Design and Development

The recent trend of new businesses moving towards software or, more specifically, the web, seems to lead more and more would-be entrepreneurs into falling victim to the myth that building a solid product is necessary and sufficient for success. Some would go so far as to believe that cool technology alone does the trick. Many from-thesis-to-market product failures demonstrate the naiveté of current entrepreneurial thinking. All to often, we are led to believe that awesome products sell themselves.

Conversely, the other end of the spectrum finds no shortage of MBA’s looking for “code-monkeys” to implement their visions. The mode of thought here centers around the million-dollar idea, from which execution supposedly willingly falls into place. Here we are led to the believe that awesome ideas lead to awesome products that sell themselves.

The code-monkey and MBA both fall prey to the instant-noodle brand of business development: “1) idea 2) build 3) ??? 4) profit.” Battles are fought over whose position is more important, the tech guy or the biz guy. Techies are all too-often devoted to proving themselves to be in no need of the MBA types, while the business minded are just a lost looking for hired guns to prototype a lost cause. Lost in all this back and forth is the unerring truth that none of it matters.

For centuries on end, entrepreneurship as been defined outside the lines of technology. Look up “define: entrepreneur” on Google and the common theme that arises in each definition is the word “risk”. Not “new hot technology”. Not “brand new business idea”. While it can never hurt to have new hot technology that powers a brand new business idea, it is neither necessary nor sufficient to get a business off the ground.

The age old fact of entrepreneurship is that there is so much more to “risk” than the product and its development costs. Establishing or building your market, generating or growing revenue, finding distribution channels, building a sales pipeline, hiring the best talent, and all the other caveats that come with building a business are just as important as product development. A true entrepreneur must wear all these hats, not just the product one. A recent blog entry by Tony Wright talks about the product guy vs. business guy with the conclusion that a good product entrepreneur should grow into a business role. While I agree, I would have to say a great entrepreneur can never take off either hat.

Be a business that sells a product, not a product that happens to be a business. Be an entrepreneur that builds business, not a product person that happens to be an entrepreneur.

There was an interesting article I came across titled “12 Killer Ways to Make Extra Income On the Web“. The article is interesting because there was only really 1 killer way that is even worth mentioning, and that is “Freelancing”. All of the other recommendations are either a waste of time or require much more effort than simply getting paid to produce good work. The age old “do-work-for-money” will never go out of style. If you’re good at what you do, of course you should be getting paid well to do it.

However, like all marketable things, your personal time is something that you should price with careful consideration. Unfortunately, there is one business model that is cropping up across the web that is counter to this. These sites (typically targeted towards logo or web design) allow you to submit entries for a chance to win a small cash amount ranging from several hundred bucks to maybe a thousand dollars for a winning entry.

Without being religious about NOSPEC, my advice is to steer clear of these “contests” unless you are simply trying to get your feet wet with design (or whatever industry you’re jumping into). There are various reasons that people throw around, but in my opinion, if you don’t value your time and effort, why should the client? If you really undervalue your work that much, maybe it’s because you consider yourself an amateur and not a professional. Also, on the flip side, clients that flock to these sites typically have no appreciation for the good work that professional designers can produce. As a friend of mine once aptly described it, it is like these folks couldn’t tell the difference between interior design and interior decoration.

Show respect to your own profession, lest you sarcastically post a blog entry entitled “Why I hate freelancers.” Whether it is web design or software development the good clients out there are looking for real professionals, not amateurs.