So, instead of using SUMIF, I always use SUM or SUMPRODUCT using the trick that in Excel True and False are 1 and 0 when used in arithmetical operations. This is unbelievably flexible. For example, if you want to sum all the elements of column A if the element in B is between 1 and 10 then you have SUM(A1:A100 * AND(B1:B100 >=1, B1:B100 <=10)). You need to press Ctrl+Shift+Enter, as this is an array formula, but otherwise it works like a charm.
A small but important difference between this new function and SUMIF: SUMIF will sum all values in the array that match your search criteria, but this function will only return a single value.
Reading this I was considering point #6 and shutting down the system. If the proper alerts had shown a system improperly taking on massive positions, and the related risk in dollar terms, wouldn't shutting down be a better route than bankruptcy? In retrospect, would (could?) they have chosen that?
Of course, violating those SLA's could cause bankruptcy through client dissatisfaction but that seems less certain than bleeding out money.
Nice! Can you explain how your company makes money? Also, how did you fund the company's growth (did the partners invest capital or did you use the profit from operations, etc.?)
the business model is just the same of other metasearch: affiliation and ads. We bring traffic to transport companies, we get paid for that, without affecting the final ticket price. And ads.
The company was initially funded by my stubbornness only, along with a few bucks of server hosting. So far, never raised money, always self sustainable.
One thing to consider about consulting companies is they charge your time to the client by the hour, hence they want you working as many billable hours as possible. This is measured through utilization and in my experience I had to account for every 15 minute block of my day. This became a burden and eventually quite stress inducing ("Why are you only at 70% utilization?"). On the other hand, full time work is more relaxed. It is goal oriented but not down to the minute.
On the plus side, you will generally be exposed to more and different types of work in consulting, so you may learn and grow faster. You can also expand your network through clients you meet who can help you down the road.
What's more: he concludes with "P.S. I am out again looking for new opportunities". So besides being excellent at putting his work in front of his target audience, he may go 2 for 2 on the job front.
Chris got Steve's attention but never worked at reddit[1], Nina got Brian's attention[2] but never worked at Airbnb[3] and Feross got Chad's attention[4] but never worked at YouTube[5] even though TechCrunch jumped to report he accepted the job[6].
not sure what to make of it to be honest. they showed resourcefulness, which is good. but there's more to being a good employee at that. esp at a startup beyond a certain scale.
I got bit by a few ticks and we would always light a match, blow it out, and apply the still hot match to the visible back end of the tick. Scares the little bugger and they pop right out.
Unfortunately the way they pop out is, IIRC from Boy Scouts, at least in part, vomiting. So I was always taught to never induce them out because you'll still risk infection from the excreted stuff.
I consult on Oracle ERP software who are attempting to transition customers from their legacy, on premise (EBS) system to their hosted / managed SaaS (Cloud) offering. Main issues are:
1) Lack of customization options - in Oracle's case, their Cloud offering is hardly customizable (no database access) compared to the on prem version. Thus, key functionality is lost which makes running a business difficult.
2) Cost - you basically need to re-implement your business, which is a $1MM+ affair and tons of time and risk and consultants and work for your team. Plus the Cloud solution isn't that much cheaper in the end.
3) Bugs - the Cloud software is new and still has many problems. Let someone else fight those.
