somewhat of a guide/tutorial

obviously theres no step-by-step guide to starting a webhosting company, but a friend of mine said he would cover all costs if i could find the time to read into how to get one started up, we plan to actually run a webhost/shell company, but if theres a link, ebook, tutorial or whatever at all that would help me get started in the right direction with this, id definitely appreciate it

Haha, umm.... well there really is no guide to running a webhosting company... if there was than I'm sure all companies would be a success. Secondly no offense but this seems like it will become a kiddie host. If you are older I'm sorry but this is how I am interpreting this post.

Anywho... first things first, the server, and fees. You have to go find a reliable hosting company that offers dedicated servers at a reasonable price. Make sure they have a good uptime percentage. The uptime of the company can effect your company too!

2. Client Base:

Go tell your friends, family although I'm sure you won't be getting much money from them. If your hosting is good than word will spread by word of mouth. Advertise some reasonable prices that will neither make you lose profit, and will not cost the end-user to much.

Note: Don't advertise at forums that won't want advertising. This will give your company a bad repuation and will haunt you for the rest of the career.

3. Manage the fees and make sure you aren't loosing money. I know this will be the case within the first year or so, but when the business picks up than you'll be rolling in the cash!

4. After you do the last three things if you are successful, enjoy your time as a successful web hosting company!

You might find this place might help, http://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6. Lots of useful tips and tutorials in there.

I recently wrote a large article on this subject. You can find a copy of it here>> http://www.hostbidder.com/showthread.php?t=9081

No offense my-e-space, but I wouldn't exactly be reccomending yourself as the suecessful business of the year, after that thread in shared hosting. :)

Never claimed to be successfull nor unsuccessfull, just posting a link to an article I wrote in attempt to help people thinking about starting a web hosting business, sorry for tryign to help I guess :confused4

Apology accepted.

Actually that is a nice tutorial. Good job