That was a harder one!

Some of the companies and people that are coming to the Business of Software Conference, 28-30^th October 2013, Boston, MA.

It not just the talks that makes BoS awesome, (though we think they are world class), it’s the amazing people who come from around the world (almost half from outside the US), to talk and share ideas about making software people want and building long term, sustainable software businesses.

Obviously, while we would love to share everything about everyone, we do not publish individual names of attendees outside the conference attendees. This list of companies and the job titles should give you a good sense of who is coming though.

Companies

4ormat, ABIS, Inc, Accedian Networks, Acid Media / Mobiscroll, Acquia, acQuire Technology Solutions, Adaptasoft, Inc., Admin Arsenal Corporation, Adzerk, agileDSS , Anamika LLC, AppFusions, Appointment-Plus, Atlassian, Avangate, Aviaso, Avontus Software, Award Nexus, Axiomsoft, Axosoft LLC, Badass Users, Balsamiq, Bettermarketing Inc., Bidsketch, BitsDuJour, Bizworks, Blackbaud, Blue Fish Development Group, BlueZebra Sports, booj, Boondoggle Films, Box, Brecht Inc, Buildium LLC, Business of Software, Calix, Campaign Monitor, Cancel Bayern Software, Cape Horn Strategies, CAPS, Inc, catalyst investors, CDI Apps for Good, Cisco Systems, Cisco Systems, Inc., CivicPlus, Columbia Business School, Computational Hydraulics International (CHI), Constant Contact, Inc., Conversocial, ConvertKit, CopyCat LLC, CoreMedia AG, Corporation Service Co, CoSupport, CURE International, CustLabs Ltd., Cycling ’74, Dassault Systemes, DDL, Delivra, Development Partners Software, DevFacto, device42, Devonshire Investors, DevResults, D-I, Dnet Internet Services, DRH Internet Inc., ECIS Consultants Ltd, Effective Computing, Elbrys Networks, Ellexus Ltd, eMoney Advisor, Emurasoft, Inc., Enova, Entrance, EVER TEAM, Evernote, Exprodat, Faria Systems Ltd., Fire Ant Software, Fireworks Project Inc., Five Lakes Studio, FLAVIA IT-Management GmbH, Fog Creek Software, Formstack, Formstack LLC, Formstack, LLC, Formula VC, Forward Thought, Inc., Freeside Internet Services, Inc., FundStream, Globe Software, GoECart, Google, Inc., GovProcure, GovProcure Partners, GRAHL software design, Grant Street Group, GraphPad Software, Grasshopper Group, LLC, GunpwderLabs, Harvard Innovation Lab, Heroku, HFLabs, Highland Capital Partners, Hopper, HubSpot, Hudl, Independent, InetSoft, Insperity, Insyston, Integral Group Inc., Interapptive, Inc., Intercept Solutions, Intercom, Intern Avenue, inWorks LLC, IQ Capital Partners, JBurgess & Associates, Jitbit Software, JKI, Just Add Content, Kalzumeus Software, kCura, Keepify, Kentico software s.r.o., Kindoo, KnowledgeLake, Inc., Koombea Inc., KSS International, Inc., Lab Escape, Inc., Litmus, Lobster Software, Locaweb, Logos Bible Software, Mad*Pow, marcucio.com, mdk GmbH, Metaworks Inc., Method R Corporation, Microsoft, Microsoft, Mind the Product, Modern Survival Solutions, MongoHQ, Monkida, Moon River Software, Inc., Moraware, Multunus Software, N. Nyman Oy, N/a, Neo, NeoSmart Technologies, North Bridge Venture Partners, Nozzle, Nuxeo, Ocean Learning Ltd, One More Cloud, OpenEye Scientific Software, Optimizely, Optis, Oracle, O’Reilly Media Inc., PadMapper, Inc., Paramount Software UK Ltd, Percussion, PHC, Physion, PK Data, Planscope, Pluralsight, Pollen.io, Precision Lender, PrecisionLender, Primate Technologies, Promethean, Inc., PROS, protobi, Rand Worldwide, Readdle, Readdle Inc. , Real HQ, Recruitment Systems, Red Gate, Relevance, Inc, RIPE NCC, Rivo Software , Robots and Pencils Inc., RocketScope, Rogish and Associates, Royal Palm Software, LLC, SASSIE / SurfMerchants, Sched.org, Schneider Electric, Schneider Electric IT Denmark ApS, Schneider Electric IT DK ApS, SeeThoughtDone, Self, Serlio Software, Servolutions, SimplyWork, Sitrus LLC/ AMC Bridge LLC, Snow Mountain Labs UG, Socious, Software Pricing Partners, Inc., Software Verification, SoftwarePromotions, Solana, Stack Exchange, StartHQ, Stella Nova Technolo, Sterling Medical Devices, Stormpulse, Inc., Streema, Inc, Swoop, Table Xi, Takipi, TBA, Tealeaf Academy, TechSmith, Telerik, Terraine, Inc., The BLN, The BLN & Business of Software, The Re-Wired Group, Three and a half Roses, Thycotic Software, Tioga Lake Systems, LLC, Total Synergy, Totango, TRANZACT, Tucows/OpenSRS, Tuff Decisions Inc., Univeris, US Health Works, UserIQ, UserScape, Veson Nautical, Violarth, VIPorbit Software Int’l, Inc., Vircom , Webapper Services, LLC, Websites4Sports.com, Widefido, Winshuttle, Wisco, xMatters, Xtreme Labs, Yammer, Yesware, Zillow, Zoomergy LLC.

