A guest blog from Shawn Anderson, 4 time Business of Software attendee, all round gentleman and president and co-founder of Admin Arsenal, maker of tools for IT administrators, a.k.a. smart people. Shawn shares seven top tips for getting the most out of the Business of Software conference.

Shawn is: blog.adminarsenal.com, @ShawnAnderson, shawn.anderson@adminarsenal.com

Would you give a total stranger $2,495.00?

Ridiculous question, huh?

For those whose bucket list doesn’t include “give that dude a huge check”, never fear, you’re not alone. Sane people generally don’t give money to someone without an expectation of a higher return, which is why your decision to attend BoS 2011 is so telling.

This will be my 4th Business of Software conference, and I, like so many others on this spinning orb we call Earth, have learned a lot from this annual meeting of software minds.

So here, in no particular order, are the seven things you can do to make the most of your BoS experience.

1 Sit at a different table for each meal

Breakfast and lunch are great times to meet other software pros, so utilize this time by mingling with many people. If you are so fortunate as to be attending BoS with others from your company, group, organization, charity, church, synagogue, or coven, then rest assured, you will have plenty of time to chat with them about what you have learned at BoS. Just not during meal time. Take the challenge to NOT sit with your associates during breakfast/lunch. Get out and mingle with the masses.

2 Listen

God, science, a photo-plasm explosion, Thor, or pure dumb luck gave you two ears and one mouth. So while you’re eating, do yourself a favor and chew with your ears open.

You probably face challenges that are effecting your company’s growth. After all, if you had all the answers you wouldn’t be spending your hard earned money to attend a conference (see paragraphs above).

You may be surprised at the number of people who do have the answers you’re looking for. Lest you feel like a moocher, worry not, if you’ve been in business for longer than a month you too have sage advise that someone needs to hear.

3 Don’t force the conversation

Hey, remember that time I asked you for $2,400? How’d that go?

You’ll probably find the same outcome if you sit down and start blathering about your feeble marketing, uncertainty about product pricing, poor cashflow, annoying partner, or that website redesign that actually ended up losing customers.

Remember the adage: “Me! Me! Me! That’s all you ever want to talk about. Let’s talk about you for a change.”

I’ve found a lot of great responses by simply asking someone easy questions like:

• where they’re from?
• which company they’re with?
• is this their first BoS?
• why did they choose to attend?
• who’s paying for it? (the answers to this question are interesting)
• what do they hope to get from attending?

Don’t shy away from the personal stuff. Asking someone about their family will also shed light on issues that you may have. Peldi Giacomo spoke at the last BoS and discussed balancing time with his family and business. “Work while they sleep… because they don’t even know you’re ignoring them”.  (https://businessofsoftware.org/video_10_peldi.aspx (at approx. 18:50)

4 Take advantage of the lack of electrical outlets at the conference 

After BoS 2008 I spoke to Neil Davidson (founder of BoS) about the lack of electrical outlets in the main theater, lamenting that my laptop battery wasn’t powerful enough to last the whole conference. I’ve since changed my tune, having learned the value of keeping the computer off. It’s just too tempting to check email or handle support questions.

I do take notes with my iPad, using NoteTaker HD and Mind Node. The iPad battery is more than strong enough to handle a BoS day without needing to recharge.

5 Introduce yourself to Dharmesh (sorry, Dharmesh)

Dharmesh Shah, the founder of Hubspot (www.hubspot.com), just happens to be the biggest reason why I continue to attend BoS. He’s a start-up guru. If he doesn’t know the answer, the person who does know it is probably following him (@dharmesh).

6 It’s not rhetorical. Try it.

Take what you’ve learned from BoS and put it to practice.

Some of the things learned at past BoS’ have been golden for us. Others have not been so golden. That’s OK. We tried them, tweaked them, and if they didn’t work, we stopped doing them. Through it all we remembered Dharmesh’s advise that most mistakes will not kill you.

7 Participate in the break-out sessions

My first advice in this article was a method to network with attendees during meals. The next best place is the break-out session. 

You will hear eloquent speakers and will soon have great ideas dripping out of your ears. Attend these sessions and learn what others have also discovered. Sometimes their conclusions are in contrast with your own (pay attention to these instances). Other times they will confirm your thoughts.

With my list completed, my parting statement will likely stroke your ego a little. (Just go with it.)

You are a genius. You either run a company or you are an integral part of a company. You have learned things, that when shared, will be the reason that other attendees shelled out their hard earned money to attend. They, like you, are up nights wondering what they can do to navigate the next turn, not quite sure what lies just beyond their view. It’s a scary thing to run a company. You need support.

So think of BoS as your very own 12-step software anonymous support group.

Hi. My name is Shawn, and I run a software company.

Shawn Anderson is president and co-founder of Admin Arsenal, maker of tools for IT administrators, a.k.a. smart people.

blog.adminarsenal.com

@ShawnAnderson

shawn.anderson@adminarsenal.com

By the way, you can save $550 on the ticket price if you book by September 1st and use the code, BoSAug.

If you are registered for Business of Software 2011, we want to let you choose which workshops we should run in the afternoon breakout sessions. If you haven't registered, what are you waiting for?

Please register your preferences using the SurveyMonkey form here.

We have lots of configurable space at Business of Software so we have some great options to set up workshops and discussions of various sizes that should mean that you get to spend some time talking and learning about some things that you really care about with other people who care as much. Please indicate which of these workshop sessions you would most like to attend by the 9th September – you can identify four. We will then take your preferences, juggle the space and the timing of the workshops in order keep as many people happy and interested as possible.

We will then ask you to sign up to attend one workshop scheduled for each session. If you wanted to make an additional suggestion for a workshop that you would like to lead, please send a note ASAP with a workshop title and 100 word description so that we can add it to the list. The sooner this gets done, the more likely it will be that folks will get a chance to sign up.

Workshop 1. Writing Game Changing Copy for Websites and Landing Pages. Rob Walling.

