tptacek makes some valid points in regards to securing revenue. You must have heard of The Lean Startup and like most people get confused about what a MVP real

tptacek makes some valid points in regards to securing revenue. You must have heard of The Lean Startup and like most people get confused about what a MVP really is. The vision behind building a MVP is to identify the most valuable prospects (that make you money) and to get that to the market earliest. As soon as the MVP starts generating revenue, any further development requires less out-of-pocket investment because the revenue generated will be substituting the cost. This allows for more breathing room to automate, improve, reduce waste, innovate and grow the product. The biggest secret regarding business is possibly the concept of perceived value. Perceived value is not about 'faking' value, instead it is about defining it. Example being, instead of charging $ x per hour for web development; break it up into different tasks and charge accordingly: website design, graphic design, copywriting, SEO, marketing (social media, ppc/ppv), system design, consultation (ex. to determine best path forward), training, support, analytics, business analysis etc. Once you have defined the tasks involved, you can be honest with your client in terms of your strengths and every task will be judged according to its merits (what defines success?). Most clients would prefer paying a qualified copywriter the same amount (or less) than he would be paying a non-qualified web dev. Defining what you do will allow you to reduce waste and distribute work more easily on your team. The real trick behind successful software development/consultation is the focus on building systems instead of services. Systems being defined workflows concerning components and participants, focused on re-use. Because lets be honest, real software design reuse either require building generic systems that allow for all scenarios (or can be extended) or defining interactions and components (ea. a design 'pattern').