[ale] Business opportunity...

[Barnes, Michael]

I would suggest that maybe you should hear this persons purposal. It is
possible that the company is partnering with an established search engine
and just as the saying goes "putting lipstick on the pig". If this is the
case development would not necessarily be that intense (other than learning
a new api)

Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org]On Behalf Of
George Carless
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 12:15 PM
To: cfowler at outpostsentinel.com; Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [ale] Business opportunity...


On Wed, Oct 27, 2004 at 11:10:06AM -0400, Christopher Fowler wrote:
> Many startups do not have the cash to pay salaries or consulting fees. 
> In my company I do take a salary but at less than what I was previously
> making. The difference it made up in equity.  When someone has equity in
> a company they value that company more.  I see it in the way I behave vs
> the way our 100% salaried employees behave.  

I understand and agree with all of that.  My point was simply that the
poster 
seemed to be looking for someone to basically do *all* of the real work in 
building out the business, in exchange for part-equity; I was struggling to 
see why anyone willing to do that job wouldn't simply do it for themselves 
and reap the full benefit.  There's really not much to an "HTML prototype" 
and I'd suggest that companies like Google demonstrate that a successful 
search site doesn't need much in the way of "look & feel".  To me, the 
posting was akin to saying "I'm looking for people to develop and run a 
successful product for me; in exchange, I'll provide you with a company name

and a logo".  

Now, to be fair the poster might have the capital for all of the hardware 
etc.  But honestly, search engines of any calibre are fairly complicated 
things, and I'd be prepared to say that the cost of hardware would be fairly

minimal compared with the cost of development time...

--George
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