Not far from my daughter’s school is a little drive through cafe that makes great coffee. There’s not much else around there, just some small neighborhoods, a veterinarians office and some day care places. The cafe closed down two months ago. As I drove by this morning I heard the voice of the owner saying “If every parent, resident and dog lover stopped in for a cup of coffee then we’ll do great!” And it reminded me how many times I’ve heard “If we only get 1% of the market…”

In today’s world the most important thing when opening a web application is location, location, location. The difference is that location isn’t the url, it’s the niche market you’re going after. Choose wisely.

Derek Sivers spoke at LessConf2009 about business models and profitability. Derek Sivers founded CDBaby.com and is currently working on other projects like MuckWork

The latest trend in web app brochure design features a screen capture of the app on the home page. Does this screen capture really help sell the web app? Does it really answer any of the questions a potential customer has before signing up. How many people go from this screen shot directly to the signup page? I think a screen capture is a waste of valuable space.



We decide to replace the static screen capture on LessAccounting's brochure home page with a quick teaser video. Below is the 1 minute teaser video. I think anything over one minute is too long: a long video doesn't lure me into signing up, it bores me into leaving. The purpose of the video is to answer the user's question "Should I sign-up and explore, or is this app a waste of my time." We asked Adam of VJIX Creative to put together this video for us. We gave him some talking points and then left him alone. So far this video is being viewed by a large % of our visitors.



Over the next few weeks we'll be running A/B testing with and without the video, stay tuned.

Mike McDerment of http://freshbooks.com spoke at LessConf2009 about how he built a successful web app company.

Our surprise guest was Jason Fried of 37signals.com via video chat. Jason talks about the business philosophies of 37signals and other insights into his work day and inspirations.

The Lesstivus holiday is meant to commemorate the miracle that took place many years ago when Allan and Steve first got together to write LessAccounting.

The event that sparked this holiday came during one faithful night when they were locked in their magical cave of discovery. Like many times before Steve and Allan were working with their Macbook Pros under twinkling candle light, their bodies powered by strong coffee. They had left special instructions not to be disturbed. When suddenly…they realized that they only had enough coffee to last four more hours. Four more hours!? That’s not enough time to complete the ultimate weapon against the tyrannical tyrant, Quickbooks, the destroyer of souls!

They knew they had no other choice but to continue. So they set back to work. One hour, two hours, three hours, four. The coffee did not run out. They kept drinking the coffee and coding code and designing the designy stuff. They kept their users in mind the whole time, those poor souls who were held captive by the evil king Intuit. Five hours, six, seven, eight and the coffee was still there, warming the extra large belly’s of our heroes. Nine hours, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty (it might have been more but I don’t have any more fingers or toes). When our valiant champions finally were finished there was enough coffee left to have a toast and a good thought for all the miserables that would soon be freed.

So on this first day of Lesstivus (we celebrate one day for each hour that the coffee lasted) we wish you the energy to complete your tasks and hope you enjoy your swine day where the traditional meal is ham stuffed with pork wrapped with bacon wrapped with more ham and bacon on top.

Everyone should be creating content. And so should you.

There are many reasons to create content: to inform, to make money, to get fame (ego), as a creative outlet, as an excuse, to share yourself. Of these your prime motivation should be sharing yourself. That means being honest and open and letting your personality shine. Putting yourself out there. The money and fame will follow.

What is content?

Writing a blog is obvious, but content can be anything, a video, a tutorial, contributing to an open source project. You can share recipes or pictures. Jokes or stories about your stupid boss (or incredibly handsome, chubby boss). Whatever you have to share, share it. There aren’t many constraints here, it doesn’t have to be long or short, it doesn’t have to be topical or persuasive. You don’t even need to have an audience. It just has to come from the heart.

Who’s making content?

We are.

What: If you’re reading this, and I suspect you are, then you are reading content created by us.
Why: We wanted to share our thoughts and ideas about business and life.
Who’s it for: You.
The result: By sharing ourselves we’ve made friends, gained a bit of popularity and fooled clients into picking us over others.

Sorry Ladies We’re Taken (link)

What: A video review site.
Why: Allan and Dustin Bryson started it as an excuse to justify leaving their poor, overworked wives at home with the kids while they go watch movies.
Who’s it for: Themselves. There are a few other’s that enjoy it.
The result: At least one movie a week and their wives feel OK about it.

Web 2.0 Show (link)

What: A podcast that profiles the people, technologies and businesses of Web 2.0
Why: Meet people the coolest people on the internet by interviewing them and ad dollars.
Who’s it for: People like them, people building web apps and interested in internet technology.
The result: Money that supplements their Adam’s income, a bit of fame and connections

Chris Messina’s Flickr Stream (link)

What: A flickr stream of web app user interfaces.
Why: I don’t know the original goal.
Who’s it for: People like Chris, people building web interfaces.
The result: Fame which leads to money and networking.

DOCTYPE (link)

What: A how to video series on web tips and tricks put on by Nick Pettit and Jim Hoskins
Why: Share knowledge, get famous, make money.
Who’s it for: People in the web world.

Google (link)

Why: Larry and Serge attempt to organize all the worlds information.
Why: They wanted a non-naptser excuse to use up all of Stanford’s bandwidth.
Who’s it for: everyone.

A personal tumbler

What: A close friend has a tumbler blog with very personal thoughts that only three of us know the url to.
Why: She wanted to share inner thoughts, but not with everyone.
Who’s it for: Her most intimate friends.

