What are the capital investments that need to be recouped in the early adopter period? Is the price tag based on “It is worth more than this to our target market.”, or “It costs this much to do this research, with reasonable amortizing of capital costs.”?
At a guess: computer hardware, office space, recruiting competent people, training them to work together effectively, and a well-organized library of the company’s previous reports so that not every request requires them to reinvent the wheel.
Computer hardware and support adequate for the large-scale implementation is roughly 500k capital and 240K/yr; office space incl utilities should be in the realm of $500k/yr (again, for a large-scale operation) and one hundred competent people should be about $4m/year; with another $1m for management expenses. Total capital+first year’s operating expenses is ~$6m; if they expect to sell a thousand reports per year (over one man-month each) at $5k each, they repay the investors almost in the first year.
I haven’t tried to price the custom software involved, but for such a (in the large business sense) small investment I don’t see why they didn’t start full-scale.
...some pricing is based on a goal other than maximizing profit.
I’ve worked at three jobs where the firm was not even in the ballpark of approximately maximizing profit. The first is now out of business. The second and third were in government.
Sorry; it seemed to me that you were agreeing with the claim I made by subverting the intent. As someone who intends to create and invest heavily into a corporation with goals other than maximizing the taxable investment income I receive, it is a sensitive subject to me.
Sorry; it seemed to me that you were agreeing with the claim I made by subverting the intent. As someone who intends to create and invest heavily into a corporation with goals other than maximizing the taxable investment income I receive, it is a sensitive subject to me.
Exciting (and brave, considering the failure rate). I’m curious… what industry/goal if you don’t mind sharing?
Coffee shop/social justice. Its a planned attempt to deinforce class division by making the middle-class investor(s) a little richer while making the working-class employees each absolutely more richer.
I’m currently have someone with the philosophical background but not quite enough business training to serve as general manager. I’ve figured a low six-digit upfront investment along with a couple years to get a fully-qualified general manager, a couple more hundred $k in capital costs, and another in operating losses each year for four years, leading to a recoup starting eight years after beginning. I’ve got about half that now, and just need to get my day job adjusted and settled to a better location to oversee the operation and expect to cover the remaining investment out of income. (Before I actually start, I’m going to develop enough of a plan to know how much reality deviates from the plan at any given point)
What are the capital investments that need to be recouped in the early adopter period? Is the price tag based on “It is worth more than this to our target market.”, or “It costs this much to do this research, with reasonable amortizing of capital costs.”?
At a guess: computer hardware, office space, recruiting competent people, training them to work together effectively, and a well-organized library of the company’s previous reports so that not every request requires them to reinvent the wheel.
Computer hardware and support adequate for the large-scale implementation is roughly 500k capital and 240K/yr; office space incl utilities should be in the realm of $500k/yr (again, for a large-scale operation) and one hundred competent people should be about $4m/year; with another $1m for management expenses. Total capital+first year’s operating expenses is ~$6m; if they expect to sell a thousand reports per year (over one man-month each) at $5k each, they repay the investors almost in the first year.
I haven’t tried to price the custom software involved, but for such a (in the large business sense) small investment I don’t see why they didn’t start full-scale.
You’re only budgetting $40k per person? That seems low, especially considering overhead, health insurance etc.
I think it’s a reasonable rate for part-time independent contractors putting out one tenth of a report in a month.
Is price ever based on anything other than “this will maximize our revenue over this period of time”?
The terminology you wanted was ‘maximize our profit’. And yes, some pricing is based on a goal other than maximizing profit.
I’ve worked at three jobs where the firm was not even in the ballpark of approximately maximizing profit. The first is now out of business. The second and third were in government.
Government jobs are now going out of business.
You still have to understand the bottom line to be in business, but you don’t have to worship it above e.g. employee health and welfare.
For example, it is sometimes based on the goal “Maximize the bonus given to the CEO”.
I was referring to corporations with core values that don’t involve Laffer peaks of money.
This position wasn’t challenged, missed, nor even weakened by my reply. Rather, it was strengthened by the agreement with the actual claim you made.
Sorry; it seemed to me that you were agreeing with the claim I made by subverting the intent. As someone who intends to create and invest heavily into a corporation with goals other than maximizing the taxable investment income I receive, it is a sensitive subject to me.
Exciting (and brave, considering the failure rate). I’m curious… what industry/goal if you don’t mind sharing?
Coffee shop/social justice. Its a planned attempt to deinforce class division by making the middle-class investor(s) a little richer while making the working-class employees each absolutely more richer.
I’m currently have someone with the philosophical background but not quite enough business training to serve as general manager. I’ve figured a low six-digit upfront investment along with a couple years to get a fully-qualified general manager, a couple more hundred $k in capital costs, and another in operating losses each year for four years, leading to a recoup starting eight years after beginning. I’ve got about half that now, and just need to get my day job adjusted and settled to a better location to oversee the operation and expect to cover the remaining investment out of income. (Before I actually start, I’m going to develop enough of a plan to know how much reality deviates from the plan at any given point)