My Letter to Obama

So, I was inspired by a young girl who wrote to Obama asking him to fix her crumbling school. Our plight is not as humble or altruistic, but we are Americans with a problem and here is how I tried to make President Obama feel sorry for us in the form of a letter:

Dear President Obama,

I am a 22 year old entrepreneur from Chicago, IL. I currently reside in Boston, MA. In May, I graduated from Boston University with a business degree and concentration in entrepreneurship. In school we learned the fundamentals of fundraising for our start-ups as well as the various sources from which we would be able to raise capital. For the past 10 months, I have been working to start-up my own company with a group of talented, young post-grads. In October, I was laid off from my full time job at a small software company along with two of my co-workers and business partners. At the time, we made the recession our excuse to focus our time on the start-up venture so that we could make a living and create jobs for 5-6 Americans. Once we grow, we often said, we would be able to hire more people and do our part for the economic cycle.

I went to school to become an entrepreneur. You can imagine my surprise almost a year later to discover that the SBA does not give loans to people like me. Instead they give loans to the top ten largest companies in the United States. My team’s idea is a good one. The idea is supported by a vast amount of market data and research and financial projections, and is an idea that falls under the “recession-proof” category. My predicament is that my job is with my company. Unfortunately, I do not know when my dream will be realized because my government does not support it. My team is trying to sell equity to family and friends, but people are as protective of their money as ever, and understandably so.

If only there existed a body within the SBA (or better yet, independent from the SBA, thus independent from financial institutions) that loaned specifically to start-up entrepreneurs, this country may see some unrivaled innovation that has been missing since the early industrial revolution.

Thank you

Storefront Shopping on Newbury Street

Yesterday afternoon we met with our broker, John, to look at some open retail spots on Newbury St. John had set up an appointment with another broker, Tom, who represents the company that owns almost all the buildings on Newbury. We were supposed to see about 5 spots, but ended up seeing only 2. Why? Tom explained to us that we were very limited in our options as a quick-service restaurant concept. He said that the Tenant Association, which approves new development projects on Newbury St. would reject us in a heartbeat (because of the nature of our food operation). Tom chimed that the process of obtaining a permit to build our restaurant on the odd side of Newbury would probably cost us about $30,000. Tom suggested one spot on Newbury (on the even side) where we actually had a chance (simply because it abuts Boylston St. and not residential property).

Let's talk about this spot. It's great, it's in our price range, and it's right next to a competitor. Drats. Who says "drats" anymore? So let's review: great location, good price, nice layout, wouldn't need too much work, right next to competitor. One can argue that on any high-traffic street such as Newbury, you are essentially always next to a competitor. If I'm not next to one, I'm down the block from one. Alright, I'll be fair: the competitor is not a direct competitor in the sense that Starbucks is to Dunkin Donuts or Trident (all on the same block). However, for a new brand as ours, we run the risk of being dwarfed by our competitor's name.

We continue our search. Choosing a location will be the most difficult decision our team must make, but as a very wise someone once told me: whatever you choose, it will have been the right decision for whatever reason. Maybe this is true, but we'll just have to make the right decision and find out. = )

Old School

I decided the time had come to buckle down and work on the Saus marketing/publicity plan. (My guilty conscience on how negligent I've been has been eating away at me... I really thought procrastination would finally stop once I graduated, but instead I think it got worse.) So I sat my butt down and forced myself to concentrate and think outside the box.

Unfortunately, just like my procrastination got worse since college, my thinking got more structured and box-like- damn you corporate world! I exhausted all the typical PR ideas, even embraced new media, but nothing earth shattering/freaking awesome would come to me.

I decided I needed a trip back to college to bring out my "creative" side (what the corporate world sees as ideas that "won't" work because I don't fully understand the concept behind them...) But those are the ideas I'm looking for. So I emailed an old professor and requested a meeting. I find myself really looking forward to his ruthless critique of my "marketing" plan (something I would have dreaded in college- oh how the times have changed.)

Eco-Spending

Organic, fair trade, sustainably grown. These are buzz words that make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

I just ate Vietnamese Fresh Rolls for lunch from Equal Exchange Cafe. We are in a recession, I am scrimping with money and here I am going out for lunch! (What can I say, food is a priority in my life). But these words made me feel good about spending my hard-earned, what-little-I-have money there.

I know this eco-organic thing is more than a trend... could we call it a movement? And businesses are leveraging it to boost their image (and business). Which is great. Great for the environment, great for the economy- anything to get people spending.

And we at Saus have already discussed being as sustainable as possible as a business. Serving locally grown produce (see Wo de si-uh), composting, using recycled/recyclable to-go cartons, etc. And even though these are all things we can feel good about doing, we also have in the back of our minds that our customers will be happier to support us by spending more, if they know they are also supporting an eco-friendly company.

So, sound off.. Do you think you feel better about spending (and spend more) if you are helping a good cause? What do you think about portions of proceeds going to good causes (doesn't have to be environmental)? Or will all these warm and fuzzies have no effect on your spending?

