>>> 3. Hardware is hard, even when you don't manufacture it -- refurbishing + firmware modifying ip phones, poe equipment, etc ate into our runway

This is a great point, and brings back so many bad memories. Every phone provisions a little bit differently, and so many settings have unintended side effects. I spent so much runway building a dynamic, generic templating system when we should have just gone to market mostly static coded components customized on the fly.