What Me Worry?
- Housing prices off another 9% in September
- Fuel prices off peak but we still ship $70 billion off shore to fuel the economy
- Market down and gyrating enough so that no one knows which way is up
- Credit trust = bone dry
- Jobless rates climbing
- Retail businesses choosing to liquidate because they cannot line up credit to go chapter 11.
- Good time to start a business, right?
A number of business associates/friends and I have been looking at some new technologies in the in-store intelligence arena for about 10 months now, and have integrated/developed solutions in this space under the company name ShelfSnap. I will cover more about what this service offers in another blog update.
My eldest daughter, who works for NPD’s Displaysearch, worked for me in one of my earlier ventures and suggested that starting a business in such a challenging environment might be an interesting topic for some blog updates. Who am I to argue with someone as smart as Heather?
When I started Panther Mountain over a year ago, I became involved with a number of companies which are offering some real advances in in-store intelligence and online capabilities, aimed at either current demand chain ills or current consumer-serving opportunities. The market has been tough on funding, piloting or even getting-in-early, despite substantial proof of both execution and ROI. Still, all of the firms continue to progress. I spent quite a bit of time reviewing the challenges all of these firms have faced, trying to decide how that would influence my decision to go ahead and start ShelfSnap. Needless to say, I decided to move ahead anyway.
Part of my reason for moving ahead despite the unsettled times is driven by a firm conviction that the service can provide real value to our customer base, the manufacturers, and retailers in the CPG space. At the CPGCatNet Category Management Conference last week, Bob James who heads up marketing strategy for A&P listed a group of values that Retailers should be following in these troubled times. One of those was to DASH FOR EFFICIENCY, in other words find simple solutions to current problems that can impact profitability quickly. Our new service does that for both manufactures and retailers, so I was encouraged.
Another reason to move ahead was that two of my prior start-ups began during recessions or “busts”. efficient market services, Inc. opened its doors in 1991. Four other folks and I started the company despite the times. The company reached $30 million in annual revenues and break-even by 1999 when I left, but subsequently went away after some new leadership decided to take the company into the software space. We made plenty of mistakes, but had an offering that we believed would solve some of the Industry ills and day/item/store level forecasting and reporting has become more commonplace today as elemental in understanding demand and customer reaction. The second company MyWebGrocer started on the eve of the Popping of the Internet Bubble in 2000. Webvan rose and fell in our first 18 months of existence. Everyone thought we were baked. However, we focused on finding what the consumer really wanted in online Grocery services, and established superior services that met those needs building conversion, repeat and click through e-mail and advertising rates that are unparalleled by any Internet service, serving any industry, anywhere. Today the company offers the biggest and fastest growing connection with consumers of any food site or network. Thank goodness I am still an owner and still involved with this one.
Both these companies offered serious solutions that signficantly advanced either the state of the art in supply chain applications, or consumer convenience and service. Both were a bit early for their market, but all innovation is ahead of its market. Both these markets met with success due to offering real value to customers who had problems or recognized opportunities and, even in tough times, knew that Industry leaders would find ways to become involved in these innovations because that is how Industry leaders maintain their leadership.
So as we continue to move forward with ShelfSnap I will occasionally report on progress, setbacks and the process of starting up companies in times such as these.
Meanwhile, we are excited, way overworked, a bit frightened, grateful for some early successes and mostly having a ball.