| Author | Message | ||
| John (Cohiba_man)
New member Username: Cohiba_man Post Number: 34 Registered: 1-2003 |
Cool Mike, thanks for sharing. | ||
| Mike B (Srt_mike)
Junior Member Username: Srt_mike Post Number: 95 Registered: 12-2002 |
John, First, this was quite a long time ago. The first was doing computer repair, networking at local companie, etc, etc. This was before the "IT boom" (early 90's or so). I lucked out because I got a contract to be the local service center for HP printers. It took up most of my time, but maxed out pay around the $35k range. It was Ok, but then IT picked up and I could make more being an employee of someone else. We sold the company to another guy who wanted to pick up the contract for the HP repair. Second was MyVia (my way). It was an online "groups" (kinda similar to google groups or yahoo groups) but we were one of the original ones. We also signed a deal with the biggest magazine fulfillment house and we merged the groups with the magazines that catered to the group - so a forum like this might be "sponsored" by Motor Trend or Forza and give discount subscriptions and in some cases participation of staff, etc. It was going well, but our big competitor was eNews.com. They signed a deal with Barnes and Noble (who had just started bn.com) and we were in discussions with amazon.com. We had VC funding contingent on working something out with Amazon. That ended up not happening as Amazon was more interested in diversifying beyond books and print and getting into consumer products (the way they are now). I left a little after that and got a somewhat decent chunka-change but most of the folks stayed on the ship and saw their stock devalue to nothing and the company close it's doors a year or so later. After I left MyVia, I started doing consulting and a few other good techies and myself setup a partnership. We bid and won some pretty lucrative projects for the DoD, state governments, and some private companies. My job turned into project management and less hands-on, and then after that it was more sales, meeting with clients, and almost no hands on. I started to dislike it. Then the IT sector looked (to me) like it was going to hit troubled times, so one of my partners and I cashed out of the biz and got involved in something we enjoyed - manufacturing electronics products for cars/motorcycles. It's alot more enjoyable... we're growing pretty rapidly, and I have the freedom to concentrate on the tasks I enjoy and delegate the stuff I don't like. I never had that freedom before - either because I was doing the work, or because I was 'the guy' that the client expected to be in the meeting, and that is something you cannot successfully delegate away. Don't get me wrong - I didn't make millions on any of these deals... I got a few decent paydays, but I'm still working, so I ain't rich!  | ||
| John (Cohiba_man)
New member Username: Cohiba_man Post Number: 31 Registered: 1-2003 |
Quote: "P.S. I started my first company at 17. It was semi-successful but I plateaud around $30-40k a year and I wanted to make more.. next company got venture capital - 3 partners of which I was one... we rode the dot.com bubble for a while but closed shop a year later. Next company was very successful by most peoples standards, but I started to loathe my job so I cashed out. Latest company is doing very well so far and is a ton of fun - haven't been happier! So, regardless of the outcome, don't give up too quick." Care to elaborate on what kind of businesses each of these were? | ||
| Jason Williams (Pristines4)
Junior Member Username: Pristines4 Post Number: 198 Registered: 12-2002 |
Mike, Good post and good questions. I'll try to address them in an email later tonight. Running out of time in the day. Jason- | ||
| Tim N (Timn88)
Advanced Member Username: Timn88 Post Number: 2743 Registered: 6-2001 |
you know which 959 i want to know about. | ||
| Mike B (Srt_mike)
Junior Member Username: Srt_mike Post Number: 93 Registered: 12-2002 |
Jason, Reading your post raises some questions - partly my own curiosity and partly maybe in an attempt to prod you to explore some things you may not have... feel free to ignore if you like How do you figure on everything going from factory direct to consumer? I get "retailers" *all the time* looking to do this, and I tell them I'm not interested. They want 30% off retail and want me to drop ship it and handle support. The only times I drop ship are if I am late on a dealer order and I offer to send it direct. I'd never give a good discount for drop-ship accounts because I have other dealers buying 100-200 units a month of each product for stock - so I need to encourage those guys with the good discounts. You have a long list of companies on your website. Have all these folks really agreed to drop ship? I am familiar with some of them and I do not think they all will do drop-shipping, and most companies will not give a big discount for drop-ship accounts. Is it really going to happen or is it pie in the sky? From my perspective, I get a hundred 'dreamers' (as I call them) that promise hundreds or thousands of sales if I can just (and their request is always) -drop ship everything -give the biggest discount for a small # of sales -give them net-30 terms on an initial order It all comes down to the same root problem - lack of capital. I have to invest alot of money to do the above but they don't want to make that investment. 