A Cynic's Business Wisdom by Jay J. Silverberg

Author:Jay J. Silverberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Business Expert Press

Let’s Get Personal. “Go/No-Go” Is Strictly Your Decision

Sometimes what looks like brilliance is really just guts.

Dan Waldscmidt

Ultimately, you will arrive at a time to make a “go/no-go” decision. Do you proceed or walk away? Your decision should be governed by a series of criteria that you yourself need to establish. It’s personal. It may include any or all of the following:

• Is it affordable?

• Does the market research validate the opportunity to the degree to which I am comfortable?

• If it fails, can I (or my business) afford the capital loss?

• Are there controllable market or industry trends I can deal with?

• Are there unmanageable market or industry trend risks that are “too close for comfort”?

• Am I looking at all this through rose-colored glasses?

• Do the numbers make sense, or is the bottom line too slim to be an assured positive cash flow?

• Are there threats that I cannot control? Outside my ability to change (including pandemics, war, trade wars, and currency fluctuations)?

• Are there any issues of the business I am not comfortable with or outside my areas of expertise, e.g., markets, production, supply chains, staffing?

• If I give each of these items a score of 1 to 10, how does the opportunity stack up?

• Finally weighing all these factors, should I proceed?

This Is How It Works in Real Life

ABC Company had a techie-winner product. Their sales skyrocketed. Then they went bankrupt. Why? Growing too fast made their banks nervous. They limited ABC’s line until they had more of a historical track record. Venture funds were delirious and greedy and tried to oust the founders. A battle ensued. Shareholders became suspicious, with predictable infighting for control. And the founders, well, in their euphoric state of ‘new riches’ wealth, surrounded themselves with “yes men” and then became personally unreachable. They bought expensive toys. Cash flow dried up. R&D stopped because the thinking was they had a commanding edge (even as competitors began to reverse engineer and improve on ABC’s technology). They had even started looking at new businesses before they stabilized the growth of their existing company.

You cannot ever lose sight of the fact that your “edge,” whatever that might be, has granted you a favored position in the marketplace. It could be your technology, products, services, or your own personal drive and abilities.

Focus. Don’t get distracted or sidetracked. Any time and resources employed for new ideas and opportunities detract from your time and focus you are devoting to your existing business. It will cost you.

And try not to get bored or complacent with your business. The tendency for “start-up junkies” is to get bored. I admit to being one. Our minds wander. We seek out new adventures.

Try to restrain your entrepreneurial wanderlust.

____________

1 Disclaimer Note: The Fair Market/Business Valuation may not purport to make any statements regarding the strength of any Letters Patent, trademarks, or other legal issues, or litigation, or issues not disclosed during the course of a Valuation Analysis, or the accuracy of forecasts and budgets presented by the seller, or ensuing errors and omissions.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.