To make a long story short, we’re selling a product and a business plan vs. an equity stake – and looking for an entrepreneur without an idea to start up a great project.

In our academic project course at Ecole Centrale Paris, Pierre Pattard, Jean-Sébastien Hächler & I have been developing a network mapping software (see here for the birth of the project, and there for when we got started) and an appropriate business plan to assess cash generation potential for our solution.

Back in beginning of October 2006, we came up with an idea resulting from a market gap yet to be filled in, convinced the very best network security audit company in France (namely, Ercom) to become our corporate sponsor, were coached by a researcher from research institution CEA for the technical aspects and an ex long-time marketing director at Microsoft (& blogger) for the idea validation and innovation strategy issues.

The current situation of the project is the following:

• the business case we built our software around shows a clear pathway to profitability within 1 or 2 years depending on yours sales skills;
• a prototype is on its way and should be RTMed by mid-March 2007. Jean-Sébastien & Pierre, two of the smartest & most skilled guys I’ve ever met on top of being really laid back & open minded, have done a really amazing job on the actual development of network scanning & mapping strategies, and I just started programming the Human-Machine interface – to be added to the existing (and working pretty well!) piece of sofware in February.

As soon as we finish classes (end of April 2007), Pierre & Jean-Sébastien will be joining Amadeus, a company devising software for airlines & the travel industry in general, and become software developers, and I’ll be with going at Microsoft. In other words, none of us is planning on starting up a company that appears everyday more appealing and profitable to us. The three of us believe we still have a great deal to learn working at well-established, well-managed and yet dynamic technology corporations.

So, and this move might be the very first of its kind on the blogosphere as of today, we’ve got this deal for you:

• We provide you with the software prototype source code compiling and running, tell you more about the business case & development plan assumptions (actually, it’s hard to guess what service you may offer unless we tell you), extensive training, and introductions to potential clients and distributors we’re already in touch with.

• You start up a company around the CartoRéso (the name of the academic project) technology and either give us a share of the venture (preferred solution for us; numbers to be discussed but should be between to 6% to 15% for the 3 of us, depending on the package) or buy the whole package from us against cash (we’re in favor of equity though, since you’ll need the cash to get started).

What sort of person are we looking for?

You don’t need to have so much experience about life or business, just the drive to start up your own company, and change something in the landscape of enterprise computer network infrastructure management. Given the fact that the day-to-day running the company should be extremely technology-intensive, we might favor software developers or computer network specialists, or at least engineers with a solid technical background, over other profiles when making our decision. However, you’re most welcome to apply whatever your background may be – we’d be glad to get to meet and consider seriously and professionnally a partnership together.

Launching the project requires funding that we will not provide. Raising funds from angels being a tangible option, you shouldn’t feel constrained if you don’t have the capital to get started. What you need most is stamina, drive and passion.

Feeling interested? Getting curious? If and only if you’re appealed by the content (enterprise computer network mapping solutions) of the project and ready to thoroughly assess feasibility, please send me an e-mail stating why you’re attracted by this business opportunity and how you would consider starting up the relationship with us. I’ll call you soon after to set up a meeting.

Requirement: be established in the European Union, willing to spend some time in France during the first year. Good command of French appreciated.

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2. Network Mapping Software Project Kick-Off
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