One of the more interesting things I get to do these days is determine what geographical markets make sense for us to target the Mule towards. Today I spent several hours with a Japanese partner that has been helping us evaluate the opportunity and the reality of doing business in a country notorious difficult to crack. Typically you would make a list of everything you want to know, some examples include: -Total One of the more interesting things I get to do these days is determine what geographical markets make sense for us to target the Mule towards. Today I spent several hours with a Japanese partner that has been helping us evaluate the opportunity and the reality of doing business in a country notorious difficult to crack. Typically you would make a list of everything you want to know, some examples include: -Total addressable market for relevant software -Size of your specific software market -Competition, and success of competition in that market -Barriers to entry, monetary or otherwise (in this case language barrier) With open source you also have to look at other aspects, some examples include: -Adoption of Linux and Apache (these are really key to determining market timing-if the market is not using Linux then it’s too early. If they are using Linux and Apache at any level of volume (say greater than 40%) proceed. -Awareness of open source in general -Market perception of open source/Linux-in many markets Linux and open source are perceived as one thing. A market that recognizes that they are different will make your life much easier. As we looked at open source in Japan we found that the total addressable software market is very large, but the fact that IT departments are very conservative means that the market has big potential but questionable immediacy. Odds are that Japanese customers will pay for open source but generally are not flocking to it. Contrast that to Europe where users are flocking to OSS but not looking to pay for it. Side note: someone asked how we get all this information. We do a lot of market research and talk to literally anyone we can about the markets that we target. A few companies back when I was still on the technical side I didn’t understand the value of the research department but now that I am a business-jerk I wish I had hired someone months ago to figure all this stuff out. Open Source