Execute, execute, execute

So I’m still searching for evidence on the positive relationship between software quality and technology start-up success. And I found some more, It was anecdotal evidence, but it was very strong evidence to say the least. Today, I was priviliged to speak with a fellow who had had a couple of start-up successes in the wireless world. He described to me how he’d worked with some very experienced software engineers. They were rigorous in their engineering discipline, everything was documented, architecture though to code modules. Nothing was built without proper design and test harnesses. Often the test harnesses were more extensive than the actual module. All this rigor paid off. When ever investors or potential partners did their code level due diligence, they were in awe. Essentially the code quality was better than the already established potential investor or partner. Each module was so solid, their code base became like using lego. If they needed to shift the company direction, they were able to inherit 80% or more of the code base. If they had a potential customer they could redeploy within hours to meet the need. The person I met with said it’s all about execution. To be successful in a start-up you have to be nimble, and you have to execute, execute execute. Having rock solid, modular software allows this.