CEO Thoughts: Bank vs Equity

So, one of the biggest things I am struggling with lately is trying to decide between a bank loan vs giving up a lot of equity in the company. So, here are my unfiltered thoughts. As you can tell by now, when I write these blog posts its how my brain is thinking at the time and not necessary in the frame work that a normal blog should be written in. So, I have put in a lot of money myself and have taken in a friends and family round of $75k. When you look at your company one day of potentially selling for $50-100M then I would catch myself saying "small" round of friends and family when in reality I need to smack myself in the face when I do. That is still a LOT of money and couldn't be more appreciative of not only the money but also the advice I have got from them. I know I have mentioned this before but it could never be enough times that I would thank my Board of Advisors. Although they are not financially funding me, their advice since day 1 has been over the moon.

Ok, back to the question at hand. I don't mind giving up equity to grow this company. The benefit is of course I don't owe them back anything in the near term and it allows me to the run the business in the way it needs to be without the stress of knowing I need to give up revenue every month to pay someone. Depending on how much I give up will also depend on how much control they have. We have already turned away big money from people who wanted to either run aspects of our company or wanted major control. Our culture and the team we have built is one of our biggest strengths and I never want to change that. Now, if we found someone who was willing to put in a lot of money(or little) and could really open a lot of sales doors for us and didn't want to be part of the day to day, then we would be very interested in that. I guess the only grey area is here is the fact that I need to very careful of the people that talk a big game but can't deliver. We are in a position now where we need closers!

A bank loan is good because if we do sell one day (and just so you know it is not at all the reason why I started this company), then I would benefit the most from this. I would be on the hook every month so if for some reason we have a bad month or as Mr. Wonderful would say, "poo poo happens," then I need to come up with a lot of cash immediately. I would rather not have to sell one of my kids to cover this cost. (kidding of course) Although, they are amazing kids so I bet I could get a lot for them. Kidding still. But seriously.

It's too nice out today. Time to go.


JKTOTD – My last meal I think would be chicken, broccoli and ziti from Le Conti in the North End, Garlic rolls from Il Milino in Ft. Lauderdale, Abe and Louis steak (also my buddy Peper makes a mean one too), my wife's Guac and Chocolate Chip Cookies, my mom's BLT and cap it off with an Allagash Double Reserve beer thanks to my buddy Elwell. I'm sure I'm missing a few but it's a start.

Stand In What You Stand For - JK