SABmore

Looking for a bit of career advice. I started back in '99 as a developer, and was fortunate to make my way to CIO of a small IT service company. I like people, understanding businesses and how technology can help, and I always kept my fingers dirty in tech, but never really hardcore development.

Four years ago I decided I wanted to build software products, so I left for an opportunity with the federal govt b/c I knew it would provide me with the flexibility and income needed to still support my family while working on the side to build products.

I've build a few SaaS apps on the side, picking up some RoR along the way, but after 4 years of working in the govt, I'm losing my mind and am looking to leave and work back in private industry/for a startup, but am unclear on what I might essentially be qualified to do. In other words, I've got a well-rounded 14-year career, good at what I know/do but only have 3 years of RoR experience.

So my questions are these: Is it worth reaching out to companies offering to volunteer my skills in an effort to learn/solidify my skillset, or am I better off spending the next few months working on the fundamentals and then trying to make the leap out? Aside from focusing on RoR, any thoughts on where someone with my type of background might fit in?

Thanks for your time and assistance.

Anyone out there successfully sold a SaaS app to small/offline businesses? Essentially those such as landscapers, architects, accountants, lawyers, etc.

Since these aren't necessarily as captive an audience as say developers are, meaning they may not be online, looking for the latest and greatest, I'd like understand what worked best with respect to marketing/obtaining leads...was it all cold-calling, emails, a mix of online/offline efforts?

It's been difficult finding solid information on how to proceed...as most is targeted towards consumers/tech friendly folks that are actively online. I realize its a bit of trial and error, but I'd like to learn from those that have been through it already.

I'm happy to compensate you for your time/advice...possibly through something like Clarity.fm

Thanks.

Assuming folks perform a bit of their business via email correspondence...do you currently track and bill for this time and/or what do you use to track the time?

Having recently bootstrapped and launched a workflow SaaS app, my (non-technical) co-founder is working on the marketing of it. The problem is, his current fulltime job prevents him from being public about his involvement so anything he posts or signs up for is all run through my accounts (i.e. LinkedIn). While that's all well and good, it adds more administrivia to my plate as I'm left responding to any and all correspondence that comes our way, which takes my focus off of building a solid product. I knew going into it that he may have to operate on the DL, but I ignored how this may impact me as I've been heads down on the tech side. Don't get me wrong, I have no problems doing my part to market the app, which I do, it just is seeming less like a 50/50 effort and more on me.

I was curious as if anyone else has dealt with and handled a similar situation. Thanks.

I'm a RoR newbie and looking for a good tutorial/examples on customizing the errors/alerts (via flash, etc) that are returned with Rails. I'm especially interested in those using Rails 3.2. Can anyone point me to some good ones? Thanks.

I see the occasional post on here for jobs, but what other sites have you used to find good opportunities...especially contract/telecommute. Thanks.

I'm working full-time for the govt, while bootstrapping my SaaS product. The govt job is mind-numbingly terrible, but does allow me the flexibility to work on my product.

With that being said, its hard not to want to leave to follow my passion, especially when the environment I'm in for 8 hours a day is depressing, but I've got a family and bills to pay, so I'm doing my best not to lose my mind.

Interested to hear from others that have done the same, and looking back, what they may have done differently, if anything. Time management tips, ways to keep yourself focused, and how to handle a bad full-time situation. All advice/comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I'm bootstrapping my web application, and while I have a non-technical cofounder, he is strictly business-oriented, which leaves the product management/direction, development, configuration/infrastructure, etc all on me. In previous jobs I was part of a team, where each of us had a discrete role (development, config mgmt, testing, etc.) How do others out there, that may be in a similar boat manage all of the moving pieces of getting your app up and out without going insane and ensuring critical things don't fall thru the cracks? Thanks for your time and assistance.

I've gone through the process of qualifying a need for SAAS product I'm currently building that targets a niche within the (non-technical) "work from home" market. And while I've gotten great feedback/support from 50 or so folks looking to sign up when we launch, its the other thousands/millions that I want to reach, but am struggling to do so.

The "work from home" market is fragmented, with a few forum sites here and there that I've been able to target, but most won't permit you to post sales/marketing info, and I don't want get our product misconstrued as spam.

I just see that with so few places to go to target a larger audience all in one spot, its going to be difficult and resource intensive to go from 50 to 5000.

Any thoughts/advice is greatly appreciated.

Apologies in advance for the length of this.

I'd spent the previous 12 years in IT, starting out as a programmer and making my way up the management chain until I was CIO for a smaller IT services company. It was a great opportunity, but I was commuting 3+ hours per day and working 100+ hour weeks...needless to say it took it's toll on me and would have on my family had I stayed put. I'd always had the entrepreneurial bug, but never acted on it until I realized it was time to finally make the leap. So I made what I consider(ed) a strategic move in the summer of 2010 and left to join a government agency that is 20 minutes from my house. In doing so I knew I'd have a better work life balance, which would allow me to pursue my goal of building a software company and working for myself (hopefully by the summer of 2012).

Initially I got exactly what I could have wanted...I was fortunate to land a good position in the CIO's office, which also got me back into the development game, but not even a year in, they dissolved the CIO and moved us all around to other divisions. Since July I've maybe performed 3 hours of what could be considered work...there just is nothing for me to do, nor anything of interest in my current office. To make matters worse, due to budget cuts/hiring freezes, you can't move around to other groups so you are stuck. Everyone I work with is in a similar boat which makes for a miserable work environment (think Joe vs. The Volcano)

While some people may consider getting paid just for showing up a dream job, especially given the current economy...I've never been one to sit back and collect a paycheck, I like to earn my keep.

And while I now essentially have 8 hours/day (paid) to work on my own company, being in such a boring, depressed environment has sapped most of my energy. I had no desire to get out of bed in the morning, nor sit here for hours on end. All of this is starting to adversly affect my side company work.

If I didn't have a family and bills to pay, I'd quit and focus fulltime on my side company, so I've been casually exploring other options to help me get through this.

I've had inquiries from other govt agencices about coming to work for them, but I don't want to unfairly start something with them, knowing in the back of my mind I hope to leave within 6 months.

I've thought about offering my services as a freelancer, but honestly wouldn't even know where to start. I've been fortunate to be a jack of many trades throughout my career, and while I've been very good at networking with folks, ideally I'd want to be able to work from home 30-40 hours per week to keep the lights on.

It just seems to me that given the economy, and the prevalance of sites such as ODesk/Elance, it would be difficult to get on a project where you can set yourself apart and make a decent per hour wage. But maybe I'm just skewed by my current situation.

I understand that 6 months isn't that long of time to suck it up, and I am very fortunate to have this job, but its tough. Hopefully someone has had a similar experience and can shed some light on what to do.

Any advice/comments/criticism is welcome. Thanks for your time!

Any successful 30+ startup founders out there? I'm 33 (considered a dinosaur by most startups) and just dipping my toe into the startup space, but am straddled with a fulltime job, mortgage, bills and a wife, so I'm finding it difficult to pursue my passion while balancing life and keeping the lights on. I realize that being in your 30s really isn't any different that any other time, but I assuming that byt then you have additional responsibilities that limit the amount of risk one can take on. I can't simply stop what I'm doing and put all of my eggs in one basket, and while I could pursue consulting work to free me from my job, it seems as getting that going would take up time, if not more than my current job. I'm looking for honest advice, tips, wisdom on how to make it work. Thanks in advance!

I know this question has been asked before, but none of the previous responses seem to work/are relevant. Can anyone recommend (preferably free, or cost-effective) travel APIs, to grab flight, hotel, etc info? Thanks!