new system integrator

[IkeaGnome]

1 minute ago, Indian pc builder said:

Because I told him what you guys said and he still stuck on doing it

What is his plan to address the things that @Arika Sand @dizmopointed out above? If he doesn't have a set plan for every single one, I'd tell him he's not ready. There's a few in their lists that can land you guys in legal trouble. 

 

What are his plans for setting your company apart from all the other SIs and people working in garages?

[Donut417]

On 11/28/2021 at 9:38 PM, Indian pc builder said:

Ok me and my friend are trying thinking of opening up a new pc building startup ( basically assemble computers and sell them) only thing is i know it is not a good idea and we will loose our money but my friend is convinced otherwise, can someone please tell me if it is a good idea and if not can someone tell me why?

Your going to loose your ass. The big guys like Dell and HP have the economies of scale helping them. Mainly they buy parts in huge numbers, which gives them a bulk discount. Sourcing parts is going to be a major challenge in the world we live in today. Your never going to be able to buy enough parts to get a bulk discount because your never going to place orders the size of the big boys. Then you have to factor in the price of your time building the machines. You need someone to do marketing and sales. You need tech support staff. Its not worth your time frankly. I would advise you to checkout Louis Rossmanns channel as he goes in to great detail how running a businesses in NYC is going. 

[Indian pc builder]

1 hour ago, IkeaGnome said:

What is his plan to address the things that @Arika Sand @dizmopointed out above? If he doesn't have a set plan for every single one, I'd tell him he's not ready. There's a few in their lists that can land you guys in legal trouble. 

 

What are his plans for setting your company apart from all the other SIs and people working in garages?

he doesn't have one but he is still insistent on it

 

46 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Your going to loose your ass. The big guys like Dell and HP have the economies of scale helping them. Mainly they buy parts in huge numbers, which gives them a bulk discount. Sourcing parts is going to be a major challenge in the world we live in today. Your never going to be able to buy enough parts to get a bulk discount because your never going to place orders the size of the big boys. Then you have to factor in the price of your time building the machines. You need someone to do marketing and sales. You need tech support staff. Its not worth your time frankly. I would advise you to checkout Louis Rossmanns channel as he goes in to great detail how running a businesses in NYC is going. 

i told him that but he thinks people will still buy his assembled computer, he also thinks he can sell at least a 100 when he may not be able to sell even one

[adarw]

10 minutes ago, Indian pc builder said:

he doesn't have one but he is still insistent on it

 

i told him that but he thinks people will still buy his assembled computer, he also thinks he can sell at least a 100 when he may not be able to sell even one

he needs a plan but first list, 

 

what kind of pcs are you going to sell?

why is your pc better? what can you offer?

how much money do you need to make a month to keep it sustainable?

how are you going to source your parts?

 

 

anything else everyone?

[Indian pc builder]

he also wants to rope me into it for

21 minutes ago, adarw said:

he needs a plan but first list, 

 

what kind of pcs are you going to sell?

why is your pc better? what can you offer?

how much money do you need to make a month to keep it sustainable?

how are you going to source your parts?

 

 

anything else everyone?

answers is respective order:

ok so he says that he wants to focus on developers, 

he doesn't know why his pcs would be better, he needs to figure that out

no one knows

amazon

 

all i know is that he is trying to rope me into it and i need to stop him from doing it as it seems to be a bad idea

[Jtalk4456]

2 minutes ago, Indian pc builder said:

he also wants to rope me into it for

answers is respective order:

ok so he says that he wants to focus on developers, 

he doesn't know why his pcs would be better, he needs to figure that out

no one knows

amazon

 

all i know is that he is trying to rope me into it and i need to stop him from doing it as it seems to be a bad idea

OK so from the very beginning you started by asking why it's a bad idea, you seemed to know all the answers to your own question. You also seem to have told him and he just won't listen. Your replies now seem to be begging us to find a way to keep YOU out of it. Simple answer there is don't get in it. Simply say nope.

