Thinking Like an ISV

I was recently talking to someone from a social network platform company that shall go unnamed, and was struck by how poorly he understood the motivations of the companies he's trying to recruit to build applications on his platform.

I asked if he had read Max Levchin's excellent platform launch howto and he said he had. I asked if he had read Dave McClure's excellent rant on monetizing the Facebook platform. He said he had. Great. So I asked him, how do developers make money on your platform?

Crickets. Then, inevitably, "AdSense?"

If you can't look your prospective partners directly in the eye and tell them how they can make money—real money—on your platform, you shouldn't be wasting their time.

Comments

[Dave]

hey charlie -

it's not always easy for someone to get inside the head of the geek / developer community.

here's another presentation i did for Mashery.com at their "Business of APIs" conference a few months back:

Creating Successful Developer Programs http://www.slideshare.net/dmc500hats/creating-successful-developer-programs

(sometimes it's not always just about making money... as max notes, fame & respect also go a long way. but it's great if you can combine all 3 :)

[Charlie Wood]

Dave,

Thanks--actually that's the presentation I wanted to link to in my original post but I couldn't find it.

Targeting individuals hacking together cool stuff in their spare time is different than targeting ISV's. Respect and fame are great, but they don't pay the bills. If you want me as an ISV to develop on your platform, show me the money. Or at least be prepared to describe a couple of ways I might be able to find it.

-c

[Dave]

absolutely agree.

"money talks, bulls**t walks."