Job Titles – good to see that some people retain a good sense of humour when it comes to Job Titles.

#1, Architect, Associate, Audience Evangelist, Author, Backwards Thinker, Business Strategist, CEfounder & O, CEO, CEO & Co-Founder, CEO & Founder, CEO & Lead Developer, CEO/CTO, CEO/Founder, CFO, Chairman, Channel Account Manager, Chief Architect, Chief Entertainment Officer, Chief Evangelist, Chief Information Officer, Chief Product Officer, Chief Strategist, Consumer Applications, CIO, Cloud Consultant, CMO, Co Founder & CEO, CoFounder, Co-Founder, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Commercial Strategist, COO, CTO, Deputy Assistant, Developer, Development Manager, Director, Director IT, Director of Client Care, Director of Client Services, Director of Consulting, Director of Engineering, Director of Information Technology, Director of Marketing, Director of Operations, Director of Product and Operations, Director of Product Development, Director of Product Management, Director of Product Strategy, Director of Sales, Director of Software Engineering, Director of Support, Director, Engineering, Director, Marketing & Product Strategy , Director, Software Development, Editorial Strategist, Engineer, Engineering Director, Entrepreneur and Investor, Event Assistant, Events Manager, Founder, Founder & CEO, Founder & CTO, Founder / Principal Consultant, Founder and CEO, Founder and CTO, Founder/CEO, Founder/CTO, Founder/Editor, Founder/Principal, General Manager, General Partner, Global Engineering Director, Global Product Management Director, GM, Heroku Postgres, Google Whisperer, Growth PM, Hacker in Residence, Head of Customer Success, Head of Finance, Head of Marketing, Head of Product Development, Head of UX, In house Counsel, Independent, IT Director, Jack of All Trades, Jobs-to-be-Done Associate, Jody’s Daughter, Jody’s Mom, Lead Developer, Localization Specialist, Manager, Software Dev Engineering, Manager, Software Engineering, Managing Director, Managing Director & Co-Founder, Managing Partner, Marketing, Marketing Coordinator, Marketing Manager, MD, Member of Technical Staff, NED, One of the team, Oracle Business Unit Manager, Owner, Partner, Partner Program Manager, Physician Assistant, President, President & CTO, President / CTO, President, Software Division, President/CEO, Principal, Principal Consultant, Principal Engineer, Product Manager, Professional Services Director, Professor, Project Manager, Sales, Sales & Development, SciBizD, Senior Associate, Senior Developer, Senior Experience Designer, Senior Manager of Software Engineering , Senior Software Developer, Senior Software Engineer, Skilled Engineering, Software Craftsman, Software Developer, Software Development, Software Development Expert, Software Engineer, Software Engineering Manager, Special Projects, Sr Director Product Management, Sr. Product Manager, STAFF, Support Engineer, SVP Business Development, SVP Customer Operations, TBA, TBD, Technical Director, Technical Product Manager, Technologist, Thought Follower, UX Lead, Vice President Solution Software, Vice President, Business Development, Vice President, Commercial Operations, Vice President, Strategy & Marketing – 3DVIA, VP, VP and Technology Evangelist, VP Business Development, VP Engineering, VP marketing, VP of Engineering, VP of Industry Solutions, VP of Marketing, VP of Operations, VP of Product Management, VP of Products, VP Operations, VP Product, VP Product Strategy, VP solutions, VP Technology and Platforms, VP, Business Development, VP, Engineering, VP, Enterprise Solutions, Web Guy, Zookeeper.

