Interesting protocol, thank you for sharing and correcting my misunderstanding.
Uncertain-latency Not designed for RTC.
At first glance, this looks like a client broadcasts the Whisper to another server which than places it in a cache and might forward to more clients if enabled. Eventually the cache is cleared and there's no telling if the message will propagate successfully in any given time frame?
More or less it's how you described it. The current implementations broadcast messages to all connected peers supporting the protocol every a few hundreds of milliseconds.
It's also true that there is no confirmation that the message reached the recipient (in order to provide dark routing). This can be built on top of Whisper in a separate communication protocol.
I created a order taking ios app for companies in Italy with Sales reps.
Here's all my first sale story.
-Inbound marketing
I setup a web site...and eventually got some leads (name email phone).
-Qualifying call
I call them up and asked them about the problem they were trying to solve.
Many of them were just Software tourists (people that sign up just for fun)
but some looked promising.
-Skype meeting Setup.
Some of them asked me to visit them... I said yes, but I told them that I would to set up a short Skype meeting first to understand their problem better... In reality I just wanted to know I there where really App-Worthy before doing the human brochure.
-Skype meeting.
At the beginning of the skype meeting I would try to know more about them, their role in the company etc.. After a little warm up I would dive into the problems list and asked them what my app should do for them rather then just presenting my app.
I asked them if they already have a budget, and when they would like to solve the problem
I show them part of my app (only the parts they asked for)
and clearly asked them from 1 to 10 if they think my app would solves their problem.
If I got a vote 8 or below I asked what it would take to reach a 10.
If I got a vote above 8 I asked what we should next..
Most of them usually reply "send me a proposal"
-End of story
After few days... I received my first signed proposal... without meetng them.
this all sounds about right. refinements i would add:
* don't ask the customer what the next step is, tell them, show them, push them in the right direction. they have a job to do, and don't want to think about yours.
* also setup a final proposal review meeting for last minute q&a. ask what any last hurdles might be. then push hard for the signature, buyers respect a seller who is confidently trying to drive the schedule forward. be polite but drive forward.
* include a deposit, if not the entire licensing fee as a requirement to start work/deployment. a customer that does not pay you is not a real customer, they are trying to manipulate you for some other purpose i.e. reducing their incumbent vendor's price.
* if you have a working product, do not, under any circumstances, offer any kind of "30 day out" clause, or refund, or whatever. this just means you are going to waste 30 days of your time and money. this is fine for SaaS with freemium, but not enterprisey sales/services driven deals.
in larger businesses you can be flexible on the last point (i.e. accepting a purchase order instead of cash), but as a small shop you can't afford to waste your time or be jerked around by assholes.
but honestly i wouldn't even worry about it, if you're a newbie at sales, it's 100% guaranteed you're going to learn that the hard way. c'est la vie.
the 'what happens next' question should be answered or asked depending on the client's personality. sometimes the client wants to be a little important in the negotiations or the company clearly has their own way of doing things, so I ask them 'now what', but it is never asked so bluntly. More along the lines of "To move forward, I typically would send you a proposal/invoice, but I would defer to you on how you company handles this. What works for you?"
I've been a software tourist dozens of times. Even have a Google Voice mailbox just for software salesman to blackhole into.
I'm just curious about stuff. I want to play with the trial, read the manual, see the data sheets and whitepapers, etc. But your stupid website demands my contact information. I'm not trying to waste your time, and if you'd just let me at the damn PDFs I wouldn't.
>>I'm just curious about stuff. I want to play with the trial, read the manual, see the data sheets and whitepapers, etc. But your stupid website demands my contact information.
It's so that a few days after you download the PDF, someone can contact you and ask what you thought. I've been in that position a few times and I really appreciated it, because I was really busy and had totally forgotten to read the material.
Besides, it's a really, really good way to identify which companies are worth doing business with. You provide your contact info to five companies and then check to see which ones care enough to call you vs. just spam you with junk. IME signals like that matter as much as the product itself.
Why wouldn't it? Have an automated email sent ~8-11am in the morning their time, personalize it with their name, ask for their thoughts. They either reply or don't - either way, automation made sure you didn't waste any time.
OK, if you don't want to engage with the company, no need to engage. No need to make it a principles battle. Not every business is concerned about entertaining your itch for reading.
I assume you didn't accumulate the 128297 pdf's in the space of a day or a week or even an year (that would be over 351 pdf's per day, every day of the year). I assume you download like what? 10 pdf's per day? If you can take the time to visit 10 company websites and go through their documentation every day, I assume you cab find the time to read (and possibly respond to) 10 emails per day
If you can take the time to visit 10 company websites and go through their documentation every day, I assume you cab find the time to read (and possibly respond to) 10 emails per day
Many software professionals can become a free sales force if software companies would let them. I may tour dozens of solutions for different things - I'm educating myself on what's out there, and just because I'm not in your sales funnel now, it doesn't mean that I won't leave business at your door step in the future (which I've done several times throughout my career)
This also translates to small businesses as well. It is similar to the approach I take. Biggest difference is that the proposal I send is closer to a contract (with payment terms clearly defined).
I really appreciate the Italia Startup Visa effort, but here's the facts...
THE CONS:
Italy environment is toxic for a startup.
Italy is a MandarinCracy.
It is a country, not ruled by politicians, but by self serving high level officials. They oversee 4 million strong public workforce, and have created the most complex set of rules & regulations and to justify they own existence along with the highest taxation (80%) on the world to pay for them.
THE PROS
Italy Freelance workforce is great for a startup.
They have a huge freelancers Workforce, (designers and Developers) with the same talent found in the Silicon Valley at the fraction of the cost. ($28K to $40K year salary). They are called "popolo delle partite iva" and are de facto a second level citizen. They do not have the same privileges as the rest of the 50+ workforce. Still.. they will work hard and passion for any project with great critical thinking.
My final advice:
Create a business somewhere else (UK or US) and setup a small R&D development team in Italy
I don't understand why people like to bash on their own country.
80%? Not certainly for everyone.
As a freelance I pay 5% until I reach an higher level of income and I'll be able to pay more taxes. On top of this there's 21% for retirement contributions.
Is there any other country where a lower amount of taxes is paid?
You stupid idiot. You're describing "regime dei minimi" as if it was a regular taxation for freelancers, but it's definitely not.
"Regime dei minimi" is a taxation level available only if you bill not more than 30'000 €/year. Note this is not net income, but gross income.
So you go down to 22'000€ after taxes (21% + 5%) and then you have to take away your own costs, and then you can keep some money for yourself. Also, if you live in a big city (let's say Rome or Milan) that is definitely not going to be enough to live a peaceful life and raise a family.
Oh, but that's a secondary problem: the first one is finding clients that are actually going to pay you in full.
If anything goes wrong laws take ages and the cost of lawyers and time spent in court vastly overcomes what you're losing.
The Amazon Glacier Secret is hidden in plan sight.
I think is just a virtual product. Probably unused S3 capacity, at a much lower price, not a different technology.
Maybe Glacier stores in the unused parts of S3 disk sectors, the empty part of the last sector of files that don't completely fill 512k. Takes 4-5 hours to retrieve because it has to pull without impacting dozens or hundreds of S3 drives.
