Hey guys,

I want to know how long did it take for you guys to set up your hosting companys.

It is taking me more than 10 days now what is taking me the longest is testing Modernbill this thing has so many features that the manual isnt enough for you to understand it...

It is hard to say how long it took to setup my company. If you mean just the website and the billing system, then probably around 3-4 days. The waiting game is the most annoying part, hehe.

I've been researching and setting up stuff since just before x-mas. I want to launch Mid-Next week tho

It's taken us months of work, and there's months ahead before we have everything set up to the point that I want it. We have a retail presence (office/shop), PABX, 1800 number, professionally done website, billing system including domain registration, letterhead, cards, mobile internet so we can attend exhibitions, banners and handouts for exhibitions, brochures, newspaper advertising, plus all the basics like desks/printers/computers, etc etc. We still have to work on things like helpdesks, knowledgebases/FAQs, procedures manuals, more sophisticated backups, new servers, new product ranges, etc etc.

If you're just running it from your spare room at home, you could definitely have something running in a few days once you've done the research I guess! (And, definitely nothing wrong with running a business from home, just do it right! I know a guy pulling in over $20,000 Aust every month from his bedroom, great little piece of software that he wrote).

About 9 months of research and planning, then continued work on building the business side of things once things had got going (becoming Ltd, registering for VAT etc).

If anyone here can say they have only spends "days" planning and implementing things then they may struggle in the future.

It is taking me more than 10 days now what is taking me the longest is testing Modernbill this thing has so many features that the manual isnt enough for you to understand it...
10 days? I've been planning for at least 7-8 weeks now, and I'm far from being finished. I do have a reseller account, and am hosting a few friends and acquaintances for a *very* modest price as pilots. Still working on my business plan, market research, billing system....aaargh!! it's driving me crazy :)

I have been developing this since the July 2004

it is not somthing that you can just jump into... actually there is no business you can just jump into

its been a great learning experience and as I get closer to going live, the more excited I become... but it is imperative to have my ducks in a row rather then do it half-***... I want to be on top of my game from out te gate

it is all about strategy

I think it depends what you need to do to prepare. It was not difficult for us. We just had to get the design for the different sections of our website, then set up our billing system, forums, and that was about it. The helpdesk actually came after we were started up, since beforehand I wasn't sure what we'd be using.

I would say it took around a month. But in that time, plans changed drasticly. It took a while to come up with a business plan, calculate the appropriate prices, and to get our billing manager working.

Thanks to our design team though, the design didn't take long at all.

Surprisingly, our forums had over 500 posts even before we officially launched. It now has almost 1,000 a week later.

Brandon

It has taken me 1.5 months so far. Everything is up and running but still plenty more to do. Currently I have contracted out a website make over with a designer on WHT.

But hey, I'm breaking even!

It's taken me the past year to develop my network. Bare in mind we have a completely custom designed site and also have a custom control center completely developed in-house so this took some time to complete...but it's one of our USP's so it's all good...

it takes only 3 minutes to open a hosting company, just purchase a reseller package or dedicated server and purchase premade and install forum through fantastico.

You are up ! Good Luck >

It took me less than a day, think of a domain name 8.to, register the company, create a company stamp and a banking account, and thats it , ready to go.

Around 5-6 months. Research, developing the site, which I have changed 3 times since, and 2 billing programs later. Then there was the credit card processor, but they have since discontinued IMA - another learning experience. It is not something that you can just jump into.

Well, I had to learn a lot before I got in the hosting business from my other sites etc. I'd say it took like a month or something to get started. That includes everything from finding the right server to building the page, calculating the offers etc.

We've been at it since 1997. I'll let you know when we're done. :)

I'm about a week away from launching my Hosting Company.

It's taken me well before Christmas to get to where I am. I've had to wait for a credit card, money to fund my site from working, lots of research and hardwork.

I've worked on ways on providing the very best customer service possible before I start, different plans which stand out from the crowd.

It takes time.

About 10 months, on and off went into general research, and then one month after that for serious concentrated research. I built my website from scratch myself, I spent about 1 month on that, going at bed at about 2 or 3 a.m. every morning. Another month or so was spent after that setting up and intergrating with my website a support ticket system, a billing system, and a proper online payment setup.

That was the initial setup, Im still changing things everyday trying to get things just right, I dont think I'll ever truly be "finished".

Utaria is a continuous work in progress, and that is the way any business should be, constantly changing/improving etc.

However, I'm in the process of launching a new branch as a standalone host, providing large plans for cheap. It took me less than 24hrs to get the domain, the server set up, the SSL set up, billing configured, support configured etc. Now all that is taking me time is getting the stupid website up. :) I don't want to buy a piddly template for it.

I didn't actually start a hosting company..... it just kinda happened XD
I bought a medium sized reseller plan to host a few of my pet-project sites, and a friend of mine asked for hsoting, and said he'd pay. At that point, a lightbulb went on in my head, and after that, it took about 2 weeks. I made my own [crappy] site design, setup a paypal account, moved servers 3 times in two months, etc.

though, I'm now going into a joint venture with two other companies, and we're hoping to launch in around 2-3 months, hoping**.
We've got all sorts of things to buy, sites to make, reseller accounts to set up (authorize.net, eNom, hosting, etc) And a few other thigns. We haven't registered a domain, but will within this week :)

3-4 years? I haven't stopped since I started.... ;)