Housecarers.com

Tuesday 19 June 2012

What is wrong with us?

This picture has nothing to do with this post - I just like it!  When you are writing
about software and technical stuff, what kind of picture should you use - a company logo or a picture of a computer?  Nope.  Okay, maybe - here goes:


You know, we're crazy.  After ten-plus years of developing and trying to launch a software company we have little to show for it except a LOT of code, some cool logos, a website, and a very long list of failed attempts to raise investment - and consequently, a lot of debt.  Who are we kidding?  We're in our 50's now - people our age don't launch software startups.  It's something young geeks just out of high school do.  


We are presently in the mountain town of Canmore, Alberta until the end of June, waiting for our house to be vacated by our tenants.  Mike is between consulting contracts and so we have a lot of time on our hands.  We are devoting it (in between walks with the dogs in the natural beauty of this place) to a few little projects such as expanding and building our social networks-Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter- for both our consulting and software companies.  It has become "de rigueur" to have a social network marketing strategy for even the biggest businesses, governments and other organizations.  If you aren't visible online, you're nowhere baby.  As a result, Mike is making and re-establishing contacts in the industry for both companies.

On Friday Mike has a meeting in Edmonton with three lawyers and our marketing consultant.  A marketing study was completed this spring, funded by a grant from the Industrial Research Assistance Program of Canada.  Turns out there is a strong interest from the legal field in an application that securely allows the sharing, collaboration, and transferring of documents electronically.  And Canadian lawyers want it all to be kept in Canada and not exposed to US privacy (or lack thereof) laws.  Mike tells me that he can just tweak and build onto the existing code to create such an application.  Now, a marketing plan by the same consultant is in the works.  The meeting is to have these lawyers contribute to the analysis of exactly what this app should do and how much it should cost.  The other benefit is that these lawyers will act as guinea pigs and try out the software when it is done.  When will that be?  Good question.  Further developing and coding costs money - which we don't have.  So the plan is to go back to IRAP for further funding once the idea is fleshed out.

I can't help it - I am taking a huge "wait and see" attitude on this.  I have seen too much and been disappointed too often.  But Mike won't quit, not yet, and, well, I'm married to him so I want to believe.  God help me.



2 comments:

  1. Susan, what can I say? I admire Mike's and your perseverance. Don't give up now that you've gotten so far! Give it another chance, and another. Seems like you're on the right way. Wish you both all the success that you dreamed of! xox
    P.S.: I love your blog :)

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