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How long did you took for your company to grow?
- Thread starter Inviative
- Start date
The norm for 5000 clients is around 4-5+ years minimum. Most hosts (Due to the many number of other hosts out there) will only get 100ish stable clients per year, and by stable, I mean, clients that are with you all the time, not that are going to leave after a few months.
Not wanting to put you down or anything, but realisticly the only hosts going to get more than 100+ per year regardless of their marketing strategy's are like hostgator, 1&1 ect.
If you are truely serious about your business you should have your budget securely in place for the next 2-3 years at-least supporting your servers and any outgoing finances you plan.
Good luck anyway
If you are truely serious about your business you should have your budget securely in place for the next 2-3 years at-least supporting your servers and any outgoing finances you plan.
Good luck anyway
Should average about 10+ customers per month at most, depending on your strategy its not really the best industry at the moment with so many hosts already established aswell as the ongoing credit crunch not alot of people are willing to invest in websites.
I can see it being like the great domain crash, hopefully it will pick up for smaller hosts.
I can see it being like the great domain crash, hopefully it will pick up for smaller hosts.
SiberForum
New Member
Why took. That is still growing and I'm happy with that. 
If thats the case, won't we be running on a loss instead?
Not if you start of realisticly, ie dont start on a massive dedicated server if you are new & dont have alot of customers. Try starting on a low end reseller/vps
You plan on getting more clients by downgrading? Never use a reseller for a paid client.
I mean I prefer getting a VPS than reseller account as it isn't as reliable as having a VPS
The hosting market is oversaturated. Think about how you choose a host, you look for reviews and see how long they've been around. Most people end up doing that so when you first start off, you have a small chance of getting people. However, as time goes on, you start picking up clients and getting reviews. Then, maybe you will start growing at a nice rate. However, that might take a while...
Start off with a small VPS and upgrade that as needed. Move to a dedicated server only when you are ready.
Start off with a small VPS and upgrade that as needed. Move to a dedicated server only when you are ready.
I've said this to you several times... but I guess you just have to lose plenty of money like I did before you'll realize it. You shouldn't get into hosting. It's a very weird business, only the best people that completely know what they're doing will succeed.
To answer your question, I never got that big, at our peak we were doing good though.... that was a result of careful advertising and overselling. We actually found a niche and ran with it....
...Just avoid offering things you can't provide, like 24/7 support.... but even (at least one) some of the people posting here still haven't gotten that concept down yet.
24/7 doesn't mean you have someone checking your inbox every 4 hours to see if theres anything new. I had an 8 hour support response guarantee, and I was only comfortable doing that because I got text messages whenever someone made a ticket.
To answer your question, I never got that big, at our peak we were doing good though.... that was a result of careful advertising and overselling. We actually found a niche and ran with it....
...Just avoid offering things you can't provide, like 24/7 support.... but even (at least one) some of the people posting here still haven't gotten that concept down yet.
24/7 doesn't mean you have someone checking your inbox every 4 hours to see if theres anything new. I had an 8 hour support response guarantee, and I was only comfortable doing that because I got text messages whenever someone made a ticket.
There are many people looking for hosting on the internet, but there are also many hosts on the internet as well.
Gaining money and reputation in the hosting industry for a new startup host, is one of the hardest things possible.
As I have said to many other people - Dont expect to gain a profit, or for that matter, break even, for the first 3-5 months.
If your starting a hosting company to make a profit quickly - Don't, as you wont. Hosting is a very hard industry, and you can only hope to make real profit ($100+/month pure profit) after a year or two.
If you start hiring staff, you wont break even for at least 6 months, but at some point, you will need to hire more staff, as some of your clients will see the 4-5 hours sleep you get a day too long to have to wait for a reply, i've been there, done that
Also - Sorry to say it, but I think we all know its true these days - Its even harder for a host in the current indusrty now-a-days if the host does NOT oversell. People are looking for more space/bandwidth for their buck to say, therefore, the overselling hosts are doing much better than the non-overselling ethical hosts.
Unlimited Diskspace/Bandwidth hosting accounts sales are at an all time high, but you need to be able to support that claim via clustering, which means a very high setup cost, and an even longer time where your not breaking even.
Gaining money and reputation in the hosting industry for a new startup host, is one of the hardest things possible.
As I have said to many other people - Dont expect to gain a profit, or for that matter, break even, for the first 3-5 months.
If your starting a hosting company to make a profit quickly - Don't, as you wont. Hosting is a very hard industry, and you can only hope to make real profit ($100+/month pure profit) after a year or two.
