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  1. #1
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    Apr 2009
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    Lightbulb What would u do with $10k startup capital ??

    the title says it all .
    1. How would u distribute ur investment.
    2. When will u start taking profits out of ur business.
    3. How much would u reinvest in ur business.

    Looking for expert & experienced opinions.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
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    Vancouver, Canada
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    Here is what I would do:

    1. I would start with finding a reliable datacenter near by my house. Mainly so I can service the servers easily.
    2. Then I would purchase some Dell, IBM, or HP servers.
    3. Find a close friend to help with support. It is better to have a trust-worthy partner.
    4. After getting all the servers setup I would then focus on marketing.

    That is what I would do. The rest of the capital would be kept to keep the company alive long enough for clients to start ordering. About 3-6 months.
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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
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    Cardiff - United Kingdom
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    Depends what you want to sell.

    Shared hosting? Reseller hosting? VPS hosting? Dedicated servers? Backup space?
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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2001
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    West Michigan, USA
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    First, I would fix the "y" and "r" on my keyboard.

    Then, I would figure out my target market and plan from there. If its shared hosting, I would purchase a solid batch of customer accounts from another host. If dedicated servers, probably focus on advertising.

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  5. #5
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    Sep 2006
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    Quote Originally Posted by AH-Tina View Post
    First, I would fix the "y" and "r" on my keyboard.


    10 characters
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  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
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    North Kansas City, MO
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    Quote Originally Posted by IPStrada LLC View Post
    the title says it all .
    1. How would u distribute ur investment.
    2. When will u start taking profits out of ur business.
    3. How much would u reinvest in ur business.

    Looking for expert & experienced opinions.
    I would open a hot dog stand. Anything I didn't spend on hot dogs would be mine to keep. it would be a complete Utopia.

    I would call it Aaron's Weiners. With the S very small so you almost couldn't see it.

    Oh well.... I can dream....
    Aaron Wendel
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  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
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    2,253
    I would buy a reseller and use as little of it as possible and only for emergencys
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  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
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    St. John's, NL
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    Rent some servers and buy out a few small companies.
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  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
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    Reston, VA
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    I would not suggest the hosting market, there is already enough of us.
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  10. #10
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    perosnally i think the market is too big to get saturated soo fast, so i still markets are easy enough. You need to discover that niche for urself.

  11. #11
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    Mar 2006
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    Quote Originally Posted by IPStrada LLC View Post
    perosnally i think the market is too big to get saturated soo fast, so i still markets are easy enough. You need to discover that niche for urself.
    OH yeah? You havn't been around much in the hosting industry then.

    Let me know how long that 10k lasts you.
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  12. #12
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    well personally, $10k for me doest not last more than a month. But from a business perspective i can survive upto 7 months.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    May 2006
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    The Kingdom of LLAMEDOS
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    What would u do with $10k startup capital ??

    Invest it in 'ur' education
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  14. #14
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Posts
    604
    I agree with some of the folks in this thread - the hosting industry is a bit over saturated at the moment and unless you can define your niche and have an action plan it is going to be a struggle for sure. Hosting isn't a 9-5, M-F job, it is a 24x7 on call job and can get stressful at times. If you're up for the ride then go for it.

    Personally if I had $10K I would invest it in some sort of Financial plan to increase this or use it on a Business I know for sure will work.

    Good luck!

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Fairborn, ohio
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    923
    $10k is roughly what I started << my web hosting company >> with. I spent some wisely (banner ad campaigns) and some not so wisely (customized pens and post its with our logo ) so far. I've not spent it all yet though, and am looking to dump the rest into local advertising. It all depends on your motivation though, and how much risk you're ok with. 0 risk and 0 motivation to give effort into obtaining clients, your best bet would be to just buyout a company already making ~$10k. On the other hand, if you're a go getter and a half, spend a few hundred on a chamber of commerce listing of local businesses in your area and get to calling people. Order a few thousand glossy laminated flyers and get out there and tell everyone that they can click 3 clicks and have a wordpress blog (you'd be amazed at the teens that WANT a blog, but think they have to know 10 coding languages to get their own site running). I'm even renting a booth at a street festival this coming weekend (tomorrow, I should be sleeping), and taking my laptops/net cards and letting people play with my sitebuilder on a demo account just to show how easy things are. Chances are people will just check their myspace, but at least I'll get to be cool and have my own booth at the street festival.

