mrwong

In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield. Warren Buffett My own business always bores me to death; I prefer other people's. Oscar Wilde The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. Albert Einstein

I suggest you invest a bit of money and talk to a fiscal advisor. If you are successful, and lucky, you will have this "problem" every year.

drop him like a bad habit. if you start like this, imagine how you will feel down the road...

Keep up the good work Nils. Your efforts are appreciated!

the whole subscription system in the netherlands is a scam. period. as someone already said, the best thing you can do is quite your subscription the day you take it. this goes for newspapers, service companies, etc. it is a bad joke, i can't think of any other country that allows and encourages such a ridiculous system. you need a dedicated computer system just to track these things. perhaps dutch people may be built this way, but the rest of us are not. if anything it makes me not take services from a company if they force me to have automatic extensions and it is my responsibility to cancel in the fifteen minute period that i am allowed to cancel. stand up, revolt against this practice that does you no good.

i think that the biggest problem for a commercial person is not the sales discussion, it is finding qualified leads. of course a really good salesman can sell snow to an eskimo.

some random thoughts. presentation is (almost) everything, however... don't underestimate the technical effort that would be involved. there is a major difference between having a nice designed site, and having the required functionality. i'd rather have a poorly designed site which has a proper datamodel and business logic behind it, than a nice looking site with no decent backend. you can always make a new look and feel, but a proper technical implementation needs to be considered from the beginning, certainly if you want to roll out with localized versions across europe. as you are a designer, perhaps you can provide us with some links so we can see some of your work? have you considered partnering with an existing social software venture that works but is poorly designed? is there a business model in social software? not to mention that it is a very crowded field already. plus we will see social networking functionality become integrated in software applications and services such as outlook, yahoo, google, etc.. is this what you are thinking: http://www.plazes.com/ good luck with your venture.

welcome to the marketing department: two drink minimum!

sorry for the english. i think you should talk to your fiscal advisor about the possibilities. if you have a bv that could qualify for such a hypotheek, then you must have an advisor who can help you in this matter. one thing worth considering: there is a general rule that banks apply which is that will finance for 60% of the executiewaarde (80% of taxatie) which means that you would roughly have to come up with 50% of the price yourself. plus the associated costs. they will make exceptions to the rule, but you have to find the right type of bank (like a hypotheek bank), or have a good account manager who will fight for you. and of course solid books and a good outlook. if you buy the house in prive, and you are not going to invest all the profit into the new house (hypotheek), you have less tax advantages. but cash in hand is always worth having. hope this helps.

ok, then in that case i say keep it simple as possible. if you are writing it for yourself, then you are an educated audience so there is no need for a lot of fluff. i don't think it is easy (or wise) to write a detailed business plan, put it on the shelf, and just simply update it in a few months/years. at least in my experience it does not work that way, things change, the company grows (or shrinks), the market changes, the opportunites and threats change. times change. if you want yet another outline for a complete business plan: Summary Business concept Current situation Key success factors Financial situation/needs Vision Vision statement Milestones Market analysis The overall market Changes in the market Market segments Target market and customers Customer characteristics Customer needs Customer buying decisions Competitive analysis Industry overview Nature of competition Changes in the industry Primary competitors Competitive products/services Opportunities Threats and risks Strategy Key competitive capabilities Key competitive weaknesses Strategy Implementing strategy Products/services Product/service description Positioning of products/services Competitive evaluation of products/services Future products/services Marketing and sales Marketing strategy Sales tactics Advertising Promotions/incentives Publicity Trade shows Operations Key personnel Organizational structure Human resources plan Product/service delivery Customer service/support Facilities Creating the financials of the business plan Assumptions and comments Starting balance sheet Profit-and-loss projection Cash flow projection Balance sheet projection Ratios and analyses have fun, keep it simple: what are your goals in the coming period, how will you measure them, why are you writing a plan (and make sure this is answered in the plan you write). no more than 2 a4 sheets.

depends why you are writing the plan... are you writing it for internal use? are you writing it for your bank or for investors? sometimes you want to stress different messages depending your intended audience. investors and banks look at figures and care less about the underlying technology. and they do not like to fund investment.

guerilla marketing Definition Unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources. Coined by Jay Conrad Levinson, guerilla marketing is more about matching wits than matching budgets. Guerilla marketing can be as different from traditional marketing as guerilla warfare is from traditional warfare. Rather than marching their marketing dollars forth like infantry divisions, guerilla marketers snipe away with their marketing resources for maximum impact.

go to google and type in a search for: weapons of mass destruction look at the first link in the results. that is clever marketing.

