September 29, 2009 – June 29, 2011

Well, that sucked.

I disconnected StartupToDo.com this afternoon. It was time – past time. If you’ve ever had to put a member of your family who happens to be a cat or dog to sleep, you have a good sense of how I feel right about now. Not that bad, but still.

I emailed the few remaining subscribers, made arrangements for the remains (data) to be interred on another server, and let them in on my new project. Then I sat down to write this post.

The rest of this post is a catharsis of sorts; these are three lessons I paid a very high price for. Heed them.

• The single biggest mistake I made was not listening to the criticisms of prospective and actual customers. From the private beta on, way too many people said the same thing – good content, but too complicated. If I had let myself hear the doubt in their voices, taken seriously the “I don’t understand” emails, I would not have coded myself into a corner, stuck with a confusing mess of features. It hurts to listen, it’s easy to rationalize your way around listening, but believe me, they are right, you are wrong, because they choose what to spend their time, money and attention, not you.
• Speaking of money, have enough money in the bank to get you through. For me “through” meant becoming a profitable microISV; for you it might mean landing your first equity investment. Each their own. But trying to make real your software idea while holding down either a day job or fulltime freelancing is a hellish monkey to have on your back.
• You have to work on your startup every single day, even if it’s only for a few minutes a day. Let me explain that one. Having written 5 books, the first and the last were the easiest to actually write because near as I could, I wrote at least a page or two every single day. Working on what you are creating every single day has (at least) 4 huge benefits:
  - You can pick up where you left off in less time, with fewer false starts.
  - There’s less opportunity for Resistance in all its guises to make mischief.
  - You get to market faster.
  - You build momentum.

I made plenty of other mistakes, but those were the big three. I hope you’ll take them heart so you won’t end up having to write you own ‘lessons learned’ post.

You’re reading Putting StartupToDo to sleep; lessons learned. from: 47 Hats. If you like this post, there’s plenty more! Want more sales for your startup? Stop by and let’s chat, or consider a Microconsult with Bob Walsh.

You’ve heard the adage that doctors make the worst patients? Well, software developers can be a hard market to sell software to. That’s why I’m especially pleased to announce a new StartupToDo.com Scholarship just for those startups building and selling the tools we all need to build our products.

Code Complete Software, which markets and sells some of the world’s best development tools, is sponsoring 30 six-month StartupToDo.com Scholarships for startups creating/selling products to developers. To apply for a free scholarship, just email me (bob.walsh@startuptodo.com) with your startup’s URL or a brief non-proprietary description of what your startup will be selling.

Code Complete Software is one of those companies you won’t find mentioned on TechCrunch – they’re in the business of being the sales force for some of the best development tools and packages out there. For example, they’re the exclusive North American distributor for JetBrains (IntelliJ IDEA, RubyMine, and other software tools) since 2002.

If your startup is (or will be selling) to developers, why not grab a Code Complete Software StartupToDo.com Scholarship while supplies last?

You’re reading B2C, B2B, B2G: what about us B2Developer Startups? from: 47 Hats. If you like this post, there’s plenty more! Want more sales for your startup? Stop by and let’s chat, or consider a Microconsult with Bob Walsh.

And now we can at StartupToDo.com. I just put into production Version 2.15, adding Group-centric Discussions to S2D. What’s Group-centric? It’s my stab at keeping Discussions and their Posts on-topic. Over the past 4+ years I’ve been a moderator at Joel on Software Business of Software Forum. Many is the time I’ve wished for some way to organize threads along major topics. At the same time, most PHPBB-like forums go too far, splitting up conversations into way too many topics costing too much time to move up and down their hierarchy.

Basically, I’ve taken the model of the Business of Software (threads with posts arranged by order) and added two things: the ability to see and rank Discussion and their Posts, and the ability to go beyond just plain text.

One of the best things about the Business of Software forum is how little if any spam gets in front of readers. Part of that is FogBugz’s automatic Bayesian filter and part of that is the ongoing efforts of the moderators. Keeping spam out of a forum, and if necessary banning trolls and the like, is a top priority for any good forum. At StartupToDo.com, first you need to be a member and secondly, there’s a “report spam” button available on every Discussion and Post.

