Side business plan · draft
Always-On: Texas installs, Cairo ops
We sell and install resilient internet and private home clouds in Texas. A small team in Egypt runs the monitoring and remote fixes while Austin sleeps. Later, Egyptian fab shops make our own hardware.
How it works
flowchart LR C[TX homes and small biz] -->|install fee + monthly plan| US[Michael + boss: sales, install, liability] US -->|sites, tickets, runbooks| EG[Egypt team: monitoring, remote fixes, scheduling] EG -->|service| C US -.month 6+.-> FAB[Egypt fab shops: own hardware line]
The defensible part stays in Texas: on-site work, licenses, insurance and the customer's trust. The part that scales with headcount goes to Egypt, where the same pay goes roughly ten times further.
Round-the-clock coverage
Austin time. Cairo runs 8 hours ahead for most of the year, so one normal day shift there covers 1–9am here. A second hire closes the 11pm–1am gap.
What we sell
Starting prices. Adjust after the pilots.
| Package | What's in it | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Always-On Internet | Dual WAN (cable + Starlink or cellular), failover router, UPS, mesh Wi-Fi | $1.5–3k install |
| Home Cloud | Private box for photos, backups, media and a family VPN | $1–2k + hardware |
| Watch plan | 24/7 monitoring, remote fixes, quarterly check-up | $49–149/mo |
Next two weeks
Sprint
Days 1–2 · Partner meeting
Come out of it with a signed one-page term sheet. Bring these defaults and change only what one of us objects to.
| Topic | Proposed default |
|---|---|
| Hours per week | 10–15 each to start |
| Starting cash | $2.5–5k each |
| Equity | 50/50 if time and cash are equal; 4-year vest, 1-year cliff |
| Roles | Michael: tech, hardware list, installs, runbooks. Boss: sales, finance, Egypt hiring |
| Decisions | Each owns their lane; ties go to a pre-agreed tiebreaker |
| Exit | Buy-sell clause; the LLC owns all IP |
| Egypt | Any contacts or language? Who travels there first? |
| Name | Three candidates, checked against domains and Texas SOS |
Days 3–5 · Company and reference kit
Week 2 · Market
Budget to first pilot
| Item | Estimate |
|---|---|
| LLC + EIN | ~$300 |
| Lawyer review of operating agreement | $1–2k |
| Reference kit | $1.5–2.5k |
| Insurance | $75–150/mo |
| VPS, domain, tools | ~$30/mo |
| Total | ~$3–5k |
After the sprint
Weeks 2–6
First customers
One standard hardware list so the Egypt team supports one stack. 3–5 pilots at cost for testimonials.
Weeks 6–12
Runbooks + first Egypt hire
Write a runbook for every alert seen in pilots. Hire one CCNA-level contractor through Deel, about $600–1,200/mo (to verify). Paid two-week trial on real alerts, every action reviewed.
Months 4–6
Scale
20–30 sites on the Watch plan, about $2–3k/mo recurring, enough for two Egypt staff. Add battery and generator installs with the electrician partner. Start sourcing our own enclosures from Egyptian fab shops, after a visit.
When to stop or pivot
Day 90: fewer than 5 paying customers means we rethink the offer or the market.
Month 6: if Watch plan revenue doesn't cover Egypt payroll, pause hiring.
Licensing to verify: cameras and access control need a Texas DPS Private Security license; transfer switches, batteries and generators need a TDLR-licensed electrician. Network, Wi-Fi and failover work is generally unlicensed.