Selling Software to Industry

tipp_tipp_tipp

Hi all,

So firstly I'm an engineer rather than a developer, but have some coding skills and have an idea for an app. I use python/tkinter, and I am confident I can code everything myself. I am just looking for any advice on actually trying to sell this app to industry and try and make some money from it.

Bit of background, I spent 2 years working in the aviation industry, with a company that does modifications to aircraft interiors (I left the company last year and am working in a different industry now). Whilst there I did a few bits and pieces coding wise. I had an idea for an app and had done a little work on it whilst there. After I left the idea was stuck in my mind. I've since improved my tkinter skills, and rewrote what I already had. At first I did this for fun more than anything, but have started thinking seriously about it recently. I have a basic framework now that can build my app on, it's really just a case of getting the head down and getting it through it.

Just wondering if there are any developers here who can offer advice on how to actually sell software to industry. How best to approach companies for example and gauge interest? Costing is another thing I'm wondering about. I literally have no clue how to put a price on this. Perhaps this is just something I will have to figure out on my own. The app will be a comprehensive technical engineering program, that will be applicable to the real bread and butter tasks for this industry, that I would envisage would be used on a daily basis.

Apologies if my question is too vague, but honestly any advice in this area would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

smacl

All very doable, but be warned that coding a software product is a relatively small part of successfully bringing it to market. I say this as someone actively doing this over the last 30 odd years. There are quite a lot of things to consider;

How much will it cost?
Who is going to market and sell it, if not yourself?
Who is going to support it and how will you charge for support?
Who is going to train up your users?
How reliable is your product? What will you do in the event of a bug in your code having a serious negative impact on your client's business?
How often will you upgrade your product and how will you charge for updates?

If you go it alone, you need to answer these questions before dropping any code in on a client. Alternatively, if you talk to Enterprise Ireland, they can provide a lot of pointers and may provide a mentor to help you get over some of the hurdles. Having been through this, I found Enterprise Ireland a bit hit and miss if I'm honest.

One approach would be to get the product to a beta stage, find a friendly potential client that will take the product on either for free or at a very heavy discount on the basis that it is a beta product, and spend a lot of time with this client refining your product in terms of robustness and maximising value to the client. Having done this repeat with at least one more site. Then start looking at marketing and either direct sales or resellers. This is also a good time to consider Enterprise Ireland again, as marketing is one of their stronger areas.

One thing I'd warn about is releasing too early as introducing a piece of software into someone else's production environment that is either not robust or doesn't add enough value will end up costing you a lot of time and money which will in turn stifle development and likely kill your product off.

Very best of luck with it!

tipp_tipp_tipp

Many thanks for that! Lot of good points there!