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I'm currently in the planning stages of starting out on my own* (with a business partner...) and am trying to come up with a list of minimum requirements that I'll need for the early stages of this venture.

Leaving out the business craft side of things (sales marketing etc.) at this point - there are plenty of articles here on SO covering that - and focusing on the technical side of things only, I have the following list:

  • development box (obviously! PC or MAC depending on target platform)

  • dev software (VStudio/eclipse/xcode/notepad)

  • test box (could be virtual machine)

  • Source control (anything except VSS!)

  • onsite backup (external HDD, separate backup box, CD/DVD ROM)

  • offsite backup(looking for suggestions here amazon S3?)

  • teleconferencing software (for discussion with Biz partner who may not be local. Skype?)

  • bug tracking/management (fogbugz?)

Have i missed anything and/or included too much? I realize that every venture is different, and technically, the bare minimum is just a dev box and a chair... however assuming serious work with disaster recovery is in order, is this list reasonable?

[EDIT] I've created a wiki summary of the answers. I've put the skeleton framework in and intend to fatten it up with links and details etc. Once I can, it will be the accepted answer, in the meantime please vote up the other answers and/or edit the wiki page if you think it's appropriate. BTW, I'm away for a few days so the fattening up will take place after that.

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Minimum actually depends on what type of business you operate (no kdding, there are many different types of software businesses) The requirements are there to make you productive and profitable. stefandidak.com/office – icelava May 29 '09 at 9:50
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Space to work that is not your house, unless you can be disciplined. Seriously. I've been here. – Warren P Jun 14 '10 at 14:52
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@warren I feel you -- working at home hasn't been great for me either. But we had a guy who worked out of his house for 2+ years, and didn't have an issue. He had a room that he used exclusively as an office, though, which I think is a must. – Frank Farmer Jun 15 '10 at 12:49

migrated from stackoverflow.com May 11 '11 at 21:39

closed as not constructive by ChrisF♦ 12 hours ago

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