@jetpens is a cool company, here’s how they do it…

Pt 101054

The NY Times has a great series of how small businesses do what they do, check out JetPens

The heart of the company’s technology set-up is an e-commerce platform built around an open-source software program called osCommerce. “The system has been with us since 2004,” Mr. Mak said. “We’ve customized it beyond recognition, so you could say it’s pretty much ours now.” JetPens also depends on Google Apps for e-mail and for document-based collaboration. PayPal handles the transaction processing and feeds the data right into Intuit’s QuickBooks — the nononline version — which handles all of the financial management, with the help of Intuit’s Online Payroll. The company tracks its Web traffic with monitoring tools Alexa, Compete and Google Analytics. Mr. Mak is also almost weirdly enthusiastic about eHealthInsurance.com, a service that helps small companies set up a health-insurance plan. “It lets you compare all your options right there on-screen,” he said. “Trying to do that by talking to a broker is like trying to order a take-out meal without a menu.”

Another company built on an open source cart.


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3 Comments

  1. They may be using an open source cart, but they’ve gotten a lot of funding from me 🙂 .

  2. Thanks for the link adafruit! And thanks for your support Steve. 🙂

  3. Interesting. But in the whole – open-source ends up being a is a pretty small slice of the pie.

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