99% of the people who talk about huge volume disappear when it comes to the money side. As for a new section of the market - you just gotta be careful on pricing. On any of our products, if we are not selling for 2x-3x what our cost is, we're losing money. We usually shoot for more like 5x-8x our costs but it's not always do-able. Hidden costs can absolutely kill you. As a final note, I am not aware really of any large companies that hold no inventory but yet sell product. What would 10 or 15 people be doing all day if you don't ever touch the merchandise? Would they just be selling? At our office 10-15 people allows for about $5MM-7MM a year in sales. That's a huge growth rate for one year and most business folks would tell you that developing a "new market section" from $0 to the $5MM-10MM/yr mark in a year is near impossible... I mean, it happens (Microsoft, eBay, etc) but it's very very rare. I don't mean to dissuade you - only toss some devils advocacy into the pot and hopefully prevent you from losing your shirt. If you don't want to give up too much info, how about some general numbers like gross profit, overhead %, sales numbers, cost of sales, etc. etc and you may get some insight from other business owners on here. Good luck. P.S. I started my first company at 17. It was semi-successful but I plateaud around $30-40k a year and I wanted to make more.. next company got venture capital - 3 partners of which I was one... we rode the dot.com bubble for a while but closed shop a year later. Next company was very successful by most peoples standards, but I started to loathe my job so I cashed out. Latest company is doing very well so far and is a ton of fun - haven't been happier! So, regardless of the outcome, don't give up too quick. | ||
| Jason Williams (Pristines4)
Junior Member Username: Pristines4 Post Number: 197 Registered: 12-2002 |
Take it as you like. 959's are always available. | ||
| Tim N (Timn88)
Advanced Member Username: Timn88 Post Number: 2742 Registered: 6-2001 |
you made a good choice in dropping it, Jason. It takes a real man to admit defeat. i commend you. btw, is that 959 still available??? | ||
| Jason Williams (Pristines4)
Junior Member Username: Pristines4 Post Number: 196 Registered: 12-2002 |
Mike, to answer your statements: 1) I will hold no inventory. Everything goes directly from factory to customer. 2) I have done my research for the last year and they will not be able to beat my prices. This will be a new "section" of the market. There are no other companies out there that will be offering the same service as I will - however, I cannot say exactly what it will be, since I'm still trying to finallize partners and investors. And about being a dealer for a foriegn company - already been done by nearly every brand. And the majority of them require huge monthly buy-ins that I wouldn't be able to keep up with with such a limited customer base. Tim, I'm not going to bother any longer. John, The reason there is not much on my website is because 1) it's currently under construction, and 2) I'm still finalizing contracts with hundreds of parts manufacturers all over the globe. As of late, the only products I have been offering is on a few Honda forums simply because I know those cars very well, and I can offer my friends on other forums good prices. And I didn't design the site. I have a friend in California who is designing it. >>how will it help to boost the economy and provide jobs in your area?<< I believe one of the minimum number of jobs that a company can have (that receives a grant) is something around 10 employees, correct me if I'm wrong. Within the year, I hope to have at the least, 10-15 people working for the company. With the kind of customer base and traffic that my projections are showing, that is the minimum number of people I could opperate with. I'm sure some are weary that I will be able to get such high numbers, but like I said - zero competition when it comes to this section of the automotive business. We shall see... Thanks for all the help and comments. Jason- | ||
| John (Cohiba_man)
New member Username: Cohiba_man Post Number: 28 Registered: 1-2003 |
Yeah, no offense Jason but I agree with Tim somewhat...I'm not trying to be antagonistic at all but... If you are in fact trying to get a grant on your pristine performance site, all you are offering them right now is a blank website with no real content, which you honestly could have designed in a couple of days (you do obviously know what you're doing website-development wise), its kind of like a business that you run, sitting at a desk in an office with an official corporate logo and advertising campaign, but all you really do is sit and stare at the wall all day, it looks like a business, but really doesn't offer anything or generate profits. Even if you did get a grant sufficient to run the lowest-priced parts website on the internet, how will it help to boost the economy and provide jobs in your area? And how will you practice social responsibility with no one to be accountable to but yourself and your business partners/friends? Basically, get the company running profitably, develop a track record and then you might be able to qualify for a grant to expand, at the VERY least, develop the relationships with the manufacturers and develop an e-business infrastructure to accept orders and process them etc...if it is for a business other than pristine performance, tell us what it is and we can be of more help... John | ||
| Tim N (Timn88)
Advanced Member Username: Timn88 Post Number: 2740 Registered: 6-2001 |
nothing i said attacked your character or reputaion. and no time did i ever say you didn't have a real company, so dont tell me it was slander(if you think i was, try to file a law suit and shut up), and dont challenge my vocabulary skills either. hope your company works out for you though and comes into existance at some point. im serious, i hope it goes well because i would like to save $ on stuff, and your website claims i will. | ||
| Mike B (Srt_mike)
Junior Member Username: Srt_mike Post Number: 91 Registered: 12-2002 |
