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I'm a little sad to read this article. Are you always in a position where slow growth eventually means slow death? Or is it possible to find a niche where you

by geebee 17y ago

I'm a little sad to read this article. Are you always in a position where slow growth eventually means slow death? Or is it possible to find a niche where you can emphasize craftsmanship, quality, and a decent pace? The reason I ask is that a lot of software developers actually like the idea of working for a small, highly profitable firm that stays, well, small and highly profitable. If it is possible, what are some of the strategies you can employ to identify and/or hold on to this niche? BTW, when I say "small", I don't mean small in the sense of total profits or number of users. I mean "small" as in craigslist small - a company that can keep the headcount low, avoid employing lots of non-technical workers (like sales people), and hang onto what makes a "small" company such a great place to work.

hello_moto 17y ago
Not many owners have the mind of Craig. Most owners of small businesses I worked for didn't settle for a nice beach house, they want a yacht too! and they want it fast! like ... tomorrow. I blame humans for being greedy.
- geebee 17y ago
  Eh, I wouldn't really "blame" someone for wanting those things (some would say greed is good, others (like me) would say that the honest pursuit of wealth isn't "greedy", but a lot of that just comes down to how we define the word). My question is for those people who actually prefer to stay small - how you can find a strategy and niche to make this possible. I suspect that a big part of it is how and where you sell. Vendors of for-pay developer tools need to convince a corporate procurement department to hand over the cash, whereas craigslist merely needs to convince people to post want ads, either for free or for very small payments. As a result, I suspect that the "sales people" approach wouldn't do much for them. Joel went with the micropayment thing for a while, but maybe his space isn't a really great one for a small niche-company? Hard to say, since developers are a pretty unique group of people who might work well as a niche market?

by geebee 17y ago

hello_moto 17y ago

Not many owners have the mind of Craig. Most owners of small businesses I worked for didn't settle for a nice beach house, they want a yacht too! and they want it fast! like ... tomorrow. I blame humans for being greedy.

geebee 17y ago
Eh, I wouldn't really "blame" someone for wanting those things (some would say greed is good, others (like me) would say that the honest pursuit of wealth isn't "greedy", but a lot of that just comes down to how we define the word). My question is for those people who actually prefer to stay small - how you can find a strategy and niche to make this possible. I suspect that a big part of it is how and where you sell. Vendors of for-pay developer tools need to convince a corporate procurement department to hand over the cash, whereas craigslist merely needs to convince people to post want ads, either for free or for very small payments. As a result, I suspect that the "sales people" approach wouldn't do much for them. Joel went with the micropayment thing for a while, but maybe his space isn't a really great one for a small niche-company? Hard to say, since developers are a pretty unique group of people who might work well as a niche market?