Any marketing specialists/business men out there?

[meleader2]

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i recently got a piece of software i wrote copyrighted and am actually very very nervous.

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To start, I would like some clarification on a few items... you got this piece of software from somewhere, or you actually wrote it yourself? If you wrote it yourself, was it for a school project or simply for your own purposes? Universities have very strict rules as to establishing ownership of a piece of software created during your time of study. Additionally, you say that it is copyrighted. If so, where and with whom did you obtain this copyright?


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i wrote it on my own time and i got it copyrighted through a 3rd party attorney (the school would do it for free but would take 60% of the profits...and pay for the marketing.)

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it is something that (at least it seems) the audience i am focusing on needs.

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This doesn't seem like a very positive outlook to me. You say "at least it seems" that people need your software. You really need to analyze the potential market for your product. I am not really a marketing guy, but it doesn't seem to me that you really understand everything that you are about to get into. I would hate to see you incur expenses to get your project going without having any idea who to sell your product to.

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my audience is not computer literate in the least. when googling for information on what i wrote to see if i had competition...i was coming up with nothing. i've already sold 2 copies with the DISTINCT impression that it was a "lifesaver" to have this software. my audience talks to each other and i would assume they would tell each other if there was a piece of software like this available...they spend 200 hours or MORE a year trying to get something done and my application does it in < 5 seconds.

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i was told i could get away with selling it for $500 a pop, but am settling to do it for $300 to attract smaller companies.

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Again, who told you that you could get away with it for $500, and did you calculate $300 yourself or you just take that number out of thin air?


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i was told by the woman who asked me to write it (not for the rights, just for a copy of the program when completed).

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my question is (and i'm sure it probably won't be answered) what is the likelyhood of being run over by some competition like Microsoft if and when they get wind of this area of software development being an untapped resource.

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Without knowing anything about your software, this is still really easy to answer. You will eventually face competition, that is how the system is set up. You have to create your product in a way that it is not easily copied. For example, there had to be a person who came up with the idea for online gaming. But obviously, there is no way to prevent competition because it isn't difficult to create this software. You need a comprehensive business plan for your software, even if you are the only person running this business. Thinking out lots of possibilities is a good way to understand the business at hand. I could go into this a lot further, but it probably will not be much help. The last thing I will say here is that there is an exit strategy for every business. With software, it might be best to eventually have your product purchased from a software giant. Many of the original business partners make millions off such transactions and never have to work again. If you want to keep running the business yourself, you obviously still have to work Where do you see your potential business is 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, etc.


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i've obviously considered this, and this application might take 2 years to become regularly used (due to frequency of use), so within that time frame i would suppose i would definetly give it up for a million...or two.

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i'm a complete newb to marketing as well, i'm a comp sci student super senior status and i feel like this is my way out to become independently wealthy yet if i MESS THIS UP it will fail.

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My strong recommendation is that you find a business partner, likely a person from your school, who is willing to partner with you. It doesn't sound like you have any idea about business related items, and if you don't want to screw this up then you should get some help from someone who does. At my school, there is an entire entreprenuer program that links the people with the ideas, such as yourself, to the people that knows how to market and sell the idea. This would be ideal for you.


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i'll look into that, thanks.

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i need all and any thoughts for marketing and protecting myself.

thanks in advance.

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Lastly, we don't know anything at all from you except you have this software that people might need and you don't want to be overtaken by Microsoft. I don't know how to help you because I don't have any information that I can use to effectively give you recommendations. The best recommendation I can make right now is that you partner with someone who knows about startups or has a business background.

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thanks a lot, i'll be looking into that.

[meleader2]

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Go out and get the book called "Crossing the Chasam" its about marketing high-tech and software products. It will give you a lot of excellent insight in to how to sell your product. Here are some salient points from it:

1. Specialize it and sell it to a target market that will use it and become depenedent on it - figure out ahead of time what industry that is. (health care, engineering, medical, etc.) IDENTIFY YOUR TARGET MARKET.

2. As said earlier be ready and able to customize, provide upgrades and support to your early adopting purchasers so that it works as they need it too - they are the ones most likely to a. buy it again and b. refer it to others in the industry.

3. spend a few bucks on marketing, packaging, the manual and online support/help/forum/etc. people need to feel like they are buying something that will be around for a while.

4. provide excellent customer service and support, be generous with refunds to unhappy customers and thank your best customers sincerely.

there's a lot more but that is just off the top of my head - go get the book, TODAY!

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i will thank you!

[midas]

Meleader-

The first thing you need to to is find someone with experience. Networking in your area through lawyers, accountants, venture capital firms costs nothing and can produce great information sources. In addition, any good college with a business school has some kind of small business assistance program that can help as well. Finding someone to be your business partner may seem expensive in the beginning but in reality is cheap in the long-run.

Also, you mentioned selling you software to small businesses. Staples and OfficeMax are the dominant players in this market-make sure your product can fit into their distribution strategy.

If you want more info or contacts PM me directly.

[James Boston]

I don't know anything about software sales, so you'll have to educate me. 1) Is this going to be downloadable only, or actually packaged for sale in retail stores? 2) Is it strictly for business applications, or home PC's as well? 3) Are you capable of mass production if necessary?

Your best bet seems to me to be to try I find people/companies who think they can sell it, and sell it to them. I really don't know anything about software wholesale or the costs of mass producing software, but these are the things you need to be looking into.

[daveymck]

The one thing to add is dont feel you have to hold on to 100% ownership of the product a lot of inventors want to hold onto a high percentage of the company dont be scared to give up 60-70% of the company/product if you get the right people onboard 30-40% of a multimillion doller product is better than 100% of one that sells a few thousand $ worth.

If you can get proof of sales via flyers or a small ads in local press to get a bette idea of takeup etc and then get proper people onboard to take over.

This then leaves you free to develop other products etc as well.

[ptmusic]

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Well I can't help you.

But you've come to the right place.

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Yeah - no fans of intellectual property theft here. [/sarc]

-ptmusic

[Quercus]

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i wrote it on my own time and i got it copyrighted through a 3rd party attorney (the school would do it for free but would take 60% of the profits...and pay for the marketing.)


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I hope you didn't pay to have that done, since copyrighting software is doesn't cost anything and requires essentially no work on your part.


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it is something that (at least it seems) the audience i am focusing on needs.

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Do they need it or do they want it? Two very different buying cycles.

Are people using it now? Could they imagine how they ever managed without it? Is it a desirable application or a necessary evil?

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my audience is not computer literate in the least. when googling for information on what i wrote to see if i had competition...i was coming up with nothing. i've already sold 2 copies with the DISTINCT impression that it was a "lifesaver" to have this software. my audience talks to each other and i would assume they would tell each other if there was a piece of software like this available...they spend 200 hours or MORE a year trying to get something done and my application does it in < 5 seconds.


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How many potential customers are there? If someone spends 200+ hours a year doing something that now happens instantly, you are not charging enough. You are putting a value on their time of $1.50/hr. They will put a larger value on it.

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i was told by the woman who asked me to write it (not for the rights, just for a copy of the program when completed).


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If she told you $500, its worth more than that. Customers will never tell you how much they'd actually pay for something. Only how much they'd HAPPILY pay.

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i've obviously considered this, and this application might take 2 years to become regularly used (due to frequency of use), so within that time frame i would suppose i would definetly give it up for a million...or two.


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Focus more on selling a few more than two copies before worrying about how much you'd accept to be bought out. As someone who has raised well north of $100 million for a variety of software startups, I can tell you that the gap between "we are going to kick so much ass" and actually kicking said ass is very, very wide.