Location Location Location. Location....aaand more Locations

I must say that this business of trying to start a business has taken us on many adventures, which we love to share with you.

Over the past few weeks, we have been scouring the streets of Boston for retail space. In fact, you may have seen us. We have been all over the place: through Beacon Hill and the West End, up and down Newbury St. several times, in Fenway, near Berklee, Kenmore Square...we're exhausted from all this walking. What we have found from our thorough exploration is a record number of open retail spots. We collect phone numbers from the "for lease" signs and text message them over to our broker, John, who then calls on these properties.

We have run into some interesting characters on our quest for the perfect location. For instance, Chin and I were walking through Fenway and saw a dingy looking storefront that looked like it used to be a Mediterranean cafe. There was no sign, so we went next door to a karate studio and Chin asked the owner if he had any information on this neighboring space. He then referred us to an office building next door to talk to the people who own the entire block. So we found the office and rang the bell. A frazzled woman came to the door and informed us that the spot about which we were inquiring was currently undergoing renovations to be leased out in the future. We left our contact information and bid her adieu.

And in the Back Bay, we saw a For Lease sign in front of a corner property...a convenience store. Chin decided to ask the employees about the space.

Chin: Hi, could you tell us when you guys are closing? (ok, perhaps this wasn't the most sensitive of approaches)
Employee (in a thick Middle Eastern accent): What?! What makes you think we are closing?!
Chin: Uh, there's a For Lease sign out front
Employee: But what makes you think it is us??
Chin: Because the sign was in front of your store. We assumed--
Employee: No! What makes you think it was not the store above us?
Renee: Because the sign was on this property.
Employee: Why you asking?
Chin: We are trying to open a business.
Employee: What business?
Renee: None of yours.

Never in my five years of living in Boston have I seen so many empty spots on Newbury St. I never thought I would see the day. Our adviser informed us today that there was a live news cast on Newbury reporting on this anomoly, "a record number of vacancies in the last eight years," they said. Now, don't get me wrong, I think it's quite depressing that fashion and specialty retailers are being forced to close up shop because of the recession. That said, it does give new businesses an opportunity to move into a playing field that would have been a distant dream a few years ago.

A Word About ITEC

For those of you who don't know, and I'm sure many of you don't because it's entirely unimportant: ITEC (The Institute of Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization) is a program in conjunction with my and Chin's alma mater, Boston University, that helps budding entrepreneurs start up their businesses. Every year ITEC hosts a business plan competition, whereby three teams are chosen to present to a panel of venture capitalists their start-up proposals. The grand prize is $50,000. I have entered this competition twice now -- once last year for a web-venture and this year, for saus. We submitted our business plan and hoped for (and expected) the best.

Here is the email I received today from ITEC:

Thank you for participating in the ITEC $50K Business Plan Competition. This year we received many very impressive business plans. Picking the top finalists was more challenging than ever before. While the judges were impressed with your plan, they did not feel confident that it is ready yet to go to the next round in the Competition.

We thank you for sharing your plan with us and wish you the best of luck with your business. You will be receiving specific feedback from the judges next week. In the meantime, we encourage you to continue participating in ITEC events and look forward to seeing you at the Business Plan Competition on Wednesday, April 8 at the School of Management.

Of course, we continue to be available to help you with growing your business. Please do not hesitate to contact us for support.

No, ITEC, no you will not see me, nor any of my teammates, at the competition on April 8th. I will be too busy watching Lost after a long hard day of renovating our space and smoking tobacco with our investor dollars (oh calm down, just Washington). Am I bitter? Heck yes. We didn't make it because we are not the right kind of company. It's time we dispel the negative stigma surrounding restaurants. There are outrageous statistics out there that claim something like 90% of restaurants fail in their first year - this is completely untrue. I bet I can take a handful of quick-serve restaurant concepts and a handful of software concepts and find that the two are equally profitable, if not one more successful than the other (restaurants).

The Business of Restaurants

There is a popular saying that "successful restaurant entrepreneurs are not in the restaurant business, but in the business of restaurants". This just says that the latter takes an operational approach, with careful planning and research of the market, while the former is usually based on a whim and a family recipe.

As we get closer to implementation, we are taking all the necessary early measures to ensure that ours will be a restaurant that is process-savvy. That said, we are currently designing a flow-chart, basically a map of our operation beginning with the customer who walks in, places his/her order and from there, how long it takes for the order to be received and served with all the proper variables in place.

I'm sure this is all very riveting for you, but poor operations leads to waste, low quality in output, employee dissatisfaction, and as a result, sub-par customer service.

Also, we have recently been in touch with one of our industry sources, a good friend of mine. He encouraged us to seek legal counsel early, thus avoiding the headaches that will inevitably come later. Our lawyer will deal with our licensing, equity and dividend distribution agreements, and lease negotiations when we have our space.