Entering the Ada systems design and coding market

Advice is cheap, and we all know that you get what you pay for. There are many books, courses, and seminars on how to start a business. They have been written or are presented by professionals usually with far greater experience than I. While my general management background has been invaluable, the thing that best qualifies me to address this subject is the fact that we at Strictly Business Computer Systems have recently established an Ada programming shop. I'll share with you our experiences, from inception to the present. I must preface my remarks with the comment that they represent only our single effort in this area. I was fortunate in that my primary associates had successfully established and were operating a profitable business in the computer field, and it was their proven philosophy of adding value that became the keynote of our Ada effort. Additionally, we had the good fortune to make some valuable acquaintances early on in the process — relationships which enabled us to avoid some potentially costly pitfalls. Perhaps we can do the same for some of you. Now, to the subject at hand. What would seem to be the obvious first step in establishing any business is worth stating and that is the conscious act of making a commitment to the project. In our experience, the commitment was initially made about three years ago — two full years before the project was actually initiated. The delay occurred because the computer system integration business in which Strictly Business was totally immersed was growing at a pace that precluded devoting the time required to explore the Ada market. Then, a file less than a year ago, I joined Strictly Business with the sole responsibility of researching the Ada shop possibilities, and then managing the shop if the research was positive — which it obviously was. The fact that Strictly Business was willing to add me to the staff, as pure overhead from the business standpoint, clearly demonstrates that a true commitment existed. That commitment is really three-fold because undertaking such a project requires a dedication of, and money. Beyond that, you must assume the posture that characterizes the entrepreneur, and that is a total immersion in the business. You must identify with it and make it the focus of all that you do. If you and your organization are unwilling to pledge a full-fledged effort, your chances of success substantially diminish. Secondly, since the first phase of this project should be a marketing study, you must select an underlying theme that will provide a framework and give specific direction to your research. From the outset, we were convinced that within the Ada market a definite need existed for additional systems design and coding capacity. The corollary is that this appeared to provide a significant business opportunity. Our research was active — not passive or neutral. We saw an opportunity, and our purpose was to objectively and concretely confirm our perceptions. At each step in the process we were looking at what value was being added by the person, business or agency that we were exploring. Strictly Business was founded and has flourished on two basic concepts — namely, adding value through our involvement in each transaction and providing quality products and service to our clients. We scrupulously avoid being hardware and software “brokers” collecting fees for merely placing products with customers. We consider ourselves as partners with our clients and work to enhance their businesses with the products and services we provide. Having made the commitment and articulated your role and objectives, you must now begin the real work. This part of my message may be preaching to the choir. The fact that you are involved in the Ada community indicates that you have or are beginning to acquire a knowledge of the Ada marketplace. That's essential. Gather as much information as possible about every aspect of Ada. If you know the language, great. If not, that should not deter you from learning as much as you can exclusive of Ada per se. No one in our organization knew Ada before we began hiring our staff, yet several of us became knowledgeable and conversant enough to find our way around Ada circles — and in the Ada community, that's essential. Regardless of how much you learn in your explorations, the input of people active in Ada is indispensable. One of the most gratifying things our research revealed was the generosity and willingness of Ada experts to share their knowledge. We knocked on a lot of doors and did not find one that was not opened wide for us. Let me share with you some of the avenues we explored in trying to determine whet her or not a real Ada opportunity existed. We first had the advantage of coming from West Virginia whose senior U.S. Senator is Robert C. Byrd who has seen the potential of Ada and has for some years been one of its strongest advocates. With the assistance of two of his staff members, we were directed to the Software Valley Corporation which has been very much involved in bringing the advantages of Ada and Ada-related ventures to our Mountain State. Bob Verhotz, the Executive Director of Software Valley Corporation, in addition to other helpful suggestions, recommended that we contact Mr. Ralph Crafts. Bob had worked with Ralph on a number of occasions and spoke highly of his credentials and performance. We have not been disappointed. Ralph knows his way around the Ada community as well as anyone, and better than most. Almost a year ago, we employed Ralph as our consultant to define the state of the Ada market and give initial direction to our study. During intensive meetings with him, we received a great deal of background information and recommendations of additional areas into which we should extend our Ada network. These three initial contacts — Ralph, Software Valley, and Senator Byrd — confirmed that quality-conscious and professional systems developers could definitely find a place in the Ada market. At this point I think you can begin to see two things. The more obvious is the snowball effect of Ada contacts. Your first contact leads to two others which each lead to two or three more, and so on. The second thing is that we were strongly encouraged by each of these contacts, and our perceptions that excellent opportunities existed in Ada were reinforced. If anything, the potential began to look even greater than we had at first anticipated. Our tentacles, at that point, began to extend into additional areas of the Ada community. We have come to share Ralph's belief that the more people you know in this still relatively small group, the better off you are. We traveled to Washington to visit again with Senator Byrd's office. While there, with an introduction from the senator's staff, we also met with a number of people at the Ada Joint Programming Office, including the then-Air Force Deputy Director Major Al Kopp. More support and encouragement. On the same trip we cultivated an acquaintance at the Ada Information Clearinghouse. More support, encouragement, and a wealth of published information. We also briefly visited the STARS office and met with someone who was encouraging and informative about that extensive Ada project. Each of these organizations and individuals had a specific mission designed to enhance and increase the value of the Ada contribution. At that point we had begun to look at equipment and it was here that we found one of our more valuable allies and associates. From our initial contact with the personnel at RATIONAL we found them to be most helpful and open. Our sales representative made it possible for us to meet with two large firms handling major project work in Ada for the Defense Department. I don't need to tell you how valuable it can be to speak with someone who is engaged in the type of work you are contemplating and who has no ax to grind or hidden agendas as far as discussing things with you. Other vendors may have been equally helpful, but I doubt that any could have been more so. We met people doing actual project work in Ada for the government, extending our network and also making some contacts we would later pursue as we sought to put together our Ada staff. In March of this year, we attended the SlGAda conference in Phoenix where we researched a number of vendors, but more importantly, met others in the Ada community — on the commercial as well as the governmental side. We, admittedly, understood very little of the technical content of the meeting, but our purpose in attending was not technical in nature. We were networking, and our network was rapidly expanding. This might be a good point at which to remind you of the three-fold commitment required in this undertaking — time, energy, and money. By March our exploratory had gotten into its fifth month and had occupied practically all of my time and a substantial portion of the time of two of my colleagues at Strictly Business. Our travels had included a couple of trips to Washington and the trip to Phoenix as well as visits to Morgantown, WV (where the Software Valley Corporation is located) and Pittsburgh where we met with an active Ada development firm and some folks at the Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie-Mellon University. For a small firm such as ours, the budget for this venture was becoming substantial, but we were making valuable progress toward our objective. Speaking of budgets, probably the largest single start-up expenditure will be the development system you select. Spend sufficient time in making this decision. In equipment, you have a myriad of choices. With the recent validation of a large number of compilers, Ada development can be done, in one form or another, on anything from PC's to the much more sophisticated full-blown systems requiring major financial expenditures — and cost, at least in our case, was a significant consideration. But cost was only one factor. We also were concerned with other ar