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Comments · 14
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Start your own business
Your credentials are impressive and if you take advantage of free business training available through SCORE you could make something happen. I've finally had it with changing jobs every three years to get ahead. I signed up for a SCORE mentoring session and spoke with a mentor who had some unbelievably great ideas. He even related a story about a 70 year old woman who was laid off from her medical billing job only to become businesswoman of the year 8 months later. To me, that was inspirational. So, I'm in the process of starting a managed IT services firm to specialize in 25-75 user businesses. I have about 7,500.00 in startup capital and until I'm fully ready to incorporate, I'll continue in my present job. I'm only maybe three weeks into the planning and the process is fun and exciting. It is also amazing what tools there are out there on the internet to help you start a business. In some ways it is even easier than it ever was.
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Know the SCORE
http://www.score.org/index.html
Seriously, get some help. Asking "techies" is, as you probably are quickly finding out, the absolute wrong way to get good business advice.
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Re:Pretty normalMost people who are good at technical jobs are good at them because they don't have to deal with the distraction of managerial tasks. That's why technical people that start businesses hire managers. To suggest that to make a halfway decent living, you not only have to have the technical skills *but also* the business skills *and* the financial means to start your own company--how do you propose that one achieves this? It's simply not an option for the vast majority. Declaring options impossible is the primary means of discouraging people from finding creative ways to accomplish this. OF COURSE IT'S POSSIBLE! It's a lot more work than driving back and forth to the same cubicle day after day, and you have to start that work in poverty and frustration when you lack the financial means, but (here's the trick): there's nothing restricting anyone to use a traditional business model, traditional goals, or traditional methods. Having such a challenge as a career goal is what breeds innovation!
For instance, the last decade has seen a gigantic surge in the startup of not only ordinary small businesses, but also in small non-profits, collectives, cooperatives, and plenty of experimental business models. A person who has technical skills, and ethics, and feels shafted by the lack of ethics displayed by their employer, might see a need in their local community that seems like anyone with a little bit of tech know-how could address, but isn't being addressed by existing organizations (or government) for whatever reason. If others in the community agree on the need, then it won't be financially difficult to start a non-profit organization to fill the gap, since you can ethically request donations for startup capital. (And once you get 510(c)(3) status, states will allow people to fulfill their community service obligations by donating free work to your org). Further, you don't have to go without a livable salary once you've got support - it's part of the project cost, and supporters understand paying for it. In other situations, a small collective might work better, i.e. financial support for the project can come from other activities in the collective, and even better, if your goals are ethical, you can probably just join up with an existing collective rather than go to all the trouble of organizing the formation of a new one. Even in the latter case, it's ultimately just a matter of connecting synergistic people and projects to each other.
Of course, if you have good credit, you can even skip all that and just plain get a loan for startup capital as long as your business model looks like it won't bankrupt itself. Additionally, if you have good credit and great presentation skills, you can probably find an investor and negotiate custom terms for startup capital.
The option of independent business isn't inherently closed, ever, to anyone in the US, regardless of age, sex, gender, disability, criminal history, or citizenship status. A lack of education might make it more difficult, but still not impossible. It's one of the only remaining ways we're actually still free - the freedom to do business with whom we choose.
Incidentally, to make a halfway decent living, you DO need business skills, no way around it. Fortunately, you don't need a degree in business, just basic business skills you can probably learn from some books, a little practice and some mentoring - the rest amounts to finding other people to work with rather than for. And as the "vast majority" you speak of don't make a halfway decent living as it is, independent business is becoming a more favorable option as time goes by.
Here are some resources for startups: -
SCORE
A counselor from SCORE could help aspiring entrepreneurs learn to monetize their IP.
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Re:Talk to a business advisory service
It isn't, it's just that AC had nothing useful to contribute nor understand that your links could help someone contemplating this where you are.
In the US the Small Business Administration...
http://www.sba.gov/
And it's non-profit affiliate, SCORE:
http://www.score.org/ -
SCORE
You should be asking SCORE, not slashdot. See: http://www.score.org/
SCORE's 1,200 email counselors are ready to assist you.
Counseling is:
Confidential Counselors abide by a code of ethics and honor confidentiality.
Fast Ask questions 24/7; get answers in 48 hours. Receive advice straight to your email.
Free Offered free-of-charge, as a public service. -
SCOREEver heard of S.C.O.R.E?
This is just one of the resources available to entrepreneurs. You need to reach out to business people with experience, not just broadcast to the
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Re:And what do you expect?
Assuming you live in zoned property where running a business from your house or apartment is illegal, you'll need to buy or rent commercial space to house your company.
Don't ask, don't tell. Those zoning laws were not built for Internet-based businesses. As long as your business operations don't make your neighbors raise their eyebrows, back up the truck and unload your servers into the room designated as the machine room for all anyone cares. Day in and day out vehicular traffic as you bring clients in for face-to-face meetings: bad. Quiet servers humming away, web conferences over your T1 line with a USB headset: good. Amateur XXX models trooping in and out of the house at all hours because camera time is expensive and you gotta run them 24x7: bad. Amateur XXX models trooping in and out of the house at all: bad. You and a few roomies doing video editing and web site work on XXX fare shipped in over a T3 line to the house: good. You get the idea.
You'll need several kinds of insurance.
Depends on the state you are in, but E&O or broad form commercial for example is unnecessary if you are in nose-to-the-code mode of your company's product. You might need workman's compensation, but check with an attorney; some states allow officers of a company to waive coverage.
If you can't hit the ground running with a product, you'll have to pay yourself and/or other developers while you develop something.