Volgens mij is de momentenplanner een beetje dood. De aankomende belangrijke gebeurtenissen zijn inmiddels verleden tijd. :P De tien aankomende Momenten uit Momentplanner.com. 16-09-2003 Hans Holbeintentoonstelling Den Haag tentoonstelling/beurs 21-09-2003 Erwin Olaf Groninger Museum tentoonstelling/beurs 10-10-2003 WK Rugby Mannen Australië sport 11-10-2003 Herfstvakantie regio noord/ midden Noord- en midden Nederland 12-10-2003 WK Baseball Havanna, Cuba sport 13-10-2003 Tennis Masters Series (m) Madrid, Spanje sport 16-10-2003 Woon & lifestylebeurs van het Noorden Martini Plaza Groningen tentoonstelling/beurs 17-10-2003 AutoMotorSport 2003 Prins Bernardhoeve Zuidlaren tentoonstelling/beurs 18-10-2003 Herfstvakantie regio zuid 18-10-2003 Herfstvakantie, regio Zuid if you would join momentplanner, you get to see extra information about the events. with the extra information provided, you would be able to see that the start dates from these events past, however the events themselves are still running. there is certainly room for improvement on how the information is presented to non-members. hope that helps...

here is an article about this very subject with some useful links: http://www.emerce.nl/archives/nieuws/Technology/15229.html

interesting topic. another factor making things harder for the email nieuwsbrief to survive is that some companies will not accept mail from open mail relays. we don't. many spammers use the open relays to send their unsollicited crap. i happen to believe that responsible isp's should not have open mail relays. but you'd be amazed who does. the digital no/no sticker needs some work.

i like it better when other people are talking about our company...

i didn't mean it as a shot at you, i know how dedicated you are at helping startups and entrepreneurs. and i know the quality of your network. perhaps the problem is the type of pre-seed companies you are looking for? is this opportunity only available for companies looking at wireless opportunities? if not, i can't understand why you can not get startups to take you up on this opportunity. that i why i asked if perhaps it was just too good to be true? back to wireless... while wifi may be hot, it is the next dotcom hype waiting to burst. successful business models for wisp's (wireless isp's) are not going to get investors excited. if wifi service providing does prove to be successful, then it is going to be won by the big players. there are many initiatives already by young techies. there are many small companies looking at wifi opportunities. the market is not even established and it is flooded with commercial companies, isp's giving away wifi access for free as part of their adsl package, and free wirless communities. the only people making out on the wifi hype are the equipment manufacturers and one or two early players who have been successful at getting investment.

The best plans in life are free But you can keep them For the birds and bees Now give me money That's what I want Your coaching gives me such a thrill But your coaching don't pay my bills Give me money That's what I want That's what I want Oh, yeah That's what I want Money don't get everything it's true What it don't get I can't use Now give me money That's what I want That's what I want Pre-seed is for people who can afford to work for nothing, nada, zilch. This means you are either very young, already have some money in the bank, have a rich family or friends, a sponsor, or a company behind you. Not may people are willing to work for no rewards for an extended period of time. 50 Euro a month office space, how can anyone turn down this offer that is "true good to be true"? Well, perhaps it is. Are there clauses which the pre-seed companies are forced to sign? Are there hidden costs? Do they give up a large share of any venture if they succeed in getting funding in future? Are they free to chase investment on their own while they are in the incubator? And for 50/month, how much guaranteed quality time does a pre-seed get from the advisors? Just some random thoughts...

Ehh, wat heeft dit met luxe te maken ??? Het is verkooptechniek. Gebruik je bij voorkeur offertes of juist niet. Ik maak bij voorkeur geen offertes. Ik vind het niks. Veel werk en weinig effectief. Nils, I agree that offertes are not always effective and may not be the appropriate sales technique in all situations. However, depending what you are selling they are a necessity. If you are being asked to bid on a large software project, you will normally be asked to outlines deliverables, dates, and associated costs. As software development is a voodoo science at best, customers want to see what they think they are going to get. Offertes do not have to be complex, they should be kept to a bare minimum and have a few cleverly worded caveats in your favour. Agreed that offertes are normally not necessary when selling business consultancy services, this is normally based on in a gut feel or track record of the company. And quite often the are no cure no pay basis anyways (certainly in this business climate).

It is very difficult for a starting company, bv or vof, to get a hypotheek. In general there is a rule: banks will only finance a hypotheek for companies at 60% of the "executiewaard" of a building. That is 80% of the taxatie value, dus they will generally only finance 50% of the asking price. Which means you will have to come up with 50% downpayment which is a lot of cash for a startup. As far a a starting freelancer asking for a hypotheek, a snowball has a better chance in hell...

a few mortal sins during customer meetings: halitosis body odour rolling your eyes or making it too obvious you are bored white socks (especially those with a color band at top)

one bit of advise: if you want to buy a house AND start a company, buy the house first while you have a job. if you start a company, you have no track record, therefore they will not loan you the money to buy a house. as far as the risk of losing your house because of loan made for your company, that is part of being an entrepreneur. it is not always easy. as someone else suggested, perhaps one person can buy the house, the other can set up the bv. and make marriage/partner agreements so you can't lose all. trying to do them both at once, certainly if you have no experience in owning a house or running a business, is very dangerous...

Throw it away. Filling in the Graydon form does not give you good credit, it just makes them money on your information. You want good credit? Pay your bills and you'll establish a great credit record. Most companies will extend credit if need be on your second purchase.

there is a major difference between going bankrupt and trying again with a new venture, or a herstart. going for a "herstart" just to screw your creditors and employees due to your mismanagement and false expecations is morally wrong to me. but obviously you have better odds of being successful if you can herstart and wipe out a few millions euros in debt that you incurred. but it is common practice these days, all arranged in advance with the investors/banks/curator.