I just moved to a new town and was thinking it would be great to do something like this. I was inspired by the guys I posted in the earlier article.

Curious about startup costs/financing.

$12-36K for 12 months fiber. ~$36k in software/equipment costs is probably a safe floor. Lease is toooooooo variable to ballpark.

I wouldn't do it with less than $100k on the assumption you are burning money for the first year and any income is reinvested into marketing.

You probably need a minimum of 500 people for this to be viable.

(author here) this sounds about right to me. I definitely know people who have gotten started for less (a friend recently just sold a car for $10k and went for it - making enough now to support his family) but obviously safer to have some cushion.

I usually guess 300-500 customers to be able to pay yourself a reasonable salary and maintain the business, depending on how much you hire vs do yourself.

This is really good to hear, as it seems like a very viable business in a small town like the one I have moved to.

We have a high population density in the downtown area and folks favor local over corporate offerings around here.

Keep up the good work on documentation - it was very interesting to read yesterday.

One aside, what do you consider an appropriate salary to pay yourself when you reach that 300-500 user mark.

I currently run a business and it's been a situation where at times I'll trim my salary back, and make my money on the backend when I am profitable. I'd presume much of the same approach would work here, just curious.

Also seems 100MB rates down and 5mb up in my neighborhood costs around $40/month - do you try to compete heavily on rates?

Hi Neo!

> what do you consider an appropriate salary to pay yourself when you reach that 300-500 user mark.

Depends on your situation obviously but something like 80-120k.

> Also seems 100MB rates down and 5mb up in my neighborhood costs around $40/month - do you try to compete heavily on rates?

That's not too bad! If people are satisfied with that then it might be tough to get customers. It could be that those are advertised speeds but people aren't actually seeing those speeds, esp at night when they try to watch netflix, so that could be a selling point - even a lower but more consistent speed package can sometimes win over a flashy marketed package that doesn't deliver. Also if people really hate the cable company enough (many do!) then they'll switch even for the same price. Doesn't have to be the lowest cost option (but it definitely helps!)