I want to start a successful software company.

Sure, I've built a few apps. I even got about a $45 payout on one of them! Oh, and I also made an Xbox Live Indie Game... don't go look that up, it is bad. I also built the most terrible social network ever. Don't believe me? Check out http://overtoaded.com/ if it still exists when you are reading this. I don't really think these are really what I mean by 'software company'.

I want is to solve some problem with software that makes life easier for as any people as I can. I want to build a team of people who are way smarter than me and provide them the tools and culture to create something great. Even if it is on a small-scale.

So that's what I am going to do, and I am starting with ideas.

Welcome to my public brainstorm. For the next 10 days I am going to post 10 ideas for my software company. In the end, I will probably not use any of them, but that's not the point. I just want to flex my creative muscles. This seems like it will be difficult, and it probably will be, but hell, here we go.

Rules:

  1. No idea is too stupid for this list (oh and there will be stupid ideas)
  2. "Software Company" will be loosely defined. If I figure I would need to write or configure some software for it I'll include it.
  3. I must post 10 ideas every day for 10 days.

Let's get started...

Ideas for Day 1, July 7th:

Idea 1: A website that would allow developers to connect over lunch remotely using webinar tech to share ideas or teach something. I live in a small town and I don't have much opportunity to network with other developers on a regular basis. Something like this would give me a chance.

Idea 2: A local book sharing website. Buying books can get expensive and libraries don't always have what you are looking for. Many books collect dust on a shelf after they are done reading. It would be nice to give people a way to know what books people are willing to loan out, perhaps in exchange for a small rental fee? Probably run into some legal stuff with this.

Idea 3: A website to help facilitate and automate podcast interviews. In my podcast I record my side, I record the Skype call, the other person records their side then they need to send me their recording via drop box. It would be nice if it was easier and automated to do this. They download a little piece of software, it records them, it uploads to the site, and then can be pulled or sent for editing.

Idea 4: A site that specifically targets software development careers in rural areas. I believe there are a good number of people out there that want the simpler life that comes with small town/city or rural living, but don't believe there is anything outside a metro area that pays well and allows them to do something interesting. I know of at least a few companies that pay well and have interesting work, but have a hard time attracting people because they are rural or in small towns or cities. I want to connect these people to these jobs if these people exist as I think they do.

Idea 5: A website that helps coordinate after work sports. I just finished up a killer game of touch football with the guys from work. It is great fun, but can be a bit tedious to manage. Something to automate this would be nice.

Idea 6: With WebGL and Canvas there are some amazing web-based games, but the limitations of the web I think hinder a bit of innovation. I would like to build a special arcade game player thingy using Electron as the foundation. A site would deliver curated web-based games that are allowed to access files and other content on the person's computer. Perhaps give a 'app store' for web-based games? I don't know, this sounded cooler in my head.

Idea 7: Hey, I want to build business X.... is X.com available for cheap? NO, frackin squatters! Build a website registry of what I wanted my domain name to be. If you wanted google.com as your domain name you could register your site on this website as google.com. When someone goes to this site an enters google.com your site would show up in a list of sites that wanted that domain and they can click to go to it. Sounds 'neat', but probably not much potential here.

Idea 8: Software for automating the sending out of meeting minutes. Store the meeting minutes, look back on them, why does this have to be a chore?

Idea 9: I help organize a programming competition for local Universities in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. There is a ton of work that goes into this, from finding problems to checking them to sending out invites reserving hotels etc... it is a lot of work. It would be nice to automate away the clerical stuff, as well as organize it somewhere nice.

Idea 10: A site for bartering and trading information products for other information products or physical goods. Derick Bailey, who I recently interviewed on the first episode of my podcast recently traded a copy of a RabbitMQ bundle he made for a Star Wars Lego kit. Why they heck isn't there a site that allows you to trade these for things other than money? The author lists a bunch of stuff that she would trade her info product for, consulting, coaching, etc... if I have one sitting around that I don't mind getting rid of I can trade it in for something I think is more valuable to me.

So there are my 10 ideas for today! Let me know if you think they are stupid or have potential. I'd love to brainstorm. Stop by tomorrow for my next 10.