[geeklog-devel] Geeklog Service offering

[Blaine Lang]

I agree with the points and comment so far. There appears to be agreement on
the basic approach and I we do need a volunteer to step forward and be that
front person.

I may want to put my name forward (wait did I say that outload) .. for this
role. We need to develop the scope and expectations further .. establish
some milestones and descison points for how we will handle planned growth in
demand.

I'd like to talk it over further with my partners at Nextide but I can see
ourselves (Nextide with me being the prime) stepping up to be that front
contact.
 - what anyone have concerns with this idea?

I do have questions around the service expectations but agree we need to see
the demand. Laying out a few "What if" scenarios and client types will be
important to help set expectations. I can put together this list of
scenarios as a start and then forward it here for comment and markup - agree
?

Blaine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Willett" <tomw at pigstye.net>
To: <geeklog-devel at lists.geeklog.net>
Sent: Friday, January 10, 2003 4:20 PM
Subject: Re: [geeklog-devel] Geeklog Service offering


> The first thing you need to do is get commitments from people for
> participation and agreement on a plan of action.  This would include what
> initial services to offer and how the jobs will be parceled out.  It is
not
> fair to have someone say -- I will be a part, contact me when we start
> making money.
>
> Next, in this group I imagine it will be easier to get someone to
volunteer
> to do programing or installations, but someone also needs to take charge
of
> the business aspects and be responsible for that.  (I am not volunteering,
> my plate is full right now).  There needs to be a central point of
> coordination and seeing that things get done.  If someone sends a support
> request to the list, someone needs to make sure it gets answered.  In
other
> words, someone needs to step up and take charge.  I am assuming Tony that
> will be you.  And you will find much to your chagrin that you spend more
> time on business than programming.  The ideal business leader will know
> programming (so he can put up with and lead when the programmers get in
> premadonna mode) but enjoy the business aspects.  Wait I just described
Bill
> Gates.
>
> My 2 cents.
>
> On Fri, 10 Jan 2003 12:42:51 -0600 (CST), Tony Bibbs wrote
> > Right, so in the interest of what you said, what is the smallest piece
of
> > work we can do quickly that will start us down this road?
> >
> > --Tony
> >
> > On Fri, 10 Jan 2003, Tom Willett wrote:
> >
> > > I sometimes wonder why it seems that only Blaine and I respond to
things
> > > like this.  At first I thought oh well we are just a couple of vain
old
> men
> > > who like to impose our beliefs on others.  ;)  But then I realized,
> hell, I
> > > have always been this way!  So here goes again and after this I will
> shut up.
> > >
> > > > Tony Bibbs wrote
> > > > 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.
> > > >
> > >
> > > Agreed -- For my last startup I contacted a local State College
Business
> > > School and let one of the business classes take my initial thoughts
and
> us
> > > it as a class project developing a business plan and doing a marketing
> > > survey.  I only came away from that experience with one good idea, but
> that
> > > one idea saved me about $20,000 and untold headaches.  I imagine that
> any
> > > business school would jump on the chance to do the same for a
high-tech
> > > service oriented business like this.
> > >
> > > >
> > > > 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).
> > > >
> > >
> > > Once again Agreed.  It is painful to not reap the fruit of you labor
at
> > > first but essential.  You either have to do something like this to
fund
> a
> > > startup or borrow money or put in some of your own (yuk).  And you
need
> to
> > > be realistic, do not expect it to happen in two or three months.
> > >
> > > And another painful thought, especially in this dot-com boom and bust
> world,
> > > you better plan on not getting any money out of the company for at
least
> a
> > > year, probably more.  So don't quit your day job.  The only way people
> got
> > > rich in the past dot-com bubble was by taking other peoples money.
> > >
> > > --
> > > Tom Willett
> > > tomw at pigstye.net
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > geeklog-devel mailing list
> > > geeklog-devel at lists.geeklog.net
> > > http://lists.geeklog.net/listinfo/geeklog-devel
> > >
> >
> > --
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------|
> > Tony Bibbs         | "I guess you have to remember that those who don't
> |
> > tony at tonybibbs.com | hunt or fish often see those of us who do as
|
> >                    | harmlessly strange and sort of amusing. When you
|
> >                    | think about it, that might be a fair assessment."
|
> >                    | --Unknown
|
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------|
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > geeklog-devel mailing list
> > geeklog-devel at lists.geeklog.net
> > http://lists.geeklog.net/listinfo/geeklog-devel
>
>
>
> --
> Tom Willett
> tomw at pigstye.net
> _______________________________________________
> geeklog-devel mailing list
> geeklog-devel at lists.geeklog.net
> http://lists.geeklog.net/listinfo/geeklog-devel