Business Black Box

SPEED PITCH
THE FEEDBACK:
You don’t need to look very far to know that
coffee is big business. There’s a shop on every
corner and the U.S. consumes about three billion
pounds of coffee annually. So, demand for
coffee—especially high-end coffee—is strong.
The way I see it, your long-term success depends
on two key factors: quality and scalability. Your
quality is excellent (I’ve had the pleasure of
experiencing the Vagabond Barista first hand)
and your passion for coffee is evident. Your
presentation is engaging, unique and draws
crowds. From my perspective you’ve got that
piece nailed.
The issue you need to address is scale. One person
traveling from site to site is great for a hobby, but
not for a business. Going solo limits you to one
event or customer at a time. And since you craft
each cup of coffee with painstaking care, you
can’t produce a very large quantity at any one
event. If you can’t scale your business it will not
survive over time.
I would consider ways to increase the number of
people who can experience the Vagabond Barista
at any given time. How? You might consider hiring
and teaching others to do what you do. Think
of an ‘army’ of Vagabonds. A dozen Vagabond
Baristas working simultaneously will smooth the
impact of any one barista doing poorly, getting
sick, etc. Longer term, what about franchising?
The point is that if you aren’t able to scale you will
never grow and you might not be able to sustain
what you have now.
SCOTT COCHRAN
Dean, The Space
Wofford
The pitch well defines an interesting life style;
have some great conversation about a topic
that is as broad as you would like to make
it, great refreshment, make a few dollars...
whoops! A few dollars may not be enough. As
traveling consultant you’ll have limited time
for focused marketing / selling and responding
to inquiries. Good word of mouth advertising
from a cool experience will be likely, but that
may not be enough. Think about including
a comment about a small commission for
productive leads to the next gig.
One difficult issue with a single person
business is that stuff happens in life. If you
are out of commission for a time, there is no
income? Consider addressing an opportunity
to take on a working partner or two.
You might want to add some thought to the
business and the pitch regarding availability
of a “special, take-home premium brand” both
on-site and at your web page, to build an
opportunity for a residual revenue stream that
continues after the event.
Last thought in the pitch is let folks know you
have sewn-up the brand and that it is growing
(during the recent year sales went from here
to there..show something about projected
revenue /growth).
GREG HILLMAN
Director
SC Launch
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Q4 2013 // Business Black Box
93