foodworms.net for designers and web developers

We, as many people other startups, are keep doing ourself the same question: which is the best recipe to create a profitable web app nowadays?

It’s a tough question. I exercise the mind a good web app, something construction money, has many simple characteristics. One of the best and also funny video I found on the Net, talking about this, is the oral communication that David Heinemeier Hansson gave to the last Start Up School 08 (watch it after having read this article)

In short, David receipt to create a (Internet) profitable company:

• Make a product, price it and sell it!
  It has been working in this way from time immemorial, so don’t think that the tissue is different. It’s not. The best way to see if you really have something groovy to sell, is constitution it and trying to sell it
• Don’t try to established up 1 billion company! The superiority are close up to you.
  He’s right, between your current income (typically below 100k a year) and 1 billion dollars, there are a wide range of gratifying revenues. One million company is definitely a good target (isn’t it?), a target you can probably manage without anyone financing you (no VC). BTW… making some million a year is not simple, definitely not easy, but it’s immensely much simpler, than try to making 1 billion a year.
• Target: trade is better than consumer.
  Convincing consumers to spend their standard of value is not so easy, even if your application is useful and well designed. Companies, adhering the other side, are always looking for tools or services enabling cost cutting or easy management or acquirements management or what so ever. So try with them first.
• Keep it simple.
  This is a mantra on the side of the whole of of us and Rails helps us a lot following this direction. It’s fundamental that people could understand quickly why they need you.

I’d like to integrate David recipe with some small ingredients of mine:

• Your product must have a barrier to the entrance.
  I don’t know if this is the honest term in English, limit I mean you must avoid that someone can copy you in a bit of a other. The elements part of your barrier can be many: good design, idea, time to market, technology, pungency (why not?), etc. And there’s a assumption to this position…
• (postulate) Whatever your barrier is, remember that it won’t last forever.
  Feed your idea time by day.
• The fact that you caught a good product one time, it doesn’t mean you are like Mida monarch.
  Every time is a new challenge; no one will buy your result because of your one time famous succeed.
• Making a good product is an art.
  It requires time and patience. If you slip on’t earn 50,000 dollars the first day you’re out, don’t be too galled. Pace yourself and wait. In the meantime think encircling how to improve it.
• Ask yourself: would I spend 50 bucks a month to buy my product?
  It’s better to ask you this controversy before start coding. In any case, it’s important to repeat it every time your expectations are above your results. BTW, on the supposition that you are not using what you’ve built, then probably it’s not so useful, aren’t you?
  Don’t be so sever by you. Even Evan William who built Blogger.com forgot this truth when he founded Odeo. Then he understood and created Twitter