If you start hiring staff, you wont break even for at least 6 months, but at some point, you will need to hire more staff, as some of your clients will see the 4-5 hours sleep you get a day too long to have to wait for a reply, i've been there, done that
Also - Sorry to say it, but I think we all know its true these days - Its even harder for a host in the current indusrty now-a-days if the host does NOT oversell. People are looking for more space/bandwidth for their buck to say, therefore, the overselling hosts are doing much better than the non-overselling ethical hosts.
Unlimited Diskspace/Bandwidth hosting accounts sales are at an all time high, but you need to be able to support that claim via clustering, which means a very high setup cost, and an even longer time where your not breaking even.
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Perhaps some clarification should be put on that...
Profit can be attained after 3-5 months, I'll admit that, but in all honesty, I think you're more likely looking at... at least 6 months, but it depends on your setup, whether you're using a VPS or dedicated, what your control panel costs are, what your billing system costs are, what your web design costs are, legal fees, and other completely unexpected costs.
hmm..I've said this to you several times... but I guess you just have to lose plenty of money like I did before you'll realize it. You shouldn't get into hosting. It's a very weird business, only the best people that completely know what they're doing will succeed.
To answer your question, I never got that big, at our peak we were doing good though.... that was a result of careful advertising and overselling. We actually found a niche and ran with it....
...Just avoid offering things you can't provide, like 24/7 support.... but even (at least one) some of the people posting here still haven't gotten that concept down yet.
24/7 doesn't mean you have someone checking your inbox every 4 hours to see if theres anything new. I had an 8 hour support response guarantee, and I was only comfortable doing that because I got text messages whenever someone made a ticket.
For your first point, I completely agree, as I do the same too..
I'm thinking of starting off with a small VPS for shared and another cheap and reliable dedicated server to turn it into a few VPS. Is this a possible idea
There are many people looking for hosting on the internet, but there are also many hosts on the internet as well.
Gaining money and reputation in the hosting industry for a new startup host, is one of the hardest things possible.
As I have said to many other people - Dont expect to gain a profit, or for that matter, break even, for the first 3-5 months.
If your starting a hosting company to make a profit quickly - Don't, as you wont. Hosting is a very hard industry, and you can only hope to make real profit ($100+/month pure profit) after a year or two.
If you start hiring staff, you wont break even for at least 6 months, but at some point, you will need to hire more staff, as some of your clients will see the 4-5 hours sleep you get a day too long to have to wait for a reply, i've been there, done that
Also - Sorry to say it, but I think we all know its true these days - Its even harder for a host in the current indusrty now-a-days if the host does NOT oversell. People are looking for more space/bandwidth for their buck to say, therefore, the overselling hosts are doing much better than the non-overselling ethical hosts.
Unlimited Diskspace/Bandwidth hosting accounts sales are at an all time high, but you need to be able to support that claim via clustering, which means a very high setup cost, and an even longer time where your not breaking even.
I'm figuring out how to get a good reputation now.. I don't mind not earning for the first few months but at least don't lose money instead..
$100+/mth needs at least 2 years? That tough? :confused4
I should be able to settle the staff problems
Actually, I'm also thinking of overselling.. But I have a thought that it is very dishonest to do so too..
As far as I know, clustering isn't cheap when it comes to quite a number of servers..
YourData1st
New Member
You probably don't want to advertise too much that you oversell. Everyone knows that overselling goes on, but it should be kept secret unless asked. I am a firm believer in honestly, but like I said unless someone asks, then don't tell. If I was asked today if I oversell, I could honestly say no I don't, because at this time I have more space then clients and I also don't try to advertise above my means.
I do agree about the not offering 24 hours of support. I tried that, but being woken up at 3 A.M. stopped being fun after the first time it was for something trivial.
For me right now that best thing is reading the hosting requests from this forum. It gives me an idea of what I need to offer. Not everyone cares so much about unlimited space. They seem to care more about reliability and support. The support part is easy, but reliability is only perceived if you have been in the business for a while - like over a year.
I do agree about the not offering 24 hours of support. I tried that, but being woken up at 3 A.M. stopped being fun after the first time it was for something trivial.
For me right now that best thing is reading the hosting requests from this forum. It gives me an idea of what I need to offer. Not everyone cares so much about unlimited space. They seem to care more about reliability and support. The support part is easy, but reliability is only perceived if you have been in the business for a while - like over a year.