    I strayed a little off topic, but long story short, there are TONS of ways to spend the money. I can give you 2 priceless pieces of advice that matter more than all else though.

    1) Don't get discouraged because something doesn't make you money right away. Some forms of advertising don't "pay off" for a few months. That's ok. Just make sure you've got money to cover costs a bit during the first few "poor months".

    2.) Find a way to track what ads make money. If you run one ad in the paper, one on an ad online, and another via flyers, use different coupon codes or something for each. If you're advertising in 20 different places, and only 1 is making you money in the long run, you need a way to know which is the good one.

    That's all I can think of for now. Best of luck if this is actually a real situation and the topic wasn't just "what if".
    Last edited by writespeak; 06-21-2009 at 08:45 PM.
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  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
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    I'm advertising on radio stations. It's working well for me, but I'm geared only towards the local market. It's amazing the amount of people in my area that want a site and were just waiting to hear a number on the radio to call. Simple
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  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Internet54 View Post
    I'm advertising on radio stations. It's working well for me, but I'm geared only towards the local market. It's amazing the amount of people in my area that want a site and were just waiting to hear a number on the radio to call. Simple
    What i could suggest is you go around to local businesses and ask if they have a website (team up with a local designer if you don't have one) and you could offer a website made + hosting..And it doesn't even have to be cheap. Because for a business another $50 a month isn't much.

    Bhavic

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Posts
    593
    Yep, I haven't had the need to go door to door yet as business is coming in quite smoothly now. My business plan is all about the monthly charge. I do an initial fee up front for design costs and then charge monthly for SEO and maintenance.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Toronto
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    I agree with some people here. First define your niche or what you want to do exactly.

    I don't see a problem starting out with reseller until you have a handle on the industry, your niche and what you want to do with the business.

    Lawrence
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  20. #20
    You can buy Dedicated server from thePlanet.com
    become domain reseller

  21. #21
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    Nov 2008
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    Florida, U.S
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    Quote Originally Posted by WII-Aaron View Post
    I would open a hot dog stand. Anything I didn't spend on hot dogs would be mine to keep. it would be a complete Utopia.

    I would call it Aaron's Weiners. With the S very small so you almost couldn't see it.

    Oh well.... I can dream....
    Hehe, you sound like my father 10 years ago. He wanted a mobile hotdog stand and talked about it all the time. He opened a clothing store instead. Yes, I know he's weird.
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  22. #22
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    Well thats not for me, i already have a setup , just trying to get a market feel.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
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    Earth
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    Buy a few of the smaller companies, you won't survive in the industry by putting up a few banner ads with a new business.

  24. #24
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    Apr 2009
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    We are already into dedicated servers. So this is just a general question and not directly related to us.

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Waterloo, Ontario
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    IPStrada,

    I can see you are looking for help and some of us are willing to help. I believe the reason you're getting only a few good replies is because you need to be more specific. Start by telling us what stage you're at. Did you find $10K under your mattress or have you formed a business plan and got stuck at some point?

    It's true that this is a saturated industry and that a lot of these small start-ups fail. They all fail for similar reasons and I think you need to make sure that you are fully committed to this business before you start anything. Most of the time, people think big and are not patient enough to wait for the momentum to build up.

    What kind of background do you have? Do you have a business degree or a technical degree?

    Try telling us a little more about yourself and what your goals are other than "when can I take money out" because that doesn't sound like you're in it for the long run but more like you're looking for a quick buck; where I don't think anybody can help you out because it's unrealistic.

    All the best,
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