Since May 2007 I’ve been a Professional Blogger for my company ISVfocus.com Limited. In March 2010 I launched the StoryComplete blog to help software companies build the skills they need to get off the sidelines, re-enter the game and win.
I took the plunge and founded ISVfocus.com Limited in 2007, having wanted to found my own company for some years. ISVfocus.com Limited owns my commercial projects and acts as publisher of my blogs. Although registered in the UK, everything is here in Germany.
When I founded ISVfocus.com Limited I wanted to learn about blogging. It helps to write about something you know, so I started a blog about Software as a Service (SaaS). The ISV Survival blog delivers news, reviews and original content on SaaS and what it means to ISVs.
There are several big changes for software companies that want to make this move. The focus must be on creating and keeping trust first, and then on the daily running aspects of the business. It is the running costs that decide a SaaS businesses profitability; technology no longer matters, and that is a difficult lesson for many software companies to accept.
While writing the ISV Survival blog, I became interested in the technology ISVs use to build and deploy SaaS applications. This builds on my 30 years experience in the IT industry; for most of that time I built, sold and supported development tools for ISVs and enterprise users.
Many of my customers were ISVs that used our development tools to build vertical enterprise applications. I started the paasTalk blog in March 2008 to share my thoughts on PaaS. In particular, what PaaS will mean to ISVs on how they build and deploy applications.
During this time I also advised a large Indian outsourcing company on the best way to approach independent software vendors in Germany who wanted to move existing application products from on-premise to SaaS.
During Q4/2008 and Q1/2009 I acted as COO for startup raising VC funding to bring a core banking solution to market. This involved detailed work on the business plan and financial model, as well as meetings with potential investors in Italy and the UK. Of course, the global financial crisis meant that this was exactly the wrong time to try raising VC funding for a banking software company.
Redesigned and implemented the corporate websites for Dynasty Technologies, Inc. and FinLogix, Inc. Moved both websites to the Squarespace web publishing platform to make it easy for non-technical users to revise and add content.
Seeing a gap in the broader training market, I launched the SellToCamera blog in September 2009 to help business professionals learn to present on video. This new blog combines my 30 years of presentation experience with my firm conviction that selling direct to camera on video is a core skill we must all acquire to be successful in our increasingly visual world.
The name SellToCamera seemed apt for a blog talking about selling directly to the camera, getting your message across motivating your audience to take action. You are not selling your product or service directly is a short video, rather you are selling the idea of taking action; of taking that vital next step. Achieve that in 2 minutes and you will be streets ahead of your competition (who are still publishing boring 40-minute screencasts).
The StoryComplete blog
I founded the StoryComplete blog in March 2010 to use my 30 years of software industry experience to do work that matters: helping software companies build the skills to get off the sidelines, re-enter the game and win.