The best copywriters understand their prospect's mindset and craft an engaging story that doesn't feel like marketing garbage. People hate being sold, but they love to buy. This session will focus on how you can make buying the obvious decision for your prospect. In this workshop you'll learn the fundamentals of engaging copy, apply several copywriting techniques to your product or service, and emerge with a proven framework for improving your bottom line through game changing copy. Workshop moderator – Rob Walling is a serial entrepreneur and author of Start Small, Stay Small: A Developer's Guide to Launching a Startup. He blogs at SoftwareByRob.com about building self-funded startups and runs the Micropreneur Academy, an online learning community of like-minded founders designed to get a startup from zero to launch in six months. Walling runs 11 one-man technology businesses and has been building web applications professionally for 11 years.

2. Customer Relationship Management for AppOwners. Des Traynor.

Software owners are disconnected with their customers. Sure you can buy drinks at a conference or hand out 64MB pen drives now and then,but it's not a real relationship. If you ask an app owner to introduce you to ten of their best customers, most would struggle, grimace and then get a developer to break out SQL. Imagine trying to run a bar, convenience store, hairdressers, hell any service with that level of apathy to the folks who pay your wages. It shouldn't be surprising that your customers are willing to jump ship the second they hear of a competitor with a shiny new homepage. You never cared about them, why should they care about you? This workshop teaches you how to greet your users, how to get to know them and establish a relationship that will last through downtime hiccups, buggy iPhone apps, and accidental emails. A relationship built on real communication, real contact, and genuine consideration. We'll explore how to greet customers to your software, how and when to check in with them, how to encourage and reward loyalty, and how to measure the impact of all these activities. Attendees leaving the workshop will be freed from the thrice yearly email blasts, and will be focussed on delivering a compelling customer experience, one that increases retention and referrals. This won't be a botched walk through gamification & sign up hacks, it will be a truly useful and practical guide to how you can change your companies attitude to your users. Workshop moderator – Des Traynor is the Customer Experience designer at Intercom. He is an accomplished writer on start-ups and growing businesses on the popular Contrast blog, and is a regular conference speaker at events such as Future of Web Apps, MIX, CS Forum, MidwestUX, and many others.

3. Setting up and managing a software project with Subversion and Trac. Beau Adkins.

If you are running a software business, you deal with code. There are some great, free tools available to manage this important asset for you, but unfortunately some people in the field do not use them. Some people may not know how to get started, or which tools to use, or how to use it once it is set up. This talk intends to answer all of these questions. An attendee will receive simple step-by-step instructions on setting up a Subversion server for source code version control integrated with Trac for web-based ticketing. In addition, attendees will learn subversion best-practices for checkins, branching, and releasing. Workshop moderator – Beau Adkins, CEO of LightPoint Security

4. The Future of Brands. Erik Pelton.

The proliferation of social media, mobile applications, websites, blogs and keyword advertising mean that the interaction between customer and brands continues to grow and multiply. Each day it becomes is easier and cheaper to create or to destroy a brand. This workshop will discuss ideas for building strong brands today that feature input and output from reviewers, marketers, users, fans and more on a variety of platforms. We will discuss the power of brands to create emotions, passions,and user contributions and will review several examples including Apple, The Gap (a failed logo redesign last year) and Old Spice. Anyone with a brand; anyone marketing via website, blog, or social media, should attend this workshop. Workshop moderator – Erik M. Pelton. Attorney with 10 years experience working with brands and trademarks; blogger; creator of Apptorney® iPhone app for intellectual property professionals.

5. Zen And The Art Of AdWords Maintenance: from exploited to predator in three simple steps. Dave Collins.

Mistake #1: Most companies believe that theirAdWords accounts are reasonably efficient.

Mistake #2: Most companies believe that AdWords is a no-brainer; that with a smallish budget you can't go wrong.

Mistake #3: Most companies believe that their AdWords accounts do not waste money and opportunities.

Most are very, very wrong. Zen and the art of AdWords Maintenance will look at the three steps required to turn your account from exploited to predatory. It probably won't change your life, but can transform your AdWords ROI beyond words. Workshop moderator – Dave Collins, SoftwarePromotions

6. 40 releases a year? No sweat. Peldi.

Peldi will share some tips and tricks on how Balsamiq release updates to their software almost every week, with a big smile on their face. Topics include the obvious continuous integration, unit and integration testing topics, but also the more elusive "premature design is the source of all evil" mantra, which helps us split the work in little chunks and build community in the process. Workshop moderator – Giacomo 'Peldi' Guilizzoni is the founder and CEO of Balsamiq, makers of Balsamiq Mockups, a fun little wire framing tool for programmers, UX experts and yes, even business types. Balsamiq has been a bit of a poster child for anew wave of tiny but ambitious bootstrapped tech startups, netting over $1.6Min sales in the first 18 months of operation and gathering rave reviews. Peldi is a champion of the "radical transparency" trend that's sweeping the Internet, through his posts on the popular Balsamiq Blog.

7. Applying Business Model Thinking. Alex Osterwalder.

Practical application of some of the issues discussed in Alex's Business of Software talk. Workshop moderator – Swiss based Alex Osterwalder is a gifted communicator and the author of 'Business Model Generation', a book about business models that has sold over 120,000 copies. In the words of Fast Company Magazine in naming Alex's book one of the Best Books for Business Owners in 2010, "In Business Model Generation, Osterwalder encourages owners to plot out their business model using something he developed called the "business model canvas." It forces entrepreneurs to communicate their business model visually, which Osterwalder says sharpens their thinking and allows them to get what's in their head onto a canvas for others to see and contribute to. Once your vision has been exported from your head onto a canvas your employees helped to create, you'll have a business that can grow without you calling all the shots — which is the essence of a sellable company. This is by far the most innovative book on how to think about putting together a business."

