Planning a Startup
I made the decision recently to start transitioning away from my consulting business and move more and more into start up type activities. That means less consulting and more building business services that can run autonomously.
What type of business do I want to create?
I’d like to create a technology business that can run by itself with a minimum of involvement from me. My background is engineering at Waterloo and I spent my employment years working as a software developer and then created a niche for myself by focusing on automated software testing (developing tools, implementing processes, leading teams). Since starting my company two years ago, I’ve had the opportunity to work for multiple clients and make a decent living at it. However, I soon realized that that wasn’t a way to create true wealth. As long as I was a consultant, the business lived and died with me – it had no real value without me. That doesn’t appeal to me. What I’m currently exploring is a way to leverage my technical skills to create automated services and automated business processes that could function without my direct involvement – an “auto pilot” kind of business that I can set up and passively monitor.
A few years ago I developed an automated testing tool, ABCWebTest, that I used to automate the testing of web applications. I realized that I could leverage this technology not just for automating web testing but also for automating any kind of repetitive web processes.
For instance, I’ve used it to automate searching multiple travel websites to find the best deal – QuickButler.
The same automation technology can also be used to automate other process/sites on the web – for instance:
- searching multiple real estate/rental sites and creating visual map representation of what’s for sale/rent and where
- automating the exporting of your MySpace account content to Facebook or vice-versa
- automating financial reports by logging in to multiple bank and investment sites to construct a complete picture of someone financial health
I must admit that I don’t have the domain expertise in many of the verticals where this technology can be used. That’s why I’m looking for a business partner who can bring that to the table. Ideally, I’d like to partner with someone that knows a specific industry that can leverage this technology.
