Book excerpt: As the technology leader at a small software company, you need to focus on people, products, processes, and technology as you bring your software to market, while doing your best to put out fires and minimize headaches. Growing Software is your guide to juggling the day-to-day challenges of running a software company while managing those long-term problems and making sure that your business continues to grow. With practical, hands-on advice, Growing Software will teach you how to build and lead an effective team, define and sell your products, work with everyone from customers to CEOs, and ensure high-quality results. Instead of learning by trial and error, you'll benefit from author Louis Testa's 20+ years of management experience. Testa combines big-picture advice, specific solutions, and real-life anecdotes to teach you how to: –Work effectively with your CEO and executive team –Improve development team efficiency and enthusiasm –Evaluate your software methodology to improve effectiveness and safeguard against failure –Use product prototypes to bridge the gap between marketing and engineering –Defuse technology time bombs Whether you're new to managing software or newly lost, Growing Software will help you and your growing company thrive.