Pivot Tables demystified
Online businesses generate a lot of data. Sales data, marketing data, traffic data etc. Pivot tables can be a useful tool for analysing and extracting useful information from this sea of data. A lot of...
View ArticleA curated list of 200 articles for microISVs and startups
I have been steadily adding to the curated list of links on this site. Currently there are links to 200 articles, loosely categorized into topics such as ecommerce, market research, product naming, Pay...
View ArticleThe microISV test
Ok, so you’ve set yourself up as a one man software company and you’ve made some sales. But are you a real microISV/micropreneur/indie/startup? Take the test below and find out. You checked the number...
View ArticleTestLab² offer
The blog is being sponsored this month by TestLab², a software testing and QA company based in the Ukraine. I have used TestLab² on a number of occasions for third party testing of PerfectTablePlan...
View ArticleCompetition
A couple of years ago I got to drive a Centurian tank. 50 tons of clanking, smoke belching, killing machine. I can only imagine how terrifying it must be for an infantry man up against one of these...
View ArticleAn experiment with Pinterest
Pinterest is the latest darling on the social media scene. Pinterest reportedly hit ten million monthly unique visitors faster than any other website. It is currently claimed to have some 15 million...
View ArticleFarewell to software on CD?
I currently offer a CD as an optional extra when customers buy my wedding table plan software. I have put stamps on so many CD envelopes that I might instinctively lick the Queen’s face if I ever met...
View ArticleMonetization: Ads vs Toolbars vs Charging
I believe that the best way for most small software vendors to make money off their software is to charge for it. So I was interested to spot a post on BOS by someone who had tried ads, toolbars and...
View Article33 tips for giving great technical support at a small software company...
To have the best chance of success you need a great product, great marketing and great support. Many companies with great products and marketing fall down on the support. Good support is essential to a...
View ArticleHow to sign your Mac OS X App for Gatekeeper
If a prospective customer downloads your software onto Mac OS X 10.8 and it hasn’t been signed, they will see a scary warning: Not good. To run unsigned software they need to go into Mac OS X...
View ArticleThe world’s fastest Rubik cube solver is made from Lego!
CubeStormer II is the fastest Rubik cube solving robot in the world. It set a Guinness World Record of 5.270s for the fastest robot solving of a Rubik’s Cube in November 2011. I saw it in action on...
View ArticleBuying a lean, mean, compiling machine
Nearly two years ago I wrote an article about speccing my ultimate development PC. Somehow there was always something more pressing to do. But I finally took delivery of my shiny new PC this week,...
View ArticleVAT basics for software vendors
The dreaded VAT. Ugh. Value Added Tax (VAT) is the European equivalent of sales tax and it is a Royal Pain In The Arse. However, if you are running a business that makes sales in Europe you need to...
View ArticleFirst impressions of the Retina 13″ Macbook Pro
My table planner software runs on Windows and Mac. Previously I took a Windows laptop with me when I was out of the office or on holiday, so that I could provide technical support to my customers. But...
View ArticleDarkMarket
This book is an interesting and disturbing glimpse into the world of cyber-crime, particularly online credit card fraud (‘carding’). It also touches on related areas, such as cyber-warfare. It is...
View ArticleHow I increased sales 50% by adding extra price points
How much should you charge a customer for a product? From a pure economics point of view – as much as the customer is willing to pay. The airlines are masters of this. The people on a typical...
View ArticleThe 1% fallacy
Here is how to make a fortune writing software: Pick a large and established software market e.g. back-up, anti-virus or customer relationship management (CRM) software. Write a new product for that...
View ArticleThe brutal truth about marketing your software product
We tend to hear a lot about software industry success stories. But most of us mere mortals have to fail a few times before we learn enough to succeed. In this guest post William Echlin talks about the...
View ArticleEphemeral
My grandfather worked most of his life as a stonemason. Much of that time was spent restoring the ruin of a Bishop’s palace in Sherborne. His work is still visible long after his death. The work of the...
View ArticleThis blog’s sixth anniversary
I published my first blog post 6 years ago today. I didn’t even notice the fifth anniversary of this blog, so I am going to indulge myself today instead. 277 posts, 3459 (non-spam) comments and over...
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