Organised Notes & Index of Business of Software 2010 Talks

I thought this might be a useful quick index of each of the sessions from Business of Software 2010, with a link to some further reading. If you would like to buy books, I have given you a link to do so through Amazon. I have an affiliate account with them and will donate any proceeds to sponsoring our ByteNight sleepout on October 8th in Aid of Action for Children. You can of course buy them in lots of other places.

Seth Godin: www.sethgodin.com

• Talk: Are you afraid to truly make an impact? The opportunity for linchpin organizations and the people who run them.
• Twitter Takeaway: Competence is a commodity – dull. Software allows genius to shine. Are you a genius? (I am).
• More reading: Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? How to Drive Your Career and Create a Remarkable Future

David Russo: LinkedIn

• Talk: Company Culture and its DNA: For Better For Worse, For Richer For Poorer…
• Twitter Takeaway: Corporate culture matters from the moment a company is founded. Here’s proof that if you have to change it later, you are twice as likely to fail.
• More reading: 17 Rules Successful Companies Use to Attract and Keep Top Talent: Why Engaged Employees Are Your Greatest Sustainable Advantage

Dharmesh Shah: http://www.hubspot.com/

• Talk: Building a great software business, notes from the field.
• Twitter Takeaway: EVERYTHING is about making customers happy. Measure everything. Our key metric at Hubspot is CHI – Customer Happiness Index.
• More reading: Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs (New Rules Social Media Series)

Eric Ries: http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/

• Talk: The Lean Startup – A Scientific Approach to Innovation.
• Twitter Takeaway: Why dead people are responsible for dead startups. A news science to make yours live.
• More reading: http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/

Scott Farqhuhar: www.atlassian.com

• Talk: From 0-$60million. The Ten Commandments for Startups.
• Twitter Takeaway: Be loud, proud, fair, awesome and different. Always be marketing.
• More information:

Jason Cohen: www.blog.asmartbear.com/jason-cohen

• Talk: The six prejudices of Jason Cohen. From geek to entrepreneur
• Twitter Takeaway: “That’s how it is done”, is bullshit. Make up your own rules & understand all advice comes with its own prejudices.
• More reading: The Best kept Secrets of Peer Code Review (Free book, free shipping).

Paul Kenny: www.oceanlearning.co.uk

• Talk: Engaging Dialogue
• Twitter Takeaway: Don’t rely on sales people for sales – you have the Founder’s Advantage.  No one can match your experiences.

Rob Walling: www.softwarebyrob.com

• Talk: The Primary Goal of Your Website is not to Sell.
• Twitter Takeaway: Visitors that come back to your site are far more profitable than one time visitors. The insider’s guide on making your website work properly.
• More reading: Start Small, Stay Small: A Developer’s Guide to Launching a Startup

Peldi Guilizzoni: www.balsamiq.com

• Talk: Do worry, be happy.
• Twitter Takeaway: Startup CEOs should worry about everything, but worrying can be a positive experience.
• More reading: http://www.balsamiq.com/company

Mark Stephens: www.idrsolutions.com/

• Talk: (Don’t) Panic.
• Twitter Takeaway: The world is much more complicated than you think. Don’t be a dork, be different.
• More reading: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Eric Sink:

• Talk: Lessons Learned in Selling my Company to Microsoft.
• Twitter Takeaway: In M&A, you are not paranoid, they really are all out to get you. Get help for all the right things.
• More reading: Eric Sink on the Business of Software (Expert’s Voice)

Youngme Moon: www.youngmemoon.com/

• Talk: Different.
• Twitter Takeaway: Modern marketing makes mulchy products consumers don’t, or can’t care about. Different is better but it isn’t a recipe.
• More reading: Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd

Dan Bricklin: www.bricklin.com/

• Talk: What have I learned in 40 years of developing software products that people use?
• Twitter Takeaway: The Dalai Lama of Software development speaks, the geeks listen. Extraordinary insight.
• More reading: Bricklin on Technology

Derek Sivers: www.sivers.org/

• Talk: I sold my business and gave the money away.
• Twitter Takeaway: Happiness comes from many directions and rarely from money.
• More reading: www.sivers.org/blog

Joel Spolsky: www.stackoverflow.com/ www.fogcreek.com/

• Talk: My Venture Capital Year
• Twitter Takeaway: A CEO’s job is to ask his people one thing, “What do you need?”.
• More reading: Joel on Software: And on Diverse & Occasionally Related Matters That Will Prove of Interest etc..: And on Diverse and Occasionally Related Matters … or Ill-Luck, Work with Them in Some Capacity

Having taken and blogged more notes in three days at the Business of Software Conference this week in Boston than I did in all my time in college, it has been really nice to get so much kind feedback from event participants, real and virtual. As I tried to get the blog published before the clapping had died down at the end of the session, (I knew that if I hadn’t they would just get added to the endless to do pile that is my life), the notes aren’t as organised as they might be. they still aren’t much more organised but at least you can access them from one blog post instead of scrolling through the blog.

I would love to hear your views on key lessons from the event. Thanks.