Lighting Small Fires–When do you get investment? #MORGO Diary note 1

NZ Business Superstars Bare all at MORGO

It’s true behind every success there are near failures. Making a go of it in emerging business space is hard yards and certainly not for the faint hearted.

MORGO is an inspirational gathering of NZ Entrepreneurs sharing stories and insights of success and failure. While the real gems are reserved under Chatham House rules of the event there is plenty to share that will not embarrass or incriminate. But I have compiled a small series of blog posts to share some of the MORGO 2010 gems.

Ian Taylor’s (Animation Research) opening remark at MORGO this year was “Bugger the boxing, just pour the concrete”.

When is the right time to get investment?

Grant Ryan from Yike Bike (cool ride by the way) shared the wisdom of “Do as much as you can with no or little money, then once you have the evidence to prove that you have a great business,  get investment and run as fast as you can”. 

Many NZ businesses are great at  doing lots with no or little money, it’s the second step we forget or have no experience with. Many NZ businesses are missing opportunities with lack of cash flow to fund getting the right people on board to achieve their true potential.  

If you want to find out more about how to raise capital call the Escalator Service, which  is a government funded investment ready service.

Steve Bayliss from Air New Zealand shared a great marketing philosophy of  “Lighting many small fires, watch out for the ones that people want to warm themselves with, then pour petrol on them.”

Many people had commented on bold moves Air NZ had made “bare it all campaign”,  “Automated self check in“ and like. But as Ian explained theseinitiatives all came from simple little trials, that were fuelled with morefuel once they were deemed to be successful.

One newspaper ad was what started the bare it all campaign, it was the great positive response that went on to “body painted  safety videos” . 

The advice here is not to dissimilar to Grant’s or Ian’s above. (more on this in the next blog post)

Key message here for business owners do not muck around designing and justifying big marketing initiatives, just get on with it, the money and time wasted doing all the thinking and posturing can be better utilised by doing a teaser or pilot trial - JUST DO IT!  Invest quick, and pull out quick if it doesn’t work.