In fact, if you are a regular at the Joel on Software Business of Software Forum,  the Association of Software Professionals Forum, the SoftwareCEO Forum or another software startup forum, sign up for free 30 day trial at StartupToDo.com, email me, and for the the asking and your participation, I’ll be happy to comp you a six-month StartupToDo.com membership.

Just to be crystal clear here, I’m not trying to woo you away from any of these forums. I’m hoping you’ll find additional value for your time and participation at StartupToDo.com and this is a small way to pay back all the help and good advice I’ve gotten at BOS and elsewhere.

Coming soon will be two more features I think will make for even more value: Discussion reputations will be accessible to all members as they browse and participate in Discussions and the ability to not just add a Post but add a Post with an embedded Resource, Tip or Event. So often, people are looking for answers when they participate in a forum: by making it really easy to create Resources, Tips and Events within Discussions, I hope to increase the value of everyone’s participation to all of us.

You’re reading We should discuss this. from: 47 Hats. If you like this post, there’s plenty more! Want more sales for your startup? Stop by and let’s chat, or consider a Microconsult with Bob Walsh.

It’s easy when you are a small startup to become 150% wrapped up in it; after all, you’re building your dream. That’s why it’s very cool when a startup takes time out from what they are doing to help other startups. Today we are announcing the start of the UserTesting.com StartupToDo.com Scholarship.

Here’s how Aimee Williamson, UserTesting.com‘s Director of Customer Support put it:

“At UserTesting.com, we support the entrepreneurial spirit!  We are a startup — as are many of our customers — so live the challenges daily.  One of the greatest resources out there for companies like us is StartupToDo.com.  StartupToDo.com is a startup by Bob Walsh, author of The Web Startup Success Guide, Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality, Clear Blogging, and two ebooks: MicroISV Sites that Sell! and The Twitter Survival Guide.  This productivity application offers: guides, site reviews, resources, events, groups, and much more!”

“To “pay it forward”, UserTesting.com is sponsoring 2 six-month scholarships to StartupToDo.com.  The lucky winners will also each receive a free test with 3 users from UserTesting.com (a $117 value).  Good luck!”

So how do apply? Run don’t walk to your favorite Twitter client and tweet to @usertesting “I want a StartupToDo.com scholarship”. Be sure to mention @usertesting so we see your tweet. We will be in touch with the lucky winners. Thanks again, UserTesting.com!

You’re reading Announcing the UserTesting.com StartupToDo.com Scholarship from: 47 Hats. If you like this post, there’s plenty more! Want more sales for your startup? Stop by and let’s chat, or consider a Microconsult with Bob Walsh.

I’d don’t know about you, but if I hadn’t gotten a couple of small, key scholarships, I would not have gone to college. It wasn’t just the money – it was having someone real tell me that, yes, I should be in college that made a huge difference. When you’re doing something new, different and scary, getting that kind of validation matters.

That’s why I’m very pleased to say there’s not 1, or 2 but 3 different scholarship programs running right now at StartupToDo.com. Like scholarships in the academic world, each of the sponsors decide eligibility, but they all share a real desire to see more startups succeed.

OnStartups.com – (See this post at OnStartups.com for details). Dharmesh Shah and Jason Cohen – the cofounders of Answers.Onstartups.com – are giving away 20 six-month scholarships to StartupToDo.com. Dharmesh’s day job just happens to be creating and running HubSpot.com, a startup that has raised $33.5 million in VC money in the past year and a half. Jason, of the A Smart Bear blog and founder of Smart Bear Software, is known for his insightful posts on many startup topics. They guys have plenty on their plate. But it matters to them your startup succeeds.

Atomic Object – (see this page at Atomic Object). It’s easy for people in California in general and Silicon Valley in particular to scoff at the IT/startup communities in “flyover” country like Grand Rapids, Michigan. Easy and oh so wrong.