Previously, on Business of Software, Avangate have very generously supported scholarships for promising software businesses to come to BoS. Now they are extending their generosity to other BoS delegates, with a dinner at Morton’s Steakhouse on the evening of Tuesday 29th. We’d recommend it because Avangate scholarships reliably turn up some very interesting new faces at BoS.

Their space is limited, so if you want to go you need to book a spot here.

In their own words:

If you are attending the Business of Software conference this year, taking place October 28-30 in Boston, please join us for dinner on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 at Morton’s Steakhouse as we celebrate our Avangate – Business of Software Scholarship winners.

It’s a great opportunity to network and share ideas with other emerging Software, SaaS, and Cloud Services industry leaders and make valuable connections to help push your company or organization to new levels.

If you would like to join us, please RSVP using the form on this webpage. We will follow-up with you to confirm your attendance.

Space is very limited so be sure to reserve your seat!’

Or not – it is transient after all.

I went to see Rita Gunther Mcgrath last night in Nottingham. She was addressing a group of Boots executives on the ideas in her book, ‘The end of competitive advantage’. Would I normally spend 5 hours in a car to hang out with a group of pharmacists? To be honest, probably not, but as Rita will be speaking at Business of Software Conference (28-30th October, Boston), I wanted to meet properly before she spoke. I was so glad that I went – I left buzzing with excitement that she will be opening the conference. Not only is she whip smart and utterly charming, she has a way of explaining things that is up there with Geoffrey Moore and Clayton Christensen. A total rockstar.

You can also view a short interview with Rita that I did that offers a taster of some of the things that she will talk about at BoS where she will talk about the ways that entrepreneurial software businesses can use her strategic framework to maximise their impact here.

I won’t spoil Rita’s Business of Software talk by sharing some of her ideas here – this talk was a talk for an audience of executives in big organisations. I think she is even more excited about what the implications of this framework for entrepreneurial businesses which is what she will focus on in Boston.

So what’s the big idea?

Rita challenges the orthodoxy that the main thrust of strategy for many years has been built on concept of sustainable advantage where you build a business that creates barriers to entry and exit for competitors that allows companies to milk their advantage for huge profits for many years. The world changes and she illustrates the idea with a story.

Billionaires, silver and the death of Kodak

Kodak and Fuji were once very similar – global brands, well run, highly profitable.

In 1973, two oil and gas billionaires, the Hunt brothers, decided to hedge their exposure to the oil industry by buying silver. By 1980, they had so much silver that they controlled the market, a major ingredient in film and prices skyrocketed, quadrupling in price between 1978 and 1980 (fascinating background here). Kodak and Fuji, at the time were the largest consumers of silver and they were both somewhat panicked.

3 months later, the price dropped back to a more normal level and everyone carried on as normal. Everyone except Fuki. The two global photography behemoths took very different paths.

