Need assistance starting a custom gaming computer manufacturer

A little information about myself before I start: I'm Nick Nishanian. A 16 year old who lives in LA, California and goes to all AP classes. Yes you know great a idiotic kids who thinks he can start a business. Well I've done it before.


Experience: In the past I've started 2 .com businesses which I've sold to a private buyer. Also since the age of 10 I've been helping and watching my dad in his business. He owns couple of the Hamton Inn & Suite hotels in California, He owned once of the most popular banquest halls in LA district which he sold, and also a major real estate owner. Also at age 15 I've gotten my front desk, night audit, and assistance management certification from Hilton to assist in my fathers hotels. So this clears up myself. Been building computers and repairing them since the age of 9.


What I want to do now: Since my video of my custom computer on YouTube, I've been asked by couple of individuals to make them computers, mainly custom gaming computers. Been doing this for over 4 months now and made well over $6,000. I decided if I can do this and enjoy doing it, why not start a business doing it.


What makes me different than others: I've been building and repairing computers since 9. I have a dream for these kind of stuff. I mainly want to build computer based on the gaming business and thats where most of the money comes these days. I also am I hard core gamer so when I build it comes, its build by not only gamers but hardcore gamers FOR hardcore gamers! I also have some stuff up my sleeve that I don't want to release to the public that will HIGHLY increase my reputation in the business cause of these strategy decesions I have in mind.


What do I need: I need assistance in starting the company. Where can I go to get a guide or some sort of information on companies started like this. I have the location already, its going to be at one of my dads buildings that he has set for me. It's not big but I can fit 10 computer docks for myself to work on since at the moment it'll just be me, it also has a desk room for myself and a front desk room. I need also have no idea where to buy the parts straight from the manufacturer since these days individuals buy from the reseller but I want to know where the reseller buys it from. Also how do warranty and issurance work? What legal action do I need? What certification do I need? What do I do? All these things need to be answered.


So please if any assistance will be welcomed, you can talk here or on my AIM sn at Nickwahh5. Thank you!

Bravo. You remind me of a young me When I was your age I started a computer service / consulting business and used to charge $95/hr to help people & small businesses with their computers. Was a good gig for me all the way through college!

Anyway, to start yourself up a PC manufacturing company you first must know that the competition is very stiff out there. You're going to concentrate on a niche, which is gaming -- and that is a good one, but there are still tons of competitors. I now work for the largest PC manufacturer in the world, and even though we have the best discounts, etc -- when all is said and done, I think our margin of profit on PC sales is something ridiculous like 3.6%, so unless you really focus on a specialty it is a very hard business to make money in. Gaming systems might have wider margins now, but as this industry goes -- in the future they will continue to tighten and tighten as competition grows.

If your funds are limited and you want to start out small, how about starting out on Ebay with your custom systems? There are a few companies that do this right now and they look like they are doing well. You could also advertise on craigslist and in the local classifieds if the price is right.

I'd reco incorporating as a 'wholesale' business for some liability protection, and getting a local sales tax id# so you can pay your taxes properly. I don't think you'd need to worry about insurance unless you are going to have a storefront, or unless you plan on sitting on so much inventory that you want to insure your inventory against being stolen or damaged by fire, flood, etc...

Best of luck to you!

- Hakrjak

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"Don't let good enough be good enough" -- Coach Bill Parcells to Tony Romo upon leaving the Dallas Cowboys.

Partner with a well known gamer and you'll get more business than you can handle if you do it correctly. At that point you can hire someone to do a lot of the computer building with you.

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http://snowbank23.blogspot.com/

Nick, welcome to the fastlane forums.

Thanks for your introduction.

We look forward to seeing more of you.

A word, though: Most of your one word replies to other threads have been deleted. They do not add to the quality of the thread.

Please keep this in mind when responding.

Thanks!

-Russ H.

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"Control everything. Own nothing." -John D. Rockefeller

"Don't confuse motion with action" -Ernest Hemingway

Thank you. At the moment yes I think I will be selling over Ebay and my main website. I will start off by creating custom computers already built and just selling them as is. Then once I get loyal customers to get active on my forum/chat I put on my website and get some nice ratings on Ebay and see my customer margin go up, I can start taking customer orders. Thank you.

Some questions

1. What employees do I need to hire in the future and now, as in staff and management. I know I need technicians and customer service. What else? VP of Marketing? VP of Foreign Affairs if I wanted to ship overseas etc...? Please assist
2. How can I copyright my NNTech name? Will it cost major cash?

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"If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants." - Sir Isaac Newton

As stated before, it is really competitive a lot of people can build their own PC.
However if you do manage to pull it off the rewards could be huge, in fact didn't Alienware start in a basement? Look how big they are now.

Good luck with it.