Software development companies like Atomic Object roll up their sleeves and get the job done right for global companies, and in the process move their communities from light-industrial to heavyweight post-industrial and a great place to live. Carl Erickson, President of Atomic Object, isn’t just thinking about getting the job done for AO’s many clients, he’s thinking about how to grow and nurture the west Michigan IT/Startup hub. That’s one of the reasons AO is sponsoring 20 Michigan-based startup founders to be part of StartupToDo.com.

Microsoft WebsiteSpark – (see this page for details) Speaking of scoffing at, let me just come out and say that all too many people in our industry profile Microsoft as the big, bad corporate wolf. Bull. Like every other company and organization, Microsoft is the net effort of the people who work there now, not what it was in the past.

That’s why Jacob Mullins, who runs WebsiteSpark in the U.S. anted up 130 six-month free StartupToDo.com scholarships for budding startup founders who’s day job is building web sites for clients. And it’s people like Midori Lawler, Ludovic Ulrich (and before him, Julien Codorniou) and Tom Halabi who are the reason Microsoft BizSpark exists and why I’ve volunteered my time to help 392 startups to date join BizSpark in the last 18 months.

As you read this, whether you’re the CEO of a software company with 10,000 employees or you are it, I’d encourage you to find a way to help other IT startups get off the ground. Whether that’s sponsoring scholarships at StartupToDo.com, bringing on a summer intern (I’ve got someone for you if you’re interested), being a sponsor of a startup event in your geographic area, you can make a huge difference. And if you’re not making a difference in this world, what are you doing?

You’re reading StartupToDo.com: why all the scholarships? from: 47 Hats. If you like this post, there’s plenty more! Want more sales for your startup? Stop by and let’s chat, or consider a Microconsult with Bob Walsh.

It’s been a long haul, but StartupToDo.com Version 2 is officially out today!

Four times faster loading each and every page. Supports all current browser versions. With a new layout throughout thats easier to read, easier to work with and just plain more attractive. And now with an industry-standard 30 day free trial period before you need to pay for it.

And to get the ball rolling again, 3 new Guides (clicking the title of the Guide will take you there if you’re logged in:

Improving your copywriting (http://startuptodo.com/guides/63) by Pietro Polsinelli. Pietro’s Guide will help you write better blog posts, copy for your web site and even tweets.

Recording audio guidelines for videos, podcasts or Skype
(http://startuptodo.com/guides/64) by Corey Maass. This Guide will get you started with improving your computer-captured audio for videos, podcasts or Skype – however you communicate.

Managing your testimonials with Propadoo.com
(http://startuptodo.com/guides/61) by colospeedskierboy. Testimonials boost sales, but can be a pain to manage. With Prooadoo.com, that pain goes away.

So what can StartupToDo.com do for you?

Guides – 49 today and a firm plan for creating at least 3 a week. Guides take 3.5 hour tasks and turn them back into 30 minute tasks. Rated and commented on, Guides are the wheels for your startup you don’t have to research to reuse. What happens when instead of spending hours bouncing between google, blog posts, and out of date pages you can take a Guide, make it your Project, work through it and get it done? You save time, frustration and energy – and build more of your startup faster.
Site Reviews - Instead of asking at public forums (where your customers can see it) for feedback on your site, create a Site Review Request at StartupToDo.com and let your peers provide you with targeted quantitative and qualitative feedback. And by reviewing other member sites, you’ll develop the skills you need to explain your product or service, connect with your intended market and facilitiate the sale.

Track your progress, build your momentum. Whether it’s completing projects, reviewing member sites (or asking for Site Reviews) or just recording your development time and business decisions, everything you do in StartupToDo.com earns you points. And points let you compare your progress this week to last week, to what your StartupToDo.com friends are getting done, and to an average of everyone.

Tips, Resources, Events, Groups, StartupToDo.com Friends and more.

Why not try StartupToDo.com today – free 30 day trial before you have to pay, costs between $30 and $15 a month. Be Successful Faster.

You’re reading Announcing StartupToDo.com Version 2 from: 47 Hats. If you like this post, there’s plenty more! Want more sales for your startup? Stop by and let’s chat, or consider a Microconsult with Bob Walsh.

Microsoft WebsiteSpark is sponsoring 130 six-month full scholarships to StartupToDo.com for professional web developers and designers.

