What exit strategy?

I once said that “investors only ever get married with divorce in mind”. In fact, it’s often the most popular question at most start up events. “What’s your exit strategy?”

 

At the Hive event last week, local entrepreneur Simon Crowe of Grill’d  had a refreshingly alternative view: He doesn’t have one.

 

  

 

What Simon wants to do is build a profitable business which grows beyond him. One which can operate without him. Simon gets it.

 

Here’s some advice all young entrepreneurs should heed. Because when you can achieve the above you don’t need an ‘exit’, you have ‘options’.

Reliability

4.17pm – Get email from friend advising of a small bug on rentoid.com

 

4.17pm – I email my main guy from my tech team to ask him to check it out  

4.21pm –  I receive email from my tech guy saying – bug fixed please check it!   

4.23pm – I email my friend advising that it’s all fixed saying – ‘my guy is quick.’ 

4.25pm – Friend emails me back saying “..Wow… that’s amazing.” Blog worthy!! 

As above.

Never underestimate the power strong relationships within supply chains. Strong relationships build efficient supply chains – not the other way around.

As seen on (TV) Google

As seen on TV Google… 

Back in the halcyon days of the TV industrial complex, an oft used selling point was the fact that something was actually on TV.

The thinking went something like this: 

  1. TV advertising is expensive
  2. They (brand X) are advertising on TV
  3. They have the money to make this investment
  4. So people must be buying this product
  5. This product must be good
  6. I will buy this product

as-seen-on-tv.jpg 

It built a sense of trust. Trust that evolved from assumed scale.  

Guess what? It’s back! Only this time it’s ‘as seen on front page of Google’. 

The new thinking isn’t too different:

  1. Google knows everything on the web
  2. It’s on the front page of Google
  3. Google has done the sorting for me
  4. Lots of people must be using this site
  5. Lots of sites must be linked to it
  6. I can buy from (trust) this website

The cool thing about this for start ups, is that it really only takes an investment in time and thinking to get there. Not a big media buy.

Prosumer UNM2PNM

A certain chapter in ‘Join the conversation’ struck a chord.

Chapter 5 – The Rise of the Prosumer.

To me this is the most compelling change in the business environment. JJ contends that business was so decidedly one-sided; lop-sided in favour of the supplier; the manufacturer; the marketer – that they completely overlooked the producing element.

Well JJ and startupblog agree that things have changed. The business world is now moving quickly from ‘producing stuff’ – to ‘providing infrastructure’. Infrastructure is becoming so cheap – consumers simply make their own ‘stuff’. We’re starting to consume the factors of production, not the factors from production – Prosumers.

Smart start ups ought to be thinking about what infrastructure we can provide, rather than what goods we can produce.