8. Technology hiring/building a development team & the challenges of technical recruiting. Corey Reid.

Corey Reid, ChiefCat Herder at FreshBooks, will lead a discussion on the difficulties of hiring developers, DBAs, QA folks and other technical professionals. How do you find these people? How can you evaluate them? What will attract them to your company and make them want to work for you? Share your frustrations, learn new techniques, and discuss your theories on what works and what doesn't. Required reading: Joel's "Guerrilla Guide To Interviewing" Workshop moderator – Corey Reid, Freshbooks

9. Changing Horses Midstream. Chris Byers.

This workshop is about the difficulties and leadership opportunities that come from changing key leaders in the midst of a startup. Formstack was only a few years old when the founder had a great opportunity to create a new social media startup and move out of town. This left the original, semi-bootstrapped plain jane has some revenue company to find a new leader. I'll talk about the challenges I faced coming into a company with a pre-defined culture, finally gaining my own platform (thanks Spolsky for your 2010 talk) and redefining culture and the direction of the company. Changing leaders doesn't have to be the end. Workshop moderator – Chris Byers, Formstack

10. Underground tactics to grow your newsletter subscribers to over 100,000. Noah Kagan.

11. Practice your pitch. Ricardo Sanchez & Zuly Gonzalez.

We will invite 4 screened startups that will be given 5 minutes to 'pitch their idea', followed by 10 minutes of open & honest feedback from entrepreneurs who have been there before. We will select the startups to pitch before the date of the event and are currently seeking experienced entrepreneurs who can offer their time and experience to all the workshop attendees.

12. How to Near-Guarantee Marketing Results. Nemo Chu.

For some, marketing is like rolling dice. It doesn't have to be. I'll reveal my recipe for acquiring 3000 customers in 1.5 years for a new B2B app. The recipe is inspired by key principles in social psychology, lean startup thinking, and agile methodology. Workshop moderator – Nemo Chu, Ambassador at Bloomfire

13. Raising money or selling companies. Jason Cohen.

Dealing with investors or outs (it's a similar process), especially for geeks and boostrappers. Workshop moderator – Jason is the founder of WPEngine, the WordPress hosting company that makes websites fast, scalable, and secure, with tech support who live, breathe, and even debug WordPress. Previously he founded and sold Smart Bear Software (software quality tools, mainly peer code review) and co-founded and sold ITWatchDogs (server room climate monitoring devices). He's known best for the blog and podcast http://blog.ASmartBear.com about startups, marketing, and geekery.

14. Where it Really Hurts: Finding the Pain of Your Present and Future Customers. Elizabeth Ayer.

Most people can't explain their pain to their doctor, let alone a software guy. But if you don't find out where it really hurts, your products will lack a compelling edge. Come get some ideas about how to get the right people to talk to you, and how to steer the conversation away from software specifics. Workshop moderator – Elizabeth Ayer, Red Gate Software

15. Market Sizing Action Plan. Elizabeth Ayer.

Market size estimation is the foundation for most business cases, and shaky analysis can undermine your whole argument. This session will present an example and look at its strengths and weaknesses. Workshop moderator – Elizabeth Ayer, Red Gate Software

16. Balancing Short-term and Long-term investments. Elizabeth Ayer.

Urgent problems always seem to win out over longer-term investments. In this session, we'll talk about practical strategies for finding the right mix and sticking to your investment decisions. Workshop moderator – Elizabeth Ayer, Red Gate Software

17. Planning for scale. Patrick Foley and Aaron Schaap.

After you’ve proven your business model, you want to know that your technology can grow as quickly as your business grows. While you don’t want an over-engineered solution, you do need to think about scalability early or else your technology will be an obstacle at the most inconvenient times – when you are experiencing your greatest successes. How do you plan for scale? And what about The Cloud, doesn’t that fix everything? This interactive session will discuss scalability strategies at a level that every business person needs to understand in order to have meaningful conversations with their technology experts. Aaron Schaap is CEO of http://elevatorup.com and http://downstreamapp.com and has significant real-world experiencing scaling applications, mostly using open-source software. Patrick Foley is an ISV Architect Evangelist for http://microsoft.com and has worked with numerous companies building scalable applications.

18. How to Crowdsource Customer Support with Q&A Sites. Nemo Chu.

Our Software powers over 3000 Q&A sites, some of which belong to software companies. They think, "Golly gosh, wouldn't it be nice if our users helped solve each other's problems without us getting involved?" I've seen how companies pull this off (and don't pull this off), and I'll provide a blueprint for companies looking to go down this path. Workshop moderator – Nemo Chu, Ambassador at Bloomfire

19. Inventing Purple Cows (or how to create Smart Ideas from nothing). Richard Muscat, Red Gate Software.

Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki have done a great job convincing us that we need "purple cows" that "make meaning". But how? And how can we be certain our big idea will work? This workshop ambitiously claims to do just that: build you your very own pet Purple Cow. This is *not* your regular old brainstorming session. It's a fun, motivating journey that takes you from a user to a product. You will go away with a process that you can easily repeat back home; one that is focused on building certainty in ideas rather than on running away from risk. Workshop moderator – Richard Muscat, Red Gate Software

20. SEO and Online Marketing. Patrick McKenzie, (@patio11)

21. What do people do to keep their business _online_? Dirk Paessler, CEO of Paessler The Network Monitoring Company

In this workshop we will talk about what your peer workshop participants do to keep their your business running! We don’t want to be in the customer’s way: How do they make sure that a customer can send you money for your product at any time, 24/7, 365 days a year? Of course step one is to simply monitor our website, shop, downloadsites? But what else do you do?

Even more monitoring: Do you keep an automated eye on your shopping cart process, your automated logfile download and analysis, your build process, your unpaid invoices, your daily cash flow, your maintenance rate, your support ticket count, your data center room temperature, etc.? Do you have a dashboard of the vital parameters of your business?

Hosting: Where/How do you host your website? How do you prepare for disaster or total failure of your hosting company? Do you dare to use the cloud (and are you prepared for cloud failure)?

Payment: What payment methods and what payment processing companies do you work with?

Usability: Are you testing your sign-up/download, trial and shopping process with people who have no idea what they are doing?

Support: Do you offer 24/7 phone/email support? Or just 8 hours on business days?

