with Nick Hebb creator of FlowBreeze Flowchart Software
Nicholas Hebb has over 15 years experience in manufacturing engineering, test engineering management, and software development. He has worked in the life safety, telecommunications, light industrial, heavy industrial, and medical device manufacturing sectors.
Nick, you have a manufacturing background that seems to have been the
source of your BreezeTree software, was it an itch you were specifically
trying to scratch?
Yes and no. My original plan was to create a quality management application
for small manufacturing companies. After putting months into it, I realized
that I was overshooting my capabilities. It would take too long to complete
single-handedly, so I decided to create a small application to generate
revenue in the meantime.
I had three product ideas, and they all were based on my experience in
manufacturing. The two that "scratched an itch" were the ones I didn't go
with. FlowBreeze was based mainly on experience and a hunch. I actually had
working prototypes of the other two. I didn't pursue one because all the
keywords I would need to target for advertising and SEO are very expensive.
I didn't pursue the other because I felt the risks were too high. When
companies migrate servers or move files around, hyperlinks in Word, Excel
and PowerPoint often break. Admins find themselves in an urgent,
need-to-have situation, which means the software could be priced at a
premium. The goal of the product was to perform mass repairs of the broken
hyperlinks across a network. Unfortunately, there are a few quirks in how
these are handled by various versions of Office and the various Office
applications. The Microsoft Knowledge Base workarounds for these problems
don't always work. So there was a risk that the program could screw up
thousands of files in a single shot. I know I could have worked these
problems out, but I decided that flowcharts were a safer path. There is a
demand for this (I still get inquires) and only one other company making
such a product, so if any readers need a product idea...
Did your software ever get re-purposed into the tool it is today? Was it
something you noticed needed to change or was it a customer?
Many of the changes along the way have been based on customer feedback.
Ironically, I have found those who didn't buy because it lacked feature X to
be the greatest source of feedback. Everytime I've added a small feature
I've seem a small increase in sales.
I've added an Insert Branch feature at the request of customers. I've never
envisioned FlowBreeze as an org chart tool, but I've had customers request
it. Also, I've had customers send me sample flowcharts that are best
described as org chart / flowchart hybrids. The top of the diagram is a tree
layout of the personnel, and the bottom branches flow into process diagrams.
So in a small instance it's been repurposed, but the bottom line is you
adapt the product to what your customers want to do - not what you think
they want to do.
What percentage would you say your modifications come from your own
thoughts vs. customer requests? Is there any significant synthesis that
comes from several requests leading you to some new addition to your
software?
I keep a list of planned features. I've gotten only a few requests that I
hadn't thought of already. But the customer feedback drives the
prioritization. If I had gone with the features I thought were the higher
priority, it'd be a very different product by now.
I guess that synthesis does come from support requests. I hadn't really
thought of it that way, but when you see patterns in related topics, ideas
emerge on how to tackle the whole issue. It might be cause for a new feature
- or just small usability improvements or changes to the documentation.
What sorts of things have you tried to attract attention to your
products? I know you frequent Joel on Software forums, what other forums
have you tried? Are you a google ads user? What would you say has been
your greatest success as far as gaining traction in the market?
Drumming up a buzz for a flowcharting add-in to Excel is difficult. I'll be
the first to admit it's a weird concept in an non-buzzworthy arena. The only
thing I have deliberately done is to put an article section on my site.
These articles generate decent traffic, help boost my search engine
rankings, but only a small percentage navigate through to my product page.
I don't use forums as a marketing tool. Although I frequent Joel on
Software, I've never looked at programmers as my target market. Some do buy,
but many programmers look at flowcharts as a vestige of the procedural
programming days of the 80's. I know that my first flowcharts were for a
Fortran class. Truthfully, I don't see a big difference between flowcharts
and UML activity diagrams. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think of UML as having a
stronger foothold among Java programmers, and there seems to be a natural
aversion to anything Microsoft related in the Java community. So that really
isn't anything I've gone after.
