Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM OCTOBER 2015 40 Elly Valas Retail Views M y nephew, Ruben, has a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics. For the uninitiated that makes him a Bioinformatician and I don't really understand what that is. He's starting a new business and I can relate to the management side of his new venture. He surprised us all by taking a hiatus from his mostly science track to pursue his interest in electronic music using the computational part of his experience. He'll be using his programming and software engineering skills to follow his passion. Instead of sticking to bio- engineering where he could be much in demand, Ruben is following our family's entrepreneurial bent. My conversations about Ruben's new business have made me think that there might be some start-up ideas that more traditional, legacy business can incorporate. Ruben's detour mirrors the experience of a lot of independent dealers. Few of us were "born" retailers. Although some kids play "store" I don't think many actually think they'll own one—they think doctor, pilot, and fireman. Unlike how things are done in start-ups, I don't know of a single dealer who started their company with a formal business plan. Most were undercapitalized. We didn't have many investors flocking to us. Many founders came home from World War II with repair skills that led them to electronics and appliance service. Their stores grew from their service businesses. Some, like me, never worked in our own family's business but found ourselves working in some other retail. I had never taken a business course in college but I'd worked in several different stores to get through school. Soon, though, I discovered a true passion and have pursued it since. I can think of dozens of others who eventually bought the companies they worked for. In contrast, Ruben is working on developing a solid plan. He's studied scores of other start-ups to identify what made the good ones succeed and why others failed. He's worked for two start-up companies and for Craig Venter—a serial start-up technology entrepreneur best known for first sequencing the human genome. He's obtained a provisional patent on his software and he's starting to speak with investors. By now, I'm sure Ruben also recognizes that 90% of all new companies fail. Many independents grew successful businesses after the war because of pent-up demand for the products they sold. Similarly, Ruben believes that there will be tremendous demand for his new business. He just hired employee #1—a long-time friend from high school who has expertise in design. His friend Vance is rabidly independent and very much a free spirit. I asked Ruben if he thought he could manage Vance and his response was interesting. He said "I hope when he disobeys me or disagrees with me he does it to benefit the company— to improve our process, product or program. I hope I can be a good listener and not just shut him out." Ruben has worked in too many environments where those at the top know all the answers. What would happen if you were to see your business as a start-up? If you started your company today, what would you do differently? What would your business plan look like? What products would you merchandise? What customers would you target? Where would you locate your stores? How would you raise money to get started? Who would you hire? How would you train them? What would your values be? What would your culture feel like? What does your financial picture look like? Now compare your start-up wish list to what your company does look like. I'm guessing there is a pretty big gap between what you'd build now from what you have. The question, though, is why? Why don't you sell the goods your customers would buy? Why aren't your stores in the right places? Why don't you have a high performance team? Why aren't you as profitable as you would like to be? It's not an easy task, but you can close the gap between where you are and what you'd really like to achieve. Most independents have the kind of entrepreneurial DNA common with successful start-ups. Through the years, though, many have lost that spirit of adventure, and the thrill we found at the beginning. Go ahead and start something new. Hire employee #1. Put everything on the line again. With risk comes reward. Hopefully, you'll like your new venture better than the old one you're leaving behind. START-UP DNA IN YOUR BUSINESS RO Elly Valas is the Marketing Services Director for Nationwide Marketing Group. She can be reached at elly@ellyvalas.com or at 303-316-7569. Visit her website at www.ellyvalas.com.

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