Here’s how it works: if you’re a web designer/developer delivering sites to customers and you have less than 10 employees, I can now sponsor you for the Microsoft WebsiteSpark program. And if you live in the U.S., Microsoft is sponsoring as of today those 130 six-month scholarships to StartupToDo.com (regular price: $105 for a six month subscription).

More info at: http://startuptodo.com/websitespark.

Even if you are perfectly content to be a professional web designer and have no intention of building your own software, I think you’ll find the 50 (and growing) Guides at S2D useful, as well as getting quick, useful feedback when you request Site Reviews from the community. And the Marketing Action Plans coming next month after Version 2 launches will work great for you too.

And even if you have no intention of leaving open source (I program in Ruby on Rails nowadays… ), it’s worth having a (nearly) free toehold in the Microsoft World because:

• You’ll be able to better work with prospective clients using ASP.NET,
• You’ve seen the new Microsoft Phone demo, and realize there’s going to be a lot of shall we say graphically-challenged (like me) developers looking for professional help soon. Especially if there’s another explosion of mobile apps as there was/is for the Apple iPhone and Google Android platform. (here’s a Mix10 session from Monday on this: Authoring for windows Phone, Silverlight 4 and WPF with Expression Blend)
• Speaking of Silverlight, version 4 developer release was just announced. If you haven’t looked at Silverlight in a while, things have changed: It prints. It can interact with the user’s desktop (PC or Mac). It supports Google Chrome. And a bunch of other stuff.

There are limitations on Microsoft WebsiteSpark – for example, you can either be in BizSpark or WebsiteSpark. And you have to reside in the United States to be eligible for the StartupToDo.com scholarships WebsiteSpark is sponsoring. And, there’s 130 scholarships available – when they’re filled, that’s it.

If you’re wondering if I can sponsor you instead for Microsoft BizSpark – I can and will. Just check out the requirements, email me or pick me as your Network Partner when you apply through the BizSpark site. You just might be 377th startup I’ll have sponsored for BizSpark .

That said, I’ve been working pretty hard to making the Microsoft WebsiteSpark StartupToDo.com Scholarships a reality because sometimes, all you need is just a bit of help and someone to believe in you to get your startup off the runway.

You’re reading New: 130 Microsoft WebsiteSpark StartupToDo.com Scholarships. from: 47 Hats. If you like this post, there’s plenty more! Want more sales for your startup? Stop by and let’s chat, or consider a Microconsult with Bob Walsh.

Michael Buckbee. Michael asked the best question during our recent contest with Legal River and its new answerboard. Michael gets an hour of free legal advice/work and a free year’s membership to StartupToDo.com.

“I’m a software developer for The Social Collective (http://www.thesocialcollective.com) we create specialized social network tools for conference, festivals and tradeshows. If you’re going to SXSW this year, we’re the company behind their my.sxsw.com website where you can create your own custom personal schedule on the site, sync it to your iPhone and see where your friends are heading.”

—-
Also, Patrick and I are interviewing productivity guru David Allen on ways and methods of applying his Getting Things Done methodology to building software companies and working online. If you’ve got a question for David, add a comment now.

You’re reading And the winner is… from: 47 Hats. If you like this post, there’s plenty more! Want more sales for your startup? Stop by and let’s chat, or consider a Microconsult with Bob Walsh.

All 10 Oasis Digital StartupToDo.com Scholarships recipients have now gotten the good news and accepted.

For the next six months these ten St. Louis startups will enjoy what StartupToDo.com has to offer free, thanks to Oasis Digital.

So what are these startups up to? Have a look:

Jason King, details.at, building a tinyURL like service, only better.
Rob Rose, DealieDo™.  DealieDo is the first desktop application for Windows® PCs to deliver retailer coupons to Facebook members.
Matt Pepple, Noversus LLC, currently developing an application that manages the fundraising lifecycle for organizations.
Aaron Witt, is developing a green wireless home energy networking system.
Mike Menne, a platform for St. Louis businesses to leverage the use of SMS technology.
David Esko, Symytry, a business knowledge and process enabler that handles information, process management, project management, knowledge management.
Nawaz Anwarudeen, Lynxess, hardware neutral software for prescription drug manufacturers to meet ePedigree mandate.
Michael Buchanan, microspaces.com, online nested interface technology.
Clayton Smith, WorldKi, online platform and marketplace for independent game developers.
Ryan Bell,  Twaitter.com, Social media software platform for businesses and government institutions.

