I released version 1 of my table seating planning software, PerfectTablePlan, in February 2005. 20 years ago this month. It was a different world. A world of Windows, shareware and CDs. A lot has changed since then, but PerfectTablePlan is now at version 7 and still going strong.
PerfectTablePlan v1
PerfectTablePlan v7
I have released several other products since then, and done some training and consulting, but PerfectTablePlan remains my most successful product. It’s success is due to a lot of hard work, and a certain amount of dumb luck.
I was getting married and I volunteered to do the seating plan for our wedding reception. It sounded like a relatively straightforward optimization problem, as we only had 60 guests and no family feuds to worry about. But it was surprisingly difficult to get right. I looked around for some software to help me. There were a couple of software packages, but I wasn’t impressed. I could do better myself! So I wrote a (very rough) first version, which I used for our wedding.
Things weren’t going great at my day job, at a small software startup. Maybe I could commercialize my table planner? I was a bit wary, as my potential competitors all seemed rather moribund and I didn’t think I would be able to make a living off it. But I thought I could do everything worth doing in 6-12 months and then start on the next product. Wrong on both counts!
Web-based software was still in its infancy in 2005. So I decided to write it as desktop software using C++ and cross-platform framework Qt, which I had plenty of experience in. Initially, I just released a Windows version. But I later added a Mac version as well. Qt has had its commercial ups and downs in the last 20 years, but it has grown with me and is now very robust, comprehensive and well documented. I think I made a good choice.
I financed PerfectTablePlan out of my own savings and it has been profitable every year since version 1 was launched. I could have taken on employees and grown the business, but I preferred to keep it as a lifestyle business. My wife does the accounts and proof reading and I do nearly everything else, with a bit of help from my accountant, web designers and a few other contractors. I don’t regret that decision. 20 years without meetings, ties or alarm clocks. My son was born 18 months after PerfectTablePlan was launched and it has been great to have the flexibility to be fully present as a Dad.
CDs, remember them? I sent out around 5,000 CDs (with some help from my father), before I stopped s
12 Comments
piker
Great read. This was particularly funny.
> A mock-up of PerfectTablePlan, including icons I did myself, was used without our permission by Sony in their ‘Big day’ TV comedy series. I threated them with legal action. Years later, I am still awaiting a reply.
antithesis-nl
Very cool! Yet:
PSA: CDs are not, in fact, edible, nor are DVDs or Blu-ray media. Sure, if you click through, you'll see that the CD was not actually damaged and that it was only the printed license key that got mauled, but still: CDs are mostly polycarbonates, and not, in any way shape or form, part of a healthy diet, no matter what your local party liaison tells you.
7thaccount
Does it still use a genetic algorithm and is this necessary? I'd guess there is some kind of MIP or IP solver solution that you can just call out to, but that could be extremely wrong for all I know.
NKosmatos
Nice one! I would expect more versions of PerfectTablePlan all these years, going from v1 to v7 is roughly 3 years per major release ;-)
101008
Excellent read. I was happy for the author while I was reading it, looks like it was and still is an amazing journey.
By the way, some engineers are dream with working at FAANG, others to create a million dollars startup. My dreams was always something like this: work on a niche piece of software that solves a problem for a subset of people. Give them a something that avoids a headache for them, deliver value, and get paid. You aren't going tonbe millionaire, but it's going to be a nice ride.
huevosabio
> I was getting married and I volunteered to do the seating plan for our wedding reception. It sounded like a relatively straightforward optimization problem, as we only had 60 guests and no family feuds to worry about. But it was surprisingly difficult to get right.
Man, this sounds way too familiar!
palata
Makes me nostalgic of desktop software. I hate that everything today is a website and requires a ridiculously fast internet connection. And what seems to be in fashion for "desktop software" today is to ship a website together with a whole browser and pretend it's not a website.
I wonder how the licensing works: do people pay for newer versions? Or do people just buy one version but more people get married every year, bringing new customers? I guess it is not a subscription model, right?
asim
Kudos to you. The only piece of software I wrote was open source and could never find a way to monetize it beyond consulting and VC funding. A sustainable long term business selling a piece of software that just works is all we could ever hope for as developers.
mezod
Living legend! Lifestyle biz bootstrappers ftw.
Since I cannot ask you your actual ARR, can you answer if you believe it's feasible to reach high 7 figures/low 8 figures in ARR as a solopreneur over a long period of time? I don't mean 1 year $10M ARR AI trendy apps, but a consistent $10M ARR business year after year >20 years.
henning
It's cool to see a product that apparently uses evolutionary algorithms do so well.
pmkary
Makes me so happy to see people like this exist. All good software, really all good software, is indie small ones made with love and care whose authors also lived a good life outside of the cubicle mess. (I know about the exaggeration, but really, 95% of what I love is indie software, you don't find that kind of creativity and love in any company)
m463
> The lowest point was the pandemic, when sales pretty much dropped to zero.
Don't know why there wasn't a perfect table plan 6-foot edition.
I remember going to an event where someone took out one of those segmented collapsing ruler things to put people a minimum distance apart.