22. Workshop: Software Product Management – Maximizing investments. Ernani Ferrari

Learn how to maximize scarce resources and investments in software products. Get key drivers to streamline communication and processes in you organization and along with clients and partners. Understand

• The software management cycle
• Traps software companies fall into
• The importance of systematic product management
• The objectives and necessities of the product management process
• The product management organization – approaches; product manager’s role and profile
• The eight key-information areas for research, mapping and analyses

Address key concerns with whom played as a product manager and director for many years and has implemented the process several times.

Ernani Ferrari, Chief Consultant of Mondo Strategies and author of the book Product Management for Software – Simple Processes for Great Results, the Mondo Strategies Guide of Metrics and Software Indicators (this one not available in English) and several articles related to software management. Ferrari brings 27 years of experience in IT, 14 as executive in some of the largest enterprise software companies in the world, having worked in 16 countries of North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and South America. Frequent speaker, helper to software associations and coach to software company’s CEOs, Ernani has worked with over a hundred software companies and provided consulting services since 2005 to companies like Microsoft, IBM, Totvs, Sonda and dozens of other large, medium, small and start-up companies, from North America and Latin America, focusing the three key-areas for the international software business: strategic planning, software & business processes, and internationalization.

Ferrari is a business administrator with masters in Production Management and in Marketing from Fundação Getúlio Vargas, the most respected management school in Latin America. His previous experience includes companies like Volkswagen, Ford and Boehringer Ingelheim and the production and delivery of enterprise software to over 70 countries in 26 languages.

23. Workshop: Internationalization & Localization – Expanding software markets. Ernani Ferrari

Ernani will share his experience and guidelines about internationalization and localization of software:

• Planning for internationalization – reasons to go across borders; approaches and requisites to make it happen; planning objectives; absolute needs to play internationally.
• Choosing your markets – critical factors to enter a new market; applicable business models; and requirements and special-care topics.
• The localization process – the characteristics of localizations; what has to be localized; and the several aspects to be considered and addressed.
• Key-phases for an internationalization roadmap.

Questions brought by the audience will be discussed with Ernani, who has worked around the globe.

Ernani Ferrari, Chief Consultant of Mondo Strategies and author of the book Product Management for Software – Simple Processes for Great Results, the Mondo Strategies Guide of Metrics and Software Indicators (this one not available in English) and several articles related to software management. Ferrari brings 27 years of experience in IT, 14 as executive in some of the largest enterprise software companies in the world, having worked in 16 countries of North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and South America. Frequent speaker, helper to software associations and coach to software company’s CEOs, Ernani has worked with over a hundred software companies and provided consulting services since 2005 to companies like Microsoft, IBM, Totvs, Sonda and dozens of other large, medium, small and start-up companies, from North America and Latin America, focusing the three key-areas for the international software business: strategic planning, software & business processes, and internationalization.

Ferrari is a business administrator with masters in Production Management and in Marketing from Fundação Getúlio Vargas, the most respected management school in Latin America. His previous experience includes companies like Volkswagen, Ford and Boehringer Ingelheim and the production and delivery of enterprise software to over 70 countries in 26 languages.

24. Sales Skills. Paul Kenny.

25. Rewarding & Motivating Sales People. Paul Kenny

26. How to present a workshop at Business of Software 2011 in Boston that really only exists for the sole purpose of being the longest titled workshop pitch in the entire Business of Software Conference beating those Canadian ninjas at Freshbooks by several words. Jeff Steinbeck.

Please register your preferences using the SurveyMonkey form here.

A guest blog from Patrick Foley who produced last week's entertaining, 'All hail the Wannapreneur!' video. Patrick is an ISV Architect Evangelist at Microsoft and co-founder of the Startup Success Podcast. http://patrickfoley.com/about/

We would be very interested in hearing from you if you wanted to write a post about how you can get the most from the Business of Software conference, what you got out of a previous event, or what you are hoping to get out of this year's event. They don't have to be love letters but this is hugely appreciated.

Patrick writes:

Thanks for sharing that silliness, Mark. One of my favorite parts of the conference last year was the fun we had while learning. Watch Patrick McKenzie’s winning Lightning Talk for an example. He conveyed an extremely useful point, but he managed to do it while being uproariously funny.

The earnest point behind my xtranormal silliness was inspired by Giacomo “Peldi” Guilizzoni’s amazing talk. About 16 minutes in (watch it now!), Peldi shows how his overnight success didn’t really happen overnight. He spent years learning and preparing (and getting his finances in order) before launching Balsamiq. That message resonated with me, because I would love to launch my own software business someday, too. Yes, that makes me a “wannapraneur,” but I’m enjoying my time working for a great company while learning about the business of software.

Jason Cohen would probably caution against that approach. Last year, Jason spoke about advice and the nature of learning itself – amidst the sea of knowledge and wisdom available, you have to make decisions and you have to act. You have to figure out what business concepts are meaningful to you, but the only way to really learn that is to do something and see if it works or not.

As you can see, you can get a taste of the Business of Software conference by watching the videos from previous years. If you didn’t attend last year, take an hour a day for the next week or so and watch a video a day. You’ll learn a ton. Heck, I learned things from Dharmesh’s talk that I didn’t even know were knowable! There’s a reason Dharmesh’s company, HubSpot, is so successful. You can learn from his success.

What you won’t get from the videos is the spirit of the conference. It builds on itself, so that it’s more of a conversation than a series of presentations. You don’t just get to hear these brilliant people speak; you also get to chat with them at lunch and between sessions. Because ALL of the speakers are keynoters, they want to hear what each other has to say. The speakers are some of the most passionate attendees of the conference. Because there’s just one track, each speaker references and builds upon talks that came before, and certain themes emerge.  One theme last year was measurement. Another was stories – Dan Bricklin had so many stories (with great pictures!) that he gave a bonus session during a break. Derek Sivers even scrapped his prepared talk in favor of simply telling his own illuminating story. Who knows what themes will emerge this year …

The quality of the attendees is as important as the quality of the speakers. There are plenty of good technology conferences, but it’s a hard to find a conference where everyone attending is working to create successful software businesses (as opposed to just writing cool software). You’ll chat with people having the kind of extraordinary successes you aspire to and the struggles you know all too well. You’ll be inspired, and you just might provide key inspiration to another entrepreneur as well.

