Mockery Blog » startup

Not pissing users off is pretty important.

Joel Anair — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:24:20 +0000

Sometimes it occurs to me that I’m putting up with unreasonable pain from the software I use on a day-to-day basis. It’s really easy to get into habits and put up with some pretty big deficiencies.

I think it’s dangerous allowing users to put up with annoyances. You’re basically training them to dislike and resent your software and pushing them to find a replacement. Just getting the job done is not nearly good enough.

I will not allow this to happen with Mockery. I’ve got the UserVoice page set up. I’m on top of support emails. The rest of this is just a process of making sure that users communicate any issues to me and making sure there aren’t any annoyances just minor enough for people to work around them.

Getting the word out is pretty neat.

Joel Anair — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:21:39 +0000

One of the scary things about the Internet is the toothpastiness of it: once something’s out there it’s out there and there’s no getting it back in. A lot of folks out there no doubt regret posting some things that they can never take back.

When it comes to getting the word out about, oh, a sweet new piece of software, that permanence is actually a really good thing. Every mention of Mockery builds upon the others, and we can see that reflected in the referring URLs. It’s pretty cool to see the word spreading.

You may have noticed that we’re pretty new to the magical world of marketing. Turns out it’s fun. Who knew?

I think that StartupToDo.com is a good idea

Joel Anair — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:54:27 +0000

I learned about the launch of StartupToDo.com yesterday at the Joel on Software discussion boards. It seems like a smart idea.

Basically, it provides and to-do lists for software startups to follow. These are designed by experts and intended to work sort of like a paint-by-numbers for building a new software business.

It sounds really smart to me, as there are so many things that you just have to know when you get started. I think they will probably be successful.

Help from the Joel On Software discussion boards

Joel Anair — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:22:43 +0000

I posted a link to the site today with a request for comments to the Joel On Software Business of Software discussion group.

I got a couple of comments in the thread and a couple more via email, and even one through UserVoice. Very nice, and big thanks to everyone who helped out with comments.

What’s the point? Well, if you’re a developer or have a startup, I strongly suggest that you post a link at the JOS boards. It’s been a pretty exciting day for me.