The best advice I ever received about raising money

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Enough said ;-)

Chris Anderson (Editor, Wired):There *is* such a thing as a free lunch!

David Bloom recently pointed me to Chris Anderson's latest project, a yet-to-be-published book tentatively titled FREE. Chris wrote an article on the subject for Wired, then ran an offer to give away the magazine for free (it's no longer available, sorry). I really enjoyed this interview that he did with Charlie Rose (Michael Arrington from TechCrunch was also on this episode, so that's why his picture is below).

As you might guess, nothing is really free; but Chris makes that point that we have shifted to what he calls the "attention economy". Attention is very, very valuable, and that is what consumers "pay" for the services that they use on the internet. The challenge, of course, is monetizing that attention...

The Real Reason We Joined Automation Alley

In this community, startups have a dizzying array of programs to help them get off the ground. At DevHive, we have taken advantage of several of these programs, all of which were helpful. However, at some point, you reach a saturation point. You simply can't bear to sit through another 60-minute lecture on how to identify your target market. So when the Automation Alley approached me and asked DevHive to join their association, I kind of put it on the back burner.

However, an acquaintance at another startup recently told me that the best thing they had done at their company was to join Automation Alley. Not only did he feel like the networking was invaluable, but he told me a story about how, one day, another member popped in from out of the blue and handed them a list of all his target customers. He was blown away that someone would be so helpful. Now that got my attention. Prospects and networking with real businesspeople...those are real reasons to join a professional organization.

Thank you, Salesforce, for Spreading the PaaS Gospel

Yesterday's WSJ had an excellent article on Salesforce.com's vision for the future of software development. Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, talks about Salesforce's long-term commitment in the long-term to Platform-as-a-Service [emphasis added]:

So our first 10 years were all about making [software as a service] mainstream. I think our second 10 years will be all about making the platform-as-a-service mainstream -- and I do think it will take that long.

Also yesterday, Robert Scoble--reporting from the World Economic Forum in Davos--posted a video interview with Marc Benioff. Again, Marc talks extensively about force.com, Salesforce's web platform and restates his commitment to it as the future of software.

When talking to people about DevHive, I get asked a lot about Salesforce.com (in fact, I got asked about them this morning). My answer is simple: we LOVE that Salesforce.com is committed to Platform-as-a-Service. Why? Because they are evangelizing the concept to every customer, every analyst, and every writer that they talk to. They are creating a market that will be bigger than just Salesforce, and everyone in the space profits from their work. Second, DevHive has real, valuable differences from the Saleforce.com platform:

• DevHive's platform is built on open standards. Salesforce.com is built on proprietary technology. They have created their own programming language, proprietary data services, and so on. This is *not* a bad business strategy (see: MSFT); however, anytime the market supports a proprietary solution, there is room for an open alternative.
• DevHive's component repository addresses the real pain with custom application development--the cost of people. 90% of the cost of a custom application is people, not infrastructure. DevHive's component repository enables developers to reuse code, cutting the cost and time of development in half. Salesforce does not offer anything to match that functionality.

As a result, at DevHive we are cheering for Salesforce. Every article that they get published in WSJ...every interview they get with Scoble...means that more and more people hear about, understand, and believe that Platform-as-a-Service will change the way that enterprise software will be built. And that helps us all.

Bees Used for Load Balancing

My twin brother sent me a link to some research from Georgia Tech that has applied research on honeybees to load balancing for internet servers. Pretty cool stuff. I've always been interested in how phenomena from nature can be leveraged for man-made

What can I say, we think alike (and look alike, and talk alike, etc.) Having a double in this world rocks!

Joel's Pareto Rule for Software Development Careers

Joel Sposky recently gave a presentation to CS students a Yale and proposed a Pareto Rule for software development careers. According to Joel, 80% of the available programmer jobs are for "in-house software", and the remainder are for commercial software. Joel's career advice was to do anything possible to avoid ending up in the "in-house software" world.

I have to agree with him. I have never had a job at a "real" IT shop, but as a consultant, I've spent a great deal of time in them. It's not that developers of in-house software are less intelligent, less creative, or have less ambition than in commercial software world. It's just that all of their talent & passion is stymied by the practical realities of business--that is, that their company is not in the business of making software; they are in the business of making widgets. And it is extremely difficult with the current model of software development to make ROI justifications for custom software. That's just how it is. So developers who want to make a real impact are forced to move to jobs where software is the business.

But the real question is: does it have to be that way? The DevHive answer is no. If we can change the way that custom software is built, we can change the economics behind custom software. If we change the economics, we can change the incentive model. If we change the incentive model, we can change behavior.

That's what DevHive is trying to do. We want software developers to be compensated for the value of the software that they produce. Is that really such a radical concept?

DevHive Selected to Compete in VCIC

Great news! DevHive was just selected to participate in the University of Michigan Ross School of Business Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC). The VCIC is a twist on the traditional business plan competition. Rather than have students write and pitch business plans, they instead play the role of VCs and recruit real startups to pitch to them.

We're eager to participate. I've met a couple of the student organizers and they are very sharp, so I'm sure this is going to be a solid event. And, even though the focus of this event is the students, it will be very valuable for us to be able to go through our business model with some of the brightest minds in the country.