[geeklog-devel] Geeklog Service offering

Fri Jan 10 12:10:48 EST 2003

Here are some initial thoughts I had on how to start his up.  First, there 
is no really need to go all gung-ho until we prove there is a market for 
this sort of stuff.  So our first goal should be to establish the fact 
tehre is need for services around GL.

To do that I propose we do something simple like set-up one bank account 
in which all $$ will initially go into.  Then we need to figure out how 
much revenue a month we think we need before we are convinced there is a 
need for this and that we need to go to the next level.  Let's call that 
magic number $X/month.

Until we reach our goal of $X/month, all money stays in the account.  When 
we hit that goal we can then take what is in the account to pay for things 
we may need (drafts of contracts, lawyer time to set up a corporation, 
etc).  I say we prime the pump and just dump it all back into what we are 
trying to do. From that point on we can start dividing up revenue in a way 
that rewards people based on time spent and goals accomplished (i.e. more 
like a 'real' business).

Thoughts?

--Tony

 On Fri, 10 Jan 2003, Blaine Lang wrote:

> Not quiet - just waking up. Actually, I have some business meetings here
> this morning. But here are a few comments off the top.
> 
> I'm very supportative on this and have a couple options of participating in
> this consortium as an Individual (I'm personally incorporated) or with my
> Business Parters at Nextide www.nextide.ca.
> 
> As Nextide, we have been positioning Geeklog as an opensource solution and
> have used it for proof of concepts but there has been resistance. For
> reasons, we all want to address for more professional corporate clients.
> My point is only that I have two options to particiapate and as Nextide, I
> would have a few more resources to draw on.
> 
> I assume we are talking US dollars - fair assumption.
> 
> With our Friend in Germany - we have the ability to offer follow the sun
> support services
> 
> We will need to put some high level service levels togther
>  - Basic level: email support
>  - Premium level: 4 hour call back
>  - Critical Level: Pager - 1 hour call back
> 
> Call back does not mean resolution - just call back. A warm carbon based
> life form responding and handling the support issue. We can and will need
> our contact and escalation process worked out using IRC channels, contant
> information and on-call schedules.
> 
> I agree we need to present a professional and organized perspective and
> level of communition and support. There are services that we can use for a
> 24 hour live body receptionist. But we need to assess this as there is
> customer demand. If there is a willing and paying customer that requires
> this level of direct personal contact on demand - then we can discuss
> options but then we will have a paying client.
> 
> We will need to establish reasonable installation and setup guidelines and
> timelines
> 
> $50.00 for an install may be fair - but
>  - is this for an system running at a ISP
>  - Internal setup (Intranet - with pre-established access) - always
> potentional there for may problems
>  - external site - company owned and managed server
>  - personal site - running at home
> 
> If we are an ISP figuring out the setup costs is easier because you have
> more control over the environment. We won't and I don't need to tell you
> guys all the different issues we may have - with local server setups and DNS
> and networks and ...
> 
> Just off the top -- there is more.
> 
> But as I stated off the top - I'm very supportative of the idea. Count me
> in.
> 
> Blaine
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tony Bibbs" <tony at tonybibbs.com>
> To: <geeklog-devel at lists.geeklog.net>
> Sent: Friday, January 10, 2003 10:02 AM
> Subject: Re: [geeklog-devel] Geeklog Service offering
> 
> 
> > Here's a few notes:
> >
> > On Fri, 10 Jan 2003, Tom Willett wrote:
> >
> > > First I am all for making money, else I would still be in bed.
> > >
> > > Some observations from a business perspective, some hard earned.
> > >
> > > I own my own software company and I charge all my customers $50 a month
> for
> > > support and updates.  They are all small businesses and do not object as
> > > long as I am quick to answer their concerns.  I have gotten several
> > > customers from a rival because the rival would not respond to support
> > > requests in a timely manner, even though I charge more for support.  So
> I
> > > say if you are going after small and medium size businesses, you need
> > > someone, somewhere to answer the phone!  The average small businessman
> is
> > > impatient and will go insane if he/she cannot get in touch with someone
> now!
> >
> > I would agree.  Initially I do not mind being some contact person but do
> > you think you really need phone access right away?  I guess my opinion is
> > to start wtih initial contacts via email (which is what the new list is
> > for) until we have convinced ourselves that there is enough interest to
> > justify offering a phone number.  Regardless, you are right.  Response to
> > a first contct is imperative.
> >
> > >
> > > You need a clearly defined cost structure.  It should not be that Tony
> > > charges different than Dirk for the same service.
> >
> > Yep.  What that would be I have no idea.  Anybody want to throw out some
> > round numbers?  Here is my stab:
> >
> > Installation:
> >   - Just Geeklog: $50
> >   - Geeklog and any server components: $150
> > Customizations:
> >   - Some hourly rate.  I'd say $65/hr.  For modules I think you may be
> > able to leverage multiple customers. In other words, if two business
> > entitties want some sort of small scale CRM package, both could share the
> > costs.  I think in most cases we should urge the customers to let us
> > resell the modules OR offer them up for free (per the customers
> > preference).
> >   - Conversions: I'd say we do them same rate for customizations.  However
> > I think all conversions should be GPL'd as they all encourage people to
> > migrate to Geeklog
> > Support:
> >    - This is tougher.  I'd have to do some homework on support structures
> > for small software houses before I'd recommend anything.
> >
> > >
> > > You also need a shell company set up to collect payments and handle
> > > bookwork, scheduling and contracts.  And you object, but this is just a
> > > little consulting project.  The small to medium businessman needs to
> know
> > > that she can always conctact someone, if the person whom they dealt with
> > > before is not available.  There needs to be some accountability, they
> will
> > > not deal with an amorphous cloud of independents.  And for a job of any
> size
> > > they will require a contract.
> > >
> > > Good fences make good neighbors.  There needs to be some ground rules --
> > > even contracts among participating developers to avoid conflict.  Who
> gets
> > > paid if Tony makes the initial contact (and effectively seals the deal)
> and
> > > I do the work?  Who gets first shot at a job?  How much of the income
> goes
> > > back to the shell company and toward development of gl?
> >
> > Agreed, just common sense. Only issue is what are the implications if you
> > have international employees which will likely be the case.
> >
> > >
> > > Be carefull about whom you crawl in business with.  All the contracts
> and
> > > agreements will not work if there is not a basic trust among the
> > > participants.
> >
> > Trust me, I think we all would be with.  I think the initial goal should
> > be to establish that this is viable.  If it is we can talk about how to
> > better structure this.  I think there are a lot of other services we could
> > get into once we prove this is viable such as hosting of GL only sites and
> > some sort of GL Network (similar to RH network for getting updates).
> >
> > >
> > > Some food for thought from an old fat man, still pursuing his dreams.
> >
> > Ha!  Call me the pudgy 30-something guy persuing the open source wet dream
> > ;-)
> >
> > Some of you other guys are curiously quite.  It's OK to hate the idea
> > altogether...I would just like more feedback.
> >
> > --Tony
> >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Tom Willett
> > > tomw at pigstye.net
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > geeklog-devel mailing list
> > > geeklog-devel at lists.geeklog.net
> > > http://lists.geeklog.net/listinfo/geeklog-devel
> > >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > geeklog-devel at lists.geeklog.net
> > http://lists.geeklog.net/listinfo/geeklog-devel
> 
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