Jason, If you can come up with X... it is usually pretty easy to get X * 2 using SBA programs or other financing sources. The key lies in X. I saw your site and what you are trying to do... a couple of tips (my company manufactures electronics parts for cars/bikes so this is a market I deal with every day) 1) Don't try to carry everything - it will kill you in inventory costs. Maybe try to pick a few good product lines and focus on being the premiere seller of those - at least until you expand. 2) Offering the lowest price does not always make the sale. Larger outfits with more buying power will almost always be able to out-compete you on price. Think about focusing on the service, availability, selection, pre/post sale support aspects and less on price. You can very quickly put yourself out of business by pricing things too low and not accounting for service/support or even by not planning your cash flow well. If I were you, there are some avenues I would consider besides a grant... how about finding a foreign company and being their dealer in this country. if you have good credit, you could possubly even buy on net-30 terms and if you are good at sales (which you will need to be in order to be a reseller of this stuff), you can move it in <30 days and meet your payables and pocket the difference without spending a dime of your own money. Just some thoughts... good luck with it. | ||
| Jason Williams (Pristines4)
Junior Member Username: Pristines4 Post Number: 195 Registered: 12-2002 |
FYI Tim: slan�der ( P ) Pronunciation Key (slndr) n. 1. Law. Oral communication of false statements injurious to a person's reputation. 2. A false and malicious statement or report about someone. | ||
| Jason Williams (Pristines4)
Junior Member Username: Pristines4 Post Number: 194 Registered: 12-2002 |
Thank you Jere and Art. Your comments are always helpful. I appreciate it. And Tim, obviously you have no clue about my current situation so your comments aren't really relevant anyways. Oh well. | ||
| arthur chambers (Art355)
Intermediate Member Username: Art355 Post Number: 1210 Registered: 6-2001 |
Jason: There are several ways you can apply for assistance, through the small business administration. Having said that, I would look for a broker who deals with the SBA, and knows the ins and outs of making those applications. I would look in your area for companies who sell large products (in the field that you want to form a company) that would require financing. Those companies probably have names of the various agents that they have used to obtain financing for their clientiel. These are not grants. They are government assisted financing, and require assets and experience. Let me know how it goes. Art | ||
| Tim N (Timn88)
Advanced Member Username: Timn88 Post Number: 2739 Registered: 6-2001 |
a.)My comment wasnt slanderous. you obviously do not know what the definition of the word is. I think the word you were looking for was maligned. and b.) i was just telling you the facts. Ido not think the federal government will give startup capital to a 17 year old with no higher education in business, or any higher education for that matter, who wants to start up a compnay selling performance car parts with 2 of his highschool buddies. you would be better off getting a business degree frist, then starting one. dont take this as an insult, im just trying to help. www.grants.gov has info | ||
| Jere Dunham (Questioner)
Member Username: Questioner Post Number: 285 Registered: 1-2003 |
Jason, If it is in Texas, the state offers some grants of 50% participation. You have to be able to show that your company will bring jobs into the state and you have to maintain a certain level of employees for a designated time period. If your employment figures drop below the required minimum, you have to repay the grant. As long as your employment figures remain up to the minimum and your company remains viable, the state will not require repayment. When doing the start-up, you can also go to the local government and seek tax deferment and local support. Check with the economic development corp. in the city where you are thinking about locating. They can be of great assistance. Do not know about federal grants though. | ||
| Jason Williams (Pristines4)
Junior Member Username: Pristines4 Post Number: 193 Registered: 12-2002 |
Tim, Can you do me a favor and not reply to my threads anymore? You do nothing but take the roll of the antagonist. I have done nothing to you, and you repeatedly make slanderous comments towards me. I've tried to be nice over and over and over. I'm tired of this. Back off. BTW: For anyone who does not think my comments are grounded - they are. | ||
| Tim N (Timn88)
Advanced Member Username: Timn88 Post Number: 2738 Registered: 6-2001 |
You have to have a company first....a real one that offers products and/or services in exchange for some sort of consideration. | ||
| Mike B (Srt_mike)
Junior Member Username: Srt_mike Post Number: 88 Registered: 12-2002 |
My understanding is that it is very very difficult to get such a grant. I have never heard of one given for a startup. If you look at their definition of "start up" it will be something like 2 years of profitable sales and 5+ employees. Grants are also almost never given for startups because other (higher risk) mechanisms exist. If the founder doesn't want to kick in any of his own money, why would anyone else? | ||
| Jason Williams (Pristines4)
Junior Member Username: Pristines4 Post Number: 192 Registered: 12-2002 |
Hey guys, It was recommended that I ask you guys this question, and hopefully someone will have some knowledge on the subject. Has anyone ever filed for or received a federal grant for a start-up company? I know about the infomation at sba.gov, but I'm looking/hoping for some first hand experience... Any comments are welcomed. Thanks! Jason- |