I’m convinced that most people think about software companies in an upside-down way. The common belief is that when you’re building a software company, the goal is to find a neat idea that solves some problem which hasn’t been solved before, implement it, and make a fortune. We’ll call this the build-a-better-mousetrap belief. But the real goal for software companies should be converting capital into software that works. If you understand this, its easier to make the right strategic decisions.