Business opportunity

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Hooked

Free Member
Apr 26, 2005
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  • #1
    I currently a director of a design agency which is doing very well and boast an attractive client list. I am also always looking for new ideas and business opportunities to develop, and last year i came across a fantastic concept that i believe will be very successful.

    The concept is driven by advertising and sales/marketing which is not my area of skills, so i am looking for someone that can support me in this area. The problem i have is that I need to give at least 90% to my current company, but need to find someone that i can look to for support in this area and can do the day-to-day running of the business, in return for a percentage of the business. I can then oversee the running of the business.

    I have exhausted every contact I had in sales, advertising and marketing with no luck. However, i dont want to let this concept slip away as i really do believe i have something special.

    Can anyone give me any advice or suggestions on what my options are?

    Many thanks!
     
    I

    INDIZINE

  • #3
    If you have a successful business I assume you mean a profitable one?

    Why don't you advertise (using a decent advert in decent mediums) for the person you need and pay them a salary?

    Offering a percentage of the business is usually associated with 'I cant afford to pay you a salary' or outsource and pay for services bought in.

    You say its not your area of skills, so who developed, marketed and grew your successful design agency which boasts an attractive client list?

    If time is an issue, try recruiting staff who you can delegate certain tasks to, that fall into a cheaper pay bracket, and do for this new opportunity, what you did for your current company.
     
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    LeonReed

    Free Member
    Dec 19, 2007
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    Liverpool
  • #4
    Have you asked for feedback from all your contacts you have approached with regards this new business. There must be some reason why no-one has shown an interest to become involved.

    If you are only able to give 10 percent of your time what percentage split are you looking for considering the other person will be giving 100 percent. Also are you asking for the other person to invest starting capital.

    I do think its sometimes better to get a partner involved rather than employ someone and just throw money at a new project. A lot of time if you need someone with the same drive and enthusiasm as yourself and who will also go the extra mile then you have no choice but to bring a like minded partner in as a employee probably wont do that.

    However if your business isnt as atractive as you think it is then you may have no choice but to employ someone. If it really is as good as you say then you should have no problem finding a partner especially on this forum.
     
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    H

    Hooked

    Free Member
    Apr 26, 2005
    37
    0
  • #5
    Thanks for your replies.

    Yes, i already run and successful and profitable business. However, most of our work comes from recommendations and word of mouth. Plus we have a few individuals that work on a referral system that generates a lot business. I do want to keep the two companies completely separate.

    As LeonReed mentioned, by providing a share of the business, i hope to attract someone that will be passionate, keen and enthusiastic about taking on the challenge. Someone that is highly skilled with the relevant experience. By employing someone, i feel it will require more of my time and money.

    I would expect the individual to invest a small amount of capital, but we are only talking 5k.

    The people/friends who i have approached, all agree this is a unique concept. However they are all in FT employment for blue chip companies and are doing very well. Some people are quite happy with what they have, whereas i am always looking for new opportunities.

    This concepts is not in the UK at the moment, but there is something similar in the which is massive!
     
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    I

    INDIZINE

  • #6
    well I wish you luck in finding the right person. Might help to say what sector it is in as the credible, professional and serious people (the type of partner you do want) do not usually respond to posts as vague as this which lacks some detail though I understand you cant reveal the actual idea.
     
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    I

    INDIZINE

  • #8
    oh well that narrows it down! I ws more thinking, electronics, food, leisure, that type of sector breakdown. That still would never give the idea away but its enough of a trigger if the right person is reading your post maybe.
     
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    A

    atmcouk

  • #10
    I've just returned from Las Vegas & turned down an offer of 1.1 million US dollars for our facebook application - my cousin had the idea for this application in April last year but needed help in developing & marketing his idea for the application - what I'm trying to say is that if you can find someone you can trust & you believe your idea / product is a 100% winner then you should be happy with a 50/50 split.It takes two to tango.........
     
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    Hooked

    Free Member
    Apr 26, 2005
    37
    0
  • #13
    Originally the concept was created as my own idea, but after research i found a US company with a similar product and recently a new company in Germany with similar offering.

    I was hoping the product would patentable, but this is not going to be the case. However, i think there is massive potential in the UK.
     
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    T

    telemax

  • #14
    Hooked said:
    I currently a director of a design agency which is doing very well and boast an attractive client list. I am also always looking for new ideas and business opportunities to develop, and last year i came across a fantastic concept that i believe will be very successful.

    The concept is driven by advertising and sales/marketing which is not my area of skills, so i am looking for someone that can support me in this area. The problem i have is that I need to give at least 90% to my current company, but need to find someone that i can look to for support in this area and can do the day-to-day running of the business, in return for a percentage of the business. I can then oversee the running of the business.

    I have exhausted every contact I had in sales, advertising and marketing with no luck. However, i dont want to let this concept slip away as i really do believe i have something special.

    Can anyone give me any advice or suggestions on what my options are?

    Many thanks!
    Click to expand...

    The key phrase in here is

    "I believe it will be very successful"

    That isn't enough. You have already said that you have exhausted every contact with no luck.

    I think you need to carry out some organised market research. Say you spent either a week of your time or 1k pounds on employing a company to contact potential customers to see what they think.

    At the end you would have objective results, eg 30% might be interested out of 400 potentials (a fantastic result) then it might be worth carrying on.

    If only a few prospects expressed an interest you could ditch the project.

    It sounds like a lot of time or money to spend but in the end it's better than throwing months and 10's of 000's down the drain

    Regards

    Jonathan
     
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