Fuji realised that what could happen once, could happen again and started to investigate the opportunity for photography to be less dependent on chemistry where they couldn’t control the cost of materials.

Kodak did too – they invented the digital camera after all, but were stuck in a film-based paradigm. Early digital images were obviously pretty poor and in 1990, Kodak announced they had a ‘digital solution’.

The solution was: Film – Scanner – Manipulation – Put on CD – Available to play.

Their digital imaging solution was one that started in the place where they had a clear leadership position. While Kodak invented the digital image but they couldn’t move outside paradigm of existing thinking and processes. At first, digital imaging was a far inferior solution, but the world moves on.

Fuji continued to develop digital imaging as a core part of their activity.

• Fuji has $87 billion in global revenue in 2012.
• Kodak is more than a little bit broken.

The film-based competitive advantage for both had existed for decades. Competitive advantage does not last.

Competition outside your industry.

Today, the most important competitor you have may not even exist in your industry. Industries face massive competition from different industries. A recent US study on household spending showed recently that spending on electronics in the US is up whilst spending on eating out and apparel is down. Do people want an iPhone or a better car?

Industries are competing with each other for consumer’s cash.

The background behind the book

Her book was based on a series of case studies considering world’s largest companies ($1billion market cap. Total of 5,000 companies). Only 8% of world’s largest companies could sustain 5% growth for 5 years in a row.

Only 10 companies had been able to sustain 10% growth over year.

• Tsingtao
• ACS
• Indra
• Atmos Energy
• Infosys
• Cognizant
• Yahoo Japan
• KRKA
• Factset
• HDFC Bank

She set her students on looking at what happened to them when they had layoffs. What happened in a downturn. Couldn’t find any evidence of either. There was however, plenty of evidence of ‘ongoing configuration’ in all of those companies.

Rita’s new playbook for strategy.

1 Continuous Reconfiguration

• Have to be good at executing the traditional stuff but they also have to be in a state of continuous reconfiguration. Be aware of, hypersensitive to, the environment around you.

• Verizon – often spooked analysts by discarding existing highly profitable business units and focusing on longer term growth areas. Has paid off in long terms as others have stuck with existing businesses that eventually fail.

• Pallet manufacturer and distributor Brambles found supermarkets has major issue with handling of e.g. soft fruit. Developed packages that are picked and packed into trays directly. Reduces handling significantly and gets product to market faster. Don’t think of themselves as a pallet distributor, see themselves as solving logistic challenges for customers.

2 Healthy disengagement

• How do you recognise when things need to change before it is too late to do something about it?

3 Deft resource allocation

• Powerful people control where the resources go in businesses. They tend to be senior within companies and want to support the status quo – Blackberry’s vast spend on relaunch of BB10 for example. The allocation of resources for the future has to be separated from the people who control the existing profitable lines.

4 Innovation Proficiency

• Innovation today has to happen faster and more routinely than at times in the past. It cannot be episodic.

5 New leadership mindset

• More open, candid. “Don’t bring me any surprises” “Don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions”. Total BS. Means the executives only hear about the stuff that really matters when it is obvious to everyone. People in the executive suites need to be more willing to embrace uncertainty and surprises.

• Leadership really matters

Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford, noticed when he took office that there were no Fords in the Executive parking lot. Saw this was a problem. Had traffic light system to manage management information. Came in sat down with team who presented a sea of green. “How can you be showing me a sea of green when we will lose $6 billion this year?”

“You can’t manage a secret”

When first guy to break cover after a few meetings and showed red on his dashboard, room went quiet expecting an on the spot firing. Mulally clapped. Floodgates opened. Began the turnaround process.

What does this mean for individual careers and talent?

• From                                                                    To
• Organisational systems                                  Individuals skills
• Sable career path                                              Series of gigs
• Hierarchies and teams                                    Individual superstars
• Infrequent job hunting                                   Permanent career campaigns
• Careers managed by organisation             Careers managed by the individual

Is there any good news in all this?

