point of departure
n 1: a place from which an enterprise or expedition is launched;
"one day when I was at a suitable jumping-off place I
decided to see if I could find him"; "my point of
departure was San Francisco" [syn: jumping-off place]
2: a beginning from which an enterprise is launched; "he uses
other people's ideas as a springboard for his own";
"reality provides the jumping-off point for his
illusions"; "the point of departure of international
comparison cannot be an institution but must be the
function it carries out" [syn: springboard, jumping-off
point]