Bootstrapping

Looking ahead to this week I am anxious to learn “The Art of Bootstrapping”.  Financials are those topics that I always tend to avoid or think we will worry about them later but as the author quoted, ““The leading cause of failure of startups is death, and death happens when you run out of money.”- Craig Johnson

 

Money is such a pest in the way of achieving the greater good of our ventures.  Everyone should want to change the conversation about race or make teachers more effective for our students or make hugging machines available to every child that could benefit from one OR…whatever other fantastic ideas that will do “good.”  But it doesn’t work that way and thank goodness we ask each other those hard questions during stakeholder presentations because I would continue to not answer them and never get anything moving if I didn’t know there would not be someone to ask me those questions and that I have the right answers to them. 

 

The two points that resonated with me from the article:

1)      Start as a service business

I think Amber has done a great job of knowing what she is passionate about and adapting her idea to make the greatest impact.  It is easy to have an idea and not remain flexible as it continues to evolve.  Amber and Mike have already chosen to offer consulting services to meet the need.  I think as the web platform will go through several phases it is important to diversify the available services while working out whatever kinks arise from the platform.  FaceRace will be able to continue to keep the cash flow going while continuing to expand the platform. 

2)      Position against the leader

The conversations about race are hard and uncomfortable, and thus the reason this venture is necessary.  Most users will have some kind of perception of Face Race from a previous diversity training or seminar.  Instead of telling the whole story, we can position our pitch to being…Face Race is like those expensive sessions you have had to sit through before in a large group, but instead is affordable, effective and more personal so you can ask questions without fear of being labeled or misunderstood.  Face Race can also happen on your own time, making it more flexible and used as a  tool rather than an obligation.

Finances may be pesky to me, but understanding and managing them will be imperative to launching any venture.  Joining Amber and Mike has already been a beneficial move for me to learn from others that have far greater financial strengths, backgrounds and real world experiences.  Learning goal this week: Be more comfortable facing those financials and learning “The Art of Bootstrapping.”