He wants to do this so bad, let him, but you don't have to be a part of it. If he's as lacking in business acumen as you are making him out to be, likely he has no real path forward to do it anyways. He's got a grand concept in his head but no actual path forward to make it a reality. He's hoping you will make that path for him and you can both sail off into the sunset together sharing a profitable business. You're doing everything but telling him no. If you wanna do this, and it seems you're on the fence and maybe like the idea too, then do it. Answer ALL the questions and details we've asked, read a dozen business books, read a couple dozen more for good measure, then do it. You likely won't succeed unless you do a really good job of it, but it's possible to pull off with the right choices and effort. But it WILL BE TOUGH, it COULD FAIL. You could make NO MONEY or even LOSE MONEY in the process. And it sounds like those points are something you don't wanna face. If that's the case and you don't want in, tell him. Just say, "Sorry, but I can't help with this project. I hope it succeeds for you, but it's not what I want to do and it's not something I can see working for me". I'm reading between the lines of online replies here, but I'm getting the feeling you're just having a hard time telling your friend no and you need the convincing of what to do more than he does. Let him dream, but let it be his dream. More than likely, nothing will come of it but talk. In the last few years alone I've come up with an idea for 2 different SI businesses. But it's all been grand concept, the extra special touch that I would add that I'd like to see other SI's do. But I don't know business, I have no acumen for it. I don't have the money or place to buy and store parts, I don't know a thing about ecommerce. I just have the one thing I want to add. One special thing alone is not enough to start a new business with, and he'll run into that the first second he sits down to come up with a real game plan for this.

[dizmo]

3 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Your going to loose your ass. The big guys like Dell and HP have the economies of scale helping them. Mainly they buy parts in huge numbers, which gives them a bulk discount. Sourcing parts is going to be a major challenge in the world we live in today. Your never going to be able to buy enough parts to get a bulk discount because your never going to place orders the size of the big boys. Then you have to factor in the price of your time building the machines. You need someone to do marketing and sales. You need tech support staff. Its not worth your time frankly. I would advise you to checkout Louis Rossmanns channel as he goes in to great detail how running a businesses in NYC is going. 

A lot of this is simply incorrect.

• You can get discounts on parts by simply ordering tens or hundreds of units (things like cases, etc).
• He can easily handle marketing and sales when he's starting out, and well into making $250,000+ in profit a year. It's not complex. You can also simply contract that work out, you don't need your own staff.
• You don't need tech support staff for a small company. This can be done on your own, or if really required, contracted out.
• If he brought in add ons like mouse pads and other such items, his profit increases substantially.
• Running a business in NYC has absolutely nothing to do with this thread. It's irrelevant.

If small companies couldn't compete for some slice of the market like the big players, Ford would still be the only automotive manufacturer. If companies needed large teams of people to handle everything, you wouldn't have extremely profitable companies like Banshee; a mountain bike company with 3 employees. You're trying to make it seem like he's going to immediately start up a huge company like MainGear, and that's simply not how most businesses start.

 

2 hours ago, Indian pc builder said:

he doesn't have one but he is still insistent on it

 

i told him that but he thinks people will still buy his assembled computer, he also thinks he can sell at least a 100 when he may not be able to sell even one

While that's true, in life, if you don't try something you'll never know one way or the other. Everything in life has risk. You have to weigh whether or not the risk is worth the reward, and if you're willing to accept the consequences of failing. This is especially true in business. If you're not willing to risk it all, you won't have huge successes.

2 hours ago, Indian pc builder said:

he also wants to rope me into it for

answers is respective order:

ok so he says that he wants to focus on developers, 

he doesn't know why his pcs would be better, he needs to figure that out

no one knows

amazon

 

all i know is that he is trying to rope me into it and i need to stop him from doing it as it seems to be a bad idea

There's no reason you have to go through it with him. He is more than capable of failing on his own.

1 hour ago, Jtalk4456 said:

OK so from the very beginning you started by asking why it's a bad idea, you seemed to know all the answers to your own question. You also seem to have told him and he just won't listen. Your replies now seem to be begging us to find a way to keep YOU out of it. Simple answer there is don't get in it. Simply say nope.

He wants to do this so bad, let him, but you don't have to be a part of it. If he's as lacking in business acumen as you are making him out to be, likely he has no real path forward to do it anyways. He's got a grand concept in his head but no actual path forward to make it a reality. He's hoping you will make that path for him and you can both sail off into the sunset together sharing a profitable business. You're doing everything but telling him no. If you wanna do this, and it seems you're on the fence and maybe like the idea too, then do it. Answer ALL the questions and details we've asked, read a dozen business books, read a couple dozen more for good measure, then do it. You likely won't succeed unless you do a really good job of it, but it's possible to pull off with the right choices and effort. But it WILL BE TOUGH, it COULD FAIL. You could make NO MONEY or even LOSE MONEY in the process. And it sounds like those points are something you don't wanna face. If that's the case and you don't want in, tell him. Just say, "Sorry, but I can't help with this project. I hope it succeeds for you, but it's not what I want to do and it's not something I can see working for me". I'm reading between the lines of online replies here, but I'm getting the feeling you're just having a hard time telling your friend no and you need the convincing of what to do more than he does. Let him dream, but let it be his dream. More than likely, nothing will come of it but talk. In the last few years alone I've come up with an idea for 2 different SI businesses. But it's all been grand concept, the extra special touch that I would add that I'd like to see other SI's do. But I don't know business, I have no acumen for it. I don't have the money or place to buy and store parts, I don't know a thing about ecommerce. I just have the one thing I want to add. One special thing alone is not enough to start a new business with, and he'll run into that the first second he sits down to come up with a real game plan for this.

