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Q: Need help with business modeling, marketing and sales. ("technical start-up") ( No Answer,   2 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Need help with business modeling, marketing and sales. ("technical start-up")
Category: Business and Money
Asked by: nestor-ga
List Price: $20.00
Posted: 07 Mar 2003 06:51 PST
Expires: 06 Apr 2003 07:51 PDT
Question ID: 173107
I researched and deployed an end-to-end solution to securely tranmit
and store data remotely.  I realize there are many competing companies
 who do this sort of thing.  (Amerivault, Livevault, Connected.Com ...
)  But all of them just want to sell software or server space and they
all cater to larger firms.   Furthermore, they do not do any
consulting making sure that backup of critical files are occuring.  
For now, I have focused on Dental and Medical offices.
Please review this page http://www.binarybackup.com.

Here's my question:
1.  What should be an equitable buisness model as it relates to
recruiting IT personnel to install, configure and consult.   Should I
pay them a one time fee or recurring revenue model as long as they
maintain and support that customer.
2.  What would be an equitable price for server space.  (with
compression)
3.  Most important question:  I need 10 URL's of the largest
conferences in the following areas  Medical, Dental, IT  (like Comdex)
....  that one could present this end-to-end solution.

Clarification of Question by nestor-ga on 08 Mar 2003 05:32 PST
Modify question #3:  Suggest as 10 URL's and conferences that you
think I should look at.  (basically, suggest market's that you think
would be my "Best Bets")   Forget my request about Medical or Dental. 
It's more important to think about application of
http://www.binarybackup.com end-to-end solution.
Answer  
There is no answer at this time.

Comments  
Subject: Re: Need help with business modeling, marketing and sales. ("technical start-up")
From: maxhodges-ga on 07 Mar 2003 12:20 PST
 
Regarding part 1, do you mean recruiting or contracting? Of course a
fixed price contract is going to protect you more that an hourly rate;
people tend to get lazy when getting paid hourly. But billing terms
really depend on the type of work being performed. If it is something
that is rather clearly defined and straight-forward for your IT
contractor, she should be able to quote you a fixed price. Consulting
on the other hand, is more likey to be billed hourly, unless perhaps
the deliverable is something concerete like a document or report. A
professional contractor should have experience with different options
should be able to advice you, as a consultant, on which make the most
sense depending on the situation. I'm not sure what you mean by
"recurring revenue model." Are you implying a profit share plan?
Subject: Re: Need help with business modeling, marketing and sales. ("technical start-up")
From: nestor-ga on 08 Mar 2003 05:41 PST
 
Great comment!
It is clearly defined but it could get involved.  For example, you do
need to be technically savy.   After reading your comments, I clearly
do not want to pay someone hourly.   I actually expect the contractor
to bill and the customer directly  for his time.
As far as recurring revenue:   Since the customer will pay me monthly
for server space, I thought about sharing the monthly revenue with the
contractor.
Perhaps this might motivate him/her to be responsive to the customer's
needs.
If not, then the contractor will install and configure, get paid and
walk away, never to be seen again.

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