Entrepreneurs are used to failure, rejection and being called crazy. A brick wall is just catnip for someone crazy enough to launch a startup. We see people take on this journey but often give little notice to what it takes to start a successful business.
Entrepreneurs are used to failure, rejection and being called crazy. A brick wall is just catnip for someone crazy enough to launch a startup. We see people take on this journey but often give little notice to what it takes to start a successful business.
In 10 years at Mainebiz and more than three decades as a business writer or editor, I’ve seen few quotes that sum this up like the following. Senior Writer Renee Cordes interviewed the founders of Bite Into Maine, which launched as a single food truck in 2011 and today has 40 employees. Renee asked founders Sarah and Karl Sutton how they financed the startup, and Karl replied:
“In 2011, after yet another failed loan application, the loan officer looked at me and suggested we seek out the three F’s for financing. The three F’s? I hadn’t heard of this. He explained: ‘Friends, Family and Fools.’ It was pretty clear we had to figure it out on our own.”
And so it goes in the life of an entrepreneur. See more of Renee’s interview in the “On the Record” section, on Page 23.
Elsewhere in the issue, Renee interviews the owners of some independent bookstores, another diehard breed. Her story, “Turning the page,” starts on Page 18.
In Greenville, Senior Writer Laurie Schreiber writes about a manufacturing operation that’s getting off the ground. See “Biochar is on fire,” on Page 12.