Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / New
Stats: 3,143,336 members, 7,780,879 topics. Date: Friday, 29 March 2024 at 02:02 AM

Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company - Programming - Nairaland

Nairaland Forum / Science/Technology / Programming / Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company (6120 Views)

Is Freelancing As A Software Programmer Possible? / [Help Request ] I Want To Learn Programming, what are the requirements / Interview Questions For A Software Developer ! (2) (3) (4)

(1) (Reply) (Go Down)

Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by Danyl(m): 11:14am On Oct 25, 2011
Helo house, i want to know what it took those big software corporations out there to be established and what it takes to build from the scratch a software company.
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by moderatorr: 11:34am On Oct 25, 2011
take out 5 good years to teach your soul software development and marketing.

Be able to do all the work yourself perfectly.
Start it and make progress before employing others who have spent precious years too.

Pray.
'Terrorism happens everywhere!' - GEJ(
Funny but true)
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by Danyl(m): 7:02am On Oct 26, 2011
Thanx @moderatorr,bt how many years have u been into software productn,i cn see a trace of that in ur response
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by deco2come: 9:38am On Oct 26, 2011
moderatorr:

take out 5 good years to teach your soul software development and marketing.

Be able to do all the work yourself perfectly.
Start it and make progress before employing others who have spent precious years too.

Pray.
'Terrorism happens everywhere!' - GEJ(
Funny but true)


What do you mean by GEJ and terrorism.

@Poster

I think most of them have something in common i.e they understand how to program a software and what it worth. If you already know how to program, the next thing you should look into is capital. Some of them don't have the initial capital to start but they started little. Maybe having only a small office and sweat it out until they succeed.
Think of Google, Think of Auto Desk, Think of Kmplayer.

Another thing you need to know is that some softwares was purchased by the big companies from their individual owners. For instance, Maya software and 3D Max are own by Auto Desk company. Auto Desk purchased the software from their individual owners.

Another examply is youtube.com, which is initially owned by some paypal employees but was purchased by google. Even that google started from a basement.

In summary, if you want to succeed start by having an office and start writing some meaningful programs. Before you know it, you will be on the same road that took people like Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Google, Skype, etc to success.
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by Nobody: 9:43am On Oct 26, 2011
well said moderator.
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by sgd: 9:54am On Oct 26, 2011
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by Nobody: 10:45am On Oct 26, 2011
[size=15pt]@ op. Dude you make it sound like you're setting up a factory. I'll tell you what, All you need is a P.C and good books. Fast and reliable internet connection will work too.[/size]
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by Wallie(m): 2:21pm On Oct 26, 2011
Danyl:

Helo house, i want to know what it took those big software corporations  out there to be established and what it takes to build from the scratch a software company.

To answer the post, you need to have a business need for the software. What is your software going to achieve? Once that's defined and designed at a high level, then you need to start coding or get someone on-board to start coding.

Your software will have different stages (pre-alpha, alpha, and beta). The pre-alpha stage will include defining the requirements of your software, design, and coding). This stage will be to create some type of "prototype" software that can showcase the gist of your idea. Once you have the prototype, you will then need to look for investors to fund the other stages.

In the alpha stage, the software will be mostly functional but buggy. In the beta stage, most of the bugs would have been resolved and you can release the software to actual clients for testing. After the beta stage, you should have software that you can charge for.

How much is the software development going to cost? Well, it depends on how big and complex your software is.
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by Guardian(m): 4:31pm On Oct 26, 2011
sgd:

www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-790008.0.html#msg9420672

sgb U dey try but your diversionary measures and tactics have failed to work. Settle the qualification issue with your Alma mater and yourself for the choice you made.

Eeeehn Poster as you posted.

My view.

1. Eat, shit and piss codes that can create anything. ( C++ and Java )
2. Start-off developing your own version of every commercially viable/ off-the-shelf software. When you are comfortable with your ability.
3. When you have achieved all these> Go to a school of innovation. references MIT (US), Georgia Tech (US), Birmingham (UK) Learn well.
4. Go To India and understudy them for 2yrs MAX
5. Come back home to Niaja. I bet by now you would have gotten the know-how to setup a software company and release a killer product.

TRUST ME I'm in I.T and I just told you what would make you Excel- WorldClass and compet with the Indians. Not 9aija levels.

