Simon Willison’s Weblog

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Items tagged business in 2013

Filters: Year: 2013 × business × Sorted by date


What should be my strategy to become a tech entrepreneur?

Go and work for an early-stage startup. Pick well and you’ll learn a ridiculous amount in a very short space of time: excellent preparation for later striking out on your own.

[... 47 words]

Is it possible to run a successful company without being unethical or operating on the fringes of the law?

There is nothing inherently unethical about entrepreneurship. Find a problem people have. Figure out how much money solving it will save them (or help them make). Charge them less than that.

[... 108 words]

What should be my minimum requirements for a cutting edge SaaS business product?

That depends on your customers. If you’re building software for banks or hospitals you probably need to support older versions of IE. If it’s for software companies or web freelancers, requiring a modern browser version is fine.

[... 56 words]

What are some creative ways to pitch a new initiative to my team without slides?

Use a whiteboard.

[... 24 words]

What is the real risk of pirating Microsoft software as a startup business vs an individual user?

I agree with David S. Rose—integrity matters. Look in to BizSpark.

[... 108 words]

How can I sell an idea to investors?

At minimum: build a prototype. If you really want then to take seriously, launch a first version and demonstrate traction.

[... 34 words]

What’s an idea worth?

I like Derek Siver’s model proposed here: http://sivers.org/multiply

[... 77 words]

How can I successfully organize a conference?

PPK’s conference organisers handbook is crammed with useful advice on running this kind of event: http://www.quirksmode.org/coh/

[... 30 words]

What do business people look for in a good business card?

I like to encourage writing on business cards—which means that the card shouldn’t be glossy (to ensure pens work on it). Our business cards, designed by my partner Natalie Downe, actually have a labelled “notes” area on one side of them.

[... 98 words]