How to launch a spirits company

1. How To Launch a (Spirits)
Company
New Orleans, July 2014

2. OUR GOAL FOR TODAY
First..

3. GOAL
A KICK IN THE ASS.

4. GOAL
CONFIDENCE.

5. GOAL
REASONS FOR FAILURE…
1. Partnerships!
2. Cash Flows
3. Unclear Vision
4. Unclear Customer

6. BEGIN!?
So…

7. The Caveat
Advice is a form of nostaligia. Dispensing it
is a way of fishing the past from the
disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly
parts, and recycling it for more than it’s
worth.
- Mary Schmich

8. So… Begin!?
“If you think you can do it, or
you think you can’t do it,
you are right.”
- Henry Ford

9. So… Begin!?
1. The Elevator Pitch (60 sec)
2. The Investor Pitch (25 min)
3. The Business Plan (30-60 pages)

10. So… Begin!?
Excuses, excuses..

11. THE IDEA.

12. The Idea
“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”
“In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected
thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated
majesty. Great works of art have no more affecting
lesson for us than this. They teach us to abide by our
spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility
then most when the whole cry of voices is on the other
side. Else, tomorrow a stranger will say with masterly
good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all
the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our
own opinion from another.”
- Emerson

13. The Idea
TRUST.
THY.
SELF!

14. The Idea
“Ideas have no value, if they did,
there would be a market for them.”
- Unknown

15. The Idea
Beware of solutions in search of a problem
Vitamin or Pain Pill?
Beware of all things to all people
Entrepreneurial opportunity?
A clear WHY
Easy to understand?

16. The Idea
1. Distill it down to it’s essence – The
Elevator Pitch. (Reasons for failure #3
and #4)
To <customers>, that <problem being
solved>, we offer <solution>. Unlike
<reference set>, we provide <unique
advantage>.

17. The Idea
2. The Investor Pitch – Expand
a. Executive Summary
b. Proposition
c. Team
d. Window of Opportunity
e. User Adoption
f. Market
g. Finances
h. Risk

18. The Idea
3. The Business Plan.

19. The Idea
3. The Business Plan.
Does anyone ever read Business Plans?

20. PARTNERS

21. Partners
Reason #1 why start-ups fail!

22. Partners
Go it alone, or with partners?
How many partners?
Who to partner with?

23. Partners
How to avoid break-downs:
1. What would love do?
2. Clarity in absurdum
3. Lawyer the fuck up
4. Skin in the game
5. Vesting schedules
6. The Triangle Exercise

24. Partners
WHY?

25. Partners
Life Style
Growth Social

26. Partners
Life Style
Growth Social

27. Partners
What partners?
• A clear leader
• Complementary skills, knowledge
• Clear role allocation
• Get a numbers guy
• Experience in entrepreneurship is a big
plus

28. MONEY

29. Money
Rule #1 – don’t need money

30. Money
Rule #2 – money will come when it
needs to come

31. Money
Rule #3 – Never, EVER accept
Personal Liability

32. Money
Sources – The Traditional View
1. The 3 F’s
2. Angels
3. Venture Capital
4. IPO

33. Money
Sources – Outside the box
• The 3 F’s
• Crowd Funding
• Crowd Lending
• Amex
• Government Grants
• Sponsorship
• Factoring
• Favors

34. Money
Profitable
≠
Cash Flow Positive

35. Money
Projections

36. LIVE THE DREAM (Q&A)
Now Go Forth..

37. LIVE The Dream
You can’t dabble in entrepreneurship

38. LIVE The Dream
Constant Personal Improvement

39. LIVE The Dream
“Failure”

40. LIVE The Dream
“I have not failed. I have successfully
identified 1,000 ways you can
not construct a light bulb”
- Edison

41. LIVE The Dream
Marathon not a sprint

42. LIVE The Dream
Company Culture

43. LIVE The Dream
Small Stakeholders

44. Thank You.

45. Backup Slides