http://www.moneyandsoftware.com Adventures in software, finance and the intersections Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:59:03 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en LinkedCells is a software product that allows Excel users to easily share their spreadsheet data with other Excel users.  Unlike other collaborative tools, LinkedCells functions completely within Excel, where Excel users are most comfortable.  You can currently download the product and use it for free from the website. LinkedCells was founded ... http://www.moneyandsoftware.com/2008/08/05/linkedcells-is-for-sale/ I posted a craigslist ad yesterday to get rid of a couple of old desktop computers that have been sitting idle in my basement.  Despite the machines being obsolete and not having monitors, I got 42 emails overnight from people who wanted them.  The responses were all over the place, ... http://www.moneyandsoftware.com/2008/04/18/donate-your-old-computer/ Successful software exists to solve a problem; be it boredom or too much stuff.  One way to drive traffic to your site and improve your search engine ranking is to write a helpful guide to solving the problem without your software.  It is important that you actually offer solutions, not just ... http://www.moneyandsoftware.com/2007/05/03/creating-a-guide-page-and-then-amplifying-it/ How many users do you need for usability testing?  5. Patrick has an interesting comparison of Crazy Egg vs Google Analytics.  The blog comments include some interesting points about CrazyEgg's approach. We're currently debating "do more marketing" vs "add more features", so this thread is relevant and interesting. In the ongoing search for ... http://www.moneyandsoftware.com/2007/04/27/best-software-startup-information-week-15/ We're having performance and mail server problems with our shared hosting plan from UltimaHosts, so this discussion of mail problems on shared servers was very interesting.  Our problems are with performance, rather than being blacklisted, but the consensus of not doing real work on shared hosting is compelling. A forum regular ... http://www.moneyandsoftware.com/2007/04/20/best-software-startup-information-week-14/ Thinking about getting business cards printed?  Once you have a nice logo, check out these opinions about where to get your cards. VistaPrint gets slammed.   When ordering, it is a good idea to have the back matte, as many people like to make a few notes on a card about what was discussed. As ... http://www.moneyandsoftware.com/2007/04/12/best-software-startup-information-week-13/ New entrepreneurs are often paranoid that someone is going to steal their idea.  With time and experience, most come to around to Howard Aiken's point of view, "Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats."  More experienced entrepreneurs ... http://www.moneyandsoftware.com/2007/04/08/best-software-startup-information-week-11-2/ TechStars is a Boulder, Colorado based clone of Y Combinator.  They are doing their first round of companies this summer.  They provide $5k/founder, plus office space, servers, classes and some pretty serious contacts.  They take 5% of the company.  They have received 175 applications so far, and accept a maximum ... http://www.moneyandsoftware.com/2007/03/30/best-software-startup-information-week-11/ Most micro-ISVs have a single founder who works in his spare time until there is enough revenue to quit.  While safe, that violates several of Paul Graham's 18 mistakes that kill startups.  I'm almost done reading Founders at Work, which reinforces his points; many of the founders warn of the risks of the ... http://www.moneyandsoftware.com/2007/03/29/taking-funding/ I wrote about a proposed change in the accredited investor definition a few days ago.  From talking with Steve Murchie at the Keiretsu Forum, I learned that, ...there is an even more progressive measure in Congress with bi-partisan support that would give a 25% tax credit to individuals making angel investments ... http://www.moneyandsoftware.com/2007/03/23/tax-credit-for-angel-investments/