing about  a month ago – when I last updated WordPress.

Now, I’ve been meaning to just rewrite the plugin from scratch – but I’m also keenly aware of the pitfalls.  My biggest incentive to rewrite the code is so that it is more future-proof.  Another reason to do it is that the original code was written in such a cludgy manner I’m literally ashamed to tell you how it is implemented.  Let’s just say that I originally wrote the core of the plugin after having learned the basics of PHP programming only a few months prior.45 About nine months later, I shoehorned the same code into a WordPress plugin – when I had only been using WordPress for about two months and knew almost nothing about plugins.  Now, more than five-and-a-half years from the day  I launched the site, I do feel I’m a much more capable PHP programmer and WordPress plugin writer.  Confident in my abilities to do a better job and facing the task of having to go through a potentially big bughunt anyhow, some part of me wonders if it wouldn’t be best to just rewrite the damn thing anyhow.

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  1. My first open source love [↩]
  2. Such as the awesome Simple Series plugin, OCD plugin stats plugin, and EZ Creative Commons license plugin! [↩]
  3. How’s that for a plug about plugins? [↩]
  4. Look… it works, okay. [↩]
  5. Mostly works. [↩]

The best part about SaaS

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Do NOT search for "sass" on Flickr

Do NOT search for “sass” on Flickr

I’ve mentioned that I’ve got this software-as-service website. 1 2  Today, while dealing with a tech support problem, I realized what I love most about this type of business.

But, first, the tech problem.  A user e-mails me saying that he can’t log into the site from his iPhone (running iOS6) any more.  First, I try his login/password to confirm they work.  They do.  I have him try refreshing the page – I’ve heard the new iOS sometimes causes weird caching problems.  He still can’t log in.  I try logging in from an iPhone 4 running iOS6 and an iPhone 4S running iOS6.  No good.  I get him to confirm he’s clicking “remember me” when he logs in.  Yes, he is.  I finally tell him I can’t explain what’s going on – I’ve tried to replicate his problem on another iPhone 4 running iOS6, just like his, and I can’t figure out what happened.

He e-mails me a little later to say that he figured out that his iPhone had been set to reject cookies, and thus, he was not able to log in.

Which brings me to the thing I love about my SaaS business.  When someone says the site doesn’t work, all I have to do is confirm that it works in some browser somewhere on the internet – and then I’m basically 99% sure the problem is on their end.  Now, I can help them troubleshoot a problem to a certain extent, but for the most part if my site works in any one browser, it should work anywhere.  I don’t have to worry about their operating system, software conflicts, and other nonsense like that.  Just get to the internet and the site should work.
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  1. Photo courtesy of Sebastián Dario [↩]
  2. Why a photo of a puppy?  Well, I tried searching for a photo that included the word “sass” on Flickr… and I now wish I had not done so. [↩]

Shark + Tank – Lasers

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I watched a show called Shark Tank on the recommendations of a friend.  It’s basically this – an inventor or business person pitches their idea to and answers questions from four or five potential investors who are using their own money.  These investors will either decline or make an offer – combinations of cash, equity demands, business concessions, etc.

I had watched a TV show about inventors a few years ago.  The stories were varied.  From people who spent years of their lives, all the money they had, all the money they could borrow, and squandered it all for lack of just a little bit of market research. 1  Others were people who had pushed their ideas as far as they could go by themselves but couldn’t move them any farther without additional backing, marketing, or connections.

Tonight there was this guy who had raised $600k from friends, family, and an undisclosed angel investor. 2  He had no patent, his now ex-CEO didn’t even try to get him a deal with a major company, and he refused to answer a single yes-or-no question in a straightforward manner.  The best offer he got was to be bought out for about $250k, he would be fired, and he would have a 7% royalty in perpetuity.  He turned it down and was offended.

Here’s the thing I’ve learned about business.  If you’re running a business, you do what’s best for the business.  I rather like my other business.  That said, if I believed the best thing for that business was to cash out and toss the keys to a new owner, I’d do it.  In the words of a famous businessman, “It’s not personal, it’s just business.”  True business, the exchange of goods and services for money, has almost nothing to do with ego.

