Joel Spolsky Starting a new company? Joel Spolsky, founder of Fog Creek Software and creator of "Joel on Software," says there's one important decision that you absolutely must make before you begin. It goes to the core of the difference between Ben and Jerry's and Amazon.com, and he explains it all in this manifesto.

About the author:
Joel Spolsky is a developer in New York City who has worked at Microsoft, Viacom, and Juno Online Services. He now has his own company, Fog Creek Software, which makes CityDesk, an online publishing system. They also make FogBUGZ, a web-based product for software project management and bug tracking.

BLOG: Joel on Software (http://www.joelonsoftware.com)

COMPANY: Fog Creek Software (http://www.fogcreek.com)