I am a Microsoft .NET developer interested in developing business
applications for different markets (for example hotels, real estate,
kitchen dealers, ...).

The idea is to sell these applications worldwide but how can I find
the first couple of interested companies that want to provide me with
the necessary functional input ?

I was thinking of paying these companies a small amount for each copy
sold afterwards. Do you think this could work ?

Firstly, 
a company, particularly the large one, will not enter into any such
relationship with an outside, unknown  person.
 It not worth  the risk of being sued.

They will not even do beta testing for you,
 but some employees may do that as individuals.

You need to start with a group, specific group, such as mechanical
engineers,
and find a  task which is not currently  well solved. There are many.
One way  to find that out is to ask in a appropriate newsgroup. Then
offer to write it,  ask for input on needed features and then  for
beta testers.
 You did not indicate your level of
technical competence (outside of the programing). You may need a
partner.

For general user, (bigger the audience, larger the kill) note that
many
people find computers hard to use. First Mac was a hit since it
increased
group of people who could use a computer. There is still a large
number of
people who find that using accomputer is  not worth their time and
effort.

Study Human Interface metrics and usability:
http://www.upassoc.org
http://www.webword.com/

Visit your local elementary school and  offer to help (you will find
out
what is dificult, for teachers and children). Better software for 
learning/teaching is very much needed.

Study demographic to determine target population
http://www.commerce.net/research/stats/stats.html

Remember:
               Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow 
http://www.manypaths.com/book15.htm

 There is large number of applications which are just becoming
feasible,
 and large number of those which can be done better:
For example:
  How many people know how to use a Data Base? 
  How many people would have a  use for one, if they do not have to go
to
college to be able to use one, to create one?

  In conclusion: talk to people and ask them what is hard, find a
group which does something the hard way, use your intuition to guess
what can be done better with todays hardware, taking into the account
the learning curve and cost. Their cost of changing to your way, your
cost of writing it, and their ability and willingness to pay for it.

 finally, good luck.

---

Request for Answer Clarification by tvde-ga on 15 Jun 2002 12:05 PDT

Dear,

I'm a full time employee with +10 years developing experience. I would
like to start developing BUSINESS applications on my own for small to
medium sized companies. In order to be able to do this I need detailed
information on how specific businesses are run and whether they really
need something.

I don't like going through newsgroups as it is often considered as
spamming.

'Talking to people' is exactly the problem. I'm full time employed so
I don't have that much time and also not that much people that I could
contact to just start talking to. I guess I would loose way too much
time in that case.

I doubt whether I can make real money by developing some kind of
'teaching' application as this often doesn't really pay well and I
don't have a teaching background.

I liked the 'elance' comment but when checking out most of the
projects it seems that most projects published are being done too
cheap... I guess a lot of companies with developers from low-cost
countries are offering their services.

So 'elance' type of websites are more the thing I'm looking for it
seems. I would like to get an answer more in this direction (for
example specifying a couple of this type of websites - hopefully with
more expensive projects) as this probably solves my question.

---

Clarification of Answer by hedgie-ga on 16 Jun 2002 10:03 PDT

Thanks for the challenge provided by your request for clarification.
I will focus on the business applications only this time.
I am accepting fact that you have extensive programming
experience. There are many other resources needed to start a business.
 It includes market research,  capital, time, and surely talking to
 many people. By the very definition, there is no list of 'killer
 applications' just waiting to be programmed. There is an hunt for
 such applications. Opportunities once identified are a guarded
 as trade secrets, many businesses founded to exploit them fail
 withing two years. I will list what internet has available on this
 topic. In a way, you are talking to people right now, but this
 can only provide a  first small step in the direction you sketched.

 Here are steps needed to start a business:
 http://www.liraz.com/
 http://www.bizmove.com/
 http://www.bplans.com/
 http://www.theiea.org/
 http://www.sba.gov/library/pubs.html
 http://www.score.org/ (I do recommend this resource in your case)

 Here is software currently being offered to small business.
 Part of the market research is evaluation of the competive
 offerings. Anything on the list not the killer application you seek:
 http://www.4expertise.com/software.html
 http://www.soho.org/

 This is what internet has on  Business killer application  (search
term)
  Some think it is in the  B2B:
 http://www.the-south-asian.com/B2B%20Software.htm
 http://www.eitforum.com/ForumItem.asp?itemID=214&type=book
 http://www.indepth-tech.com/BK9627762598.htm
  Some think security is 'it':
 http://www.businesssolutionsmag.com/Articles/1999_12/991203.htm
 or wireless LAN or kiosk in the  supermarket
http://www3.gartner.com/resources/97800/97856/97856.pdf
http://consulting.gbdirect.co.uk/wapkiller.html
http://www.polarlake.com/news/mediacoverage/2001-connectworld.shtml
http://www.businesssolutionsmag.com/Articles/2001_04/010404.htm

 I personally would like businesses like COSTCO or IKEA, which have
 large warehouses acessible to public to offer a wireless gizmo which
 would guide me to isle and shelf with the product I am looking for.

