3 ms·

I liked this line: "the government is a very large customer with very bad software." It could also be written like this: the government is a very bad customer

I liked this line: "the government is a very large customer with very bad software." It could also be written like this: the government is a very bad customer with very large software.

jacquesm 12y ago
Ditto 'the enterprise'.
- rjanoch 12y ago
  Yes at the surface. However, I think there are opportunities in enterprises at the lower levels or through guerrilla style tactics (e.g. Yammer). Through a combination of free and price points that allow individual or middle management authorization there are opportunities.
bradleyjg 12y ago
Selling to governments is very difficult and time consuming. The company I work for has spent over a year now trying to get approved to sell our software to the NYC schools (not land a sale, just get approved to try to land sales), and it looks like we may have hit a dead end.
- wmeredith 12y ago
  You may find some catharsis in this essay I wrote many years ago... Why the DMV Website Sucks: http://wademeredith.com/2011/05/why-the-dmv-website-sucks/ http://wademeredith.com/2011/05/why-the-dmv-website-sucks/
- yaur 12y ago
  One of the previous places I did some freelance stuff for solved this by partnering with a vendor that was already on the approved list.
  - johan_larson 12y ago
    So there is an opportunity here for a company that does nothing by handle the ugly administrative stuff on the government end, presenting a cool hacker-friendly work environment on the other? And pocketing a hefty cut for the service, I presume. Sort of a general contractor with very different inside and outside cultures. "Yes, we launched it and it works. We have a great technical staff, and we've won some very lucrative contracts. We called it EnterpriseAdaptor, thinking the geeks would go for that but everyone persists in calling it CondomCo."
    - yaur 12y ago
      Interesting thought. One of the challenges will be that they look at stuff like how much capital you have and how long you have been in business. There are a number of companies that can help you (Lockheed Martin, CSC, and IBM being three) if you find yourself in a position where you have something you need to sell in to government and don't have the credentials to land the contract directly. They do essentially what you describe... take a cut off the top in exchange for doing some of the paper work and taking some of the liability if things go awry.
danielweber 12y ago
There was a company advertising on HN's latest "who's hiring" about specifically improving government IT. They don't seem to respond to email, though.
glowstickhero 12y ago
"the government is a very bad customer" is better statement of the problem. The real problem with government is the system of software procurement and management. This includes decision makers who often play favorites and often have zero expertise or sound counsel to leverage in making key technology related decisions. The healthcare exchange is not an exception to the rule. It is the status quo of most government technology related initiatives.

I liked this line: "the government is a very large customer with very bad software." It could also be written like this: the government is a very bad customer with very large software.

jacquesm 12y ago

Ditto 'the enterprise'.

rjanoch 12y ago
Yes at the surface. However, I think there are opportunities in enterprises at the lower levels or through guerrilla style tactics (e.g. Yammer). Through a combination of free and price points that allow individual or middle management authorization there are opportunities.

bradleyjg 12y ago

Selling to governments is very difficult and time consuming. The company I work for has spent over a year now trying to get approved to sell our software to the NYC schools (not land a sale, just get approved to try to land sales), and it looks like we may have hit a dead end.

wmeredith 12y ago
You may find some catharsis in this essay I wrote many years ago... Why the DMV Website Sucks: http://wademeredith.com/2011/05/why-the-dmv-website-sucks/ http://wademeredith.com/2011/05/why-the-dmv-website-sucks/
yaur 12y ago
One of the previous places I did some freelance stuff for solved this by partnering with a vendor that was already on the approved list.
- johan_larson 12y ago
  So there is an opportunity here for a company that does nothing by handle the ugly administrative stuff on the government end, presenting a cool hacker-friendly work environment on the other? And pocketing a hefty cut for the service, I presume. Sort of a general contractor with very different inside and outside cultures. "Yes, we launched it and it works. We have a great technical staff, and we've won some very lucrative contracts. We called it EnterpriseAdaptor, thinking the geeks would go for that but everyone persists in calling it CondomCo."
  - yaur 12y ago
    Interesting thought. One of the challenges will be that they look at stuff like how much capital you have and how long you have been in business. There are a number of companies that can help you (Lockheed Martin, CSC, and IBM being three) if you find yourself in a position where you have something you need to sell in to government and don't have the credentials to land the contract directly. They do essentially what you describe... take a cut off the top in exchange for doing some of the paper work and taking some of the liability if things go awry.

danielweber 12y ago

There was a company advertising on HN's latest "who's hiring" about specifically improving government IT. They don't seem to respond to email, though.

glowstickhero 12y ago

"the government is a very bad customer" is better statement of the problem. The real problem with government is the system of software procurement and management. This includes decision makers who often play favorites and often have zero expertise or sound counsel to leverage in making key technology related decisions. The healthcare exchange is not an exception to the rule. It is the status quo of most government technology related initiatives.