Business of Software might be THE conference for serious entrepreneurs, but it’s not just for startups.

The principles of great software businesses apply equally to a one-person company like Patrick McKenzie’s as to a company like Microsoft – the execution is just different. So whether you are listening to Mixergy or being interviewed for it; whether you work for a tiny startup or a huge corporation; whether you are a wannapreneur, entrepreneur, devoted employee, or investor – you should change your schedule if necessary and find the funds to go to Business of Software. Register now, because the remaining seats will be gone before you know it. I hope to see you there!

Patrick Foley, ISV Architect Evangelist at Microsoft and co-founder of the Startup Success Podcast. http://patrickfoley.com/about/

Business of Software, Boston, MA, October 24-26^th 2011https://businessofsoftware.org For people growing sustainable, profitable, software businesses.

Dan Bricklin invented the spreadsheet amongst other things. In this talk he shares the knowledge he has gained from producing software that people buy for over 40 years. A brilliant talk from someone with absolutely nothing left to prove in the software business.

Video, Notes & Transcript below

Last week I adopted a word: http://www.savethewords.org/ You might want to adopt one too. My word was mingent. I was encouragd to use it where I could. I laughed so much watching this 2 minute video that I have the perfect opportunity to do just that. Not completely safe for work but enjoy.

This is a guest post from Patrick Foley, ISV Architect Evangelist at Microsoft and co-founder of the Startup Success Podcast. http://patrickfoley.com/about/

Patrick can be contacted at http://patrickfoley.com/about/ or catch up with him at Business of Software 2011 if you can wait that long.

There seems to be a generally held feeling that venture capital is ususally suitable for rapid growth businesses and that founders should consider taking it if they want to add rocket fuel to their business. 

We ran a quick analysis of some of the fastest growing companies in the UK and see who the most common investors were. It was inspired by an observation that only 14% of the fastest growing 500 companies in the US were venture backed according to Carl Schramm.

Carl Schramm talking about US innovation and venture capital. The figure quoted above is 21 minutes in.

We (The BLN) have run the Deloitte Fast 50 competition for the past few years and it has given us a really interesting view of the UK's fastest growing technology companies. The Deloitte Fast 50 is an objective ranking of the UK technology companies with the fastest growing revenue over a five year period. In last year's rankings, just 8 of the 50 fastest growing companies in the UK, are venture backed. 

2010 Rank, Company, Sector, % growth, Funding

• 1, Mobile Interactive Group (MIG), Software, 26885%, Angel Funding
• 2, DisplayLink (UK) Ltd, Semiconductors, components and electronics, 9041%, VC – Atlas, Balderton, DAG, DFJ
• 3, Mimecast Ltd, Software, 7579%, VC – Index, Dawn Capital
• 4, Translatemedia (Translations Online Ltd), Media and entertainment, 5409%, Self funded
• 5, Periscopix, Internet, 5147%, Self funded
• 6, Bglobal plc, GreenTech, 4447%, PLC
• 7, Forward Internet Group, Internet, 4443%, Self funded
• 8, Global Personals Ltd, Internet, 4391%, Self funded
• 9, UK Grid, Telecommunications / networking, 3348%, Self funded
• 10, Innovise plc, Software, 2124%, PLC
• 11, Helveta Ltd, Software, 2049%, VC – Albion Ventures, BeCapital, Oxford Capital Partners, Succes Europe
• 12, Moneybookers Ltd, Internet, 1831%, Self funded then PE
• 13, Grove Information Systems Ltd, Internet, 1817%, Self funded
• 14, Ubisense Trading Ltd, Semiconductors, components and electronics, 1730%, Angel funding. Now PLC
• 15, Latens Systems Ltd, Software, 1723%, Self funded
• 16, Focus 4 U Ltd, Telecommunications / networking, 1700%, Self funded
• 17, Gyron Internet Ltd, Internet, 1476%, Self funded
• 18, Lovefilm UK Ltd, Software, 1472%, VC – Index, DFJ, others. Purchased by Amazon.
• 19, Bloxx, Software, 1262%, Angel
• 20, Geo Networks, Telecommunications / networking, 1255%, Self funded then PE – Alchemy
• 21, Fluidata, Telecommunications / networking, 1253%, Self funded
• 22, Node4 Ltd, Internet, 1142%, Self funded
• 23, Biome Technologies Ltd, GreenTech, 1132%, PLC
• 24, Intamac Systems Ltd, Internet, 1112%, VC – Seraphim Capital, Octopus Ventures, Catapult Ventures, London Seed and Pace Microtech
• 25, BlueGnome Ltd, Biotechnology / medical equipment, 1096%, Angel/Challenge fund
• 26, Heart Internet, Internet, 1030%, Self funded
• 27, Greenlight Marketing Ltd, Internet, 1029%, Self funded
• 28, Fjordnet Ltd, Telecommunications / networking, 1002%, Self funded
• 29, Content and Code Ltd, Internet, 1001%, Self funded
• 30, Skyscanner Ltd, Internet, 997%, VC – Oxford Capital, SEP
• 31, Concentra, Software, 969%, Self funded
• 32, O-bit Telecom Ltd, Telecommunications / networking, 956%, Self Funded
• 33, TTG (Southern) Ltd, Semiconductors, components and electronics, 927%, Excell Group
• 34, Markit Group Holdings Ltd, Software, 872%, Private Equity – UBS, Citigroup, HSBC, Goldman Sachs etc
• 35, Yudu Ltd, Software, 868%, Self Funded
• 36, Cambridge Broadband Networks Ltd, Telecommunications / networking, 864%, VC – Amadeus, Accel, TVM, Adara,
• 37, Leaf Consultancy, Telecommunications / networking, 848%, Self funded
• 38, Net Media Planet Ltd, Internet, 840%, Self funded
• 39, C4L, Internet, 823%, Self funded
• 40, Saffron Media Group Ltd, Media and entertainment, 801%, VC – Beringea
• 41, HostelBookers, Internet, 799%, Self funded
• 42, Autonomy Corporation plc, Software, 796%, PLC
• 43, Beaming Ltd, Telecommunications / networking, 782%, Self funded
• 44, Rehabstudio, Hi-tech, 747%, Self funded
• 45, M247 Ltd, Internet, 745%, Self funded
• 46, ClinTec International, Biotechnology / medical equipment, 738%, Self funded then private equity after 12 years growth
• 47, Export Technologies, Hi-tech, 703%, Self funded
• 48, Retail Eyes (UK) Ltd, Internet, 701%, Self funded
• 49, Jagex Ltd, Software, 689%, Self funded then private equity after 5 years profitable growth
• 50, Gradwell Dot Com Ltd, Telecommunications / networking, 652%, Self funded

