My First Micro-ISV Product Ideas
[Note: I have a phone meeting on Wednesday with an old colleague where the result could change my plans. I will keep you posted]
OK, here it goes….for better, worse or the other, I am letting the world know my first product ideas. We’ll see if announcing these now was a good idea or not. 
Before reading my specific ideas, make sure you obtain some context by reading my previous post about goals.
As you will notice below, I am entering into pretty saturated markets (i.e much competition exists). However, I have subscribed to the theory that while a totally unique idea that is a hit may provide the best overall outcome, those come very far and few between. Instead, it is much more normal to add value to existing ideas, and let the execution and marketing of the added value bring success. Looking at it from the glass half full perspective, having competition means that people want the product or service (i.e. there is a market).
Also, I have a motto that I want to develop products that *I* will use on a daily basis. That is important to me because it makes me my own customer — and I don’t want to use crappy products either.
So without further ado, here are my product ideas for the next year or so. Again, these products align with my goals.
RSS Reader (Desktop)
Yes, there are many RSS readers out there, both web (e.g. Google Reader) and desktop (e.g. FeedDemon) based. I am going to enter my hat into the desktop ring. I will offer the basics, of course. But, I do have some ideas that I hope, in conglomeration, will differentiate mine from others. One is having both a Mac and Windows reader, with the same user experience. The second is being able to sync your feeds (e.g. read/unread) so you can be up-to-date no matter which computer you use the reader on (this requires some sort of web-based storage solution, probably). The third is being able to….well, I don’t want to give this one away yet 
Business Model: Free basic version; Fixed-price premium version [Note: I am still working out if the free/premium model is the best way to go.]
Fantasy Football Information Web Site
Two of my many passions are sports and technology. I figured, hey, why not merge the two. I love playing fantasy football (NFL). There are many fantasy football websites that offer information about who are the best players to play during a given week, game previews, answers to emails, draft software, etc. Some of these sites are from the big boys (e.g. ESPN) and some smaller, yet popular, folks (e.g. Fantasy Football Today). I figured I would offer the same sort of valuable information and tools, but try to do it better and/or differently. In the end, when it comes to sites like these it is all about providing good, relevant and as accurate as possible information.
Business Model: Advertising
Package of Tools and Utilities for Windows
I have always like building small tools and utilities. Most of the tools I have built, either for my own uses or for work, I was doing back in my corporation days. I have had folks appreciate the tool work I have done. So I figured why not come up with a list of (hopefully) useful tools and utilities and offer them up free for people. I don’t consider any of my ideas here earth shattering, nor unique, but just things I have found a need for. I don’t plan for these tools to make money, nor get bought out by Microsoft like SysInternals. I just want to provide them for fun and test an open source business model — where my goal wouldn’t be to make money, but more just get my name out there. Here are a few examples I am thinking of implementing (and, yes, initially these will be Microsoft centric because that is what I know)
- An Outlook mail component that makes sure you actually have an attachment in an email that is supposed to have an attachment.
- A component for IE7 that automatically puts widely used links in the Links portion of the IE7 browser and makes sure they are bubbled to the “top” of the Links portion (e.g. they are visible in the max screen browser window)
- A small utility that allows a user to increase/decrease the number of simultaneous downloads allowed from IE7
- A tool that finds all the files where there are multiple instances on your computer (this could be Mac and Windows)
Business Model: Free, Open Source
I will provide specific details on each of these efforts as I move along the development path. Right now, I think I am going to work on the Fantasy Football website first so I can have it ready in time for the next NFL Fantasy season, which begins in full force around August.
So there you go. The cat is out of the bag. Now it comes down to execution. Also, I am not adverse to discussing/collaborating/partnering on these ideas or any other ideas. So if you have any thoughts you want to share with me personally, feel free to contact me by email or leave a comment.
As I’m sure you’ve read on BOS, ideas are aplenty, it is their implementation which is the really hard part. For that reason alone, sharing your thoughts and getting feedback will help, far more than hinder you.
I’ve tried a number of RSS Readers over the years and have yet to find one that “does it for me”. I end up going back to my Web Browser and visiting each of my regular sites that way.
So there could be an opening here, however I think that unless you can come up with some truly useful unique twist, it will be very difficult to get traction. I say this because there are already too many free and cheap RSS readers, including ones built-in to Browsers and therefore they have very little value or loyalty in the eye of the user/consumer. My 2c anyway.
Best of luck in whatever you do and do keep us posted. Whatever you do, make a start on something. That’s the way forward.
Hi Neville,
Thank you very much for the best of luck wishes. Yeah, I knew going into writing this post that some people responses would be “Ho-Hum”, “Sigh” or something on those lines. But, I agree with you, it’s all about execution and implementation.
As far as an RSS reader is concerned, yeah I know the market is saturated with free, pay, web, desktop and everything. But my thinking is developing such a thing will, at the very least, keep me sharp as far as programming is concerned and allow me to just get something off the ground — even if it fails.
Joel,
Would some of these be useful products – yes. Would people be prepared to *pay* for them – I am not so sure. Assuming you are in this to make a living, I would try to find out if any of your competitors are profitable.
Hi Andy,
That is a good and important point. I am not totally doing this to make a living — yet. Money would be great, yes, but I am using this first year or so as a big learning exercise to try to find some focus. I think these products will help guide me there, from many perspectives.
Hi Joel,
Great post. I’m glad I was able to convince you to let the cats out of the bag. I think your approach (treating this as a learning experience) will be help you through the process. At the same time, I would try to set some monetary goals to help drive you. Even if they are small goals. If you go back and read Patrick McKenzie’s blog from the beginning, he was hoping to just break even each month. Then it was $100 a month, then $250, and last update he posted was over $1000 profit in a month. For a product that makes Bingo Cards.
For the Fantasy Football site, I would use number of visitors and amount of advertisement $. I’ve done a ad revenue product before, and there is still a little boost to see that you made $3 for the week when you are just starting out.
Also (from personal experience) release your site early and update it often. Don’t be to afraid of scaring off users because the site isn’t finished yet. Just convey that it is a work in progress and that you are looking for feedback to make it better. The sooner you can start building your user base, the better.
Good luck. And let me know when the outlook attachment add on is done. I know some people who could really use that one. You might consider selling it, perhaps a company wide license for $100 or something. You could make it free for individuals but offer a commercial license for companies. Just a thought.
Hi Chris,
That is great advice. Thank you very much. All your points are well taken — and I may consider your idea about company wide licenses for my tool grab back, if it makes sense.
As far as monetary goals, if I can make enough to cover my expenses for the first year — which shouldn’t be a lot, that would be a positive for me. Then I would expect to move up from there. It is going to be interesting to see how that plays out — and do I count my contracting work towards my monetary goals too? That is another question I need to answer as well.
I think your Outlook add-on is the most realistic and unique idea, but you shouldn’t give it away for free.
I take that back:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=outlook+attachment+check
Hi sdfjh,
Thanks for your replies.
I know that such products exist. I did at least do a cursory search
. However, just because a product exists, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t develop it, especially if (1) you have a different marketing idea (a bundle of tools, for example) (2) you have different/more goals than just making money.
Btw, sdjfh is an interesting name — it is created via characters really close to each other on a QWERTY keyboard
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