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According to Joe McKendrick, cloud computing is laying the groundwork for a new generation of business startups.  “The study of 1,300 U.S. and U.K. executives, conducted by Rackspace Hosting with support from Manchester Business School in the U.K., finds cloud engagements are delivering positive impacts, from cost savings to more innovation. Interestingly, the survey also reveals that most of these executives see cloud as laying the groundwork for the next entrepreneurial boom.”

Indeed, cloud computing provides new businesses with the opportunity to fulfill most if not all of their IT needs using a very cost effective rental model.  This typically includes services such as Google Apps for e-mail, calendaring, document sharing, office automation, etc., and shared storage systems such as Dropbox, just to name a few.

In the survey, sixty-two percent of respondents agreed totally or somewhat with the statement that “Cloud computing is a key factor in the recent boom of entrepreneurs and start-ups.”  Twenty-five percent agreed strongly with this idea.

I’ve started companies before, and as recently as 10 years ago, the minimum to get IT infrastructure up-and-running was a million dollars.  Now you can do it for as little as $100 a month, if employees bring their own computers and devices.  At this price, we can start a new venture with much lower risk.