Lessons Learned: Pre-Launch

1) Technology development takes longer than expected. Be directly involved with scoping, requirement specification, and important technology decisions. Choose platforms on which skills are available. For most software development projects, it doesn't make a big technical difference if the development tool is Java or Microsoft. However, the availability of skills has serious ramification on project deadlines. Don't be a tech freak when making important decisions; think them through with a business mind. Would you rather be rich with the wrong tools, or broke with the right ones?

2) Play to your strength. Look for customers and funding in industries that you know well. Focus your energy on smaller wins, within familiar accounts and the bigger fish will follow.

3) Don't wait too long to signup customers. In the beginning its just assumption used to define/map the specific needs of a channel, and a particular industry in the business plan. However, you must regularly check your assumptions against real world to see if you can make money based on what you already have. Keep the initial direction, and the grand plan intact, but be willing to roll your product out to customers even if that doesn't conform to your distribution/target market model.

4) You only get one chance to do branding. Don't blow it. The logo and marketing message are critical elements of the initial impression. Spend time on it, poll some friends/peers about the impression it evokes, trust your gut, don’t let the advertising agency push you into something that you are not excited about. If your heart doesn’t flutter when you see your logo, why would your customers care?