alexkearns

Congrats on a great product. I developed an SAAS calendar service - https://www.chronoflocalendar.com - which alas has not proved very successful, thus far. So is heartening to hear that it is possible to make a living out of calendar software. There is hope for me yet!

Brings back fond memories. That was the book that got me started programming. I didn't even have a computer at the time but loved reading about the games and trying to understand the code by going through it in my head.

That's certainly true. Boshirov's photos also show a mole above his right eye. This is missing in the Chepiga photo. But that does not prove they are not the same person as a mole or mark could potentially have appeared later in life. What's your opinion on the likeness, btw?

I don't see any reference in the article to a trained government analyst having confirmed the resemblance. And where do I claim to be more qualified than anyone in this?

I think a bit skepticism is due here. Their "proof" that Chepiga and Boshirov are the same person rests almost solely on a supposed strong resemblance between a photo of Chepiga taken in 2003 and photos of Boshirov from 2009 and 2018. I have stared at the photos for a long time and I am not sure they are the same person. Chepiga's eyebrows and bottoms of ears look different. I am not saying that they are not the same person but neither am I convinced they are.

Thanks for taking the time to comment. At present, we are still working out how people might use our software. But we would definitely consider licensing it to third parties to incorporate into their products - probably on an annual license fee basis.

With regards Google calendar, you can display Google calendar events in a ChronoFlo calendar via our iCal feed option. See the below blog post for further details on this: https://www.chronoflocalendar.com/tutorials/entry/make-a-bra...

Submitted this again as I did not get any responses last time :( Would love some feedback.

You can view alternative calendar designs here:

* https://www.chronoflocalendar.com/calendar/shared/2691/88266...

* https://www.chronoflocalendar.com/calendar/shared/2701/88266...

* https://www.chronoflocalendar.com/calendar/shared/2702/88266...

Here's some links to full-screen calendars built using ChronoFlo Calendar:

https://www.chronoflocalendar.com/calendar/shared/2691/88266... https://www.chronoflocalendar.com/calendar/shared/2700/88266... https://www.chronoflocalendar.com/calendar/shared/2701/88266... https://www.chronoflocalendar.com/calendar/shared/2702/88266...

I am the developer of this. I built this because I couldn't find any nicely designed embeddable calendars. Happy to answer questions.

I've been looking for one. Where are you based?

That is the book I used to learn programming. The funny thing is that I got the book several years before I got a computer. I would in effect read through the game programmes and play them in my head - the simpler ones, that is.

When I view your website in my browser (safari 5.1.10 on Mac OSX 10.6.8), the home page refreshes every second or so. This is unlikely to be good for your servers.

I use both Rackspace and Linode. Both have been pretty good but Rackspace has been phenomenally reliable - I'm talking 100% uptime for the past couple of years (according to Pingdom) for my main service. Linode has been less reliable, though not bad by industry standards. I am planning to launch a new product next year. Will definitely be using Rackspace for it - that reliability is worth the extra expense and lower spec.

Now he has the story he needed for his app.

This is a really useful article on a rarely covered aspect of running a small start-up. Thanks.

I have individual teachers paying $100 a year for software I have created. You should definitely charge for that main account, or limit the functionality of the main account (ie, they can only create five private accounts) unless they upgrade. You have put a huge amount of effort into your software - and it looks really professional. You've got to charge. Or at least give people the option of being charged.

Looks really good. Why don't you offer a 30 day free trial and then charge a monthly or yearly fee. If you don't try to make money out of it, you won't make money out of it.

Great article and perfect timing - I have just submitted my first app to the Mac store. Two questions:

You mention in the article that some of your customers amended bad reviews - did they do that on their own volition or did you encourage them to do so.

Is there any way of contacting people who give you bad reviews, so you can help them with the problems they are having, and hopefully get them to give you a better review?

The beauty of being both a coder and designer is that you can conceive, build and launch a product completely on your own. This makes setting up your own start-up (or lifestyle business) a lot simpler.

My advice for any developer who wants to do their own start-up is - once you have reached a good standard - to forget honing your development skills and start learning to design.

Learning another programming language or mastering another object orientated design pattern does not bring you much closer to being able create a product yourself. Learning an entirely new but relevant skill like design does.

