George Deeb is the Managing Partner at Chicago-based Red Rocket Ventures, a startup consulting and financial advisory firm based in Chicago.
This really is not a simple question to answer. There are so many nuances that go into assessing the right answer:
What is going on with the economy?How liquid is the fundraising climate?Are you B2B or B2C?Are you the first mover?How defensible is your business, with patents, product complexity or otherwise?What are your competitors doing?How big is the market opportunity?How quickly is it emerging?Are you trying to dominate the world, or build a nice lifestyle business?Are you venture-backed, or privately owned?So, in light of all these moving pieces, I will do my best to layout some high level guidance.
Based on the above questions:
(i) the softer the economy, the more you should protect your cash reserves to weather the storm;
(ii) the better the financing climate, the more comfortable you should feel in accelerating growth with access to investors;
(iii) I think B2C businesses need to think
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Curiosity piqued when the women of the Leading in Local BIAKelsey Conference emerged from their networking event with an awesome swag bag and smiles on their faces. The question lingered amongst many participants, “why do the women get their own event?” BIAKelsey wants to highlight women business owners at their events, as many women expressed interest in connecting with one another. They posed the difficult question: what gets you out of bed in the morning when you’re facing so many hurdles as a business owner in combination with being a woman? The truth emerged as two of the women told their stories of creating new business concepts. Anna Zornosa started the evening by sharing her journey starting her own company, Ruby Ribbon. Like most good ideas, it came from necessity. Anna, like most women has had problems finding customer service when purchasing shape wear. Every woman can identify with the difficulty of finding under garments and the right sales person who understands our body shapes. Anna connected with the audience using her passion in understanding women and how she’s building her direct sales force, a team of women who are compassionate to the needs of its buyers. Post by BIA/Kelsey. Jayla Siciliano dove into her business, Bon Affair, which also was an idea built from necessity. She simply liked a healthy lifestyle, however, had to mix her own wine to create the perfect drink. Her wine spritzers are incredibly fitting for a female demographic as they are bubbly, fun, and infused with electrolytes. What Jayla shared with her audience was her patience and persistence, the problems that plagued her journey, but ultimately led to success. Botched wine batches, tomatoes floating in bottles, boxed wine soaked because of leaks. In the end, she kept moving forward and she now has her product in hundreds of grocery stores. So why do women get their own event? Hearing the success stories of how these two women persevered through tough times, whether funding, lack of knowledge, or manufacturing difficulties, the examples of these women are inspiring. In a world where women are juggling careers, kids, husbands or dating, managing a business seems like a daunting task. Women are naturally more communicative and communal, and sharing stories of success naturally helped motivate other women. The women of BIAKelsey’s Event discussed not only what got them up in the morning, but what makes women great business leaders and managers. We discussed how women are great communicators, assist in risk assessment, and are natural in team building. Both Jayla and Anna proved that persistence and hard work leads to great rewards, and other women were able to benefit from the stories of success. In all, the women networking event was fruitful in more than just a great swag bag. Thats a wrap on the BIA/Kelsey #leadinginlocal conference. Takeaway - innovate or die pic.twitter.com/SFA1WspXiA— Patrick Elverum (@patrickelverum) December 13, 2013 About this article 
Article Author: Bree Hanson 
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