Ohhh as per money. Get a cozy apartment convert to office with Accommodation. You also need the hands of 2-3 guy that share your mind set and ideas.

Software development No be beans. You need hands.

Now place a cost on all these and you have what it would cost you.

1 Like

Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by Danyl(m): 6:44pm On Oct 26, 2011
@Walie n guardian,thanx for ur responses,that really stirred me up,though i had a background in d biological sciences bt that field is too boring n doesnt align with my passion and interests. Thanks all the way
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by Nobody: 8:15pm On Oct 26, 2011
Software is the way. cheesy

A "Software corporation" as you put it can start in your garage or in your bedroom. Don't be afraid to start small.
Don't rush your expectations hence you start to feel like a failure if 2 years down the road you still haven't badded-up enough to start renting office property and hiring people.
In-fact, to be honest, you really don't want to start getting into all that until when absolutely necessary and the success is no longer containable.

If you can, you should partner with someone you trust who predorminantly handles one section while you handle the other. You both can still do the others jobs from time to time and bring yourselves up to speed in each other's world, but this is to guard against the burn-out from wearing too many different hats. I've been there.

The internet being what it is, this field has a massive advantage over others.  grin

And most importantly, pray your way through your company's breakthrough. Never screw anyone over. If you say you will pay someone, PAY THEM and don't withold their wages from them. Be sure to set apart a standard percentage of your earnings to charity. NEVER default in this, cuz God doesn't bless selfishness. Only when He sees that by blessing you, you will be a blessing to others does He do it. I see businesses that get this wrong all the time, being more concerned with maximizing the bottomline than treating everyone fairly. Their failure is oft inevitable.

----
I tell you all this from the experience of successfully running my own Software company.  smiley
Again, take heed of the paragraph in Red in particular.
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by lojik(m): 8:29pm On Oct 26, 2011
Building a software company goes beyond learning programming skills and marketing. Just like any real company, you need a lot of factors to make it work. You may decide to start as a software developer and grow your skills into a software company. However, some advice if you choose to start with a company:

-You need a vision (You cant set out on a road if you don't have a destination in mind).
-You need programming/software skills (Its difficult to get good programmers to work with you if you are crap ).
-You need short term, medium term and long term goals/projects (You can not survive in the software industry if your company does not have products or projects of its own)
-You need management skills (Managing people is a tougher than programming and poor management is like a business virus in Nigeria it kills a lot of companies)
-You need a few good developers. Just one or two to start with (I.T students and trainees will do the coding, the developers handle the development)
-You need support staff (Nothing attracts complains and support requests like software and your customers will not come back if you don't support them)
-You need a lawyer (I learnt the hard way after our fast selling product got pirated.)
-You need an accountant (Since you will be dealing with money and employee tax:PAYE and company tax too )
-You need an office (Most people won't pay you if you don't have an address and people will not pay you big money if they don't first come to your office)
-You need advert and marketing (People wont buy your stuff if they don't know about it)
-You need creativity, innovation or exceptional copying skills.
-You need capital and if you ain't got plenty of it, u might wanna get investors or freelance a little to raise money before you start (The freelancing thingy worked for me).

Most of what you need may not be a requirement for starting up but they are a requirement for staying up. you must have them in your plan and always work towards them. You may outsource or contract a whole lot of them but never outsource software development. Experience has taught me better.

My software company is Afrisoft Interactive ( http://www.afrisoft.org ). We are still growing and still learning so this is just my opinion not a fundamental law.

2 Likes

Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by Danyl(m): 7:19am On Oct 27, 2011
@2buff and lojik,thanx thanx thanx,am really learning,that reminds me,are u guys on the linkedIn social network,i'll like to add u. Thanx.
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by Nobody: 7:23am On Oct 27, 2011
@lojik, just a friendly hint. ".org" is for non-profit organizations.
You wanna use a .com or at the very least . . . a .net
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by talk2hb1(m): 9:13am On Oct 27, 2011
You need a Business plan because Software Development is beyond developing the software. You can always outsource the production while concentrating your effort on the marketing and administration of your business. Nigeria Computer Society too must be put into consideration,
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by oludimuni: 11:37am On Oct 27, 2011
I will suggest you be more specific on the nature of software you want to producing, then you can get an overview of an average cost. Want to start with Embedded Software, Games, etc,
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by lojik(m): 2:12pm On Oct 27, 2011
@2buff,
Thanks for that. I didn't know this when i registered the domain some years ago. ".com" and ".net" were already taken and i didn't like ".ng" because it localizes my business in the global space.
Don't want to prefix or suffix the name AFRISOFT so its difficult to drop it now that we have international clients and lots of online and offline products with the present domain on them.
You got any suggestions?
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by lojik(m): 2:55pm On Oct 27, 2011
talk2hb1:

You can always outsource the production while concentrating your effort on the marketing and administration of your business. Nigeria Computer Society too must be put into consideration,
A software company should have software competence, have its own framework, classes and conventions. If you just do marketing and don't do software, then you are a software marketing company.

Outsourcing software development is a bad idea for a software company in Nigeria where freelance programmers get employed elsewhere later on and don't av time for you again and software business die like chickens every year.

How will you cope with maintaining 10 different software that you outsourced to 10 different freelance programmers who have all gotten employment in banks now and don't freelance again?
That means you will be maintaining 10 different frameworks, 10 different programming styles, 10 different conventions e.t.c? Na die be that.

In the long run, its costlier to outsource if you are doing commercial software like us. Development is very faster if you have standard framework, convention and classes for your projects. If you must outsource, then the contractor must stick to your coding practices so that it works just as if you did it yourself. Even if contractor dies, you can easily continue from where he stopped.

We've outsourced projects only to uncover errors such as:
application is not extensible, no db objects, application is not secure, no naming conventions, absolutely no classes, every page is a standalone php program, database is not really relational, application does not follow MVC architecture, application is not optimized for speed, unintelligent use of tables instead of divs, javascript is not cross browser compatible, validation has too many loopholes, some forms are susceptible to sql injection, mailing process is done with php mail function, foolish usage of iframes, included files are directly accessible, use of deprecated functions, errors being outputed to browser and not caught or suppressed and so many un-mentionable problems.

How will you know all these if you don't have software competence?

1 Like

Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by Danyl(m): 7:00pm On Oct 27, 2011
@lojik,you have a point there,nd if i may ask, what do you mean when u mention companies frameworks can you site some few examples. Am learning big time. Thanx
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by talk2hb1(m): 11:12pm On Oct 27, 2011
What I meant by outsourcing is that, he might not have enough capital to start big. Consider the open source software too as starting product.
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by lojik(m): 1:03am On Oct 28, 2011
Using PHP as a point of reference,
You may not necessarily have your own framework but it is good to adopt a proven open source framework.

Some info about php frameworks here:
http://www.noupe.com/php/discussing-php-frameworks.html

When a programmer joins my company, the first thing he learns after induction is our framework. I always teach the framework myself because without proper understanding of our framework and conventions, you are not useful to us no matter your programming skills.

PHP is our language of choice for web applications that's why my discussion tends towards much of php. For other types of applications (desktop, mobile e.t.c) we don't use frameworks but we have lots of existing classes that simplify and speed up development depending on the language.

No matter what we are coding, we have our conventions for file systems, class/object naming conventions, database conventions e.t.c.

NB: If you plan to use open source *anything*, please read and understand the license properly. Being open-source does not mean the same as "Free to use for commercial purpose".
There are several licenses for open source projects which prohibit usage in commercial programs e.g GPL an some Creative Commons Attribution License.
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by lojik(m): 1:21am On Oct 28, 2011
@danyl
Can we hook up on fb or linkedin or google+?
Might be a good idea. u can contact me on my personal site to get my IDs.
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by Danyl(m): 6:17am On Oct 28, 2011
@lojik,i'll catch up wt u on the IDs tanx 4 ur response
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by Nobody: 6:36am On Oct 28, 2011
For a pretty good PHP MVC framework, I recommend yii.

Our current social experiment was built on it:

www.yellitout.com
Re: Cost & Requirements Of Setting Up A Software Productn Company by talk2hb1(m): 7:09am On Oct 28, 2011
@savar
You are testing nland maybe it is prone to XSS as indicated in your signature

(1) (Reply)

What's The Best IT Professional Course For Study In Nigeria / Let's Learn Object Oriented PHP! / Is There Any C++ Compiler For Mobile Phone Se(java)

(Go Up)

Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health
religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket

Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 56
Disclaimer: Every Nairaland member is solely responsible for anything that he/she posts or uploads on Nairaland.