I think you are wrong here. How do you know that single-founder-tech-guy-and-computer businesses are so vanishingly rare?

Small businesses, at least in the UK, do not involve that much bureaucracy. You hire an accountant to deal with that.

And, seriously, you don't need to put back-breaking effort in for years to create a (non-consulting) lifestyle business. I used to work with a developer who coded a niche social network on the train to work each morning. The site now makes him far more than he ever did working as an employee.

There are plenty of other niches where developers can make good money. Competition does not work like you think - it is nowhere near as intense as you seem to think and, regardless, there is room for more than one player even in a niche market, if all you are aiming for is a lifestyle business.

Sure, there is no free lunch, but it ain't anywhere near as hard as you are trying to make out. Other readers, don't let this guy put you off setting up on your own.

Most developers don't aspire to run a crazy dominate-the-market-or-implode VC-funded start-up. They just want to run a little life style business that will pay them well and allow them to work on what they want. This is what you are competing against, not their "romantic notion of doing a start-up".

And it is not that difficult for decent developers to create such a life-style business. Certainly, no where near as hard as you suggest creating a start-up is.

Such lifestyle businesses might include a SaaS, a few iOS Apps or a consulting business. I have such as business myself. And I know personally other developers who have done the same.

Lifestyle businesses don't have to be hard. They don't even necessarily require you to speak much to customers (if your products are games in the app store, for example). And you really don't have to work that hard, if you don't want to.

You only have to work hard if you create a business that makes you work hard (ie bet on winning big with dollops of VC cash). Try creating a business that doesn't require you to work hard, and you may - surpise, surprise - find you don't actually have to work that hard.

I disagree. The front page design is perfect. Clean, simple and elegant. Those who can't work it out aren't going to use it anyway.

How do you intend to make money? You could end up with a significant server bill if lots of people start using the service.

Great service, btw!

Just because you focus on the product does not mean you ship bad code. Nor does a focus on the code mean you ignore the product. I see it more of a philosophical thing - what excites you most? Writing a highly efficient, perfectly formed piece of code; or creating a product that others use.

I think some programmers focus on the code, while others focus on the end product. It is a philosophical difference. The first make great employees. The latter make great start-up founders.

Our web app has recently been hit by a Google algorithm change. Search traffic has fallen off a cliff. If it continues, it could be a threat to our business.

We have never done any underhand SEO. We haven't done any SEO at all. People love the app but now, alas, they can't find it.

Ironically, just before we fell out of the search rankings, a Google developer evangelist got in touch to say how much they liked our app and that Google would like to partner with our app on an upcoming initiative.

If there are any Google engineers here who would like to help, I'd be most appreciative.

http://www.gambolio.com - $0 a month

http://www.casualgirlgamer.com - $200 a month

http://www.musicgames.co - $5 a month

http://www.tiki-toki.com - $5,000 a month

http://www.peopleplotr.com - $100 a month

I make extra licensing some of my software but that does not count as recurring income and can vary massively month to month.

He is missing one thing a great start-up engineer should have: a great big chunk of equity, preferably all of it.

I have found StumbleUpon to be by far the best way of generating traffic. It won't work for everyone. Don't bother using it for B2B stuff. But if you create quirky fun content aimed at consumers, it can bring a lot of eyeballs to your site. And you don't even have to pay for ads. Bulk-standard link submissions can work very well.

I have a blog that I have not updated for more than a year that still pulls in 100,000+ unique visitors a month via StumbleUpon.

One of the tricks is that once you have a viral article on StumbleUpon, you can use that article to promote other articles, in the hope that they too will be voted up and become viral in turn.

I also did not get what Binpress did straight away. It took a good ten seconds or so to figure it out. I think the problem is that one's eye is drawn to the 'Featured' section rather than the 'Build better software' product-explanation section.

I personally would dedicate the entire 'Featured' and 'Build better software' block to the 'Build better software' product description, and move the 'Featured' area below.

I agree with you. Not cool at all. Unfortunately, there is an unpleasant trait that hackers seem to suffer from more than most other people. I call it the 'know it all' complex.

Know-it-alls are intolerant of views that are contrary to their own, usually very narrow opinion on how things should be done. Woe betide anyone who does not do it their way.