John
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6 days ago
in Leisure Time From Barclaycard - Fail on Jonathan MacDonald.com
You'd think companies like Barclaycard would be able to get it right by now wouldn't you!
Shocking!
Shocking!
9 months ago
in My Head Is In The Cloud This Morning on A VC
Wayne,
Yes he makes a good point - which is why I agreed.
However when "outsourcing the rest" it's not just a question of if their technology is good (it probably is otherwise you wouldn't be outsourcing to them), you also need to factor in the additional risks you are now exposed to; for example, if your supplier has a problem are you important enough to them that they'll care about it, what if your supplier goes out of business, what if your supplier decides to stop offering the service, what if your supplier is taken over by a competitor of yours. What if your supplier suddenly increases their price.
None may be likely, but you'd be a fool not to consider the risks.
Regards, John
Yes he makes a good point - which is why I agreed.
However when "outsourcing the rest" it's not just a question of if their technology is good (it probably is otherwise you wouldn't be outsourcing to them), you also need to factor in the additional risks you are now exposed to; for example, if your supplier has a problem are you important enough to them that they'll care about it, what if your supplier goes out of business, what if your supplier decides to stop offering the service, what if your supplier is taken over by a competitor of yours. What if your supplier suddenly increases their price.
None may be likely, but you'd be a fool not to consider the risks.
Regards, John
9 months ago
in My Head Is In The Cloud This Morning on A VC
While I'd agree that Alex is right. The counter argument is that when it does break no one else is as motivated to fix it as you are, so the question "How can I possibly rely on these guys?" should really be "How can I make sure these guys are reliable" and you should then ask "What if these guys let me down".
1 reply
10 months ago
in Pet Peeve: Blog Snobs on The Savvy Entrepreneur
I agree, I find it disappointing when I can't begin a conversation with the blogger. However I think some of the bloggers in question just suffered from too much spam.
10 months ago
in The Bug Store Is Open For Business on A VC
That's a cool idea. Especially if the expand into robotics further down the line...
1 year ago
in How Important Is Intellectual Property For Startups? on Instigator Blog
Even if the average startup can afford get a patent it's unlikely to be able to afford to defend it. Execution must always come first.
1 year ago
in Resource: Top 100 Business Blogs Listed on The Savvy Entrepreneur
Thanks Cristina you have a great blog.
1 year ago
in 14 Tips for Moving From Full-Time to Freelance Work on Instigator Blog
I'd add, get networking. Ideally within the groups that your customers will attend. Equally there's value in networking with your 'competitors' too.
1 year ago
in Is Your Ego The Perfect Size To Be a Great Leader? on Instigator Blog
And it takes a lot of self confidence to be able to show you humility in public...
1 year ago
in Guest Writing at Pronet Advertising on Instigator Blog
You'd be welcome to send me a guest post on entrepreneurship / business ideas.
1 year ago
in Blog Hack: Link to New Blogs and Get More Readers on Instigator Blog
Finding new _relevant_ blogs is always a challenge, even with Google blog search, anyone got any tips?
1 year ago
in 8 from the ProBlogger Group Writing Contest on A New Marketing
Thanks for the complement! I've enjoyed reading your blog today too.
I think the way to look at this is: "What's the difference between Amazon going down and RackSapce going down?". They were both down for a few hours over the last 4 months, nobody seemed to go, "OMG, how can I rely on RackSpace, I'm ditching this solution for Cloud Computing!", but yet, when Amazon went down last week I can't begin to tell you how many people msg'd me going, "See, Amazon's solution sucks".
Alex makes a very good point - what makes you, me or any other entrepreneur think they can write a better solution than Amazon or Joyent?
I'm a big believer in specialization of labor - perform the tasks that you have a comparative advantage at and outsource the rest (assuming it's a commoditized process - and I truly feel that LAMP stack hosting is).
Just my two pennies.
-Wayne