[asterisk-biz] Re: Verizon Interconnection

[alex at pilosoft.com]

On Mon, 11 Jun 2007, Nick Seraphin wrote:

> Ask for engineering help and the engineering people will tell you to
> increase your engineering budget.
> 
> Ask for marketing help and the marketing people will tell you to
> increase your marketing budget.
> 
> Ask for support department/call center help and they will tell you to
> increase your support department/call center budget.
> 
> Meanwhile you now need $40 million in venture capital to start a
> business "the right way"... when most new small businesses start with
> less than $50,000 available.
> 
> So is the answer "don't start a business if you don't have $40 million
> available to do it RIGHT"?  I doubt many people on this list would find
> that satisfying.
Incorrect. Don't start the business unless you either can *afford* to do 
it right, or unless you already *know* how to do it right. 

If you don't understand the business, *and* you don't understand the 
technology *and* and you don't have cash to hire people who do...You are 
up for a failure.

The whole american enterpreneurship is about substituting clue for cash.

Problem is, asterisk-biz startups lack clue, *and* they lack cash.

> Most small businesses take a leap of faith with a small budget and fly
> by the seat of their pants...  they have to wing it in the beginning...
> making mistakes as they go along... maybe even pissing off a few
> customers because of incompetance...  because that's the only way they
> can do it without pissing away huge amounts of money they don't have.
> 
> *ANYONE* can start up a new company and make it work with $40 million in
> capital.  It takes a true entrepreneur that can take out a second
> mortgage on his house and turn it into a thriving business 5 years later
> with a lot of sweat equity.
Second mortgage = cash
sweat equity = clue

clue + cash = business

Nothing wrong with what you described above.

-alex