The old 80:20 rule really applies to software development (the last 20% takes 80% of the overall timescale of the project). The last leg seems to be the longest, and this is proving to be the case for Project V. As ever this is a combination of developers under-estimating and clients (that’s me) over-specifying (oh, and changing their minds. I really should know better..).

The trouble with software development is that the metalanguage around it suggests that it is a science. In reality, it is an art. An iterative process where craft is at a premium. At the same time, producing code is an industrial process involving different roles and responsibilities. An industry where an idea takes ten seconds and realising it takes ten months. And also an industry where your product is never complete, there are always revisions to make.

So, during our long, hot summer, things are moving slowly to their conclusion. I am sanguine about the prospects for the Project since the actual product is becoming better and smoother every day, ideas are being refined and it will not only be the most cost effective, but also potentially the best, product on the market when it is fully released.

Excerpted from:
Project V – The Last Leg

As I go around meetings in London and further afield, the secrets of Project V are being whelked out of me slowly, but only ever under NDA. Still, it has, for legal reasons, to remain under wraps for some time to come.

However, I can reveal – and I think none of the regular readers of this blog will be surprised – that the project involves developing software. It’s all I’ve known for the past 20 years of my life and a leopard doesn’t change his spots.

But the ‘build it and they will come’ philosophy of so many Web 2 projects is not what Project V is about.

Just as having a great business idea isn’t enough, great software isn’t enough either.

The product is an ASP (application service provider) service and will not be sold direct into the market. It will be marketed through partners around the world, many of which I have already signed up (but if you reckon that you want to set up your own business in this area, please get in touch).

At the end of the day, Project V is a franchise which I hope will make a lot of money for a lot of people. If they’re making money, then so am I…

Excerpt from:
Project V – The Franchise

A very simple management philosophy has served me very well in the past, to succeed in business you need three things: the right strategy, the right implementation (or operational) plan and the right resources.

The strategy of Project V needs to remain somewhat under wraps for a while longer, but suffice it to say that the aim is to provide a low cost alternative in a market that is full of either free or very expensive products. I always details this, and the next point, in a written business plan, even if it’s for my own consumption.

The operational plans are being revealed in this blog, but they involve outsourcing product development and support, reselling rather than selling direct, automating billing and aiming for profitability rather than growth. Writing an operational plan and revisiting it over and over again before starting work is a great way of ironing out problems and roadblocks.

The resources are reasonably straightforward – using the best suppliers is the absolute key since this is a virtual company and there’s no need to worry about hiring the right staff (one of the biggest problems with staffing a startup is that the staff that are right for a startup, by their very nature, are rarely right for the company once it grows). The most difficult thing for a startup to do is to go from one employee to two; it’s usually easier to raise finance and start with five or ten.

But above and beyond this is one thing that is key to any creation process – you need to know what the final product – or company – will look like. It’s very difficult to muck along and achieve success.

It was interesting re-reading the original business plan for a couple of previous companies I formed. The honest analysis was that the implementation was almost to the letter in both cases, but the financial projections were, inevitably, I suppose, somewhat optimistic.

This time there is a plan, but no financial projections. Since the project is being funded totally out of my own pocket I am operating with simpler metrics, looking at how many sales are needed before I see my money back, and the measure here is therefore a case of time. In this instance I will need around x sales before turning a profit and this may take two months or two years. It would nice for it to be sooner rather than later, but my day job at TV Everywhere allows me to get by in the meantime.

Read the original post:
Project V – The Ethos

Now, I’ve created companies with all kinds of structures in all kinds of companies in my time, and the first question arising for Project V is what its corporate structure should be.

The objectives are to keep the company small, profitable and very virtual, so it could live anywhere in the world.

The US has become a very business-unfriendly environment with high fundraising costs and serious regulation issues, especially for small companies. You also have the ridiculous variations in corporate regulation from state to state. So, Delaware and Nevada are out.

Almost all of Europe retains archaic attitudes to forming a business. It can take many months in most EU countries, so they’re out. The exceptions are Ireland and the UK.

Ireland is attractive for low sales tax and low corporation tax. The UK has relatively high rates of corporation tax and very high sales tax. There is an in-between option – the Isle of Man, which has no corporation tax and very low personal tax. Unfortunately, to really benefit from these you need to live on an island in the Irish Sea.

I’ve decided to keep things simple and to continue contributing to the phenomenal amount of tax I have paid in the past to the IR in the UK.

For a small company, the red tape is getting worse and the tax regime is nowhere are near as attractive as it once was for small corporations, but it is probably the easiest option to manage and oversee since I have built up a network of great advisers over the years.

Project V will therefore be a UK based company.

Go here to see the original:
Project V – Corporate Musings

Some six years ago, sitting on the couch in my living room where I write this, I went online, formed a company, registered a URL and created a monster. The following six years with Narrowstep were a rollercoaster ride which was going quite well until I had to resign as CEO due to ill health. The subsequent story is well documented on this blog and in the annals of the SEC filings engine.

As Project V gets into swing I’ve promised myself one thing. This time I’m staying on the couch. So, no plush offices, studios and edit suites; no full time employees and a growing need for a HR department. Project V will remain lean, mean and very virtual.

With the huge amount of experience I’ve had working with offshore colleagues and running outsourcing centres in the US, Croatia and India, I’m pretty confident that most of the work can be undertaken by the vast industry that has developed subsequently.

Something else I won’t be doing is raising any outside financing and the baggage this brings. There are plenty of times where accessing such finance is a very sensible option and I’ve been very lucky in having the faith and considerable financial backing of some very forward looking individual and institutional investors in the past. However, this time I think that Project V can be self-funding due to the way its business model is established.

As a result the company isn’t being established to be sold, as I’ve done with my past four companies, so the focus is totally on the day-to-day operations.

The third thing I’m doing is not trying to replace what’s already out there and working; rather I’m going to bring together the best elements in the market and offer them within a comprehensive package.

So, I’ll keep you posted on progress from the couch…

Continued here:
Project V – Couch Potato