Comments on: The Autopsy of a failed web app

By: Phil Thompson

Phil Thompson — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 12:28:21 +0000

Dave I think you’ve hit the nail on the head here. A far superior business plan would have been to develop on top of an existing product like magento instead of trying to completely reinvent the wheel.

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 08:29:34 +0000

I knew there was something I forgot to mention…

Code Igniter’s younger brother, Expression Engine, an open-source core and commercial licensing, is yet to develop (or have developed) a good eCommerce plugin/module, as far as I’m aware. Something like this would have been ideal for you/someone to push through, reap the free marketing and everything that goes along with it.

cheers, Dave

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 08:26:13 +0000

Good on you for being honest. Tough pil to swallow given the time you put into it.

I agree with Andrew. Given your resources, I’ve no doubt you would have had more success had you (at the very least) built upon an existing MVC framework like Code Igniter, Cake, etc. It would have allowed you way more time to focus on the real problems associated with module development.

Another alternative would be to take something like Magento, and churn off a few modules that you could sell on a commercial license basis (as well as positioning yourself as a sole provider of installation for a suite with your module[s] included). I’ve recently paid $500 for a small module for one of my clients to solve what should be a relatively straightforward problem, but would have cost me around £3000 in my time to develop or get developed.

Glad you had a go though, you’ve no doubt learned a bucket load from the experience that you can either take with you into the next venture, or at least make you be more scrupulous in your preparation and architecture.

All the best, Dave

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:35:04 +0000

Another very frank article there Phil!
In hindsight, perhaps developing with a framework (such as Kohana or Cake) would have given you access to an existing base of potential users – dev time would have been reduced as well.

Adopting a framework and participating in the forums could have helped out both parties, because it adds to the interest/hype surrounding the chosen framework as more and more people use it, and then people associate all that with your app which relies on it

By: Claudiu Ludosan Master of The Luggage

Claudiu Ludosan Master of The Luggage — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:26:08 +0000

Great article Phil. Being skeptical, criticizing your own work and admitting your weaknesses it’s the fastest way to success. If you’re mindful on your mistakes and failures you can be 100% sure you will never repeat them again.

By: Phil Thompson

Phil Thompson — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:58:27 +0000

I did have plans to write and release my own web app but to be honest I haven’t had the time nor funds to be able to do it. Therefore, I’m concentrating on client work.

By: gareth joyce

gareth joyce — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:48:44 +0000

I’m in total agreement with Tim. Being critical about your own work is so important. At my workplace I am always trying to critique my own work and get people to be critical of mine and each others work. As for the app, you know you gave it a shot, fair play it hasn’t worked out like you thought but you’ve learn’t a lesson and you’ll move on. Whats next in the pipeline?!?!

By: Matt Heisig

Matt Heisig — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:20:48 +0000

Excellent analysis and thanks for sharing it. Too often the web is inundated with “How to…” articles and advice on what to do – often it’s just as educational, if not more, to examine a failure and learn what NOT to do.

Thanks for your honesty.

By: Phil Thompson

Phil Thompson — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:52:46 +0000

Ray you’re very right. It’s easy to look at products, like Actinic, with huge sales and seemingly blatant problems (usability being one) and thinking that to usurp its marketshare – all that is needed is a better product but it’s not as simple as that.

By: Ray

Ray — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:43:23 +0000

Think two key things come out here, Cart to rival actinic and one man development team. I feel there is now a good knowledge out there of using web apps or building more than a simple site however there is a vast gap between this knowledge and an understanding of what this takes. The fact is a project such as Actinic or any other successful web app either grew over time or had a large development team with an even larger budget for marketing than development.

Unless you have a very unique project that innovates and sells itself by creating little buzz through blogs and twitter etc then you are looking at competing against market players that have large marketing budgets that the releasing company needs to rival.

I personally stay away or advise an employer to stay away from clients or projects where this expectation cannot be managed or is not realistic. A lot of people think online is easier because its a lower barrier to entry but there are far too many unrealistic people with unreasonable expectations of costs to launch something with the kind of return to rival the big market players.

What you said about meeting a client who were suprised about the length of time etc is all too common in my experience and isn’t helped by yes men unprofessional developers who go in with silly promises that at the end of a project they never deliver on and waste a clients money.