Comments on: Throttle or bust - how to save your hosting business http://www.simonorourke.com/2006/06/07/throttle-or-bust-how-to-save-your-hosting-business/ Online hideout of Simon O'Rourke Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:43:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Simon O'Rourke http://www.simonorourke.com/2006/06/07/throttle-or-bust-how-to-save-your-hosting-business/comment-page-1/#comment-47 Simon O'Rourke Wed, 06 Sep 2006 14:54:44 +0000 http://www.simonorourke.com/2006/06/07/throttle-or-bust-how-to-save-your-hosting-business/#comment-47 Hi Chris, The most important thing, for us anyway, was to take stock of something of a meteoric rise. We launched 'DIYHosting' with a target of 150 new resellers, which translated to 10-12 new servers online. That target was set for April of 2004 (seven months after opening DIYHosting). We met and exceeded that goal by a country mile. Therein lay the problem. Our business plan for DIYHosting was exceeded and, as feared, so were the limits we set for customer:staff ratio. As expected, csutomer relations and support became strained due to the off-tilt proportions. The first few rumblings of discontent were to be expected; you can't please every single customer, no matter how hard you try. When the number of (albeit mild) complaints came in, we decided that if we were going to be abl to grow as we wanted, then we needed to take a few months with only our existing client base and use them to plan for the next 4 +/- years. It worked very well; after the five month period, we 'came back' with a staff roster that had doubled in size, and new plans that were based off of our actual growth over the previous months. One thing we didn't account for, with regards to growth, was the number of "word of mouth" referrals. That really tipped us over our 'limit' as far as clientbase size goes. It was important, for me especially, to have the five month period. It really helped us get where we wanted to be, feature, security/support and client wise. If it wasn't for the hiatus (of sorts), I think we would have become an 'average' company. Lots of people would be happy with that, but we spent too much time and energy on the subsidiary to become 'just another provider'. That five months, in my opinion, is what helped us build the company up enough for a texas corporation to come in with a purchase bid and eventually take over the reigns of DIYHosting. Thankfully, with EIRCA, we now have best and worst case scenarios drawn out, based on DIYHosting's staggering growth. Hi Chris,

The most important thing, for us anyway, was to take stock of something of a meteoric rise. We launched ‘DIYHosting’ with a target of 150 new resellers, which translated to 10-12 new servers online. That target was set for April of 2004 (seven months after opening DIYHosting). We met and exceeded that goal by a country mile. Therein lay the problem.

Our business plan for DIYHosting was exceeded and, as feared, so were the limits we set for customer:staff ratio. As expected, csutomer relations and support became strained due to the off-tilt proportions. The first few rumblings of discontent were to be expected; you can’t please every single customer, no matter how hard you try. When the number of (albeit mild) complaints came in, we decided that if we were going to be abl to grow as we wanted, then we needed to take a few months with only our existing client base and use them to plan for the next 4 +/- years. It worked very well; after the five month period, we ‘came back’ with a staff roster that had doubled in size, and new plans that were based off of our actual growth over the previous months. One thing we didn’t account for, with regards to growth, was the number of “word of mouth” referrals. That really tipped us over our ‘limit’ as far as clientbase size goes.

It was important, for me especially, to have the five month period. It really helped us get where we wanted to be, feature, security/support and client wise. If it wasn’t for the hiatus (of sorts), I think we would have become an ‘average’ company. Lots of people would be happy with that, but we spent too much time and energy on the subsidiary to become ‘just another provider’. That five months, in my opinion, is what helped us build the company up enough for a texas corporation to come in with a purchase bid and eventually take over the reigns of DIYHosting.

Thankfully, with EIRCA, we now have best and worst case scenarios drawn out, based on DIYHosting’s staggering growth.

]]> By: Chris Donnelly http://www.simonorourke.com/2006/06/07/throttle-or-bust-how-to-save-your-hosting-business/comment-page-1/#comment-46 Chris Donnelly Wed, 06 Sep 2006 04:48:03 +0000 http://www.simonorourke.com/2006/06/07/throttle-or-bust-how-to-save-your-hosting-business/#comment-46 Dear Simon & Callum, I used to work at http://www.atlantic.net and when the going got rough we were always happy to take on more customers. I am a little confused by your comment as to not take on new customers and instead train your employees better. I do agree with having better trained employees but why not take on more customers at the same time?? Chris Donnelly donnellyholdings@bellsouth.net Dear Simon & Callum,

I used to work at http://www.atlantic.net and when the going got rough we were always happy to take on more customers. I am a little confused by your comment as to not take on new customers and instead train your employees better. I do agree with having better trained employees but why not take on more customers at the same time??

Chris Donnelly
donnellyholdings@bellsouth.net

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