Software Business Start-up Memories

Against a backdrop of high failure rates within the first five years of business, the authors of this volume ask 'what decisions in the early part of a business start-up are perceived as fundamental to the success of companies in the software industry?' Through detailed interviews and analysis of 16 successful software companies, the authors consider this question and establish four categories of decision-making: * shaping the company; * developing the product; * establishing the market; and * going international. The findings in this book show that the decision category 'shaping the company' is the most consistent in its presence among the decisions that are made throughout the entire start-up life of a business, followed by the decisions that relate to 'establishing the market'. The authors present an early-life decision model for software entrepreneurs to provide a complete, simple and attractive summary of the different decision types and categories that influence the success of a product software company. With this model, software entrepreneurs have a reference containing critical business areas for decision making. Entrepreneurs can use this model as a guiding beacon for the decisions they make in their company.