Um, I wasn’t really going anywhere with this.  I guess I was just really shocked this guy would turn down that offer.  I was surprised that he’d put his ego ahead of his business and business interests.  But, hey, it’s good TV, right?

  1. Seriously.  There was one guy who was pitching this coffee mug that you put grounds into the cap, poured boiling water into, and had instant fresh coffee.  He spent years of his life, thousands and thousands of dollars…  and then was told by a potential investor – on the show – that they thought the idea was brilliant!  And, they thought it was brilliant the first time they saw it years ago in some cold environment where it was literally commonplace. [↩]
  2. I’ve got $5 that says it was his wife. [↩]

Jump in!

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A friend of mine pointed me in the direction of this post about a guy who is making $600/month now after spending just one day on market research, development, and product launching.

I think this guy’s success is epitomizes Guy Kawasaki’s advice – jump in.  You can agonize over a business idea, sketch new logos or designs, talk about your ideas at parties or with friends, but you will never know unless you do some market research and then, if the research is good, actually try.  Yeah, it’s going to be tough and a lot of work – and incredibly rewarding. 1  If it were easy then everyone would do it.

If you have a crazy idea that just might work, I would encourage you – do a little research and then jump in.  It may not work out, but it definitely won’t if you don’t try.  If you need a little inspiration, definitely read Guy Kawasaki’s Reality Check and Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Work Week for some really great nuts-and-bolts plans on how to go from a small idea to a small business in no time flat.

  1. As Dennis Leary would say, get a helmet. [↩]

MakerBot Business Idea #5

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I’ve had a few ideas about how one can build a business around a MakerBot.

  1. Advice for a Makerbot based business
  2. Thingiverse based business idea
  3. Custom plastic cookie cutter business idea
  4. RepRap crowdsourced parts business

Well, here’s my latest idea.  Small custom replacement parts.  Not a new idea, right?  Well, it’s all about the marketing and how you reach and pitch to your target market.  Who is always out looking for small replacement parts?  When they do, where do they go?  What are their alternatives when they can’t find a replacement part?

I found the answers to all of those questions when I needed a replacement window latch.  Here’s the business model:

  1. Print up some universally useful parts, prime examples of your ‘bot’s ability to print
  2. Take said parts to your local neighborhood hardware store and ask to talk to the manager1
  3. Explain that you can quickly and cheaply fabricate nearly any small replacement part out of sturdy plastic2
  4. Ask them if you can put up flyers for your business and maybe even leave a few samples3
  5. Put up a website with a few examples of what you can print, how you solve problems with your Makerbot, things you’ve fixed, things you’ve replaced
  6. ???
  7. Profit!

What do you think?

  1. You’ll probably have much better luck with a mom-and-pop store than a big chain [↩]
  2. Throw or jump on said ABS specimen [↩]
  3. I’d even offer them a percentage of net [↩]

If I only knew then what I knew now

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I’m going to warn you right now, this post has nothing to do with RepRap or MakerBot.

Three years ago I was  unemployed with a big fat mortgage payment.  The year that followed my newfound unemployment was a roller coaster.  I took contract work for others, I had a few small clients of my own, taught myself how to program in PHP/MySQL, built my first website, tried to turn that website into a business, did some freelance programming, and generally did whatever I could do in order to make ends meet.  It was an exciting and scary time.  About a year after becoming unemployed I accepted an unsolicited job offer and have been there ever since.

I wish that I had read Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Work Week and Guy Kawasaki’s Art of the Start back then.1  I just finished reading the FHWW for the first time and I’m glad I bought it.  Like Reality Check and The Art of the Start before it, these are books I’m positive I will be using as reference manuals.  It would have been sooo helpful to have Guy’s book around when I started my first website business.  I needn’t have learn so many lessons the hard way.

