Measure Twice, Code Once.

In this day and age of sloppy solutions and poorly defined problems, there is something to be said for thinking out a problem logically and composing an elegant solution to fit the precise needs of your target audience.

I think its a matter of what angle you approach a problem from, and how well you understand all the facets that particular problem has … for us, we’ve decided that most software problems need to be solved from the customer’s perspective. Only after we fully embrace and understand our customer’s needs, can we truly implement a solution to address them. How is it that so many of our competitors are out of touch with the users of their products?

In this industry, you need to know your stuff, and you really need to be your product’s most demanding customer. If you don’t use your own software, you’re headed in the wrong direction because you’ll never understand why your customers need the things they do; more importantly you’ll understand how to avoid bloat by removing that which is not necessary. In that you need to have the highest of standards, and the drive to work tirelessly in order to create a product that satisfies your own personal expectations. This is where companies make sacrifices, this is where they fail, this is what makes us different and is why we’re here.

New Tutorial Videos are up!

After much recording, editing, re-recording, and subsequent re-editing we have new Tutorial Videos in the Support section. Our intent here is to give you a spoken-word, real-world use case of our system. See it in action. Most videos are aimed to our Gaming Bundle clients, and we will have more videos coming working with other mainstream product lines to better showcase our flexibility in handling any sort of product seamlessly.

Its nice to kick back and watch videos at your leisure, its not always convenient to call up during business hours to get some basic questions answered by our team, so here’s an exciting alternative. Great for teaching employees too, now the training is out of your hands – which saves you valuable time.

So check out our new videos Here!

The New Kids on the Block

Since you’re reading this, perhaps you’re wondering just how we feel about being the newest eCommerce solution on the block. Well, honestly… its awesome!

You see, not so long ago in a land not so far far away there was a great, urgent need for software to help small companies sell things online more effectively. Familiar with the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears? Of Course. Until now businesses looking to do business online had to decide between big companies with their big, bloated, cold, complicated solutions; or smaller, simpler (dumber) systems, that weren’t a professional solution, and simply couldn’t deliver the goods … which with eCommerce, is a rather large problem.

Until now, these poor businesses have had a tough decision, if only there was an agile, innovative company with reliable and powerful eCommerce software. Smoke and mirrors? Don’t get me wrong, fairs and carnivals are fun, but eCommerce is serious business. Here’s our equation: the key to online success is a combination of innovation, efficiency, and offering the same products for sale through multiple channels. Well Duh!

OKAY, recap: First, lets work smart and save people time; that equals saved money … Second, lets show all of your company’s products to as many people shopping on the internet as humanly possible with just a few clicks = A Smarter Solution.

So we’re the new kids on the block.
We’ve got a new take on eCommerce software: The right balance of features and functionality, enough to get the job done efficiently. After all, despite what you’ve heard eCommerce is complicated, we feel strongly that your eCommerce solution shouldn’t be.

More next week about eBay, and how its really a new-age marketing platform. (Get Paid To Advertise Your Products!)
We’ll describe in greater detail, our CrystalCommerce eBay capabilities; and just what using them could mean for you and your business. This dog’s got some new tricks!

The Dark Ages

In case you didn’t know, the dark ages of a software project usually occur when that project is between 90% and 95% done … when that software is field tested. Thats when an an uncomfortable reality sets in, that they’re only about 50% to 55% done. This period of time in a products development is sometimes referred to as crunch time; or which is most often the case, it is simply not referred to at all … all reference and record of this period in time are expunged from company documents and from the minds of loyal employees by way of water-boarding, and mentioning those tough times during a company picnic is grounds for termination, Schwarzenegger style.

However, we’ve decided to adopt a more enlightened stance on all of our recent troubles, we have decided to embrace our dark ages and let you know that building a kick-ass eCommerce system like CrystalCommerce is NOT an easy task. Needless to say, we’ve survived, we’ve learned, and we’ve continued to innovate; and that tenacity is exactly what you expect from a company your business relies upon as the cornerstone of its online success story.

A wise man once said [No, I don't know who so don't ask] “Nothing worth doing is ever easy. If it’s easy, then it’s not worth doing. Worthwhile things always takes time and effort.”

What do Beer, Pizza and Launching New Clients have in Common?

That’s right. They’re three things I LOVE. They all taste really good, and they’re Fantastic things to share with our dedicated team of hardworking employees! Go Team! (David, Woody, John, Eric, Bradford, and myself, Dan McCarty).

It’s Friday the 21st of September and for well over a year the Crystal Commerce team has been slaving away in obscurity, in our dungeon, building you a better tool for doing business online.

No longer. [Only Slightly Longer.]

Today, fueled by the finest pizza and beer in the land, we’ve launched our first clients [took them down a week later] (other than my other business which has been “eating the dog food” for several weeks now perfecting [actually it was choking on the dog food] the system so it works beautifully [actually it needed about 2 more months of work... doh! But now the dogfood tastes like Fillet Minon!) and I'm incredibly excited. [For Real this time ]

This past Monday, we rolled out our 1 page checkout, and its a thing of beauty; something thats guaranteed to efficiently streamline the ordering process. Its always a good idea to make things easier for the customers, we always try to design our new features with them in mind.

