Notes & Index of Business of Software 2010 talks, links to videos & talk transcripts

These are my notes from Business of Software last year. I have updated them to include links to the videos of the talk and the transcripts that I had made. I hope you find them useful.

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 donate the enormous proceeds to Byte Night and Children in Need. 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
• Video and transcript here.

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
• Video and transcript here.

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)
• Video and transcript here.

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/
• Video and transcript here.

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:

Video and transcript here.

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).
• Video and transcript here.

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.
• Video and transcript here tbr.

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
• Video and transcript here tbr.

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
• Video and transcript here.

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
• Video and transcript tbr.

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)
• Video and transcript here.

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
• Video and transcript here.

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
• Video and transcript here.

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