CAPTAIN’S BLOG, STARDATE July 26th 2010
I never thought I’d say it, but thank Vulcan for Spock and his spreadsheets. Since the testing on Piloti, he’s been beavering away on our pricing to see what we should charge to sustain the work (and build a bit of a war chest). He’s built our core costs, our salaries and overheads, into the unit cost, which is useful…but a bit scary, especially the heat, light and medicine here on board. I’ve had to have a pretty stern word with Scotty about our fuel costs: those dilithium crystals don’t come cheap, so he’s going to look into some renewable options that might help cut our costs. And Bones has agreed to turn off the sick-bay lights at night, and do more preventative, health and fitness work (much cheaper than treating illnesses later on with that fancy medical gadgetry of his). He’s less than delighted about the whole thing, needless to say.
Spock’s in his element, though, and it’s all good. I’ve been able to go into meetings with various potential customers, and it least if I’ve cut a few deals, I know what I’m cutting from. A relationship I’d been nurturing back at Starfleet came through as well with some central investment: it was down to a mix of great research from Uhura on what they normally fund, a stellar (no pun intended) application from Sulu, credible financials from Spock, and a fair dollop of the old James Tiberius charm. They liked the work we’d done on Piloti (and Spock’s data), and were willing to take a punt on us. Curiously, I think my honesty with them about what had gone well and what had gone badly meant they trusted us more; and they loved the stories I told that brought the work alive.
Great news for everyone: I even bought Bones a bottle of whisky to cheer him up. Spock turned down a wee dram in celebration, preferring instead to start looking for more funding and investment opportunities. Coloured spreadsheet-arama. I’ve got a few more leads that I’m pursuing more directly as well: it’s all about the face-to-face and a bit of eyelash fluttering.
Ciao for now.
