The novelty of it all (being a WISP) tends to wear off after about 5 years, eventually it becomes about the money.
It should always be about the money. You have to think about your business as a separate being. You do whatever you need to make that critter grow and be healthy. Your first goal is to stay in business. Your second goal should be returning shareholder value, even if you are the only shareholder. You've taken risk, either with your own or someone else's money. The investor should receive a return on that investment well above market rates to reflect the level of risk. As Tom has said here before, we are in the sales business. Wireless is the service we are selling. Don't get too caught up in the me vs. the big guys argument. Don't fall in love with the technology. Make your business healthy, show strong ROI and when the time is right, make the right move. Sooner or later the bigger operators will come along just because their model holds up better than an independent operator. They can achieve great economies of scale, have wider reach and deeper pockets to invest in people, marketing and technology. Why bang your head against the wall trying to figure out how to beat them when it is much more productive spending that time making yourself so invaluable that they have to take you out to get what you have. If you examine the trends in various communications technologies over the last 30 years- paging, cellular, dial-up IP- they have all followed consolidation models. The small operator got in first, got a license where needed, hammered out a territory and started adding customers. Eventually, someone wanted those customers and that territory. For the operators that understood the timing and opportunity equation there was money on the table. Eventually the big operators buy enough territory and market share. Then they can settle down to the business of getting more $$ out of this larger customer base. When this happens the deal making can cool off pretty quickly. If you are still in the game at this point your valuation can decline rapidly. Always leave the dance while you are still having fun. chris I think what you are going to find is that the big WISP isn't going to be able to come to town and bully everybody. Instead, they are going to have to fork over the cash or not be competitive and secure themselves. -- WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