If you are an entrepreneur, YES! Organisations can’t keep you out. Access to assets, not ownership of assets becomes more important.

If you are an employee, yes if you understand the changing rules of the game.

Rita is opening the Business of Software Conference with a talk that explains her ideas about the end of competitive advantage as a strategic framework and the implications of transient advantage for entrepreneurial businesses.

I caught up with her in Nottingham yesterday where I left with two things: the knowledge that we have an amazing person kicking off the conference yet again; this little interview about her ideas and what they mean for entrepreneurial businesses. Enjoy.

http://businessofsoftware.wistia.com/medias/vbfgnxqqvh?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640

Full talk, transcript and slides from the BoS Conference Talk HERE.

She says she will be particularly interested in hearing from attendees about how they pick business models for their startups.

One of the amazing things about the Business of Software Community is how much people care and want to give something back. We will be letting you know a little more about some of the other things that go on behind the scenes later but here is something that you need to know about SHARP!

Peldi, founder of the fabulous Balsamiq Mockups Software and a speaker at BoS on multiple occasions is not speaking this year but he is still coming (this is one of the things that means more to us than anything – so many conference speakers are keen to attend an event if they speak, but wouldn’t consider it if they didn’t). So many BoS speakers come back to hear the other speakers and be part of the community.

So not only is Peldi and Balsamiq coming back this year, they have offered to put something back into the community that has been so helpful to them over the past few years and have offered to support the event in a meaningful way. Part of that support is that they have bought a ticket, with a free pass to a post event half day workshop (total value if you take a chance on it not being sold out and wait until the last minute just under $3,000).

All you need to do is register your interest with Balsamiq over on this Google Doc and the winner, picked at random, will be given the pass.

REGISTER YOUR INTEREST WITH BALSAMIQ BY OCTOBER 9TH.

You need to be able to cover your own transport and accommodation and personally, I suggest you bring some cash to buy Peldi a beer (though the beer is covered at all conference events and he would probably insist on buying you one in the bar anyway).

If you have never experienced any crises in your business, you can look away now… this Q&A is not for you.

For the other 99% of us, bookmark this page and come back at 12 noon EST on Wednesday Sept 25th when Scott Farquhar, CEO of Atlassian will be talking to BoS in a live Q&A session. Scott’s BoS talk is entitled ‘Leadership in Crisis: when stuff gets real’ and he’s drawing on lessons learned throughout the growth of Atlassian and from a few non public incidents that pushed them to the edge.

Atlassian now is one of the most credible technology IPO candidates in the software business, and counts some of the world’s largest organizations as clients—including some of the biggest names in media, manufacturing and technology—such as Microsoft, Facebook, Cisco, Oracle, Proctor & Gamble, Exxon, BMW and NASA. They have over 20,000 customers globally and has been named one of the “Fastest Growing Companies” by both Deloitte and BRW Magazine. So how did the management team achieve this?

We’ll be talking to Scott about that, his work now and his plans for BoS. Scott is very keen to make sure his BoS talk deals with the questions that are on your mind, so send us your questions or comments via Twitter (#BoS2013), Facebook or LinkedIn, and save the date in your calendar here:

At BoS we believe in software entrepreneurship – and we really want to encourage future generations to get involved. So we do what we can to make sure content from BoS is available for students, but there is no doubt that a lot of the value comes from attending the conference, the hallway track and the conversations with other delegates. That’s what peer learning is all about, after all.

Attending BoS is beyond the pocket of the average student, but our delegates are an amazing bunch and particularly the fabulous John Knox, a regular at BoS, who has offered to fund Business of Software Grants for a couple of students/recent graduates who would not otherwise be able to come to BoS 2013. John has form in the ‘helping people build careers’ department – including writing the book on engineering internships.

