Last week I had an interview with a small company. They have twenty employees, and are split across an online insurance business, search engine optimisation, and, err, a swinging website. 
I'd been called up to help with the latter, as their previous coder had jumped ship after his family found out what he was doing for a living.
The company hadn't invested heavily in that site for several years, and they were having difficulty recruiting for it. Having seen some of the content, it was a bit grim, and if definitely put me off.
The directors were talking about adding features, updating the look and feel, and trying to grow it further. As an outsider I thought that they risked spreading themselves thin, but later emailed in three suggestions.
The thing is that I've got enough distance to look at it dispassionately, whereas the company owners don't have that. In fact, the site in question was the basis for their business (and the pair of AMGs outside suggested it was doing well), so there's probably a sentimental attachment.
I suspect that the same is true of a number of number of small enterprises. Certainly some of the examples in this thread suggest it is.
I'd been called up to help with the latter, as their previous coder had jumped ship after his family found out what he was doing for a living.
The company hadn't invested heavily in that site for several years, and they were having difficulty recruiting for it. Having seen some of the content, it was a bit grim, and if definitely put me off.
The directors were talking about adding features, updating the look and feel, and trying to grow it further. As an outsider I thought that they risked spreading themselves thin, but later emailed in three suggestions.
- Invest heavily in an update. This will cost them three or four times as much as they expect.
- Run it in a state of managed decline, and hire a programmer or two to maintain it for as long as it's profitable.
- Sell it on. I reckoned that the interest in the business was elsewhere (one staff member - pun not intended - out of twenty working on it), and focus interest elsewhere.
The thing is that I've got enough distance to look at it dispassionately, whereas the company owners don't have that. In fact, the site in question was the basis for their business (and the pair of AMGs outside suggested it was doing well), so there's probably a sentimental attachment.
I suspect that the same is true of a number of number of small enterprises. Certainly some of the examples in this thread suggest it is.
