Seizing the means of production: Income security, cloud applications, serial entrepreneurship

Once you’ve mastered the means of creating scalable web businesses, do you build one solid business and push it to greatness?  Do you sell it and move on to the next big idea?  Do you build a string of hopefuls and try to push each of them over the top?  I imagine you’d want to keep some equity in every idea but keep trying new things until The Big One finally hits.

Career management blog JibberJobber suggests we focus on “income security” rather than job security.

Personal finance bloggers like Steve at BripBlap consistently encourage the development of multiple streams of passive income as a means of regaining control of our financial lives.  Once you can go six months without needing a paycheck, the balance of power between you and the rest of the employment/business markets will shift.

AdaptiveBlue CEO and grid computing expert Alex Iskold believes in the flexibility of Amazon’s cloud services as the foundation for a web business.  The AWS pricing structure seems to scale linearly, making it easy to start an unused app and then simple to predict the scaling costs as the app gains traction. Alex sold his first startup in 2003 and now he’s working on another.  Can Alex extend his current business into a string of viable web applications?

Tech- and startup-friendly initiatives like LaunchMemphis can probably provide advising for how to identify partners and investors.  If you can’t find one in your area, you can always contact the LaunchMemphis team online.

HelpDesk manager and social media enthusiast Andy Glover thinks there’s no reason a business idea should be restrained by the (lack of) availablity of IT talent in the surrounding area.  Using AdaptiveBlue as our model, we can see that Andy is probably right.

Image credit: Steve Wampler

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