When A Big Idea Needs To Be Bigger

Yesterday, we had our first cohort meeting for Startup.SC.  The purpose of the meeting, as well will be the purpose of every subsequent meeting for the next two months, is to gauge progress and assure we are meeting benchmarks in our pitch presentation in November.  While I am still comfortable with where Yumbev is, I am behind where it should be.
One of the biggest issues is where to start. As with any complicated machine, there are several levers that need to be pulled, while simultaneously watching a number of gears and gauges to see where the machine is heading. Compounding the progress is time constraints, though as any entrepreneur will tell you, is nothing more than an excuse. And, to a certain degree, this is true in my case.

Compounding the compounding of issues, I heard a spectacular podcast today called Startup, created by Alex Bloomburg, the produced of Planet Money and contributor to This American Life. In the podcast, Alex is documenting, via this new podcast, his decision to branch out into his own entrepreneurial venture and create a business producing, what else, podcasts.

If you have the opportunity, check out the podcast. Episode one is great because he lands the opportunity to meet with one of the most prolific angel investors in Silicon Valley, Chris Sacca ... and he subsequently bombs, in an epic manner, his pitch. Luckily, he is given amazing tips (which if you are readying yourself for a pitch is a must-listen) on how to improve.

The most profound part for me, however, was in the episode two, when he gets the redemption opportunity to meet with Chris Sacca's partner, Matt Mazzeo, and pitch his idea again.  This time, Alex is prepared, and he has hyped his idea to such a grandiose idea that he himself is unsure about how he is going to pull it off. He is convinced that this idea, which he could not imagine being any bigger, would ever fly.  At the end of the meeting, he is shocked by what Matt tells him.

His idea is not big enough.

And there it is. As I am crafting this idea for Yumbev to "do for craft beer what Starbucks did for coffee", as grand as that is, I am not convinced it is big enough. There has to be more to it than just brewing and selling beer. Granted, I want to change consumers' preference for beer on a grander scale ... but how?

Therein lies the challenge to consider and lose sleep over the next few days.  More than likely, it will come to me, as most ideas do, over a pint of craft beer, then scribbled on a bar napkin and shoved into my pocket. 

Anyway, The Startup podcast is such a good listen, I've embedded episode one for your convenience below.

Enjoy, and remember ... think BIG(GER)!

Internet Slow Down Day


I have trumpeted the call to step up for Net Neutrality on a few occasions, but today we again need to draw attention to the threat the cable companies pose to our internet freedoms. Check out the the "Join the Battle for Net Neutrality" site and do one of the following:



Post this modal at the <HEAD> of your website for the day:
<script src="//widget.battleforthenet.com/widget.min.js" async></script>

Or, use one of these GIFs for your profile picture.






Or use one of these images for your profile picture and cover photo:





Inaugural Startup Meeting

The inaugural meeting of our cohort in Startup.SC was a great. The other four teams have amazing idea, and of all five, Yumbev is the only without an MVP (minimum viable product). It is, in fact, the only company that is still at idea stage. It is also the only plan that, thus far, is an asset based company, although I can completely foresee that merging or morphing or transitioning into something different/better/who knows.
The project manager, Jason Greene, is a great guy, bringing with him years of military experience and discipline that startups truly need. In these early stages of a business, it is so easy to get distracted with the ten thousand or so to-do list items and the myriad of thoughts, ideas and doubts streaming in your subconscious. Jason is here to make sure that we stay on target.

Laid in front of us is two intense months of developing a pitch deck and a pitch, and a weekly meeting in which we will all have the lovely privileged of presenting both to our peers and invited guests. It is during these two months that we will stumble and stutter, be laughed at and laugh at others, be supportive and attack like a true devil's advocate. Much like boot camp, we are but privates in a small army of startups, with as much or even more naivety and bravado than a true army PFC. I fully anticipate in the coming weeks that this confidence and childlike enthusiasm and excitement will be beat into a well disciplined and professional pitch that will inspire even the most timid investor to consider.

At least that's the plan.

For now, however, we have a strict time line with clear and concise deliverables to attack.  For me and Yumbev, our next steps are to find and curate the team with whom we will grow this company into one of the larger companies in the country ... or give every drop of sweat trying.

Since I like laying ground work for any offensive (to continue with the military theme), one of my priorities is to develop a logo and identity, and eventually a landing page for this endeavor, so that I can then make business cards and begin to schedule meetings.  It is a difficult task, considering that I am not completely sure of what this beast will look like yet. Regardless, we'll hammer that out this week, at least a "Phase I Identity", knowing full well that this is not how it will look in a year or two.

Meetings are Tuesdays, so until then ... cheers.

Validating a Startup Idea

The genesis behind Yumbev is simple: Craft beer is really good. Not many people understand how much better it is. Help more people appreciate good craft beer.

Of course, coming up with the idea is easy. The follow up is a little more tricky.

The concept behind Yumbev, as well as the goal of Startup.SC, is to create a scalable business that can reach $10 million, fast. For a small brewery, reaching that goal is a lofty idea. Just staying in business for more than a year is probably a more realistic goal.

To be honest, I have never been one to set my goals on a small business, so the idea creating something much larger and scalable has always been much more appealing. From the outside looking in, the craft beer industry seemed primed for a business model that somehow leveraged the fundamentals of brewing and the uniqueness and draw of independent and local branding to create a company that could grow beyond one brewery.

Outside of the behemoth US brewers (AB Imbev, Coors, and Miller), even the largest craft breweries operate no more than two breweries, with the vast majority operating one. With 3300-plus craft breweries strung across the country, it means there is an immense amount of fragmentation and, if you look at the industry as a whole, redundancy.

That's where the idea of Yumbev was spawned. How can you create a chain, or franchise, or holdings of breweries who maintain their independent identities while consolidating redundant overhead, leverage inventory economies of scale, and better focus marketing and promotion dollars? Frankly, I am actually shocked that it has not happened yet.

Of course there is Gordon Biersch, and smaller examples such as Liberty Tap Room, with four locations around South Carolina. There are undoubtedly more and, probably, more planned, so why not be at the forefront of this movement?

The idea is just an idea at this point. It requires a great deal more thought and planning. With the help of Startup.SC, I am excited for not only the resources they bring but the motivation they create. It is time to move the idea forward.

See also Inc.com:Validate Your Business Idea -- Quickly -- With These 5 Steps