Watch out world, here we come.

P.S. Want a tour of the app? Drop me an email at dan@crystalcommerce.com and we’ll make it happen.

Why Shopping Carts Aren’t for Winners

I was chatting with someone about Crystal Commerce at one of the entrepreneurial networking events that have sprung up in Seattle over the last several months and they said (roughly):

“I have an online store with a basic shopping cart already installed. Why would I ever want to switch [to Crystal Commerce]?”

Grrr…. As an entrepreneur, nothing, I mean NOTHING, gets me going and my competitive juices flowing like someone questioning the basic value proposition of my company.

But irregardless of whether I think the question is appropriate, I do think it’s important so I’m going to address it here.

Basic shopping cart software is fine for small/low-budget stores that never intend to grow. But why would you want a eCommerce solution that limits your ambition (and revenue)? The answers is – You Don’t! You want to have options, you want features that add value, you want something easy to use, and you want something affordable. Please take a moment and reflect on the image top-right and ask yourself “Is this really what I want?”

There will be over $100 BILLION of good sold online this year! Some of that money will flow through eBay. However, mostly its from direct sales though online stores like yours. It sounds like an overwhelming number, but a massive chunk of it is from small businesses just like yours. In order to be successful, you need opportunity, intelligence, and determination. To be successful selling online, you also need the right tools.

Basic shopping cart software only allows you to sell through one of those channels, doesn’t enable customized customer service by tracking order history, doesn’t enable powerful email and coupon marketing to encourage repeat business, doesn’t streamline order processing and fulfillment, doesn’t give you to the ability to list your products on the popular comparison shopping sites (e.g. Froogle, Bizrate, Shopzilla, Nextag, & Shopping.com) with only a few clicks, doesn’t even give you powerful analytics to better manage your precious advertising dollars, keep a closer eye on inventory levels, set gross margins and keep better track of employees (e.g. an integrated punch clock, an embedded email/task communicator, custom access privileges). I could go on and on so I will … Doesn’t let you … But seriously shopping carts are old and busted, CrystalCommerce is the New Hotness!

As the cornerstone of your online sales initiatives, your website should always be working hard; moreover it should work intelligently, it should add a ton of value to you, your employees, and your customers.
CrystalCommerce does all of the above and more in order to help you earn more money online with less stress. And that is why a basic shopping cart solution isn’t right for winners.
Questions? Agree or disagree? Drop me an email or call 206-274-7437.

What Almost Drowning Taught Me About Running a Startup

Great title, isn’t it? At least that’s what my marketing guy said when he saw it.

Hi, I’m Dan McCarty, the CEO of Crystal Commerce and, despite the valuable lesson almost drowning taught me about startups, I’m never getting in a kayak again.

Let me set the scene for you.

It was an absolutely beautiful 4th of July day in the San Juan Islands. I was on my first (and well-deserved!) vacation after over a year of 70-hour workweeks building Crystal Commerce. A few friends and I had rented kayaks and were planning on heading out to the islands for a few days of sunshine, camping, and relaxation.

As we glided through the water towards the entrance to the harbor, I (somehow) tipped my kayak over, dislocated my shoulder trying to get right side up again and was lucky enough to be rescued by a nearby boat. After my rescuers dropped me off at the dock, I spent 20 excruciating minutes trying (unsuccessfully!!) to relocate my shoulder myself before finally calling the EMT’s who drugged me up and took me to a local island clinic.

Ouch. Needless to say, that was the end of my vacation.

But as painful of as this experience was, it did teach me a valuable lesson about running a startup.

What might that lesson be?

Launch ASAP. (Because you might die tomorrow in a freak kayaking accident!)

And so, as we’re tying up the last few loose ends before we go public, I thought I should share a little about Crystal Commerce and why we (and everyone we talk to) are so excited.

Crystal Commerce is an ecommerce service that helps small businesses sell more online. It does so by enabling them to easily sell the same inventory through multiple channels (like eBay and their own online store and comparison shopping sites) without ever accidently double-selling something. The math is pretty simple. Reaching more customers equals more new customers and revenue.

Next, Crystal Commerce gathers all customer and order information into a single location, regardless how they bought from the business. This does four things for our clients. First, it allows them to fill all their orders flawlessly and without stress. Second, it lets them give personalized customer service so all their customers have great experiences. Third, it enables them to use the built-in marketing tools in Crystal Commerce to keep their customers coming back again and again. Last, and most importantly, it empowers them to find customers through popular but low-margin channels like eBay and convert them to more profitable channels like their own online store for the long-term. And it does it all from one nothing-to-install, so-easy-my-grandma-could-use-it online interface.

When we started building this system a year ago, I sketched the dream system for taking my million-dollar online business to the next level and knew in my gut that if I wanted it, others would to. And now, I’m happy to say that all signs point to my instincts having been correct. Perhaps even too correct since potential customers are getting annoyed at how long we’re taking to get the system perfected. Soon the wait will be over. I promise.

I’ll be writing more here about Crystal Commerce and our launch in the days to come. But in the meantime, feel free to watch the video introduction or check out the top 10 reasons to choose us. Or drop me a line at dan@crystalcommerce.com or 206-274-7437 if you want to chat.