There’s a good post over at MyMicroISV on Picking your micro-ISV niche.
He gave a useful link to a Squidoo lens about the long tail. If, like me, you’ve often heard reference to the long tail concept, but weren’t sure exactly what it is, that lens contains some good links to help clarify things.
In my own case, about to develop a web service, I don’t think I’m following the hype cycle, as I’ve been thinking about the concept for the last 4 years or so and discussing ideas with others as opportunity arose.
My service fits roughly in the online PIM marketplace, alongside the likes of BackPackit, RememberTheMilk, and one or two others which escape me at the moment. On discovering these services I almost thought of abandoning my ideas for the reason that others are getting close to my way of thinking and I wouldn’t have to wait long until I could just use their offerings myself. Which would have been fine, ’cause I have other ideas I could develop. However, their services are more narrowly focussed than mine and their emphasis is a bit different to what I am aiming for.
When will I go live? Not sure, but I feel good having picked a niche and made a start… now to just keep forging ahead!
February 24th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
Good luck with your venture!
I do hope that you are considering the one important aspect when starting any ISV or indeed any business. Where are my paying customers? Who will buy this? It is hard to compete in a market where all the other products are free.
February 25th, 2006 at 12:13 am
Constantly considering!
Initially, I see it working as a series of subscription levels, and not just in terms of levels of space (i.e. MBs, pages, etc) like BackPackIt but also into terms of functionality and access to other application modules.