Book review blogger

A few months ago I signed up to become a book review blogger for Thomas Nelson.  I’d been on a bit of a reading kick since discovering the Personal MBA and couldn’t resist the book review program when I read the details.

I really would like to post my thoughts on the five or so books from the PMBA that I’ve read (and the other Thomas Nelson book that I’m currently reading), but my schedule at this point doesn’t leave too much time for blogging.

Or, to say it more clearly — I haven’t made blogging a priority

Anyway, tomorrow I’ll be posting my first official book review blogger review on The Noticer by Andy Andrews.  It was a quick read, but a good book on the importance and power of perspective.

An LLC is born…

Early on the morning of January 16 I became the proud parent of a brand new LLC.  Spurred on by a couple more sales early in the month, I decided to take the plunge and register ClimbPoint, LLC with the State of Indiana.

Once I decided to move on it, the entire process was seamless and done in less than a day — who knew you could register a business in Indiana online?  My next steps are to register for an employer identification number and complete a BT-1 form so I can charge tax on in-state sales.

Throughout the entire process, NOLO’s Quick LLC has been a great resource.  And for those who aren’t as interested in learning the ins and outs of an LLC, NOLO offers an LLC Maker that promises to get the job done faster.

So for those who have wondered what I’ve been up to this winter (and it’s been a long winter), forming an LLC was at the top of the list, right below traveling to India for a friend’s wedding.

For now it’s back to working on the next couple versions of ClimbPoint, which will definitely be out in time for the CWA Summit in Boulder.

Update on my sales machine

Back in September I set out to build a sales machine with the hopes of selling four licenses of ClimbPoint and attending AORE out in San Diego.  I’m happy to report that while I didn’t meet my sales goal, I did sell enough to finance my trip to San Diego last week.

So for those of you who were anxiously waiting for the big October announcement that I wrote about a few weeks ago, that was it

More info on the conference and the sales machine coming soon…

One year of starting up

Back on October 16, 2007 I set up shop here at AnotherStartup and began my journey toward a product launch.  Truthfully, I had been considering commercialization (and blogging about it) for over a year, but the creation of this blog was a milestone in that it marked the official beginning of my Masters project at Purdue.

So it’s been a year since I began to commercialize ClimbPoint in earnest, and it’s been fun watching my ideas grow into realities.  Here’s a look at what’s happened over the past year…

A few stats

My three most popular posts have been on crafting an effective elevator pitch, designing a decent logo, and finding icons for Windows applications.

I’ve also watched traffic to the blog increase steadily over the past year, and at this point I’m very close to breaking 300 page views per month.  The last time I checked I also had 10-12 people who subscribe to the site feed or receive email updates.  So the blog is still relatively small, but I expect that it will continue to grow steadily.

Above: page views per month since October 2007.

Major milestones

There have been a number of major milestones over the past year, which are summarized below.  To this point the full release of ClimbPoint this past August was the biggest one, but I think the October announcement will eclipse that.

• Began a beta program with four universities – October 2007
• Released a beta version of ClimbPoint to the public – February 2008
• Learned The Art of the Start – March 2008
• Settled on a logo – April 2008
• Finished a new website – May 2008
• Attended my second Climbing Wall Association Summit – May 2008
• Released ClimbPoint 0.7 – August 2008
• Started building a sales machine – September 2008
• ??? – October 2008

It’s hard for me to keep the big announcement for October under wraps, but I think it’s substantial enough to warrant a separate post.  Stay tuned

To summarize, it’s been a great ride so far.  There have been many ups and downs, but I’ve been able to move forward at a fairly steady pace.  I continue to question my motives for starting up, and I don’t expect that to change any time soon.  I do know that I enjoy creating useful, mistake-proof software, and it’s always rewarding to hear positive feedback.

Spotlight on another startup

Those interested in startups and watching micro ISVs get off the ground might enjoy a peek at the Agile Micro ISV blog (also linked in the sidebar). Tim Haughton, the author, is currently in an all out sprint to release and begin selling his document management software by the end of this month.

