The Small Developer
The Small Developer
- Subject: The Small Developer
- From: Jason Moore <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 22 Jun 2002 01:45:00 -0500
Hello all! I just finished glancing over the 30 some odd digests that
had been piling up in my DevList folder in mail (i have them auto dumped
into their own, nicely searchable folder), and i noticed (how can one
not) the thread about protecting software with keys. Don't worry, i have
no intention of re-opening that can of man-eating worms. I would
however, like to pose another question of great interest (to me
anyway)...
What i'd like to know is what it takes to become a successful small
software developer. First, let me clarify what i mean by 'successful'.
Successful to me is defined as making enough in revenue to cover any
relavent expenses and be able to pay the developers a decent salery
(say, around, $40,000 a year). Is there some critical mass a small
developer would need to achieve to reach this sort of goal? Can one
person do it? Do you need a 2 person company? 6 person? 12? What? (let's
assume that the software these people develop is of the quality people
expect from a Macintosh program, and that it does either fill a void or
differentiate itself from competetors enough to be viable)
What i'm looking for is not on advice, but also some numbers. Not exact
numbers, but something. I have yet to find any hard data to be able to
size up the 'small business' developer in terms of how well they do.
What kind of numbers (users that register, support requests, etc) should
a budding small mac company expect? How do you find that balance between
charging enough for your software to be profitable and charging so much
that you start turning away most people because your program is
expensive and doesn't have a well known brand plastered on it?
Some people write programs just because they need it and then give it
away to be nice and help out the rest of us, others (like myself) would
like to make some money doing it (so as to avoid the need for a horrid
retail job to pay the bills, and just maybe the ability to pay for
school without the need for loans). Am i nuts here?
Thanks in advance,
Jason
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