The same goes for the FHWW.  Tim’s book includes a lot of advice that would have been invaluable to me as an unemployed entrepreneur-by-circumstance2 .  Basically, when I had a surplus of time and deficit of money.  With a steady job I no longer have a deficit of money3 , but I do have a deficit of time.  Some days I will daydream about what I could accomplish if only I had a little more time in the day.  I won’t know until I try, but the Four Hour Work Week may just be my chance to find out.

Suffice it to say, I’ve read both books and will probably re-read both again soon.  If you’re unemployed or want to start a business4 , you should definitely pick up both of these books.

Okay, back to your regularly scheduled nonsense.  :)

  1. Guy’s new book Reality Check is an updated and expanded version of “The Art of the Start.” [↩]
  2. As opposed to an entrepreneur-by-choice [↩]
  3. And, by no means a surplus!  Haha! [↩]
  4. Perhaps a MakerBot or RepRap based business? [↩]

Advice for MakerBot based businesses

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Pete Hinzy left a comment asking:

I am also attempting to start up a small business with the focus on providing low cost, custom parts. I have one customer now but have struggled trying to “reach the masses”. Any thoughts?

Hi Pete!

Well, you asked for it!

  1. First and foremost, absolutely, positively, get a copy of Guy Kawasaki’s Reality Check.  At $20, it is the best investments you’re going to make in your business, hands down.  This book distills his advice from his several other books and insanely fantastic blog posts on starting a business, business development, etc.  He gives simple actual concrete advice on how to take yourself from someone with an idea to a person who has their own business.  I own two of his books and follow his blog and the ideas and suggestions in his book have been invaluable to me as a small businessperson and entrepreneur.  You’re going to read and re-read this book, refer back to it, pour over it’s index, write in the margins, and dogear pages.  It’s that good.
  2. Invest in your own domain name, installation of WordPress, and a new theme.  It’s cheap and seems more professional.  There are hundreds and thousands of free themes.  Once you get people to your website, you want them to stick around.
  3. Tell people about yourself!  Blog, tweet, and other stuff!  Talk about the things about your MakerBot you’re enthusiastic about.  Your enthusiasm will show through.  Don’t just re-post or post a link to someone else’s information.  Blogs are so much more than that.  Put your own spin on it.  They’re additive forms of communication, people keep building on things others have said or done and contribute to the conversation.  You’ve posted a link because you find it interesting – tell us why.
  4. Every week more and more people are searching for information about MakerBots and RepRap.  What is a MakerBot’s print resolution?  How hard is it to put a MakerBot together?  What do I need to build a RepRap?  Answer the questions your potential customers have and they will come to you.
  5. One of Kawaskai’s best bits of advice is, “Let a thousand flowers bloom.”  Basically, try anything, try everything, see what works, what doesn’t, learn and improve.  I’ve done some prototyping for people with my MakerBot and am now running a pseudo-auction for a 3x2x1 Rubik’s Cube.  I didn’t plan on selling this prototype – but it occurred to me that it was a fairly popular thing on Thingiverse, I won’t have need of this as I work on better designs, perhaps someone would like to own it?  Try out some new ideas.  You could focus on printing small-run custom parts – but what if there’s a better use or market for your MakerBot?  Perhaps you might find it more lucrative to print Mendel or Mini-Mendel parts.  Keep your eyes and ears open for new possibilities and new ideas and new markets.
  6. Use your existing customer.  Ask your current customer what they want, how they use things, how you can help them more, what other ideas they have.
  7. I recently posted the results from my MakerBot poll.  There’s a lot of good information in there about what people like about MakerBots and why they’re interested.  This would be a good resource if you wanted to create a business geared towards these people or just write more content you think they would enjoy.

Uh, that’s it for now

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I’ve exhausted my cookie cutter ideas for the moment.

With 10cm x 10cm square being about the proper size for a cookie,I would point out that cookie cutters are a really fantastic implementation of a MakerBot print.  So much so that I looked into purchasing “CustomCookieCutters.com.”  Don’t bother – it’s taken.  However, it certainly seems like a viable niche business.