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- Weekly Update September 26th
Weekly Update September 26th
My First Investor Said "Never Again"
Hey ,
Happy Monday! My first investor told me they would never invest in a company like mine again… and I agree. Here’s why…
PS. If you were forwarded this newsletter, please
.
First off, I loved my investors. They knew our category really well and we’re big supporters of me.We raised our first round of $100,000 when doing just $10,000 in revenue. We sold 20% equity for that investment.We didn’t have product market fit, our product needed a lot of improvement, and it was difficult to produce.Now, that first $100,000 did allow us to work on the business full time, but it also meant that we were now responsible to our investors to grow the business as fast as possible and start the investment hamster wheel.Quite frankly our company wasn’t growth capital ready. We had a lot of things to still figure out.Our first 4 years included a lot of testing and learning. We finally found Product market fit selling to corporate offices, but then the pandemic happened.The investor told me they stopped working with companies pre-product market fit because they are incredibly risky and it can encourage a company to force growth with the wrong product.And I agree. I recommend founders find product market fit first BEFORE taking on growth capital.
Having consistent paying customers is the best way to build a company.
You can reach breakeven before taking on investors. This way you can pick investors, instead of relying on them to pick you.
The survival of your company isn’t dependent on customers, not investors
You’ll focus on creating a product that your customers love, and you can’t mask a bad product.
Now, you may still decide to bring on some capital early on to get to product-market fit, and that’s ok, just only do so with the right investors.If you are truly building a “change the world” idea, it requires a lot of capital.Let’s celebrate more sustainable and profitable businesses!
Jordan Buckner
Foodbevy
THIS WEEK'S OPPORTUNITIES
- For women and/or Black Owned Brands. Apply under Instacart Ads Initiative.
- Apply Now, deadline is extended to September 30th.
- Win $20,000 in cash and prizes. Must be a woman-owned brand. Apply by October 3rd.
- Download a free affiliate program brand kit from Rexxy.
- Learn why it's better to work with Nano-Influencers from Saral (article).
-
is a 3PL that credits itself with fast fulfillment and low fees for CPG brands. Request an introduction.
- Black Ink Ops helps growing CPG brands scale by providing a suite of solutions addressing the non-revenue generating tasks that are time consuming, requires capital and often a distraction. Request an introduction.
NEW PODCAST EPISODE: 61. Creating an Operating System For Your Business
Do you have a clear picture of your business? There's a lot to manage between sales, marketing, operations, and finance. It's easy to get conflicting information about how your business is performing. Join me for a discussion with Rick Wingate, founder of Sherpa ERP on how to create an operating system for your business.SherpaERP helps founders manage their ingredient ordering, manufacturing, inventory, sales, and wholesale customer data in one place. They are aware of the financial difficulties all brands are going through right now and offering 50% off their monthly cost for an entire year, bringing it down to $199/month. E-mail me at [email protected] for an introduction.
DISCOUNTS
- NielsenIQ
Byzzer platform provides data for emerging CPG brands. You can
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- Mindful Goods
is an awesome Amazon expert that can quickly get you started or optimize your pages for strong ROI.
use code FOODBEVY.
- Maverick Lab
allows you to create individually personalized videos (with a customer's name)
- Chop
is a
that allows you to drive in-store trial, collect customer shopping data, and build customer profiles to further drive your business. Foodbevy members save 20% off. E-mail me for the discount.
- Stripe
is now providing $70,000 in fee-free processing for new and EXISTING customers.
The Accountrepreneur
is your go-to outsourced CPA and CFO firm for the food and beverage industry. Receive
- Airtable
can store information in a spreadsheet that's visually appealing and easy-to-use, but it's also powerful enough to act as a database that businesses can use for customer-relationship management (CRM), task management, project planning, and tracking inventory.
With your help we're building an amazing community of Food and Bev entrepreneurs helping each other!
Jordan
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