In “How to shoot a bullet through your startup - Signal vs. Noise (by 37signals)” 37signals warns against revisiting the excesses of the 90’s internet boom. What makes the Web such a great platform for a business?

  • It’s virtual: no bricks and mortar necessary.
  • It’s immediate: you can register a domain name and hosting in minutes and your site will be viewable by the entire world in 48 hours at the most.
  • It’s cheap: domain registration is about $8 and you can get solid hosting for development for $10/mo. WordPress is free, discussion boards are free, PHP is free, MySQL is free, Google is free…shall I go on?
  • It’s text: the great thing about the Web is that it is a technology designed sharing and interpreting text files. So all you need is a text editor (free) and knowledge of your language of choice (html, php, asp, perl) and you’re off.

So don’t believe bunk about how much money you have to burn through to be successful and profitable. The Web is about a good idea and a text editor. Anybody who tells you otherwise is selling something.