While the Oasis Digital StartupToDo.com Scholarship was the first StartupToDo.com scholarship, it by no means will be the last. Stay tuned!

You’re reading 10 Oasis Digital StartupToDo.com Scholarships awarded. from: 47 Hats. If you like this post, there’s plenty more! Want more sales for your startup? Stop by and let’s chat, or consider a Microconsult with Bob Walsh.

Nine Oasis Digital StartupToDo.com Scholarships recipients have now gotten the good news and accepted.

If you are based in the St. Louis area and are building a software startup, there’s four one Scholarship still up for grabs – here’s the details: Announcing the first 10 StartupToDo.com Scholarships.

The 3 latest recipients are:

• Clayton Smith, WorldKi, online platform and marketplace for independent game developers.
• Michael Buchanan, microspaces.com, online nested interface technology.
• Nawaz Anwarudeen, Lynxess, hardware neutral software for prescription drug manufacturers to meet ePedigree mandate

You’re reading And then there was one… from: 47 Hats. If you like this post, there’s plenty more! Want more sales for your startup? Stop by and let’s chat, or consider a Microconsult with Bob Walsh.

The first six Oasis Digital StartupToDo.com Scholarships recipients have gotten the good news and accepted. Of these six, five are already a part of St. Louis-based Information Technology Entrepreneur Network. Startup lesson of the day – it pays to make local networking connections.

If you are based in the St. Louis area and are building a software startup, there’s four Scholarships still up for grabs – here’s the details: Announcing the first 10 StartupToDo.com Scholarships.

The recipients are:

• Dustin Blanquart, details.at building a tinyURL like service, only better.
• Rob Rose, founder and creator of DealieDo™.  DealieDo is the first desktop application for Windows® PCs to deliver retailer coupons to Facebook members.
• Matt Pepple, Noversus LLC, currently developing an application that manages the fundraising lifecycle for organizations.
• Aaron Witt, developing a green wireless home energy networking system.
• Mike Menne, a platform for St. Louis area businesses to leverage the use of SMS technology.
• David Esko, Symytry, a business knowledge and process enabler that handles information, process management, project management, knowledge management.

You’re reading First six Oasis Digital StartupToDo.com Scholarships awarded from: 47 Hats. If you like this post, there’s plenty more! Want more sales for your startup? Stop by and let’s chat, or consider a Microconsult with Bob Walsh.

When I started building StartupToDo.com two years ago, I knew there would be sharp, experienced IT professionals yearning to start their own software businesses, who would get a key boost out of my service, but who could not afford a subscription. Even a small scholarship at the right time for the right person can have a huge positive effect on their lives: I would not have been able to go to college without them.

So I’m very, very pleased to announce that ten St. Louis, MO, USA software startups will be receiving free six-month scholarships to StartupToDo.com sponsored by St. Louis custom software house, Oasis Digital. Kyle Cordes, founder of Oasis Digital in St. Louis explains why he’s funding these training scholarships:

“A few weeks ago I met Bob Walsh, well known MicroISV guru (he wrote the book on it). He has a startup-acceleration company called StartupToDo.com; which he persuaded me to take a look at. The site offers a pile of information, for a fee, to help startups “cut to the chase” as they get moving. I was initially skeptical, because there is such a vast amount of such information for free online.

Then I thought about it a while, and thought about various potential and actual founders I’ve met, and thought about how much time a person can spend browsing around for information, and looked through the guides on StartupToDo… and it now appears to be a worthwhile resource for first-time founders to use (and pay for). Speed is everything, StartupToDo could save you some hours.

At the same time, I’ve been looking for ways to help boost the nascent St. Louis startup and software-company community.

