Productized Ruby on Rails Consulting
Prakash Murthy
prakash@rubyappcare.com
About Me
- US resident since 2000
- Ruby on Rails Dev since 2010
- 14 years as Customer Support Engineer previously
Productizing?
A productized service is a pre-packaged consulting solution solving for one specific problem.
A productized service is a value-added, systemized, “done-for-you” service, packaged neatly as a product with a defined scope and price.
6 reasons to Productize
Reason # 1
- Eliminate Charging by the hour
6 reasons to Productize
Reason # 2
- No more RFPs or custom proposals.
6 reasons to Productize
Reason # 3
- Pre-validated idea
6 reasons to Productize
Reason # 4
- Revenues come easier and fast
6 reasons to Productize
Reason # 5
- Most are overlooking Productized Services.
6 reasons to Productize
Reason # 6
- Scale!
RubyAppCare
Productizing the work I have been doing for the last 6 years
- as a Ruby on Rails Consultant.
rubyappcare.com - A fixed monthly cost maintenance service for Ruby on Rails applications
Maintenance Plan
Security patches
Evolution Plan
+ Larger enhancements on a non-urgent basis.
Bug Fixes
Small enhancements
$5,000 one time setup fee
$5,000 one time setup fee
$2,500 per month ongoing fee
$5,000 per month ongoing fee
Setup Fee
Fee for a discovery phase whose aim is to make RubyAppCare team take full ownershop of the system.
- Get familiar with the software system
- Setup staging environment, alerts, monitoring, code quality check, etc.
- Work on fixing bugs, improving code quality / test coverage, etc.
Ongoing Monthly Fee
- Fee for being available to manage the system for the month
- Payable in advance
- Last month's fee refundable if client is not happy/has complaints.
Value for Clients
- Knowledgeable person/team available to handle issues
- Have the system up-to-date with security patches & releases
- Fixed monthly cost
- Flexibility to vary engagement level based on need
More about RubyAppCare
- Started as RailsAppCare
- Currently has one customer
- 3 potential customers
- Just me. As of now.
RubyAppCare: Goals (3-5 years)
- Serve 30-40 Customers
- Build a 6-8 member team
- Become a Key contributor to Rails development.
- Achieve 1M Annual Revenue
RubyAppCare :
Lessons learned so far
- Thinking like a business owner is not natural for me.
- Bad planning : Launching in March and going to India in May ☹
- Gotta move fast (and learn to move fast...)
- Prospecting is hard, and I have to get better at it.
RubyAppCare :
Biggest Challenge ahead
Finding and engaging prospective clients
RubyAppCare :
Marketing Steps
- Sponsoring Rocky Mountain Ruby Conf this year!
RubyAppCare :
Marketing Steps
- Advertising in Ruby Weekly starting in July
RubyAppCare :
To Do list
- Generate valuable content (blogposts on rubyappcare.com) - solve problems for clients / build credibility.
- Start advertising with Google AdWords
- Logo for RubyAppCare
- System Quality Check Product/Plan
Some influences & recommendations
Excellent blog post by Brian Casel at
Productized Services: 32 Examples of Scalable Consulting
Useful course by Brian Casel ($395/$695)
Short and useful book by the person who productized Wordpress support ( wpcurve.com )
http://www.amazon.com/Day-Startup-Learn-Until-Launch-ebook/dp/B00NZFKB8S
Comments, Feedback, Questions, ...
Thank You!
Prakash Murthy
prakash@rubyappcare.com
Slides at https://slides.com/prakash/productized-rails-consulting