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]