I have had to develop and build several sub-systems related to the eventual launch of my MicroISV product, TotalRM.  While there are many off the shelf products available in some of these areas, I choose to develop my own to ensure my ability to control and in the future support them if any issues were to occur.  I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but here’s what I can think of:

• Registration/Subscription validation
• Updates based on product and version without running an installer (like QuickBooks, or World of Warcraft)
• a separate app to identify and upload those updates to the server
• Error Report submission

The time spent developing these items ranges from weeks to months, all of which is not spent on the most important thing, which is adding functionality to TotalRM, and getting it released.

In addition to the above items that I’ve directly programmed, I’ve also spent considerable time analyzing and researching other areas that are relevant to a software product, and the company trying to market it:

• Source Control
• Bug Tracking
• Website software
• Forum software
• Obfuscation tools
• Credit Card processor (including integration with)
• e-Commerce storefront

There’s a LOT that goes into to creating, marketing, and eventually launching a software product or website beyond the development of the product itself.  If you’d like a bit of an easier time with it, and don’t want to spend countless hours doing the research that many have already done, you should check out StartupToDo.com, Micropreneur Academy, and Answers.OnStartups.com.