The Techpreneur

Wow it’s been a while. A lot of things happened but to cut the story short, I got sidetracked with a bunch of stuff. What matters is I’m back and ready to get this going.

From my last post, I described the kind of product I’m looking to build. So now I decided on something to work on. I’ve been thinking about it for awhile and have actually already started doing something but nothing substantial yet. At this point, I think it’s too early to talk about the idea but here’s what I can say about it: It’s something related to what I’ve been doing on client projects which is in the real estate business and it will be for the local market.

I’m not really sure how this will turn out. I hate to admit it but I haven’t done much market research. It’s not the right way but I want to build it anyway. The good thing about it is that with simple modifications, I can repurpose it for a different industry. I also feel there’s always money to be made in the real estate space.

So I’m giving myself three months to build and launch the version 1. I already have a domain, Twitter and some wireframes. I’ll be using CakePHP as development framework, Git for source code management, and Unfuddle for project management, issue tracking and code repository.

I haven’t decided on the hosting but for now I’ll be using my shared hosting account on Dreamhost where this site is also hosted on.

I’ll do my best to post updates on my progress and everything I learn, the problems I faced and solutions I come up with.

My name is JP and I want to build an online product company. Not the typical Silicon Valley startups where they are after a big market and hopefully get an exit by getting acquired or an IPO. More like creating a sustainable online business (doesn’t have to be big but definitely profitable) where I can get some passive income and hopefully able to learn a bunch of things along the way.

I created this blog to be able to document all the things that I’ll be doing related to building my online business. This forces me to create som structure to what I’m doing and also share my experiences to other people which they can learn from. I’ll try to be open and transparent with all that I’m doing as I can.

Type of business I’m after

• I want a web product for a niche market
  – Why niche market? It’s easier to target and those on the niche are more likely to pay for a solution that they need. Better if targeted to small business – or is this a valid assumption?
• Subscription-based
  – People are already accustomed to the idea of paying a monthly fee and I think this is a good way to charge. Will stil have to test this assumption.
• Have a free plan that has selected ads
  – This is one of the things that are being done by a lot of companies. It gives people an obligation-free chance to try out the product. Although a free plan would most likely be what most of the people will use, it’s better to have an ad and that could a bit on offsetting the cost of running the service. Also there are some people that don’t like ads and there’s likelihood that they’ll upgrade to pay plan to get rid of the ads
• I can build by myself in less than 3 months
  – I want to be able to launch the version one within a month or two. Longer than 3 months of development time would be too much time invested on something I’m not even sure has a market.

What’s Next
As a next step, I have to brainstorm for ideas!