His decisions about a product name and logo were made in the span of a few days, and it’s been fun to reflect on my own approach and lessons learned while making some of those same decisions. I don’t have time at the moment to summarize his process and compare it with mine, but that’s something I’d like to do in the near future.

I’m also reminded of how motivating short development sprints like that can be, so I’m thinking of following along with a little sprint of my own. ClimbPoint 0.7 is pretty much ready to go, but there are some small details I need to take care of, namely testing — I can’t stand the thought of sending a half-baked product out the door.

Anyway, Tim’s blog is an interesting read…as for the sprint, I think for the moment I’ll continue on my “slow and steady” pace

A little housekeeping

May has been a busy month for life in general (I graduated and started a new job), but I’ve also been hard at work planning the next version of ClimbPoint and attending the CWA Summit.

Posts on both of these items will be forthcoming, but for now I’ve updated the about page and added a few links to the sidebar. I should be back to my regular 1-2 posts per week by the end of the month, but for now you should go outside and enjoy the nice May weather if you’re looking for something to read

Miscellaneous updates

The recent blogging slowdown (only one post in February) happened to correspond to one intense half-sick, half-busy month. Since releasing the latest version of ClimbPoint at the end of January my attention has been on finishing up my final report of everything I’ve done up to this point. Let me say this much: I have way more to blog about than I have time, but hopefully we’ll get there sooner rather than later.

A few of the posts on the way…

The market for climbing wall management software It’s definitely bigger than I thought, and the initial feedback that I’ve received is that there are quite a few gym managers out there looking for specialized climbing software.

Setting a price point I’m still chasing my tail a bit in terms of setting a price for ClimbPoint when I post it for sale in a couple months, but I’ve gained some insight into what it takes to put a price tag on a bunch of carefully organized bits.

Sales projections This is where I’ll combine the wealth of information set forth in the previous two posts. I put together a three year income & expense statement, a cash flow sheet, and a balance statement.

Feedback from my awesome beta testers I can’t wait to write this post. I’ve talked with all but one of my six beta testers and have received some great feedback, and quite a few glowing reviews. This post will highlight those reviews and generally help me feel like this whole thing has been worthwhile.

If I don’t post here again by next week, please send me a polite but firm email telling me to get it in gear

Brief hiatus

Those of you who loyally follow this blog have doubtless noticed the lack of updates here over the past couple weeks. Well, let me assure you – I’m still alive, and although I haven’t made much progress on ClimbPoint in the interim, I am on the edge of releasing an update.

That said, postings will likely continue to be somewhat sporadic until the new year. I’ve got some neat ideas about actually creating an official website and yes, expanding the beta program. Once it’s all hashed out you’ll be the first to know…in the meantime, I’ll be posting some more general thoughts on beta testing, entrepreneurship, and software development.

My reading list

Here are a few books that I’ve decided to pick up (in one way or another) in an effort to get a few more ideas on strategies for starting a company and commercializing a product.

• Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore
• Eric Sink on the Business of Software
• Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality by Bob Walsh
• The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki (I plan to jump through a few hoops for this one)

Many of these books have been recommended by people I know, and they’re all on another startup reading list. I don’t plan to read these cover to cover (at least not yet), but I will skim them for ideas and insights. As always, I’m open to suggestions on other good reading material for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Getting Back on the Horse

While this blog began with grand intentions, I’ve come to realize that my initial expectations have kept me from writing here regularly. It’s not that I haven’t thought any more about beginning a startup since April, it’s that I haven’t had any thoughts that directly relate to the next phase of Jolly’s commercialization process (which just so happens to be incubating).

So this post is my first effort at getting this thing back on track. I plan to post here fairly regularly (read: at least every couple weeks) about the software development project outlined in the first post. I’m in the process of writing my directed project proposal, and when that’s finished I’ll post the abstract here. The proposal should be a road map for commercializing climbing wall software, and should paint a pretty clear picture of what I hope to do in the next 18 months or so.

In the meantime I’ll be writing about stuff related to the climbing industry and software startups. For stuff in general, check out my other blog.