Then get a release from your current employer for your "hobby project", keep disciplined time and expense records (you'll need them for tax and payroll purposes anyways if you intend to compensate yourself later for work done for a back end upside that is far in excess of what a normal salary might bring, talk to a tax accountant and attorney for details), and use your day job to support your real job. Or do consulting and use the bench time to work on your product.
Starting and maintaining a business is difficult, but people make it much harder on themselves than they should. You really ought to hook up with a SCORE mentor in your local area. Geeks diss the business people all the time, while not realizing there is a lot to geek out over in the business world as well, and it is much more remunerative.
The worst nightmare of mediocre managers and rapacious recruiters the world over: geeks wising up, learning sales, marketing, negotiation, and business in general the way they apply themselves to debugging their favorite program du jour, and ditching unnecessary overhead to control it all themselves instead. It really is just as fascinating as the most intricate systems you have ever worked with, and can be hacked just as effectively for greater monetary rewards.
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Be more careful than that where you incorporate
Good advice overall, but your comments on which state to incorporate in are off. Delaware also charges a franchise tax, albeit not as large as the one in Texas. The most business friendly and economical state to incorporate in right now is Nevada, particularly in regards to corporate taxes, although there are some substantial credibility and auditing issues with that state you should consider.
Good starter references on Delaware vs. Nevada:
Quick MBA
Entrepreneur's Library
SCORE -
I know exactly where you're coming from...
I handed over CEOship of my startup to a sales guy in 1998, and Red Hat bought the company in 2000. So I definitely understand your position.
Your best bet is to connect with local business development groups (in Pittsburgh, it was the Pittsburgh Technology Council) and groups like SCORE. Look particularly at networking opportunities like lunches, and be up front about what you're looking for and cautious about committing to any one person. You'll eventually meet people who will be pretty good fits. You'll want to find not an MBA, but somebody with substantial experience who might or might not have an MBA but whose skills are strong exactly where yours are weak. Also, do not discount the candidate's networking skills - a CEO who is in tight with local VCs can make lots of business opportunities appear even if you don't want VC. But don't neglect to check references, they'll tell you a lot about what you can expect in the future.
I could go on about the cultural conflicts with your new CEO that you'll encounter once you've started down that road, but those could fill a book or three and might get me sued. -
Re:This is capitalism, get used to it.
"But normally to become a top-notch technical worker/scientist/engineer you don't have time to acquire those business skills."
Actually, I've found that all knowledge makes other knowledge easy to learn. Buy a few business books, and a book on accounting, and start your business next week.
"But the government must be involved, or the corporations will run riot over us."
Well, you are partially right here. True, the government must be involved to some degree in business. But for outsourcing? No way. Second, personally I don't think we should have corporations, period. If we went back to only having sole proprietorships and partnerships it would alleviate a lot of the ills that go on, because corporations create an unnatural balance in the economy. But that has nothing to do with laissez-faire capitalism - in fact many of the things that liberals do to "get" big corporations actually end up helping them by screwing over their small-business competition.
With large amounts of regulation, only the biggest companies will have enough manpower and capital to weather through it, leaving small businesses without the ability to compete. This is why there is such high prices in the medical products community. The FDA makes the barrier to entry for medical products so high that noone can get in EXCEPT for overly huge companies and people who are willing to live without compensation for a long time because of the HUGE payoff at the end. With lower regulation, the small companies would have a chance, and would be able to lower the prices for everything.
But the idea of a "social contract" between an employee and the worker isn't really a part of the deal, and I don't see where that idea comes from. Certainly, companies who treat their workers with love and respect will receive more from their employees in return. However, I'm curious, did you believe the "social contract" worked in the other direction? Were you committed to your company even if there were better job offers from other companies with better benefits, better pay, and more interesting work? If you weren't committed to your company, why should they be committed to you?
Personally, I believe in the idea of co-commitment, but am not under the delusion that it's part of some social contract. Instead, I work for people I know and trust, so that I know that I'm getting a fair shake and don't have to worry about getting the shaft. I get less pay, but better people. My hunch is that you chose better pay instead of better people, right? I left a good-paying, easy job at EDS for a job that paid 25% less and was much more difficult because I knew that EDS didn't care jack squat about its employees. I was in a good position at the time (they even offered more money for me to stay), but I knew that if I sell myself to a company that doesn't care, then, *gasp*, they won't care later, either.
Honestly, though, if you are truly good at what you do, it shouldn't be too hard to start your own business without any capital. I started a publishing business without any capital (okay, I admit it, it cost me $100 to get started), and I can only work on it at night and on the weekends. I'm sure that if you put your mind to it, you too could turn your mind into a successful business.
At the risk of droning on, I want to mention what one of my favorite ministries here in Tulsa is - Stand in the Gap. This ministry takes people on the bad side of town who have absolutely nothing and are living on welfare, and teaches them how to start and run their own business. It's not glamorous, but really in America we've kind of gotten a little snooty about doing real work, but these people have taken what little they know how to do and turned it into a business. If they can do it, I'm sure you can, too. If you need help, contact SCORE. -
If you are serious about starting a company. Read
Please do yourself a huge favor and follow this link S.C.O.R.E.
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If you need to start a small biz?
Here is one group you need to have contact with. S.C.O.R.E.
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Re:Compression
Of course, people actually downloading the whole human genome probable wouldn't worry about this, but couldn't they use a better compression format than
Huffman would better compression algorithm in my opinion. Huffman uses a tree to determine which encodings to use for each symbol. The encodings might be similar to this:This would only work for the