How to Apply

So if you are a student or just graduated, thirsting for a career in software, and/or have the entrepreneurial itch, please get in touch. Drop us a email, explaining why you would like to attend (but can’t) and what you can bring to BoS (you might want to check out some of the useful info about who comes and why). If you prefer to make a short video submission, we’re always happy to put a face to a name, but it’s not compulsory.

Apply by 28th September, John will pick two applications who will come to BoS as his guests, and get to spend some quality time with all of our delegates.

Thank you John! If anyone else wants to do similar or has ideas about how to support the future growth of the software industry, please get in touch.

John Knox at Business of Software by the lovely Betsy Weber.

Congratulations to Gabriel Mays who won last week’s ‘Find the Code’ first thus winning himself a Free Pass to Business of Software Conference, October 28-30th. Good luck with Just Add Content Gabe, congratulations of finding the code ‘BoSKeyPie’ in The Whisky Priest Menu blog post and see you at Business of Software. Subscribe to email updates if you want a chance to win another ticket – we will hide one in every email to our mailing list between now and the conference.

After an extremely comprehensive review of Gabe’s photo collection, the girls in the office chose this one.

Gabe recently sent back the company car (see below) and traded in life in the Marine Corps for life as an entrepreneur.

Gabe’s old company car.

About Gabe and Just Add Content

Gabriel Mays lives in San Diego, CA  and is the founder of Just Add Content, a website platform that creates “instant” websites for small businesses without the headaches or compromises of budget website builders.  It also simplifies business management by bringing together the best business applications through simple website integration.

Gabe joined the Marine Corps as an officer after college at age 21 and left as a Captain after 8 years, spending about half that time on small specially trained advisor teams.  In the Marine Corps he spent years between Iraq and Afghanistan on embedded teams where he lived with and trained local security forces.  Gabe also spent two years managing a nearly $1 billion Marine Corps aviation budget.  Gabe’s wife is a Marine as well and flies F/A-18 Hornets.

Prior to leaving for Afghanistan in April 2012 Gabe started working on the idea that would become Just Add Content.  With no technical background and limited connectivity, Gabe spent his free time while deployed learning and building the first prototype of the platform.  When he returned from Afghanistan in April 2013 he decided to leave the Marine Corps to work on Just Add Content full-time and did so in August 2013.

Gabe recently released v1.0 with paying customers and is looking forward to taking Just Add Content to the next level.  In the future he wants to use Just Add Content’s infrastructure to change the world by empowering small business owners and entrepreneurs in developing nations like Kiva does.

Gabe has a B.A. from Cal State Stanislaus and a M.S. from the University of Nebraska.

Despite having no technical background or credentials, Gabe says Just Add Content will become the world’s first trillion dollar company by becoming for business what Google is to the internet (let that one sink in).  Gabe’s wife and mother agree, so he knows he’s on the right track.

I’ve just finished reading an-old-but-great-essay from the inimitable Paul Graham about the messages cities send and how that affects enterprise culture.

He makes the point that you need to live in a city and really understand it before you can fully decode its culture, but for a new girl in town like me, the most obvious sign of a thriving start up culture is a rich network of support groups. These are pretty fundamental for what they say about a city’s attitude to enterprise, as Paul explains:

‘No matter how determined you are, it’s hard not to be influenced by the people around you. It’s not so much that you do whatever a city expects of you, but that you get discouraged when no one around you cares about the same things you do.’

Boston’s support groups definitely care and I’m sure that’s part of the reason that one of the messages Boston sends is ‘welcome – let’s get stuck in.’

