I learned a new term today: micro ISV. Actually, I lie: I learned two new terms: ISV and microISV. I learned those new words and, most important, new IDEAS, by having as starting point Joel Spolsky’s today post Foreword to “Eric Sink on the Business of Software” .
In the post, besides introducing us to Eric Sink and to his articles on micro ISVs, Joel also writes about his first business EVER.

So, what did I do with the money? Nothing. The chairman of the linguistics department took it all. He decided that the money should be used to hold a really big party for all the institute staff. I wasn’t allowed to come to the party because I was too young.

The story is great by itself, I guess we all had a “first business” that failed miserably or got destroyed by some larger authority.

I had my first “entrepreneurial” ventures when in primary school, in the most Tom Sawyer-esque style. Trades of toys versus chewing gums, of comic books versus hand-drawn comics posters, or even my first productive “business”: producing and selling darts out of plastic body, paper tail and a needle in the front. Needless to say that I had to give the toys back  to the outraged parents AFTER the client had eaten his chewing gum, that my lack of drawing talent made the whole poster drawing business a failure, or that the needle darts business got me in front of the school’s principal on the edge of expusion.

Coming back from the memory lane, all I wanted to say was that almost every kid has a seed of entrepreneur inside. Too bad grownups or older kids almost never let them grow that seed…

What about microISV’s?  Well… it’s quite a lot to talk about, and you should just go ahead and read the posts on Eric Sink’s blog and some fascinating discussion threads on business and software over on Joel’s forums. There’s some really good suff in there… :-)