Programmer Musings

Review of Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality

Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality
Bob Walsh
Apress, 2006.

This is not the sort of book I would normally read. I'm usually more interested in the technical side of software than the business side. I found this book to be particularly difficult going partly for that reason. But, before I get into what I didn't like about the book, let's look at the positives.

Walsh manages to give the most complete overview that I've ever seen on what you will need to start a small software business. I'm an unabashed techie. One reason I've never attempted to start a business is that I know that I have big gaping holes in my skill set where business skills are concerned. Walsh's approach is the only one I've ever seen that gave me some reason to believe that I might actually be capable of starting a business. It also gave me a good idea why I probably never will.

Instead of pithy phrases and advice, Walsh focuses on explaining what sorts of information a technical type will need to learn to start down this path. He also gives plenty of information on where and how to track down the information you need. Instead of attempting to spoon-feed us the business information we need, he shows how to learn business skills just like any other skills we have learned throughout our careers. In other words, this book does appear to be focused on helping technical people (who basically learn for a living) to see what they will need to learn to start a business. This seems to be a much more reasonable approach than others I've seen.

Despite the intelligent approach, I found the book to be an incredibly hard read. It was not the writing, which was quite clear and readable. It was the subject. I found it very hard to focus on the material. If I were more interested in starting a business, that might not have been an issue. I also had some difficulty with Walsh's reliance on interviews for many of his points. In a smaller quantity, I think it would have been helpful. But, at some points, it felt more like the testimonials you see in informercials. I am just not normally convinced by that approach. I would have been more comfortable with a few more numbers and a few less stories of people who are succeeding in this field.

The second to last chapter was really difficult because of the sheer number of interviews focusing on Microsoft business support services. It's nice to know that those services are available, but there were enough of those interviews that it began to feel more like a commercial for Microsoft than I would have preferred. Fortunately, that was mostly concentrated in part of one chapter. Most of the interviews seemed more informational than that set.

The final interview of the book was also a little overdone in my opinion. Walsh interviewed Joel Spolsky for an amazing 10 pages of text. In addition, Joel did the foreword for the book. Now, I find Joel's insights to be interesting and he's a good writer. But this was a significantly bigger chunk of text than any of the other interviews. Frankly, if I wanted Joel's opinions, I can get them in many other places. It did not seem necessary to devote quite so much time to them here.

Despite my criticisms, I think this is probably a really good resource for any technical person who is thinking about starting a software business. This will either give you a leg up on the information you will need to know, or convince you that you are not cut out for this kind of life. Either way, the information may be exactly what you need.