The business situation at the start of this chapter

With no specific business idea, no business plan, no management structure and no finance, the situation might seem utterly hopeless. Yet, that is exactly the position I find myself in at the start of writing this chapter.

However, I have three important assets:

1) A Web presence: my personal Web site that explains who I am, what I have done and what I am doing.

2) A virtual cafe, which contains a number of valuable contacts.

3) A conceptual toolbox: a collection of mental models based upon past experiences

With only these three assets, I have to achieve the stated aim of the book, which is to create an e-business before the book is completed.

In fact the situation isn't as hopeless as it might appear to be. The apparent handicap of having no fixed business plan, no management structure and no funding is a distinct advantage at this stage. Freed from the constraints that would normally be imposed upon a conventionally funded business, I am able to use a low cost, low burn rate, freewheeling strategy that allows me to change course and direction at will, switching between opportunities and prospects as events unfold. I have total freedom to use my own discretion and have to account to nobody.

Such freedom is not available to funded businesses or businesses that have sold some of their equity in the Stock Market. They have to maintain a reasonable appearance of order and stability – which burns up capital even when the company is not trading. They have to rationalise their strategies, formalising them into written plans so that decisions can be explained and justified.

Imagine, telling a funding body that you are not sure whether the business is going to be creating a database for medical treatments, developing an Internet course for school children, designing and selling intelligent agent software, providing Web site construction services, building a system of ASPs (application service providers), forming a virtual social club, opening a penny bazaar, organising the servicing of aircraft, or, perhaps something else altogether. They would be tearing their hair out and insisting on bringing in new management. Yet, this is the exact situation I find myself in at the start of writing this chapter. These are the opportunities at hand.

How can such a situation make sense? This chapter is an attempt to provide a rational explanation.