You really need to take a hard look and read this ^ He's basically summing up the entire thread in a nice, concise paragraph.

The only thing I'll disagree with is the last part. You don't really need anything special in order to have a successful business, especially in a country with a market as large as India's.

[Jtalk4456]

18 hours ago, dizmo said:

You really need to take a hard look and read this ^ He's basically summing up the entire thread in a nice, concise paragraph.

The only thing I'll disagree with is the last part. You don't really need anything special in order to have a successful business, especially in a country with a market as large as India's.

Thanks for the praise, and I agree with you, I was saying in the last part that the friend has some part of the machinery he wants to add to make the perfect SI, but in order for that one special addition to make a difference with a business, you also need the rest of the gears working smoothly. It's not enough to have that one unique piece you're adding if the rest of the puzzle is missing.

[Donut417]

19 hours ago, dizmo said:

You can get discounts on parts by simply ordering tens or hundreds of units (things like cases, etc).

Not the same discount Dell gets. Also who's getting the parts? The guy buying 10 units or the guy buying 10,000 units? Thats the thing, yeah you might get a small discount, but your going to be the last to get parts. Dell, HP, Razer, Microsoft, Puget Systems, Origin, I Buy Power just to name a few are already successful business. They have the contacts in the industry to get parts, they order a shit ton more than some guy starting out. Do you really thing someone like ASUS is going to deal with someone buying 10 motherboards? Your not going to make any money if you have to pay retail for your parts, because anyone can pay retail for parts and build their own. The reason Dell and them are successful is because they buy a large supply of parts which nets a very decent discount and they can pass that on to customers. 

 

God help if this guy wants to build gaming machines. Because I dont see any board partner that is going to put this guy high up on the list to get GPU's. Im would imagine scalping GPU's in India is just as bad as everywhere else. The fact is this industry has a high barrier to entry, there are just too many companies competing for a small part of the pie. 

[Arika]

22 hours ago, Indian pc builder said:

all i know is that he is trying to rope me into it and i need to stop him from doing it as it seems to be a bad idea

Honestly, you're probably at a point where you can just say "do what ever you want, but i want no part of it"

he can't force you into something you don't want to do, it's not like he can register the business in your name without you signing for anything or can just take your money and do it.

[_hitman_]

+1 to that. You are a grown man. Just tell him that you are not going to participate in that venture.

[dizmo]

On 12/1/2021 at 4:54 PM, Jtalk4456 said:

Thanks for the praise, and I agree with you, I was saying in the last part that the friend has some part of the machinery he wants to add to make the perfect SI, but in order for that one special addition to make a difference with a business, you also need the rest of the gears working smoothly. It's not enough to have that one unique piece you're adding if the rest of the puzzle is missing.

Ah, yes, totally.

On 12/1/2021 at 5:20 PM, Donut417 said:

Not the same discount Dell gets. Also who's getting the parts? The guy buying 10 units or the guy buying 10,000 units? Thats the thing, yeah you might get a small discount, but your going to be the last to get parts. Dell, HP, Razer, Microsoft, Puget Systems, Origin, I Buy Power just to name a few are already successful business. They have the contacts in the industry to get parts, they order a shit ton more than some guy starting out. Do you really thing someone like ASUS is going to deal with someone buying 10 motherboards? Your not going to make any money if you have to pay retail for your parts, because anyone can pay retail for parts and build their own. The reason Dell and them are successful is because they buy a large supply of parts which nets a very decent discount and they can pass that on to customers. 

 

God help if this guy wants to build gaming machines. Because I dont see any board partner that is going to put this guy high up on the list to get GPU's. Im would imagine scalping GPU's in India is just as bad as everywhere else. The fact is this industry has a high barrier to entry, there are just too many companies competing for a small part of the pie. 

No, nor do you have to do the same level as business as Dell does to be successful. You seem to be very stuck on that point, and it's quite odd.

You can easily make a living selling significantly less units than any of the large, already established SIs.

You also seem to be completely unaware that there are millions of people that simply don't want to build their own PC, regardless of how easy it is to you.