We weresurprised that so few venture capital investments were represented in the list. There are a few possible reasons, The Deloitte Fast 50 requires five years worth of accounts. Perhaps VC investments are in companies that get sold within 5 years? Perhaps they are in early stage companies that don't yet have revenue (though the trend here seems to be that VCs are investing in later stage deals on the whole.

Maybe venture capital isn't the rocket fuel that many people think it is after all or perhaps all those honest, hard-working people that set out to grow profitable, sustainable software businesses – the kind that come to Business of Software – might be onto something…?

I am reminded of somethingthat @Dharmesh said at last year's Business of Software, Venture Capital is not a necessadry evil, in fact it is neither necessary, nor evil.

Derek Sivers

On how he felt the day he sold his company and other stories.

Video and Transcript of Talk

Stop wasting your time sending apologetic emails about being late to submit your Lightning Talk and Workshop ideas for Business of Software. We are a pretty easy going bunch so we have given you a little more time to get your ideas in. Please submit to info@businessofsoftware.org by midnight PST on 14th August.

• If you are coming to Business of Software and want to lead a workshop about a subject you are passionate or expert about, here is how you get your idea in: http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2011/07/run-a-workshop-or-unconference-session-at-business-of-software-2011.html

• If you are insane enough to want to subject yourself to the pain that is giving a Lightning Talk (not really selling it there huh?), here is what you need to do: http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2011/06/lightning-talks-early-birds-and-the-business-of-software.html

To get your creative juices flowing, watch, and for the first time ever, read along to, last year's winning talk from Patrick McKenzie, @patio11

Here is the full transcript of Patrick's talk if you want to indulge in a bit of Lighting Talkeoke:

[Music] Good afternoon everybody, my name is Patrick McKenzie and I’m a software engineer from central Japan. Yes, I’m exactly as geeky as you probably think I am. [Laughter]

I’m going to be talking to you today about software for underserved markets. There’s many underserved markets in the world, there’s people with disabilities, non-technical customers, people outside the United States of America. [Laughter] There’s . . . [Laughter] It’s true. There’s one market in particular, it’s gigantic and I think most of us are missing it so I want to address that market and I want to address them directly.

One of the reasons Business of Software has become such a great event over the years is that extraordinary people have taken a risk in paying with time and money to come. We know it is not a cheap conference to attend – or produce (I would not recommend running this type of event if you are want to make a quick buck).

We want to say thank you to all those people who have supported us over the years by offering a discounted rate to attend the 2011 event.

If you have attended Business of Software before, we would like to offer you a full delegate pass at the discounted rate of $1,895. This rate will be available until the conference sells out. To register, use this link to the registration page: https://www.regonline.com?eventID=946196&rTypeID=527886 

P.S. If you are a previous attendee and booked recently you will have already paid more than this. Don't get mad, check your credit card statement in a week or so. We will refund you the difference.

We appreciate your support. You are Business of Software. Thank you.

Time Magazine just released their list of the 25 most important management books of all time. Congratulations to Business of Software 2011 speaker Professor Clayton Christensen who makes the list with, The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail

I noticed The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is on the list too. I bought this once, put it on my desk then promptly spilt a cup of coffee on it. I don't know if this rendered the book completely unreadable as I took it home from the office to read, left it on top of the car and drove off. Sadly, these are the kinds of things that I am in the habit of doing. I don't know to this day whether this is the sort of behaviour that Stephen Covey would espouse. I doubt it though.

Remember that post from, oh, two days ago about entrepreneurs and incumbents?

Congratulations to Business of Software 2011 speaker Jeff Lawson and Twilio on now being recommended by Ribbit as BT, who bought Ribbit three years ago for $105 million is shuttering Ribbit. I am sure this is more of a gesture than a revenue generator though. http://gigaom.com/2011/08/10/ribbit-croaks-just-three-years-after-105m-bt-deal/

The little guy beats the BIG guy at disruptive innovation yet again.

A guest blog from Josh Linkner, founder & Chairman of ePrize, the largest interactive promotions agency in the world and Adjunct Professor of Applied Creativity at the University of Michigan who will be speaking at this year's Business of Software conference in October.

Most software, business (and life) decisions come down to a multiple choice question. Should we launch Product A or Product B? Should we develop in house or outsource? Should we choose design schema 1, 2, or 3? This is where 99% of the software world stops, selects an option, and goes on to spend countless hours justifying their decision.

And then there’s the top 1%. The best-of-the-best who play at a higher level. The ones who refuse to accept that there are only a few, obvious choices. These are the software development leaders who look at a multiple choice question and write in a new option to the list. They discover the Unconventional Alternative, and it ends up making all the difference in the world.

In 1912, Teddy Roosevelt was campaigning for his third term. Three million campaign posters were printed with his photo and about to be distributed, until it was discovered that the campaign didn’t have the rights from the photographer to use the photo. The copyright laws of the day allowed for the photographer to claim as much as $1 per poster, which adds up to over $60 million in today’s dollars. The campaign couldn’t afford to pay the photographer, but also couldn’t afford the time and money to reprint the posters. The multiple choice options seemed bleak.

Until a brilliant campaign manager sent a telegram to the photographer that said, “We are considering using your photo in the campaign. How much do you offer to pay for the publicity?” The photographer ended up paying $300 for the exposure instead of bankrupting the Roosevelt campaign and perhaps costing him the presidency.

