Small Business Startup

This isn't necessarily space-related, but it is Carmack-related. I am taking a class in Small Business Management at Collin College, and my final project is a short business plan for a business that I would like to operate. I can get an "A" on this project only if my business plan would convince the professor that he would like to invest money in my company. I've thought of a few ventures that I've actually attempted, but I have another idea that is a bit "out there" for me. I have an idea for a piece of recreational computer software, and I'm wondering how I might start a company to create and market it. If Mr. Carmack or someone else with business start-up experience would be interested in guiding me in the correct direction, it would greatly help me in writing my final project before it's due date in about 2 weeks.

Another assignment of my class (though, apparently not a graded assignment) is to interview the heads of small businesses to learn directly from them what advice or thoughts they might have on starting and operating a small business.

Thank you for your consideration.

Some random thoughts in this direction, with apologies to the moderators for this being off-topic.

First, don't bother with the PC and console markets. That's a multi-multi-billion dollar industry, and you're not going to get anywhere soon without a lot of capital and a lot of experience. Although perhaps making something simple and selling it for a few bucks through Steam might work. (Rag Doll Kung Fu had some success with that some years ago, and its developer Mark Healey subsequently started a company called Media Molecule; maybe they'll give you a few tips. Say hi from me.) A web arcade might work, but there are many already. The mobile app market is probably your best bet; the platform is not that powerful yet so that the content can be lower quality, and the barrier to entry is low.

Second, Apogee published a pile of independently developed games back in the nineties, and they have a [url="http://www.3drealms.com/legacy.html"]series of interviews with the makers up on their website[/url]. That might give you some ideas; I think that model could be applied to the current mobile market.