4 ms·

Balsamiq Mockups is a good example that microISVs are still viable. At least, Peldi (the founder and sole dev initially) started off solo some years ago, was so

by vram22 10y ago

Balsamiq Mockups is a good example that microISVs are still viable. At least, Peldi (the founder and sole dev initially) started off solo some years ago, was solo for a while, and became successful while still solo. Then got some employees over time due to more growth. http://balsamiq.com http://balsamiq.com Source: I read about Balsamiq Mockups soon after it was created, used it in some commercial projects as a consultant/freelancer, corresponded some with Peldi, and also got a free copy of Mockups early on, for having released an open source product. He had a scheme of giving a free copy to such people. May still have it. Edit/update: IIRC, he initially had the idea of doing Mockups as a web app plugin (for JIRA, maybe), and did it, but a lot of people asked for a desktop app, so he did that too, and I remember reading that at least in the early years (maybe now too), the desktop app sold much more. I used the desktop app in my work I mentioned.

vram22 10y ago
Another good example of a successful microISV (I just remembered) is Andy Brice (in the UK), the creator of Perfect Table Plan, a wedding seating planning software. He has been an ISV with that as his desktop app product for over 10 years, IIRC. First got to know of him via his blog: http://successfulsoftware.net http://successfulsoftware.net and have corresponded with him too on a few occasions. He has many interesting / useful posts about the ISV business on his blog - on many aspects - from technical (he uses C++ and Qt) to commercial, though more of the latter, IIRC. I've read many, and found them interesting. Just got one today in my email, in fact. It's about how one-day sales helped him boost his sales some. (He tries various marketing / sales experiments now and then.) Another interesting thing is that he reviews or interviews other microISVs and their products sometimes - those posts are interesting too. There was one about a file compare tool which was doing quite well - Beyond Compare. He also started another desktop product, HyperPlan, much after the first, and I read that it too is doing okay.

by vram22 10y ago

vram22 10y ago

Another good example of a successful microISV (I just remembered) is Andy Brice (in the UK), the creator of Perfect Table Plan, a wedding seating planning software. He has been an ISV with that as his desktop app product for over 10 years, IIRC. First got to know of him via his blog: http://successfulsoftware.net http://successfulsoftware.net and have corresponded with him too on a few occasions. He has many interesting / useful posts about the ISV business on his blog - on many aspects - from technical (he uses C++ and Qt) to commercial, though more of the latter, IIRC. I've read many, and found them interesting. Just got one today in my email, in fact. It's about how one-day sales helped him boost his sales some. (He tries various marketing / sales experiments now and then.) Another interesting thing is that he reviews or interviews other microISVs and their products sometimes - those posts are interesting too. There was one about a file compare tool which was doing quite well - Beyond Compare. He also started another desktop product, HyperPlan, much after the first, and I read that it too is doing okay.