The Business of Software

I founded www.yonkly.com about 8 months ago and it is at a point now that doesn't require my full time attention. 

So, I need to start/create a new product/service and need your opinion on what to do next.

I create a very short questionnaire (only 1 required question and no email address is required), can you please take 5 seconds and guide me in the right direction?

It is located at http://bit.ly/hIk1p

If you decide to fill out your email (optional), I will use it to send you a free copy/subscription of whatever I (we) decide to create.

Thanks for your help in advance.

PS: You can also help by re-tweeting - http://bit.ly/1uIuvI

Emad Ibrahim
http://twitter.com/eibrahim

wow! google docs allow you to create online form, and they apparently send the result to your email!

I think you will get more ideas by JOS users if your idea list is shown pupublicly and not just for your use.

I'd say we should build a public ideas list :)

???

Hi Emad.

Here are my thoughts on this.

Honest product ideas have some value but it is how an idea is implemented that determines for me whether I will spend money on it or not.

I can be persuaded to pay for MeetUp, or back up software, or project management software, and possibly even accounting. However, it all depends on how it is implemented, how easy and intuitive it is, and what problem it solves.

Let me give you an example. Yesterday I bought Simplenote on the iPhone. This is basically a notepad like app that lets me save text notes and search for them. The iPhone comes with a native notes app. However, as soon as I saw the review of Simplenote on John Gruber's blog I knew I had to have this. Apple's notes app just isn't usable for remembering things, for storing little ideas I have on the bus, or in meetings, or parties. The Simplenote app cost about $2, but I would happily have given them $5 and maybe even $10 for what it does.

But now if someone asks me if what I would pay for a generic notes app I would say nothing.

What's the general principle here? Take something that everyone uses for which apps already exist (so there is a market) and then figure out a way to reduce the solution to the simplest and most minimal app that solves that problem. And then sell this new simplified app.

I think a lot of apps can be targeted this way. Even something like Outlook is bloated and hard to use. Most Microsoft Office apps are good targets. Besides that apps for reading RSS feeds are almost all unusable. And even surfing the web is a mixed experience. I suspect if someone approached any of these domains with a Simplenote-style simplifying mindset they could come up with something that was totally sellable.

+1 Asim.

There is no market without space for a good idea.

Think outside the box.

i vote for
public ideas list

+1 public list!

+1 for public list.

Thank you all for the great feedback...  The reason I didn't make the list public was to avoid "group think" on voting. 

Sometimes people will vote for the most popular idea regardless of what they think...

If you look at the intro paragraph, it says:

"IMPORTANT: If you enter your email, I will send you the results of this survey."

So, I will send an email to everyone who voted to view the results.  I will also make it public once I close the voting and probably blog about it and tweet it - http://twitter.com/eibrahim

Thanks a lot for your feedback.