Home » Business & Work

mISV

Ranked #230,929 in Business & Work, #1,633,413 overall

microISV is a software company comprised of only one person.

This is the dream job for many - having your own company and being your own boss.

Intro

Eric Sink in his Business of Software column in MSDN first coined the term Micro-ISV. Another popular name for it is shareware.
Exploring Micro-ISVs
Read Eric Sink's article on MSDN.
Then explore the whole Business of Software column.

Marketing

Grass-roots marketing is the choice of a microISV

Your first steps in marketing your software should be:
  1. Submit your software to download sites
    There are hundreds of them. Submit only to the most popular ones.
  2. Use Pay-Per-Click
    Your best marketing tool. Start with Google AdWords. Take a look at Overture too.
  3. Submit Press Releases
    This will work well only if your software is newsworthy. If it is boring or a copy-cat no one will bother to publish the press release.

Communities

Being a microISV is hard. Don't do it alone!

You may be an army of one, but that does not mean you should develop your business alone. Get in contact with lots of like-minded people around the world.
alt.comp.shareware.authors
The most popular newsgroup in Google Groups for shareware authors (or microISV-ers).
Begin there, but look for other places to extend your knowledge. Most of the participants are not well experienced.
Business of Software
A very good discussion group, hosted on the popular Joel Spolski's website JoelOnSoftware.com
Conversations are not always about microISVs, but are always interesting.
Visit regularly!
Association of Shareware Professionals
ASP is an organization of over 1000 software authors, most of whom successful.
Though it will cost you $100 annually for a membership, it is well worth the money.

Educate Your Customers

For any software a good help file is a must.
But you should go much further than that.
Create tutorials, video demos, publish a blog about your software.

Make sure your users start kicking-ass thanks to your software as soon as possible. They will thank you by being loyal and by spreading the word on how cool your program is.

Shareware Superheroes

These are the role models of the microISV community

They are a proof that you not only can make money being a microISV, but you can get rich and (relatively) famous.
Thomas Warfield
Thomas Warfield is in a microISV for more than 10 years. His Pretty Good Solitaire is one of the best selling solitaire games.
Nick Bradbudy
He created HomeSite, acquired by Allaire in 1996, later bought by Macromedia.
More recently he created TopStyle and FeedDemon.
Steve Pavlina
Steve is owner of Dexterity Software.
He is currently pursuing a career in public speaking.

Involve Your Customers

Create a community around your software

Put a discussion forum on your web site.
Use your blog to communicate to them regularly.
Be transparent. Be easy to reach.

Users who care deeply about your software will help you:
  1. make it better - by giving you lots of feedback
  2. sell it - by telling their friends about it