Sam the Entrepreneur

Sam is an entrepreneur who runs a small business that sells a variety of specialty computer components from a busy web site. He has two staff members who help run the business out of Sam's garage, handling fulfillment. Sam's business has very tight margins, and he is accustomed to running a no-frills operation.

For years, Sam has run his web site using individual consultants who help handle development and support. The consultants all have regular jobs and support Sam's company on the side to earn extra money. As Sam's web site has grown in complexity, he finds that the part-time consultants are not able to keep up with his demands—and importantly—provide support when he demands it.

A few months ago, Sam hired an offshore firm that promised to have two developers working full-time on his web site for only a little more than he was paying his last consultant. This worked out well for a month, until Sam noticed that various parts of his web site stopped working and he had trouble communicating clearly with the developers on the project.