Micro ISVs - Selling Software at the Edge of Profitability

I've always been fond of Eric Sink's blog which has a lot of tidbits about running a software business. Lately, Eric has been exploring the world of micro-ISVs. These are software companies that are comprised of only one person.

It's extremely hard to believe that in today's and age that any software business can remain successful and competitive with only one person. I'm sure you can come up with some anecdotal evidence of some people who have beat the odds. However in general it takes an extremely rare individual with extremely rare luck to be able to pull it off.

However after getting some insight on the "Long Tail" and realizing that there's an untapped market out there for the disenfranshised and the low end, I decided to explore this area just like Eric Sink has done. That is I'm coming out with my latest micro-ISV product.

Eric in his latest report has declared a high level of disappointment in his venture. Nevertheless, I'm going to take some of his advice to heart. That is "don't start too big", "don't quit your day job", "don't forget the law of focus" and "don't spend too much on advertising". The rest of his advice don't seem too relevant or important to me. That is people who purchase products don't do it knowing its built by only one person, rather they buy because its useful for them. As far as hassling the users, I have a different product that's based on a subscription so the advice isn't really relavant to my context.

Micro-ISVs have an interesting strategy. The strategy is to as quickly and as cheaply as possible introduce products into the marketplace. That immediately implies that there are absolutley no real barriers of entry. The only barrier of entry is a psychological one, that is, the monetary gains that one can reap in such a venture is so small that it's not worth any company's effort.

There is of course a certain level of efficiency that can be achieved by a single person versus a group. The psychological barrier is whether a individual has the will to consume time on something that reaps little rewards, both monetarilly or intellectually. That in essence sums up my strategy, it costs me next to nothing to develop this, I expect to earn next to nothing and it isn't even an intellectually stimulating activity.

So, without much fan fare I introduce my new product: "Essential Eclipse - The Visual Tutorial". If you have a blog email me and I'll give you a complimentary copy for you to review.

William Grosso wrote about his experience building a Google Desktop shareware product. I'm also hoping to take out of this experience a similar understanding of how to sell software at the edge of profitability.