Google has launched a preview of their new Google App Engine. The first supported language is Python, which can be used to develop web applications that Google will host for you.

Google's plan is to handle all the mundane things that you need to do when getting an application running on the web... things like hardware setup, DB and web software configuration, notifications, authentication, log rolling, scaling and the like.

I wonder if offerings like this from Google (and other vendors like Amazon) could spawn a new breed of startups where entrepreneurs can concentrate on their ideas without worrying about hardware purchases and Apache config files?

WorkHappy.net is an entrepreneurial blog with a track record for good (if infrequent) posts and reviews. Carson McComas is known to post the occasional inspiring quote as well, and this one got me thinking...

"If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

That one speaks to me... instead of lining up tasks and barking orders, a good entrepreneur (or a any manager in general) should make a priority of inspiring their partners, investors, co-workers or even customers. Keep the goals clear and let people figure out their own best way to achieve them. It's very "Cluetrainesque" for someone who passed on in 1944.

For more details on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, see the Wikipedia and WikiQuote pages.

Mark Evans over at the Maple Leaf 2.0 blog points out that a web site offering a free service can indeed make money. PlentyofFish.com, and on-line dating service apparently makes $10,000 a day through Adsense. Incredible! The owner reports that he has the largest website run by one person.

Jason Fried over at the 37signals blog makes a comment that you've likely heard before, but applies to anyone who is interested in starting a technology business. Pondering whether AOL or Microsoft can compete with YouTube's success in the on-line video market, he states:

"Can AOL and Microsoft beat YouTube down the road? Anything is possible, but they’re making it awful hard on themselves if they think technology is what’s going to win this race. Technology rarely wins the race — experience and execution does. YouTube nailed that. Time will tell if they nailed a few coffins at the same time."

Experience and execution... many would say it's the execution that is a real entrepreneur's calling card. Entrepreneurs do. They "make something happen" as Seth Godin encourages. Even if you don't have the experience, getting out there and starting something will put you in a place where you will learn what you need to know.

"Technology rarely wins the race?" That's another one to remember. As someone who is knee-deep in the creation of software, it's all too easy to get caught up in new technologies for the sake of new technologies. Focusing on the end product and just making something with whatever tools are at hand is likely a better way to get things going.

"Just try hacking something together."

That's how Paul Graham summarizes his own thoughts in a new essay entitled "The Power of the Marginal". He talks about how great ideas come from the "outsiders" and how the "insiders" often "don't learn from other fields". Hacking something together is his advice to the "outsiders"... people who find themselves on the edges of the business world (like Jobs and Wozniak who started Apple Computers) experimenting with more risky plans and working on the cheap to create something.

It's a good read for anyone teetering on the verge of starting something. His final words of wisdom in the article?

"You're on the right track when people complain that you're unqualified, or that you've done something inappropriate... When you hear people saying that, you're golden. And they, incidentally, are busted."

Thanks for great essay Paul. I'm glad you're working from the margins!

Venture Voice is a great podcast. Gregory Galant does a great job of interviewing the high-rollers of the technology world. A recent session with David Sifry of Technorati dives into how the high-traffic, blog-tracking site Technorati started, and what David does to keep it going. Some of the lines that David comes out with are bound to be quoted and repeated. It was inspiring 45 minutes to say the least.

Read more here or if you see the button below, you can click play listen right now thanks to Odeo.

Some notables:
"Far more important than the technology you have is the team that you build."
"I firmly reject the notion that the primary reason for companies to exist is to make a profit."
"I can’t believe they actually pay me for this."

I just finished listening to the Venture Voice podcast show #20, which featured Joel Spolsky of Fog Creek Software. Joel is known for his popular blog on software, aptly named Joel on Software. In the podcast, Joel presents his views on why it's wise to bootstrap a company and avoid the venture capital route.

To paraphrase his no-nonsense approach, starting a software (or any) company involves asking the questions:

1. What pain are people having?
2. Are people willing to pay for the solution I can provide?

Common sense I guess, but sometimes forgotten especially lately as we seem to be approaching another Internet boom with all of the Web 2.0 hype. Anyway, it's motivating to hear the voice of someone who has "been in the trenches" and survived.

For easy access, you can hear the interview on Odeo here.