QUICK EASY SIMPLE (1986)

I had a brainstorm to develop a Mac-based video store manager and start a software company. In these pre-Blockbuster days, there were individually owned video stores on every corner. Almost all were run without computers. Lisa started researching the market and I began designing the software. It would be the first Mac-based video store manager. I picked the name from an old friend and ex-boss, Karl. He was a department manager at The Broadway where I worked in college in San Diego, and was now a merchandise buyer at the store's Los Angeles headquarters. He was always talking about keeping things "quick, easy, and simple". So I named my video store software, QUICK EASY SIMPLE.

Using the money I was making from custom programming, we flew to Las Vegas for the annual Video Store Dealers Association to check on the competition. We were shocked to find dozens of competitors with exhibit booths at the show. In retail, getting a customer through checkout and out the door is a key issue. Each software developer claimed to have the fastest checkout times, with some bragging they could record the rental and print a receipt in just 8 seconds. We were stunned. The only printer that worked with the Mac was the Apple ImageWriter. While it was good, reliable printer, it wasn't what you called fast. When we got home I timed my transaction from start to finish. The time: almost two minutes. QUICK EASY SIMPLE was as good as dead from the start.

It's a testament to the stubbornness/fanaticism of Mac users that we ended up selling about 30 copies of QUICK EASY SIMPLE over the following years. We sold it despite the fact that we didn't have an office, no 800 number, no user references, and web site. We spent virtually nothing to produce it so I can't truly see it for the failure it was. We sold enough to encourage me to keep working on a follow-up that Lisa thought for sure was a home-run: an advertising agency management system.