I do use AdWords, but haven't been diligent enough to make it a great sales
driver. I've always considered my primary target market to be people needing
to create flowcharts for business process documentation. The search volume
for flowcharting keywords alone isn't that great, but many of the keywords
bridging the connection between flowcharts and documentation are expensive.
Very expensive.
I think my greatest success has been offering a low cost site license. There
are some who would advise against this, but I've tested different schemes
and prices and feel confident that it's the best route for my product.
Selling site licenses (and global licenses to multinationals) turn an OK
month into a great month.
Have you had any huge eye opening moments in running your business? Any
times when you just completely understood what you were doing wrong (or
right)?
There's never been a big neon sign that points the way. And too often the
bigger ones are recognizable only in retrospect.
For example, I mentally equated the adoption rate of Office 2007 with the
adoption rate of Vista, which only 4-5% of my visitors were running during
2007. By extension I didn't feel a pressing need to add ribbon support for
my Excel add-in. Bad move. When I added a customized ribbon tab to
FlowBreeze, sales went up roughly 25%. (If you hear a distant
thump-thump-thump noise as you read this, it's the sound of me kicking my
own ass.)
What would you say is the most challenging part of publishing software?
I think marketing is the biggest challenge for most independent software
vendors. It's a big subject that can't be addressed in a short interview -
plus I'm not an expert. I will say that the most successful ventures I know
through personal relationships do not follow the path chosen by most of the
regulars at the Business of Software forum.
They don't market via the trialware model, they don't fuss over AdWords,
they don't blog, and they don't submit to download sites. Instead, they get
on the phone and call potential customers, they fly out and make
presentations, they pitch through channel partners. In short, they target a
more expensive market.
But most developers won't take that path. There are a lot of introverts and
others who don't feel comfortable in the role as salesman. There is also the
lifestyle choice. If you start a venture where sales and customer service
are a bigger part of your work day, there's the fear that your business will
become a stress pot that's not much different than the day job you walked
away from.
You mentioned in your email that you were working on a new product, and
have adapted your sleeping patterns somewhat. What's "Development Mode"
like for you? Describe your "Programming Zone".
I'm in the zone when I think to myself, "Why would I possibly want to be
doing anything else than what I am doing right now?" It's just fun. Plus, no
matter how well I know my code, there's still a certain amount that I need
to wrap my head around in order to be productive. If I'm in the middle of
something and stop for the night, I know that it can take an hour or so to
get back to that level of productively. So I just don't want to stop.
What mistakes would you guess budding software businesses are going to
make, regardless of whether they read this?
They vary by person, but common issues are over-analysis, targeting
saturated markets, developing another product before learning to market your
first, choosing a technology then trying to find a product idea to match it,
and many others. If you're determined, then try, fail, then try again.
Do you use source control? What product? What other "Best Practices" do
you practice?
I currently use SourceGear Vault. I'll be moving to hosted source control
sometime in the future. Most of the offerings I've seen use SVN, so that is
probably the route I'll go. Currently, I'm too dependent on my main
development system. I would like to restructure my tools in a way that
allows me to be more mobile.
I'm probably not the best source for best practices. One thing I find myself
doing more is pseudocoding on paper. When I'm in front of a PC, I'm more
action oriented. When it's just pencil and paper, I'm more thought oriented.
I also don't compile until I have walked through the code. I'm not going to
pretend that I've never relied on the compiler to detect problems. But it's
a bad habit that I've tried to break.
Do you have a favorite idea, phrase, or activity that helps you through
rough spots?
My favorite phrase is "Hope Is Not a Method". It's the title of a birth
control film that we had to watch back in high school. It still makes me
laugh to think that the title of a sex ed. movie has become my business
philosophy, but it really is fitting to many aspects of running a company.
Thank you Nick, for your time in answering my questions.