Business for programmers. How to start your own business

Many of the readers of Habrahabr would like to open their business and stop working for the “uncle”. But how to do that? What dangers does it pose? Answers to these and other questions can be found in the excellent book “ Business for Programmers. How to start a business .

It was written by Eric Sink , a former Spyglass developer, founder and CEO of SourceGear , one of the major version control software providers, and MSDN columnist.

The main theme of the book is how to start and develop your small independent software vendor company. Eric breaks this task into several traditional components: how to become an entrepreneur, people, marketing, sales. But each of them views through the prism of the programmer's perception. For example, cites the following advice for finding ideas:
Idea FindGoodProductIdea ()
{
ArrayList candidateList = BrainstormLotsOfIdeas();
return ChooseTheBestIdea(candidateList);
}

Eric Sink reveals all the questions on the example of his own experience as the head of a software company, where more than 50 people work, and as a developer of the variation of solitaire, Solitaire , which they write and promote themselves completely.
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He gives life advice. It seems that to make a business plan, consider your income and expenses, then divide the first into two, and multiply the second, then it will be “more like the truth.” He teaches how to get rid of the black-and-white “view” characteristic of programmers, 0 or 1, and ask the right questions: “instead of“ Will people buy this product? ”You have to ask yourself:“ How many people will buy this product? ”. Not less than half of the book is occupied by advice on the maintenance of the software business, and not any other. Sink tells why in a small company developers are needed, not programmers, about the benefits of hackers and the importance of choosing a platform.

This book is not an ode to entrepreneurship. The author even writes that if you can not do your own business, then do not do it. If we’re thinking it up, then don’t rush into the pool immediately, but write your product quietly in the evenings and always have a “plan of retreat”.

The book is written in a living language and is not devoid of humor. Its easy and pleasant to read. One of the chapters “ Mathematics of Career ” gives a good idea of ​​the author’s style, the translation of which was published on Habré about a month ago.

In general, the book gives a comprehensive picture of the main business issues and will be very useful for beginning entrepreneurs, especially programmers, but not only them.