Hot answers tagged webservices
9
If all work done on the website is owned by your company then unless there is some specific part of the contract he is quoting it sounds like he's out of luck. That said, if you are able to make a backup of any files pertaining to the website, do so ASAP.
You can try threatening him with legal action, in which case:
Get as much evidence ASAP, before you ...
7
Here are some of the things I tell my web development clients when they need to cut costs:
Use open source wherever possible. There's no reason to pay to develop a login system, search capabilities, common blog features, etc. from scratch when it's already been done and you are free to use what exists. Using open source lets you focus your development ...
7
The terms that cover this type of activity are "Lean Startup" and "Minimum Viable Product"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_viable_product
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_Startup
Google around those terms and you will find a huge amount of info. Eric Rees seems to be the man of the moment on this particular 'revolution'
Taking this to the extreme ...
7
Yes, it is possible. If it is difficult depends on the work others have done. IF it is code and follows the "Clean Code" principles aswell as using standard frameworks then it should easy to take over the code.
If the previous programmers did not respect general coding conventions or use exotic frameworks, it might become difficult.
Personally I would ...
6
Good advice above. Here are some more data points for you to consider:
Pro/Cons of the low to high approach: Logisitcally you then need to keep track of what teir people are on when they sign up, you need to monitor your pricing and change it regularly, and you are forced to add value as you increase rates (which may or may not play nicely with your ...
6
You have two options in the UK, operate as a sole trader, or form a private limited company.
As a sole trader you pay special rate of income tax and national insurance, but you are personally liable for your work and any debts you take on board.
As a private LC, you would generally take a salary up to the national insurance start band and pay the rest in ...
5
1 million emails delivered within 48 hours? That's around 6 mails per second. That's doable from a single server, but it would have to be a fast server with excellent network connectivity.
One way to more or less achieve OP's goal is:
Lease a good server with a fast disk subsystem (Unix mail servers use disk for mail queuing, meaning disk-I/O is vital for ...
5
I've worked on projects where there was an existing codebase - and sometimes I had to start over from scratch, but usually not. If possible, I prefer to use the existing codebase unless there is a really good reason not to.
A competent programmer, or team of programmers, should be able to inherit code and build on it. This should be the preferred approach, ...
4
You probably realise that achieving many of these certifications is very expensive (both in terms of time/effort and more importantly opportunity cost), so you don't want to go down that track if you don't have to.
It obviously depends on the nature of your customers. As jpartogi notes, sometimes selling to enterprise customers is a little easier with an ...
4
It really depends on the ideas and the value to others, not on the fact that it's a web API.
There are places you can post new web APIs for exposure, but of course that's not money.
Requiring an account (with security token) makes it possible to track use for later monetization, so that part is not hard (or at least, you just have to do it once).
The real ...
4
Yes. There are different issues with different CMS's for scalling and integration of different features.
No. It is simply a factor of time/money. With the right time and money you will be able to hire a programmer that will be able to integrate what you need.
The web is littered with a plethora of custom made proprietary CMS platforms which have ...
4
You said the magic word: new
Give it time, work on marketing via social networks, ads, SEO and constantly improve the looks (aesthetics) and functionality of your web application.
Don't get discouraged now. Keep running it. for two years even if you have to. if your offering is good - "it will come".
Simply keep moving your app onward and upward and never ...
3
I'm in the market for this exact same thing. I asked a similar question on SO, but had it closed.
Since then I've found a possible solution called BatchEx, but don't know how trustworthy it is. A while back I attempted to contact them, and got a response, but it was many days later, so it didn't leave a great impression. I haven't followed up yet.
I also ...
3
Initially, it's very hard to tell what the "sweet spot" pricing for the product is since every market is different. If you are selling to individuals, $99/mo is pricy, when selling to big businesses it's very cheap. You do know approximately what your fixed and variable costs and you want to make sure those are comfortably covered.
In our case, we sell a ...
3
If you're happy with your concept, you've road-tested the business plan by engaging prospective paying customers and convinced you have the specification nailed, minimising cost may not be your best focus.
If you do want to do cost minimisation, if you're technical I'd +1 for http://www.odesk.com - for me, I like their way of creating a virtual team, ...
3
send large amount of emails to user's first degree connections (OPTED IN, NOT SPAM).
That's a bit hard to read. I will take it to mean that the "first degree connections" have themselves opted in, not that the "users" have opted in the "first degree connections" without asking them. The former would be fine, the latter could be debated, depending on the ...
3
You could use the following services:
Unbounce or LaunchRock to setup the initial landing page
Google Analytics to track how many people are coming to your site (I know Unbounce tracks this as well)
MouseFlow to actually be able to watch
You can also use ClickTest and 5SecondTest to tweak your landing pages as well.
3
Go to user groups and run demo's of your site/product. If it's a great product, people will spread the word for you.
Social media. Follow relevant people on twitter, post on their blogs. Or even better, invite influential bloggers to test/review your product.
The press is your friend. Invite reporters from online publications to try out your product and if ...
3
I think Seth does a great job of explaining some great things for you to do.
There are a couple of things I would add, however.
First, you need to have a great, well-designed product. Allow a free test/trial of it. If it's not absolutely fantastic, most people won't care. On the web, we look for the best, or the free.
Then, and this is so important, you ...
3
One of the biggest issues I see with making the announcement too early is that in software development, the scope, sometimes including 'basic' features and functionality, tend to change throughout the development process, not to mention the launch schedule. This means a possibility of creating incorrect expectations in the marketplace, promising a schedule ...
3
If he is threatening you, why do you think he would sign a document like this? You need to think about your negotiating position - which is difficult because he holds most of the cards.
Firstly - will he sue or is it just bluster?
Believe me, you don't want to go down the legal route. Do you think he has the money to sue you? How much is he asking for? If ...
2
Sure it happens all the time.
There are really popular blogs which make money with no technical knowledge. There are consulting shops where the CEO gets the clients and others implement the product.
I know lots of companies where the non-technical founder had the domain expertise for inventing and selling a product, but just couldn't build the product. ...
2
One example that jumps to mind is FreshBooks. Michael McDerment (the founder/CEO) is not a developer, but a business person (with some design experience). The company is doing well.
Having said that, most of the web startups that I know had a technical co-founder in the original team and contributed to the formation of the idea.
2
You could offer a free plan that had a cap of X calls per day. At the same time, offer a paid version that gives them X*10 calls per day up to a certain amount then like $0.10 per call after that. Also, you could consider requiring the free users to place a logo like "powered by YourAPI.com" somewhere on their website in order to gain market traction.
If ...
2
Well - many may believe that the lowest price counts, but I tend to put a higher value towards support and technical capabilities.
An example: Here's a company that was burned by yahoo small business, due to mismanaged hosting. Open exploit in wordpress instance on a shared hosting environment allowed hacker to modify multiple websites with bad payload. ...
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