Profit from day one
Expecting a profit from day one seems a very strange expectation, the majority of the costs involved in running a system will be sunk up front costs - buying hardware, time and effort to make processes, install and setup configuration, automated systems so the clients can create new subdomains themselves etc (ignoring all the costs for performing the bids, getting contracts written, reviewed and signed). The ongoing running costs once this is done are likely to be pretty trivial in comparison (power and on-going maintenance). Unless you charge all of this work up front to the customer (unlikely given that they are outsourcing probably to avoid upfront capex costs) you have to go on a model where early investment is repaid by later revenue.
The rest of the article makes good points though, what is the expected return on investment and how optimistic are the models?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