This visionary leader discovered an Unconventional Alternative.

At my software company, ePrize, we were running the software behind a $1 million sweepstakes for a major airline in which entries could come from one of eight countries including Brazil and Australia. After we accepted the job, we learned that the drawing had to be done on Brazilian soil by law. That was fine, until we learned that according to Australian law the drawing had to be conducted within the geographic borders of Australia. We were overwhelmed with despair and fear, realizing that this blunder may cost our company an extra $1 million (a sum that we absolutely could not afford at the time).

At the last minute, a member of our technology legal team discovered an unconventional alternative. Do the drawing at the Brazilian embassy (technically Brazilian soil) in Australia! This creative solution saved our client and our company, and it surfaced by challenging conventional wisdom and exploring options that weren’t obvious or even in the consideration set.

The next time you are faced with a decision that looks like a choice between A, B, or C…. pause for a moment and let your imagination wonder. Is there an option D, E, or F? Before locking in an obvious choice and perhaps accepting a mediocre result, challenge yourself and your team to explore the unlisted options. In today’s ultra-competitive world, the time you spend exploring the possibilities can represent the difference between winning and losing.  So, unleash your creative mind, explore the unorthodox choices, push yourself to discover the unconventional alternative, and I’ll see you at Business of Software 2011!

This is a guest blog for the Business of Software from Josh Linkner, founder & Chairman of ePrize, the largest interactive promotions agency in the world and Adjunct Professor of Applied Creativity at the University of Michigan. Josh is on a mission to make the world of business more creative and will be talking at the Business of Software about harnessing creativity to build a better software business.

When other people fail, we tend to think there’s something wrong with them. We say they’re lazy, stupid or feckless (of course, we don’t think that when *we* fail).

In reality, people’s behaviour is a product of their ability and the circumstances. Take the superb developer who manages her first project and crashes it burning into the ground. Or the mild mannered tester who morphs into the micro-managing boss from hell as soon as he starts running a team. Or the super-star designer who starts delivering ill-thought out, impractical and impossible to implement product designs. Or the support engineer who aced his interview but who can’t actually do the work of helping customers solve their problems*.

When that happens, it’s tempting to write the person off: to say that Alice will never run a project that again, that she simply doesn’t have it in her; that Bob is inherently incapable of running a team; that Charles is too flakey to rely on; that David isn’t good enough.

But people fail often not because of some soul-deep, inalterable essence, but because they lack the skills they need to succeed, or because they’re in a situation that sucks. Alice didn’t have a mentor; Bob is too scared to delegate; the project Charles is on has been set up to fail; nobody is giving David direction.

One possibility is that the person is genetically incapable, or has some deep character flaw that renders them useless. If that is true then their behaviour will be consistent across a broad set of different circumstances. But if they are succeeding one minute, and then failing the next, open your mind to other explanations.

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* I made these up.

About a year or two after starting Red Gate (this must be about 10 years ago now), Simon and I were chatting to a couple of venture capitalists. We explained what we were doing – building software that we hoped people would buy; software that addressed the pains of SQL Server developers; software that people would just download, try and buy.

A few minutes into this conversation, one of the venture capitalists turned to us and said (and I remember this vividly):

VC (confidently and suavely): "You know what you need?"

Me (eager to learn): "No"

VC (authoritatively): "A strategy. That's what you need. A strategy."

That conversation has stuck with me for over a decade. It epitomises the problem of giving advice and illustrates why I find giving advice so hard.

Everybody's situation is complex, full of subtleties and unique. The idea that I – or any 'expert' – can give you advice after a ten minute chat over coffee is laughable. The advice will either be generic ('you need a strategy', 'just ship the product', 'talk to your customers'), wrong ('what you need to do is hire a PR company' / 'under no circumstances hire a PR company'), or both (in our case – a case with its own special set of circumstances – not having a strategy and simply trying to build software that people wanted worked out fine).

The best advice I get is when people don't tell me what to do. It's when people use their deep experience to ask interesting questions that make me think, or when they describe similar situations they've been in – with all the details and context – and explain the choices that they faced and the decisions they made with all their pros and con, and why they think they worked, or didn't.

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That’s something I once heard Bill Gates say. It struck a chord, and I thought it was kind of clever at the time. Learning C++ takes raw intelligence, a lot of commitment, and a brain that’s wired a certain way*. Marketing, well, doesn’t.

I see things a little differently now. Sure, C++ is hard. But learning it, and coding with it are tractable problems. The vast majority of programming challenges can be stated and can be solved. And you know when you’ve solved them.

Marketing problems, on the other hand, are harder. Sometimes they’re wicked. They’re hard to state; they have no right answers, and you don’t know if your solution is any good until it’s too late.

Take an issue that Microsoft face right now. Building a distributed operating system that people can build, host and sell applications on is hard. Of course it is – I wouldn’t argue otherwise. But they’ve done it. Getting people to adopt it? Persuading them that it’s the future? That your success is inevitable? That’s not just harder: it’s a different class of problem altogether.

If you think that getting a machine to do what you want is hard, try persuading a bunch of humans.

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* It was way past me. I got as far as all the different types of string and gave up, confused.

I have listened to three great talks on business models recently that have really made me think about how important they are in building a sustainable and successful business. In fact, some of the most successful, disruptive and admired businesses – Xerox, ARM, Google for example, have all been so successful because of the highly innovative business models they adopted.

I wanted to share three talks, two from our own events, the BLN Growth Forum and Money in Mobile and one from Alex Osterwalder who will be talking at Business of Software this year alongside Professor Clayton Christensen and significant others. I think they will be of interest to a lot of BoS-ties as they illustrate really neatly how important it is to think beyond a product. All three offer powerful insights into why business models matter and all have something to say that is likely to think about the business model you have in your organisation.

The speakers are Hermann Hauser, Ilja Laurs and Alex Osterwalder.

