Month: February 2021

In a co-founder or founding team, I need someone with financial training. Since I’ve paired my entrepreneurship minor with a theatre major, it’s very important to me that I team up with someone who has a mathematical, monetary-minded skillset. I’m capable of managing a budget, determining how much we need to sell to break even, etc – but I need someone who knows financial management like the back of their hand. Since investors at their core are deciding whether or not to give us money, it’s incredibly important that we have someone on the team who can prove they know how to distribute and most effectively utilize that money, as well as crunch the numbers to show the investors exactly how their investment will pay them back in the long term. My skillset is artistic and digital – I am skilled in website building, graphic design, social media management, and marketing. I enjoy the more people-oriented side of business – pitching the idea to customers/investors, and analyzing customer profiles and behavior. To compliment these skills (and my overall extraverted attitude) I would greatly benefit from someone more “behind-the-scenes” and mathematical on my team.

Throughout my college career, I have met a few individuals who I think embody the ideal partner for me. I have a friend Matt who shares my creative spirit, but is studying both business and accounting – I think he compliments my energy well both personally and professionally, while providing new, helpful knowledge that I don’t currently possess. He does not go to Muhlenberg, and we’ve known one another since high school – we tried our hand at starting a venture in 2016, where we began our own successful theatre company for kids. We made a profit, and the theatre is still functioning to this day with online classes. I imagine later in life we will continue to create more artistic ventures together with our combined experience.

I think the way I would divide up a company’s ownership among partners varies on the initial breakdown – who came up with the idea? Who is going to be the “face” of the company? Who has control over what aspects – marketing, finances, etc. I believe that whoever initially had the idea should get slightly more equity in the company, as the company would not exist without that idea. However, I think it’s also important to keep in mind what equity percentages will encourage partners to be loyal and satisfied. For example, if I’m getting 10% and my partner is getting 90%, I think that breakdown is too low and might cause partners to be unmotivated or leave the venture.

As a result of listening to the podcast, my thoughts on co-founders and equity split have been reaffirmed in some aspects, and changed in others. I was validated in my idea about having somewhat of a fair split. Alex’s potential business partner was very dissatisfied when only Alex offered him 15% in their conversation about equity. He told Alex that with that percentage, it would feel like he was working FOR Alex, rather than WITH him; it would feel like a job rather than two cofounders managing a venture. I do think Alex was right in wanting more of the pie – because he did have the idea for the venture (and as I mentioned above, I feel that is important to equity). I think the compromise they came to is solid, and will make Alex’s cofounder feel like a respected, valued part of the company. Regarding co-founders, the podcast also affirmed my thoughts about finding one. It has to be someone you can trust, who you can see a future with in managing the company. Alex mentions that his co-founder Matt sent him a business plan when he did not know how to create one – emphasizing that a good co-founder fills in the gaps and compliments your skillset with their own.

I believe that the craft of pitching seems simple at its core, but is also incredibly complex. It seems to be filled with paradoxes – you want to introduce a new concept, but in a relatable way. You want to make investors feel like they’re part of something much larger than themselves (as Alex notes via his choice to include bold numerical statistics) but you also want to seem personable and realistic with your goals. It seems that the art of pitching is learned like most things, with practice – as shown when Alex pitches to Chris, takes Chris’s notes, and then rephrases/tries again mid-pitch (and sometimes mid-sentence!) I also feel that a good pitch is pivotal to the success of a business, for a number of reasons. Firstly, as Chris notes, a pitch forces an entrepreneur to boil down their idea to a short period of speaking time; they must succinctly and coherently express the problem, how the company will solve the problem, and how solving that problem is going to make large amounts of money for all involved with the company. If any part of the company’s mission or launch plan is too complicated or unfeasible, having to create a pitch will expose those issues; this roadblock can help the company to reexamine its strategy and priorities – which is what Alex ended up doing as he worked with both Chris in episode 1 and his friends in episode 2 to rephrase and summarize the company’s goals. A good pitch is also necessary for the more obvious reason – to gain support and money from investors! I also greatly admired Chris’s approach with Alex’s first pitch in that he was able to pitch the concept back to Alex – showing him just how concise and enticing he could boil it down to. I feel that a good pitch has to be engaging, informative, and personal – which was shown in Alex’s decision to include an anecdote from his life in his second pitch. I also loved the idea that a pitch should leave the investors with FOMO (or fear of missing out) on a great opportunity, as if you’re inviting them for a ride they won’t want to miss.

Personally, I feel that delivering pitches is an exciting opportunity to present an idea you’re passionate about. Especially with my theatre background, being an engaging, exciting public speaker has been ingrained in me from a young age, and has only strengthened with the academic support of my theatre major. As an actress in an audition room, or a playwright to a theatre company deciding their season, I’m constantly pitching myself and my work. I don’t have any reservations about speaking in front of strangers, and do not feel incredibly intimidated by the “investors” of the theatre world (i.e directors and casting teams), for I feel that if I have enough confidence to essentially pitch “myself” as a theatrical artist and work I’m passionate about, I definitely will have the drive and confidence to pitch a new product or service. Theatre as a business is driven by receiving feedback/taking notes and implementing them, so I’d be eager to receive notes about my pitching style and improve from there. Lastly, since so much of my experience in the arts involves personal elements, I’d feel very comfortable using the tactic of personal anecdotes (as Alex mentions) to add an element of vulnerability/relatability to my pitch for investors.