I just had an all-too common conversation with the founder of a startup who had spent more than a year working with a software development company who had produced a mess. If I’m being asked to do startup software development, I’m going to push fairly hard on key questions that the startup needs to have answered before they develop anything. Actually that’s it… For startup software development, The mess really comes from a developer who was willing to get started on a product that was not fully thought out. I always take a very different approach in early conversations.

Roy Rubin was a student trying to make extra money on the side when he founded Varien, the company that went on to launch Magento, an ecommerce platform that enables billions of dollars in online sales. He came to Mixergy to talk about why Varien grew (it had a lot to do with focus) and how the company launched Magento (his developers pushed him to do it). The FULL program

who would love to talk with you. There’s quite a bit of truth to what Mark is saying about startup software developers, but my guess is that there’s another reason that it seems harder to find developers in this context. First, early in the post, Mark mentions: The idea behind the meetup is to connect technology startups with prospective hires who may be interested to work for “alternative compensation”–e.g., I’ll give you equity in the company.” Second, there’s this funny perception that the cost of software development have been dramatically changed in the past few years.

This is a private group of CTOs who are responsible for software development within their companies. They are generally the senior most person responsible for custom software development, database design, database administration, web development, etc. In a recent conversation with a fellow CTO, we lamented about the fact that while there's very active software development and web development going on in Southern California and West Los Angeles, yet there didn't seem to be as much of a community around it. I've helped organize the Los Angeles CTO Forum for almost 10 years.

Tags: software autobytel automotive executiv Irvine-based Autobytel announced this morning that it has bolstered its executive ranks, hiring Zane Rathwick as the firm's Vice President Development for IT. Rathwick joins the firm from Local.com and Kelley Blue Book, and has previously served as Senior Director at Autobytel. According to the firm, Rathwick will develop new technologies

Pasadena-based X1 Technologies, a developer of desktop and enterprise search software, is setting its sights on the eDiscovery market, saying this morning that it has created a new offering specifically aimed at the eDiscovery market. Cost of the new software was not released. X1 said the new software will be available in late Q1, with early X1 said it has built a solution, based on its X1 enterprise search technology and professional services, called X1 eDiscovery Search Suite. The new tool is focused on helping companies who need to produce electronic documents, due to lawsuits.

Pasadena-based Guidance Software has expanded its line of products this morning to include a new security tool. Pricing on the new software was not released. Tags: malware security software guidanc The firm said today that it has rooled out EnCase Cybersecurity, a new product for detecting malware, detecting sensitive information on corporate networks, and more. The new product augments existing antivirus, firewall, and other cybersecurity tools.

Thousand Oaks-based Servoy , a developer of software for developing software-as-a-service applications, said Monday that it has upgraded its namesake platform. According to the company, the upgraded software includes updates such as real-time clustering, drag-and-drop support, and ability to run applications either as software-as-a-service or through on-premise deployment. ...Tags: Tags:

Pasadena-based Guidance Software, a developer of digital forensics software, announced Monday that the firm's products have been selected by Verizon. According to Guidance, Verizon will use its EnCase eDiscovery software on a pay-per-use basis. Guidance Software develops software used for electronic discovery and forensics, particularly for extracting data from desktops, laptops, servers, and other PCs. Financial impact of the customer win was not disclosed. READ MOR

Aliso Viejo-based Quest Software disclosed this morning that the firm is planning its own, e-discovery software, which it said it will launch in the third quarter of the year. discovery software is used by companies to store and manage documents and records in relation to legal actions. Pricing on the new software was not released. E-discovery According to Quest, its e-Discovery Manager will help IT, HR, records managers, and legal investigations with collecting, reviewing, and exporting electronically stored information in-house.