Do You Know the Best Way to Grow Your Business?Once your business launches, it's time to grow. But it's important to grow smart. Here's a look at why the Shark Tank investors passed on one great company after taking a look at its growth plan.
ByCarol Tice•
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Growing a business can be almost as tricky as getting the enterprise off the ground. These growing pains came to mind as I watched this past week's episode of ABC's reality showShark Tank.
The first entrepreneur up to pitch the sharks was Nick Romero, the owner ofThe Ave, a small business on the beach in Venice, Calif., that offers shoppers a unique way to screen-print any image onto a pair of shoes. The idea was a smash hit with trendy beachgoers, with lines out the door since it opened last April. The Ave, a store of less than 500 square feet, saw first-year sales top $500,000 and had more than $100,000 of profit.
这是the sort of story the Sharks usually drool over -- a proven success with both sales and profits, as well as products that are flat-out cool. I thought they'd be fighting each other over a chance to get a piece of The Ave's future revenue. But in the end, the Sharks all passed on helping the owner open more stores.
Why? The owner wanted to focus oncreating a retail chain, but the Sharks didn't think that was the best strategy for growth. Those lines out the door turned out to be the result of machines needing 30 minutes to create each set of custom shoes. Retail shoppers hate having to wait around.
Related: Six Keys to Boost Your Business in 2012
The Sharks thoughtEcommercewould be the best model for The Ave's expansion because it allows people to order shoes from all over the world without having to wait around a store. Shark Robert Herjavec suggested that licensing the company's printing machine to other retailers could be another cash cow for The Ave, but again Romero wasn't interested in that option.
最后,我t was Romero's lack of vision about growth strategy that came up empty with the Sharks, but the exposure he garnered by appearing on the show may help himattract other investors.
(By the way, if you fantasize about getting your pitch in front of the Sharks, the show iscasting for next seasonright now.)
What steps will you take to grow your business this year?留下你的评论,告诉我们你的策略。
Related: Five Signs an E-tailer Is Ready to Open a Storefront
