Before you begin
Keep the following caveats in mind before you begin the Rule of Thumb for startup IT spending:
- This analysis is not meant to be precise. The answer should be considered a back-of-the-envelope guess.
- While the questions reflect the main issues that determine IT budgets for startups, other unspecified challenges may affect spending up or down. For example, while the staff costs are on a fully loaded cash basis, the value of stock options given to the IT staff of dot-com startups is impossible to calculate, and as a result, is usuallly ignored in surveys on IT staff costs.
In addition, the data below reflects industry averages. The wide range of budget spending (100% variations among similar companies in the same industry are not uncommon) makes the averages only a rudimentary guide to industry IT budgets.
Furthermore, the values in this Rule of Thumb are based on surveys taken in 1999 and 1998. Given the soaring rate of IT salaries, the answers may be an underestimation of the spending expected in 2000.
- Legal disclaimer: Microsoft® Corp. provides this Rule of Thumb analysis
tool solely for self-evaluation. The tool is offered "as is."
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about this Rule of Thumb tool, please contact the editor of the Enterprise from Microsoft at: entfeed@microsoft.com. Unfortunately, the editors are not equipped to respond to questions about Microsoft software or other topics unrelated to the material on the Enterprise Web site. For technical support, please go to http://www.microsoft.com/support/
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