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V I E W P O I N T S W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 3 A P R I L 2 , 2 0 1 8 Featured @ Mainebiz.biz From the Editor L ately, I've gotten addicted to an NPR podcast called "How I Built is," hosted by Guy Raz. e concepts of entrepreneurism and financing are intertwined in every episode, with Raz pepper- ing guests about how they found money to start their company, how they survived some disaster or another and, in many cases, how they ended up sell- ing their company. e journey the entrepreneurs describe is what makes the show so compelling. Raz bills the show as a showcase of innovators, idealists and entrepreneurs. Guests have included Tom Chappell, founder of Tom's of Maine, and Lewiston-born Yvon Chouinard, founder and owner of Patagonia. If you're just jumping in, I'd recommend the inter- views with self-made billionaires Mark Cuban and Richard Branson, as well as those with the founders of Kate Spade, Lonely Planet, the Knot, Larabar, Warby Parker, Ben & Jerry's, TOMS, Honest Tea and Burton Snowboards. Five themes from 'How I Built This' 1. Lack of knowledge: First, I'm always struck by how little many of the guests knew about their field before throwing themselves in. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, convinced in the late 1970s that the world needed more ice cream places, didn't know how to make ice cream — to learn they took a correspondence course. 2. An ability to learn: e namesake of Kate Spade, Kate Brosnahan Spade, didn't actually know how to make handbags before launch- ing what became a global brand (which she and husband Andy Spade sold to Neiman Marcus for $93 million). e founder of Larabar, Lara Merriken, was making nutrition bars on a home Cuisinart and had no idea how to take her idea to an industrial level. But she wasn't afraid to surround herself with experts, ask questions and fail repeatedly. She later sold the business to General Mills, reportedly for $55 million. 3. Desperate nature of bootstrapping: While some of the guests Raz interviews had family help — an initial loan or investment — the nature of even those entrepreneurs and others he interviews has more to do with their ingenuity, thriftiness and ability to raise money from multiple sources — friends, family, crowdsourcing, private equity sources, public offerings. Financing is also fleeting, as the found- ers of the Knot found: In the dot.com boom, they raised $35 million in an IPO; months later, the boom became a bust, and shares were worth just 26 cents, prompting many employees, ven- dors and advertisers to bail out. 4. Disaster averted: Honest Tea had a product recall that hurt a year's worth of sales. Patagonia grew too fast and had to cut jobs and other expenses. TOMS had favorable media cover- age, but then a blitz of orders overwhelmed its tiny network of manufacturers. In each case, the founders problem-solved, negotiated with back- ers and/or found a resolution. 5. Skill vs. luck: Raz commonly asks guests — many of whom have sold the brands that they're best known for — about the role of luck in success. Mark Cuban, who sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo for $5.7 billion, was confident he'd be wealthy, but becoming a billionaire? at was luck based on the right product at the right time when the markets were flush with cash. Peter Van Allen pvanallen@mainebiz.biz Where entrepreneurial spirit and financing collide For a daily digest of Maine's top business news, sign up for the Mainebiz Daily Report at mainebiz.biz/enews Get Maine's business news daily at mainebiz.biz and on Twitter (@Mainebiz). Below is our top content from the week of March 12–26. Be selective. BE SHUR. bernsteinshur.com When you need a partner who knows the law —and your industry. 1. Joshua Broder leads fast-growing Tilson towards $77M in annual sales, hundreds of jobs 2. Popular Higgins Beach Market in Scarborough sells for $645K 3. Boyne Resorts acquires Sugarloaf, Sunday River ski resorts 4. New Balance lands $17M contract to make sneakers for U.S. military 5. New England Craft Brew Summit moves to larger Portland venue 6. Topsham nonprofit pivots to leverage large employers' health care clout 7. 'Layered' Foden Road sale ends up win-win for owners 8. Libra Foundation to build $5M ice arena in Dover-Foxcroft 9. At Auburn Manufacturing, Kathie Leonard stokes a global market for heat-resistant materials 10. Under Steve Levesque, Brunswick Landing delivers on a promise of creating new jobs P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY 1

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