Putting those two things together, Oasis Digital (my firm) is going to sponsor (that is, PAY FOR) a StartupToDo membership, for up to 10 St. Louis area companies.

Here’s how you become one of the lucky ten: First off, you have to be a software startup living/working within 50 miles of St. Louis, MO. By software startup, I mean the company you started in 2009 or will start in 2010 that is creating commercial software it will sell to customers. What platform your app or service runs on is up to you. Second, email oasisdigitalscholarship@startuptodo.com explaining briefly who you are and what (in general terms) you’re building. Include your physical mailing St. Louis address. Third, act now: the first 10 qualifying St. Louis startups will be awarded the Oasis Digital Scholarship.

Details: You should be an adult, not a minor. The physical address will be verified. You will only need to provide your name/email, not financial information. If at the end of your scholarship you want to continue with StartupToDo.com, you’ll be able to subscribe at a hefty discount.

Still more details:
1. Email oasisdigitalscholarship@startuptodo.com if you have any questions, or better still, comment on this post.
2. Local media contact: Kyle Cordes, Founder, Oasis Digital Solutions, Inc. info@oasisdigital.com, 636-281-8657 Online bio at: http://kylecordes.com/about/
3. StartupToDo.com media/business contact: Bob Walsh, Founder, StartupToDo.com, bob.walsh@startuptodo.com 707-939-9002 (Northern California, PST) Online bio at my blog: http://47hats.com/about. StartupToDo.com URL: StartupToDo.com, Intro on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBbaAMEj_z0 The retail cost of a six-month subscription at StartupToDo.com is $105 (other subscription plans: $30 a month, $60/quarter, $180/year). Scholarship recipients do not provide their billing information but are eligible for significantly discounted regular subscriptions if they so choose after their scholarship expires.
4. StartupToDo.com is not an academic institution or accredited training school.

You’re reading Announcing the first 10 StartupToDo.com Scholarships. from: 47 Hats. If you like this post, there’s plenty more! Want more sales for your startup? Stop by and let’s chat, or consider a Microconsult with Bob Walsh.

A short post to let you know that:

• The MicroISV Digest will return here Monday October 26th.
• The Startup Success Podcast for this week is being worked on at this moment by our Executive Producer, Francesca Amari. Francesca has been the reason the last 6 or shows have come out like clockwork – The issues with the current show are mine and Pat’s, not Francesca’s. Bottom line: it may be Monday the 26th before the next show airs, unless Francesca can work a miracle.
• StartupToDo.com is back in action after a major screwup left it launched, but without a working payment processing system. As of last night, we are now integrated with Amazon Simple Pay Subscriptions and will be adding a second payment processor which accepts PayPal as well as credit cards worldwide, soon.
• Already, three new Guides (on Twitter, Google Analytics and getting into and making sense of Microsoft’s BizSpark, Empower and new WebsiteSpark programs) have been added.

Now that I’ve rebuilt our payment system, I can get back to giving you very good reasons to spend some of your money and more importantly, some of you time, with StartupToDo.com.

You’re reading Come hell or high water… from: 47 Hats. If you like this post, there’s plenty more! Want more sales for your startup? Stop by and let’s chat, or consider a Microconsult with Bob Walsh.

Here’s – in my opinion – a huge unmet need: online greeting cards for IT people. I have all the usual traditional e-cards covered at Jacquie Lawson, but what about those special moments only we IT/Online people have?

For example Marcus M. just informed me that I was successful a couple of nights ago getting http://startuptodo.com to render right in Chrome at the screen resolution he uses. Perfect Hallmark Moment! Here are some other e-cards out there I’d like to see:

• Our Deepest Sympathies on the loss of your Hard Disk
• Congratulations on your Startup’s Launch!
• Happy Your Server has been up a straight 180 days.
• And of course the ever popular, Twitter will Get Well Soon – Hang In There!

What cards would you like to see? And is anyone going to start this as a microISV so I can pay them money?

You’re reading Greeting Cards I wish I could buy… from: 47 Hats. If you like this post, there’s plenty more! Want more sales for your startup? Stop by and let’s chat, or consider a Microconsult with Bob Walsh.

