About me: co-founded two companies (SaaS and mobile spaces), Yale MBA (sorry!), PM at Amazon, VC and international experience, human-centered design advocate - looking to work on product for ambitious consumer focused company
1. calculating the total combined value all involved parties receive from making a deal
2. trying to increase this value above and beyond their BATNAs
3. then carving up and sharing this excess
So it's about focusing on specialized synergies and value creation. For a more in-depth read I'd recommend Co-Opetition by Brandenburger and Nalebuff (whose class on Negotiations I just completed): http://www.amazon.com/Co-Opetition-Revolution-Combines-Compe...
By outsourcing he merely means delegating work to someone who is not an employee of the company - or rather, "to a freelance designer or firm." The OP makes no distiction between or contention for or against local, domestic or international workforces.
FB no longer functions this way for me - but Quora populates my full name and pic right after entering my email address (i.e. no credential submission required).
37signals offers a 30-day free trial for paid plans, but clearly states: "If you cancel a paying plan within 30 days of signing up you won't be charged a thing. We'll send you an email 5 days before your first charge to remind you."
In addition they also offer FREE plans for their services - which require no CC at sign-up and allow you to upgrade at any time.
Edit: Any comments on the downvotes would be helpful as I was just trying to supply more detailed information on the actual process being discussed.
The mini-documentary season Everest: Beyond the Limit (streaming on Netflix) is a pretty interesting watch, and chronicles an expedition to the top - including a climber who actually encountered David Sharp on the mountain, while he was still alive, and the thought-process / decision of having to leave him behind.
Also, even though Everest is the highest mountain the world...
Annapurna has the highest fatality to summit ratio of all mountains @ ~40%.
And K2, with the second highest fatality rate (and 2nd highest elevation), is generally regarded as the most physically difficult and technically challenging.
Your comment reminded me of how a lot of sales training / pick-up artist gaming revolves around neuro-linguistic programming.
Mirroring & matching, imitating the body language, tone, speed, diction of those you interact with, is an important facet of NLP and subsequently the art of persuasion - and as an aside, having preset rules to follow makes one feel as though they are playing a 'role' and acting, thereby increasing confidence as well.
Me and a friend, both non-technical, started a service oriented company 6 years ago.
Now we're switching our focus to SaaS and even have some $$ to pay contractors / employees...
But how do we evaluate talent?
How do we delegate?
How do we understand (much less give input) on technical decisions?
What happens when (not if) they leave and move on?
Being vulnerable to and leaving that much decision-making responsibility to 'employees' who aren't invested like you are is a recipe for failure - entrepreneurs make things happen and get things done, but how much of that can you do if you don't understand the core of what your business does - software?
Location: NYC
Remote: Yes
Willing to relocate: SF or LA
Resume/CV: http://bit.ly/1pWS0k7
Email: (on resume)