  Closest to your specific question for a list of unmet business needs
  is B2B exchange. Quote from the book:
 Goldman Sachs Investment Research estimates the value of transactions
conducted on-line bet
ween companies will reach $1.5 trillion by 2004. In B2B Exchanges the
authors reveal that tr
ansactions on B2B exchanges, in the US alone, could exceed $600
billion in annual value and
generate annual revenue for the exchanges in excess of $3 billion by
2004 B@ B exchanges Wel
come to our database of B2B Exchanges and related companies...   The
site has a database of
companies, broken
 by the industry, where you can find customers and negotiate
offerings:
  http://www.b2bexchanges.com/list.cfm

 There are companies which claim that they have business customers and
 look for INDEPENDENT software developers and partners.

  http://www.greatplains.com/
  http://www.rockysoft.com/partners_software.cfm
  http://www.axiomainc.com/pressroom/news220801.html

http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/betatesting.html
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/tradeorganizations.html
http://www7b.software.ibm.com/wsdd/
http://developer.apple.com/mkt/businessresources/
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ibm-lunar.html

   Considering your strength in programming and your apparetnt
weakness
   in existing contact and marketing experience, some form of
   partnership may be the best step at this phase of your professional
   developement.

   I wish you luck.

Perhaps to sharpen your skills, and get some experience under your
belt, why not work on an open source project?  Plenty can be found at
http://sourceforge.net/ - most are looking for some contribution.

The funny thing about .NET is that existing companies tend to be able
to
take more advantage of it (legacy, migration, etc.) than new ideas in
themselves...
It helps to have some experience in existing technologies such as COM,
Java, etc.
(although ASP.NET is one new area which looks really in demand and
promising).
I'd also start with getting MCP certified in .NET (the new .NET exams
are supposed to
be out this or next month) and then try to do contract work with
companies using
the .NET technology to build leads/contacts that can help you with
your
own business at a later stage.  Some good sources of companies
utilizing
the .NET technology:
 
1) .NET trade shows and conferences
2) http://www.xmethods.com/ (has a list of companies that use web
services)
3) http://jobsearch.dice.com/jobsearch/jobresults.cgi?sr=1&hp=25&cf=05.441f8800&brief=0&banner=1
4) http://www.dotnetbuzz.com/dotnetjobs.asp
 
Paying companies to use your product is a lot harder nowadays--
due to the fact that companies nowadays are a lot more conservative.

Also http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/CareerCenter.asp
has some good listings.  Actually I found some more links--
if you like my two answers I can turn this info a formal answer.
Let me know.

Thx for the comment but I'm not really looking on how I can improve my
skills. I'm doing this every day during 'normal' working hours. I
would actually like to start developing a couple of 'shareware' type
of applications. But instead of some nice to have PC-tools I would
like to develop some business applications. In other words a classical
job website doesn't do :(
Thx anyway !

What you are probably seeking is in fact a business problem to solve
by an application. What you probably want to do is look out how a
business works and then see were you can design application to solve
or speed up that business problem/process.

What you want to know is were you get the business process from and
the best method I have found is to take a simple problem from what one
of your friends is having at there work and try and design an
application to fit round it or meet that need. Not only will you have
a willing beta tester you will also have someone who will share
information with you over a drink or a meal.

The other way is to look at existing software that companies are using
and try to see were you could build and make better product. As these
are more likely to have solved or built on a existing product and
identified that space.

there is my ten cents... good luck. 

James

Thx for the suggestions ! 2 problems however : I don't know the right
people with the right business problems :( and looking at existing
software doesn't assure that there's a real demand (maybe the
application I'm looking at is already the killer application)...
Thx anyway !

I would recommend you start with www.elance.com.  There are a huge
number of projects up for bid, many of which might fit the parameters
you are looking for.  Since a bid which reserved copyright on the
software developed could be substantially lower than a bid for
one-time development for a company, you might find your work in
demand.