Here’s some of the best ‘local heroes’: if you’re an entrepreneur living in Boston, you should definitely check these guys out. They have been consistently welcoming and supportive to Business of Software and we’re very greatful:

• Greenhorn Connect. Greenhorn Connect’s mission is to help build connections within the Boston entrepreneur ecosystem through increased awareness of opportunities. The GreenhornConnect.com web portal connects Boston startups and enthusiasts with the many resources, events and jobs in the region as well as educational and informational content.The Greenhorn team is passionate about the Boston startup scene and is committed to helping build a more vibrant and integrated startup ecosystem. Their Greenhorn Connect newsletter is a vital resource to stay in the loop on all things startup-related.
• Boston Product Management Association. The mission of the Boston Product Management Association is to enhance the professional development of product management and product marketing professionals in the Greater Boston area by offering skills training, job resources, mentoring, educational seminars, and networking opportunities. They offer members opportunities to learn new and latest skills, connect with other product professionals and engage in lively discussions about the latest trends to help advance their careers.
• Venture Fizz. This is a one stop destination website , looking at everything that’s buzzing in Boston’s technology sector. Info on jobs, companies, deals and events – essentially all the news you need on Boston’s technology sector, established companies as well as start ups.

If you are local to Boston and know other great networks or media organisations that support the tech industry, let us know your favourites.

Where do you begin with embedding innovation practices in your growing software business?

Tomorrow at 12 noon EST we’ll talk to Jeff Gothelf, CEO of NEO about his work and the big, audacious topic he intends to tackle at Business of Software – a step by step guide on how to build and support innovation in your business.

• Who should be on the innovation team?
• How should they work?
• How will you measure success?

Jeff has worked with dozens of product teams and literally written the book on lean design methods for user experience. If you’d like to put some questions to Jeff or share your experiences, we’d love to hear from you. Here’s what to do:

• Bookmark this page and come back for the Q&A
• You can ask questions on Twitter before or during the Hangout, using the hashtag #BoS2013

You can add the Hangout to your Google Calendar here:

Wondering who else will be at Business of Software?Well, here’s a bunch of interesting companies for a start:

PHC, eMoney Advisor, OpenEye Scientific Software, Avontus Software, UserScape, Tuff Decisions Inc., Software Verification, Interapptive, Inc., Enova, Moraware, GoECart, Cape Horn Strategies, Zillow, TBD, CustLabs Ltd., Entrance, Schneider Electric IT DK ApS, Lobster Software, agileDSS Inc., Delivra, SimplyWork, Servolutions, Acid Media / Mobiscroll, Evernote, Terraine, Inc., TechSmith, Schneider Electric, Effective Computing, SoftwarePromotions, RIPE NCC, CURE International, Rogish and Associates, DevResults, Monkida, Jitbit Software, ECIS Consultants Ltd, JKI, Bidsketch, GRAHL software design, Veson Nautical, Hudl, Total Synergy, DDL, 4ormat, Sitrus , LC/ AMC Bridge LLC, PK Data, Anamika LLC, Vircom , Readdle Inc. , Insyston, Solana, BlueZebra Sports, Buildium LLC, BitsDuJour, Grasshopper Group, LLC., Computational Hydraulics International CHI), xMatters, CopyCat LLC, kCura, Snow Mountain Labs UG, Five Lakes Studio, Bizworks, Dnet Internet Services, Moon River Software, Inc., CoreMedia AG, Wisco, Rivo Software , Koombea Inc., CAPS, Inc, Forward Thought, Inc., Precision Lender, Integral Group Inc., Accedian Networks, Univeris, Cancel Bayern Software, Tioga Lake Systems, LLC, Lab Escape, Inc., Development Partners Software, device42, Three and a half Roses, Optis, Readdle, FLAVIA IT-Management GmbH, SASSIE / SurfMerchants, Cisco Systems, Inc., marcucio.com, mdk GmbH, Thycotic Software, HubSpot, CoSupport, VIPorbit Software Int’l, Inc., CDI Apps for Good, Fire Ant Software, Kalzumeus Software, Neo, Columbia Business School, Atlassian, Acquia, Ocean Learning Ltd, Self, Mad*Pow, Red Gate, Harvard Innovation Lab, Ellexus Ltd, Exprodat, Adzerk, Devonshire Investors, NeoSmart Technologies, Bettermarketing Inc., PadMapper, Inc., Hopper, Nuxeo, Emurasoft, Inc., Zoomergy LLC, Aviaso, Multunus Software,Pollen.io ,Google, Inc., Formstack LLC, Formstack, PROS, Appointment-Plus, Heroku, KSS International, Inc., Locaweb, Fog Creek Software, TRANZACT, Kentico software , .r.o., Metaworks Inc., Axosoft LLC, Cisco Systems, Modern Survival Solutions, Stormpulse, Inc., D-I, FundStream , Boondoggle Films, O’Reilly Media Inc., Conversocial, JBurgess & Associates, Sched.org, Method R Corporation, KnowledgeLake, Inc., Yesware, EVER TEAM, Oracle, Balsamiq, DevFacto, Highland Capital Partners, Elbrys Networks, Fireworks Project Inc., Formula VC, Websites4Sports.com, RocketScope, booj, Brecht Inc, Planscope, Mind the Product, ConvertKit, , Totango,  Intercept Solutions, Freeside Internet Services, Inc., Stack Exchange, Socious, Faria Systems Ltd, Constant Contact, Inc., Webapper Services, LLC, Corporation Service Co, DRH Internet Inc., CivicPlus, SeeThoughtDone, Microsoft, Logos Bible Software, Telerik, Formstack, LLC, N. Nyman Oy, Rand Worldwide, Takipi, Promethean, Inc., Catalyst investors, Winshuttle, Grant Street Group, Nozzle, Tucows/OpenSRS, Percussion, Campaign Monitor, inWorks LLC, Axosoft, LLC, Litmus, Streema, Inc, Paramount Software UK Ltd, Physion, Intercom, acQuire Technology Solutions, Optimizely, GraphPad Software, Xtreme Labs, Royal Palm Software, LLC, Primate Technologies, Globe Software, Swoop, HFLabs, Admin Arsenal Corporation, Sterling Medical Devices, Stella Nova , echnolo, Relevance, Inc, Kindoo, Recruitment Systems, Adaptasoft, Inc., Table Xi, Dassault Systemes, protobi.

