Cost of Development

I've been keeping up my time tracking, in an effort to demonstrate what sort of money and effort has gone into FuzzMeasure's release. To date, I can safely say that I've spent approximately $300 on purchased equipment used solely for FuzzMeasure's development. I've also spent 192.5 hours ($7700 worth, at $40/hour) in labour up to and including FuzzMeasure's launch. This work has been split into development (e.g. coding, research), administration (e.g. eSellerate work, press releasing, server management), and creative (e.g. web site design, graphics) categories. In total, $8000 was spent to release FuzzMeasure to the world. So far, I have barely even chipped into this cost. I am a lot more successful from a sales standpoint than I have expected, and paid off a good chunk of the hardware expense. Given that it has only been two weeks since I've launched, that's pretty good. Also, it's just a 1.0 release, and I'm sure lots of people are waiting for the real bling to show up before they buy. This is fine, since I didn't expect any sales at this point. I purposely limited my marketing to the usual news and download sites, as I wanted to stay a little bit low-key to gauge what little response I'd get. The response I got from a very simple campaign was huge (in my eyes, at least) — well over 600 downloads in the first weekend! I expect that when I extend my reach a little bit, I should see an improvement in these numbers, and a higher conversion percentage due to the higher-quality application. Also, I feel that people have a certain perception about 1.0 software (and hardware, for that matter). :) So, if FuzzMeasure can pull in more than $8000, I will break even and consider it a success. Obviously, more than that will be icing on the cake. Of course, I will continue development as I make sales, and thus will put myself further into the hole as I'm making money back. To truly break even will be difficult, since I will have to speed past the rate at which I'm spending in order to maintain an equilibrium. Because I view FuzzMeasure as an educational project more than a business venture, I have very little to lose. In fact, I consider my investment quite valuable in terms of what I've learned from a development and business standpoint. The experience I'm gaining will pay off at a later date. However, I do wish to treat FuzzMeasure with the same seriousness as a business venture, and I will continue to work hard to ensure it is a successful product in its market segment. I hope people can benefit from the data I'm posting here. It feels slightly unnatural to actually publish data like this in the open, and I do it purely to educate others. Writing commercial software in your spare time is a tough job, and I hope to illustrate that working hard at it will eventually pay off. As always, watch this space!