I’ve got something new for you. Something that will take a lot of the pain, delay, frustration and wasted time out of bootstrapping your startup, microISV, mISV, indie game house or microlight: StartupToDo.com.

I created StartupToDo.com to solve a couple of huge challenges I’ve seen literally hundreds of skilled developers struggle with over the years:

• You can spend as much time trying to figure out what you have to do and researching what’s the best way to do it as doing it. Put another way, half the time you carve out of the rest of your life to work on your startup gets wasted.
• So say you spend 3 hours researching how to do some marketing, or operations or development or business thing, do it, only to find the information you relied on was out of date, overtaken by new tools on the web.
• Or, you’re about to launch, but you know your startup’s web site needs improvement. Up to now your options have been a) As for help at forums like Joel on Software Business of Software (lots of good feedback, but uneven and can be seen by a prospective customer if they Google you) or b) read books and ebooks on the subject – helpful, but not specific to you, or c) Hire an expensive consultant (like me!)

Now there’s a better way, and it will cost you less than a dollar a day.

In StartupToDo.com:

• There are Guides that walk you through doing something you need to do, step by step. Guides are rated by the community and commented on. You can request Guides, and that request is rated by your peers.
• You can request Site Reviews – and other members can do a Site Review quickly, providing you with meaningful quantitative data, useful suggestions, and likes/dislikes. Why should they bother? Because the more Site Reviews you do, the higher your Request is in the listing. Think of it as enlightened self interest.
• Tips, Resources and Events for and by startups help you with information you can actually use.

The image for this post is a capture of http://startuptodo.com/startupmaps which you can visit right now (as to why a page of a subscription-only site is public, see this post here for the gory details). These are some of the locations of the first 35 members with public profiles (you can stay stealth to avoid your boss): it’s fascinating to see the variety out there in the Startup World.

Please visit StartupToDo.com today: I think you will be very glad you did. And if you’ve already joined, thank you!, and please tell your startup-minded friends about StartupToDo.com.

<warning: mushy personal note>While I hope to build a profitable business, changing the number of startups that succeed from something around 2 or 3 out of 10 to 6 out of 10 is my real objective with StartupToDo.com. It’s the most important thing I’ve ever done. Come join me in it. </warning: mushy personal note>

You’re reading Announcing StartupToDo.com (Project X) from: 47 Hats. If you like this post, there’s plenty more! Want more sales for your startup? Stop by and let’s chat, or consider a Microconsult with Bob Walsh.

In short, nothing. But for startups and microISVs looking for help from their peers with their web sites, it has some distinct disadvantages; disadvantages I think I can improve upon in StartupToDo.com. Take an example:

As of now there are 5 responses to Ted’s post – about average – and they’re good responses. But, in my opinion, itcost more time for these BOS regulars to post their reviews that it should have, it’s hard to quantify the responses, and since Google Never Forgets, doing this sort of peer site review in public is less than optimal.

I think the approach StatupToDo.com will support is better for the requester, better for others who graciously provide help. It starts with a member creating a Review Request – pretty straightforward: your URL, the period the Review Request will be open, your message to potential reviewers. Here’s what the preview looks like as you fill in the Review Request:

Open Review Requests are default listed by the number of reviews the requester has done, so the more you participate, the higher your listing. Another member of the StartupToDo.com community can review you site in a couple of minutes via an Ajax-enabled form with 12 questions you answer just by clicking the rating:

These aren’t 12 questions at random – I believe these 12 questions get to the heart of how effectively your site is selling your software or service.

Finally, you can see the results of your Site Review – quantitatively and qualitatively:

I – as does everyone else who’s gotten great feedback over the years at the Business of Software forum – really appreciate the time and effort other microISVs and startups put into providing this very valuable feedback. I hope my approach in StartupToDo.com (launching soon, visit this page if you’d like a short email when it launches) takes most of the risk, friction and frustration out of the process.

You’re reading What’s wrong with the Business of Software Forum. from: 47 Hats. If you like this post, there’s plenty more! Want more sales for your startup? Stop by and let’s chat, or consider a Microconsult with Bob Walsh.