Hermann Hauser is an entrepreneur (behind Acorn Computers amongst others) and venture capitalist who has personally invested in well over 100 technology companies. Only one of those companies has failed because of technology. Hermann discusses some of the key building blocks of successful companies and illustrates the incredible importance of the right business model to the success of ARM Holdings who have now got over 21billion chips on the market that incorporate their designs.

Ilja Laurs, CEO of GetJar is the founder of the world's largest independent app store. He talks about business models in mobile content and shows how you should go about deciding what business model is going to work best for your mobile app business.

Alex Osterwalder loves business models. He lives and breathes business models. He has even written a best selling book on the subject: Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers This was such an interesting book we have got a copy for everyone that attends Busienss of Software 2011. Here Alex explains why innovation in the business model was critical to the success of companies including Xerox and Google.

• Alex will be speaking at Business of Software, the preliminary schedule has just been released. I am also pleased to say he will be running a guest blog for us on business model innovation in the software industry.

• Tickets for BoS 2011 are now 2/3 sold.
• Starting from 18th July tickets will increase in price by $100 every month until the event or we are sold out.
• Quick reminder – if you are considering applying to do a Lightning Talk or Workshop/unconference session, the deadline for submissions is 10th August.

The Economist has just published its list of the top 6 business books of all time.

Huge and deserved congratulations to Business of Software 2011 speaker Professor Clayton Christensen who makes the list for his seminal, 'Innovator's Dilemma'.

"Clayton Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma (1997) introduced one of the most influential modern business ideas—disruptive innovation—and proved that high academic theory need not be a disadvantage in a book aimed at the general reader. Mr Christensen showed that great companies can fail despite doing everything right: even as they listen to their customers and invest heavily in their most productive technologies, their markets can be destroyed by radical new technologies." Aiming High, The Economist

It is a great read and it still astonishes me that I meet entrepreneurs that haven't read it – a great source of insight and inspiration. Buy it from Amazon - The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail

The six books picked by The Economist are:

• My Years with General Motors, Alfred Sloan, 1964
• The Organisation Man, William Whyte, 1956
• Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices (Drucker series), Peter Drucker, 1973
• In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-run Companies, Tom Peters & Robert Waterman, 1982
• The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits, C.K. Prahalad, 2004
• The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail, Professor Clayton Christensen, 1997

What is the book that has made the single biggest impact on your business life? 

One feature of Business of Software that we will be changing a little this year are the workshop and round table sessions. Traditionally, these have been held as open sign up sessions in an afternoon slot and up to ten people on a table debate a single subject of common interest. They give delegates a chance to meet with people who discuss issues openly, brainstorm a problem and share their ideas. 

We want delegates to get more from them this year and we don't want a conversation to necessarily be restricted by the size of a meeting table or a talk title. We also want to draw on the incredible knowledge and expertise of our community and help you to help each other. We are delighted that some of our speakers have already indicated that they would like to get involved in a workshop session. We would love you to consider leading one or helping to put an unconference session together.

If you are passionate about something and want to share your knowledge and experience with others, we want to hear from you. You might not want to talk in front of 400 people but you might feel comfortable leading a discussion with a smaller group or want to . If you have expertise and passion about something that will be interesting to others, please let us know what it is. We want to organize a few different kinds of breakout this year and the space we have at the World Trade Center allows us to do that and play a little with the number of people in any particular group.

We are opening submissions to lead workshops today with a deadline of August 10th.

Here's how to get involved if you would like to lead a workshop or set up your own 'unconference' session with some others:

• Drop us a line with your name, contact details, topic title, a 100 word overview and an indication of the preferred size of the group. (A number between 15 and 380, or a range would be great).
• If you have done something similar before, or feel you would need special props, oxyacetylene equipment etc, feel free to mention it.
• We will send all registered BoS attendees a list of the session titles and ask them to indicate which ones they would like to attend in August. The event is now almost two thirds full so we will have a very good indication of demand at this time.
• We will finalise the sessions based on delegate demand and available space in early September.

Please send any nominations to be workshop/unconference leaders to us at info@businessofsoftware.org to arrive by August 10th.

As you probably already know, Lightning Talks are an important part of the Business of Software experience. They follow a simple format – every speaker gets 15 slides and 30 seconds per slide to talk about a subject of their choice. The slides advance automatically. 

If you would like to do a Lightning Talk at Business of Software in 2011, you are probably clinically insane. However, sane or otherwise, if you want to do a Lightning Talk, here is what to do before August 10th:

• Upload a video of yourself talking about what you would like to talk about in a Lightning Talk to YouTube or some swanky video hosting service like Blip.tv, Vimeo or whatever.
• The video should be between 2 and 4 minutes in length and you should be prepared for the possibility that the video will be posted on the blog at some point.
• Send us a note containing your contact details (info@businessofsoftware.org), with a link to the video.
• We will review all of the submissions, and pick what we feel will be the most appropriate ones, to talk live at BoS 2011. 
• Remember to submit by August 10th.

DO NOT submit a Lightning Talk on behalf of anyone else especially if you are a Speaker Agent or PR agency working for a really important CEO. We only want submissions from people that care enough to do their own sutff. This is NOT a chance to shill your company, or a company/person you work for, this is a chance to stand up in front of a bunch of people and share an idea you love.

To get your creative juices flowing, here are the previous winners.

Business of Software 2010. Patrick McKenzie, 'Hello Ladies'

Business of Software 2009. Mark Stephens, 'Are you a large lizard or small and furry?'

Business of Software 2008. Alex Ohanian, 'Keeping it Real'

Don't forget, the end of the month is nigh which also means that the ticket price for Business of Software will rise by $100.

We now have about 250 places of the 380 total available sold and paid for so if you want to come, book now to save money and potential disappointment. Note that the Seaport Hotel allocation of rooms is being reserved faster than last year as well.

PLEASE DON'T DO WHAT I DO AND LEAVE IT ALL TO THE LAST MINUTE AND THEN GET ANNOYED WHEN I REALISE THE ONLY PERSON TO BLAME IS MYSELF…

Looking forward to seeing some awesome Lightning Talk ideas.

Mark Littlewood.