And if job titles are your thing, here’s a wordle of those registered:

So, if you’re the Founder CEO of Presidential Engineering in Software Markets, there’s obviously only one place you should be on the 28th October.

Thanks to this website tear down that we asked our new friends Brecht Palombo and Scott Yewell at the ‘Bootstrapped with Kids‘ podcast we just noticed that we don’t actually say that Business of Software is a Conference, in Boston, on our homepage (among many other things). We don’t even say why people might want to come.

You can see the site tear-down here and feel free to weigh in with your thoughts too.

We are in the process of rebuilding the website, blog and other bits of the Business of Software community so we have made a quick temporary fix, settling on the utterly modest line, ‘3 days of peer learning for leaders of the world’s best software businesses‘, as a start.

Old version. 

Refreshed version.

This was a very helpful reminder to us that we must never stop thinking about things from the customer’s or prospect’s perspective but we did wonder if there was anything else that we should be doing/not doing/supporting through the site?

We will, at the very least, recognise the contributions of others but this is also a good chance to let us know about tools you believe in that you think we, and our community, will find useful. Who knows, we might be your next customer? For more details see.

If you make software that will make our lives, and the lives of our customers, easier, we’re all ears…

We are currently starting to rebuild the Business of Software and BLN web sites as well as integrate these sites with our back office, billing, CRM, email marketing, social media, accounting functions etc. As we retool the site, we will also be integrating the other events that we run and so we thought it would be a grand time to ask if there are things that you use or indeed build and sell that we should be using to run a global community of software and technology entrepreneurs?

All ideas and suggestions gratefully received – particularly if you know of a CRM system…

We will, at the very least, recognise the contributions of others but this is also a good chance to let us know about tools you believe in that you think we, and our community, will find useful. Who knows, we might be your next customer.

If you want to recommend a fabulous tool that saves you two hours of work a day or makes your customers so happy they are on the verge of rapture, please leave a note in the comments below or drop us a line directly at mark businessofsoftware.org (And if that fabulous tool so happens to be yours, that is OK too, we still want to know about it).