Create content!

All of you have something to say, something to share. Most of you don’t think anyone wants to read it, but the truth is that there are at least a few of us that do want to view it. I can promise you there are more people that want to see it than you think. Start today. Start small. Leave a link to in the comments. Put yourself out there, risk it. See what happens. (And when you stagnate or think about giving up, keep at it!)

Allan and I have a friend who is a talented designer. Over the past few years his freelance business has done well. He’s made a solid living even though he hasn’t marketed himself. By “marketed himself” I mean his potential clients have no way to find him and even in the design community hasn’t heard of him. During the past years’ economic bubble this wasn’t a problem because somehow the design projects always found their way to him. Now that the economy has tightened it’s belt his workload has all but dried up, leaving him scrambling for full time or freelance work.

Last week he came to Allan and asked for some work. Unfortunately we currently do not have any projects in the design phase. So Allan suggested using his down time and going into a few popular open source projects and making them beautiful. He argued that he doesn’t have time because he’s spending all his time “trying to get paid”.

This is highly flawed thinking. If you have no work then you have plenty of time. At the very least you should be able to find 2-3 hours a day to contribute to an open source project. Most new business comes from referrals, so becoming the hero of a bunch of developers will likely lead to those developers mentioning your name when they have the chance. This is a great way to get some fairly easy exposure.

Side Note: I might argue that once you have no work that marketing yourself is a bit late and we should all be taking time everyday to network ourselves in some form or fashion.

David Hauser of Grasshopper.com speaks on "How to build a company beyond the start-up stage". Grasshopper.com is a virtual phone system designed for entrepreneurs. Follow David on Twitter at @DH. Also Grasshopper labs just released Chargify, which simplifies recurring billing for Web 2.0 and SaaS companies.

Here's the video David shows at the beginning of his presentation.

In the past year our apps and blog have finally started getting some traction! It's exciting, but let's not pretend this has always been the case or that it happened overnight. Here is a list of things we've done over the past few years, that we think have been instrumental to our success. The items are in no particular order, and may be either missing the real secret sauce and/or containing things have haven't helped at all.

• We've always been ourselves. We've never pretended we're more than two chubby guys that speak our minds, build simple software and care about people.
• We give a damn. Steve and I have always tried to be kind and give to people. We've always tried to give of ourselves when someone has asked for help. We've always tried to be honest when someone asked us.
• Tried to make applications that make peoples lives easier.
• Blogged a lot. The first two years, we blogged almost every day. We've slacked off a bit this year, but we have always tried to write short, easy to read blog posts that are meaningful and talked about business or technology.
• Tweeted a lot. Always attempted to engage in real conversation. Although we're sometimes offensive, we always speak our mind. Shared links and things we liked. Allan on Twitter and Steve on Twitter
• Contributed to open source by releasing LovdbyLess, our open source social network.
• Traveled to conferences to speak and attend. And actually talked to people, like real people do. We haven't hidden behind our computers, we've shaken hands with people and tried to make friends.

There is no recipe for success, or if there is we don't know it. We've just been working like mad men for 3 years and doing these thing everyday while seeing little or no result. Finally it's beginning to pay off.

Recently I had a conversation with a friend who runs a small web consultancy and is looking for some consulting work. A great website design can help your consulting. But if no one is coming to your site then no one will notice the new design. If your current site is good enough your time is better off networking, blogging, talking to people and helping on open source projects.

For some time now the consulting business here at Less has been dedicated to a few ongoing client projects. Most of those projects are wrapping up, so if you’d like us to Lessify your new or existing web business, let us know.

How do you know if Less is right for you?

• Do you care about making money?
• Do you want to make something people love, or just try and get people to click on ads?
• Do you enjoy 8th grade humor?
• Would you let someone build your application who doesn’t have one of their own? (And a serious one which people pay for.)
• Do you believe with all your heart and soul that fat people make the best web application consultants?
• Do you think that removing a feature is sometimes more important than adding one?
• Do you think the people who pay for your product should guide the future of it?
• Do you think it that fat is sexy?
• Is your project budget between $20K and $500K? (In general our minimum project budget is $50K, but we will take a smaller project if it is “right.” Our average project size is $150K.
• Do you have a budget yet?
• Do you want to work with the smartest, most creative, most talented, most successful, best looking team in the world or would you like to work with us?
• Do you want to attend LessCruise?
• Do you think that Steve is funnier and better looking than Allan?

If you answered yes to any of the above, let us know how we can help.

Colin Devroe of Viddler.com speaks about "How to Measure Success".

We're excited that you're interested in LessCruise 2010, April 8-11th. If you don't know anything about the cruise read more here and here.

$100 Deposits are Due by Dec 9th!

If you have any idea that you might want to go, put down a refundable $100 deposit. You'll have until Feb 15th to get the deposit refunded if you decide not to attend. On Feb 15th the remaining balance for the cruise is due.

Steps to be Awesome!

• Call 800-277-3770
• Tell them you're attending LessCruise.
• Give them billing information for the $100 deposit
• They'll send you brochures and other cruise materials.
• Buy a thong speedo and suntan lotion

We want you to come, but you must put down a deposit very soon, this ship will sail without you if you don't put down your $100 deposit quickly.

Kevin Hale of Wufoo.com speaks about "How to make users fall in love with your app".