Progress Report 2, business
I have a couple of doubts about the way we are going about this from a business standpoint. The first is that the more I read about successful technical businesses (IBM, HP, or even Thomas Edison's companies) the more I believe that they probably need to be sales driven. Sales and marketing. They need to be about serving people or meeting their needs or wants somehow. So I am nervous to be investing in technology first rather than in people first.
My second doubt is whether we should be the ones to do the hard core technical work. Why should I be programming when there are literally millions of people out there who are all more computer literate than I am and probably tens (hundreds?) of thousands of people who are both more computer literate and have a better understanding of the whole acoustics, digital audio world? From a business standpoint the answer is that I probably shouldn't. I should find people who are much more qualified and have them come along.
So why are we starting like we are starting? For a few reasons, I guess. First, because the stuff is so cool! At least at the beginning I think that we want to have the technical fun. In our world the fact that we don't know things is exciting. It means a steep learning curve and we love that. Second, because it will be nice to have at least some understanding of what is going on when we do have to bring on some experts. And it will be easier to sell the experts of the ideas if we have already done some of the work. Third, because we can afford to. We are both solvent without this business. We haven't given up our day jobs. So even if this is the slow way to do things we can go ahead and take this route for the fun of it.
Finally, I think that the learning is important for another reason as well. Better ideas come when you have more specific knowledge. And you can better judge the soundness of those ideas. I'd like to think that even though this may not be the quickest route toward building something up it may still be a good one. Still, marketing and technical talent need to come into the picture at some point not too far from now . . .
My second doubt is whether we should be the ones to do the hard core technical work. Why should I be programming when there are literally millions of people out there who are all more computer literate than I am and probably tens (hundreds?) of thousands of people who are both more computer literate and have a better understanding of the whole acoustics, digital audio world? From a business standpoint the answer is that I probably shouldn't. I should find people who are much more qualified and have them come along.
So why are we starting like we are starting? For a few reasons, I guess. First, because the stuff is so cool! At least at the beginning I think that we want to have the technical fun. In our world the fact that we don't know things is exciting. It means a steep learning curve and we love that. Second, because it will be nice to have at least some understanding of what is going on when we do have to bring on some experts. And it will be easier to sell the experts of the ideas if we have already done some of the work. Third, because we can afford to. We are both solvent without this business. We haven't given up our day jobs. So even if this is the slow way to do things we can go ahead and take this route for the fun of it.
Finally, I think that the learning is important for another reason as well. Better ideas come when you have more specific knowledge. And you can better judge the soundness of those ideas. I'd like to think that even though this may not be the quickest route toward building something up it may still be a good one. Still, marketing and technical talent need to come into the picture at some point not too far from now . . .
posted by Douglas H. at 9:56 AM
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