[ale] Business opportunity...

[Jeff Hubbs]

Mike -

You have a point, but if that's the case, then the business itself isn't
going to have a lot of tangible value.  When I say that, i don't mean
that the business is *worthless* but that if it stopped functioning one
day, there'd be little to liquidate.  For instance, my business's
tangible value consists mostly of O'Reilly books.  

Point being, if this enterprise isn't going to actually have much in the
way of plant, then exactly what is this "sweat equity" supposed to go
into?  If you make it a money deal on spec, you might wind up being just
one of several unpaid creditors when the revenue stream fails to
materialize.

On Wed, 2004-10-27 at 14:05, Barnes, Michael wrote:
> 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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