OnRails.org: Does a good idea make a good business?...One year later!

Does a good idea make a good business?...One year later!

Daniel Wanja — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 05:00:12 +0000

A year ago we started a new venture to create small internet “service” business. We had an idea, and started implementing it Monday nights. I would like to use this blog post to reflect on where we are at. The short story is that a year after we still haven’t released a version and that feels a little frustrating. A year ago I asked on this blog if a good idea makes a good business? I was really trying to think about which of the different ideas we had I wanted to follow. Several people contacted me on the blog and offline, and I liked Pascal’s comment on the question mentioning that it boils down to execution. Reflecting on this, I believe we executed well, we persevered, we made huge progress, we solved many technical challenges, the application starts to look good, starts to work pretty well, is useful, but is not done yet. The main reasons is that we need to build a massive server side infrastructure to support this service. This isn’t as bad as it sounds as today with EC2, S3, and other hosting providers you can create some pretty scalable solutions in a pretty cost effective way, but we need to nail this down before starting to open the service to the public. Now you may wonder why we don’t just doit! This is the reasons why I am writing this post. I’ll be slowing down my “outside normal work” activities over the next several month to focus on our soon to be released child #3. Lee also just had child #1, and it will certainly take him some time to adjust to his new environment and schedule. It wouldn’t be fair to let Sol carry the development on by himself during that time and Lomax, the designer, really needs the developers to get the backend going before adding his magic design touch to the user interface. So I believe focus, patience and perseverance is also required to make a good business. It’s hard to explain in words, but the service we are developing will be useful for many internet users in it’s first iteration, and we already envision the next version that will allow to target online companies and will provide them with a unique service which hopefully will be very profitable for us. So I hope we will pickup the development in a couple of month and just be able to get it out the door. This will then only be the beginning…

Have fun! Daniel.

" Does a good idea make a good business?...One year later!" by Daniel Wanja

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:24:56 +0000

I have some ideas on good tools you could create and build a business around that. Have you hear of Balsamiq’s Mockups application (http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mockups). It allows to build wire frames of an app. A version that would allow to build wireframes of iPhone apps, would certainly sell well. An eCommerce tool that allows to compare shop while browsing anything and searches the same product on others sites…and allow to do parallel shopping…that would be cool, but hard to build.

" Does a good idea make a good business?...One year later!" by gena caspe

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 03:51:42 +0000

can you give me an idea about good business this year?

" Does a good idea make a good business?...One year later!" by Daniel Wanja

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 03:54:48 +0000

Hey Chris,

The invite is on the way ;-). We took a very simplistic approach for some of the background server side processing we needed which just didn’t cut it…even for 4 users. With Lee and Sol we found a simple and very scalable solutions to solve that problem and it’s gonna be based on Skynet, so we should be back shortly on track. Unfortunately working a couple of hours a week on a product doesn’t give us the velocity to fail fast!. Even worth it requires tons of patience, which we still have. I also realize that the project will really come to live with user feedback. Thanks for the cheers and hope to have you soon on board.

" Does a good idea make a good business?...One year later!" by Chris Kilmer

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:52:18 +0000

I know you guys have been working hard to get the project out the door. I also know that you only have 4 users (wonder who they might be :-) working with the system right now. Why not put together a closed beta and start letting a limited number of folks try it out? You don’t need any real infrastructure and you will get some idea of both the product’s appeal and robustness.

Keep up the good work.

" Does a good idea make a good business?...One year later!" by Savoy Sison

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 05:28:41 +0000

We wish you great success in your business ventures!!!

" Does a good idea make a good business?...One year later!" by Alexander

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:18:45 +0000

Why the boom? For a number of reasons, companies are having to work harder to protect their reputation—and, by extension, the environment in which they do business.

It makes me happy to see people willing to develop by their own.

My congrats!

" Does a good idea make a good business?...One year later!" by Compar

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 06:22:22 +0000

I wish you all the best to succeed in your business!

" Does a good idea make a good business?...One year later!" by Georgina

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 09:57:03 +0000

Having good idea is really better. I believe it makes a good business then. It’s the first step to move forward in a business.

" Does a good idea make a good business?...One year later!" by Natashiya

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:38:16 +0000

A good idea can transpire into a good business if you’re really serious to make it work. You have to have the right attitude; you have to be willing to take some risks.

" Does a good idea make a good business?...One year later!" by Pascal

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 05:58:17 +0000

I’m thrilled to hear you are still working at it, Daniel. A year later, I still believe execution is key, but there is something I now think is ever more crucial: geting out and making something happen! So you are definitely on the right track :)

One word of caution, though. Don’t try to make v1.0 too perfect. You can always make it better later. The key is to get something out there and iterate like crazy afterwards…

Cheers!