Capitalizing Parmasters Waterloo Region

Capitalizing Parmasters Waterloo Region continues to be a fascinating experience. It’s taking a little longer than hoped and if I really think about it, probably a little longer than anticipated also.

I’ve made some changes lately, both to the “deal” that I’m offering to investors, and also changes to the way I am approaching investors.

I can’t really get into the specifics of the “deal” in this venue. Suffice it to say that the offering is now far more lucrative. I’ve basically eliminated almost all of the risk, and made the upside far more lucrative. Thus, the risk-return ratio has changed very dramatically.

I spoke to many trusted advisors, some of whom do a fair bit of venture investing, late last week and over the weekend. I also met with my Parmasters regional franchisor and the President and CEO of Parmasters on Saturday. Lastly, I conducted a small survey amongst some friends that had passed on the opportunity.

It’s not that things are going poorly. That’s really not the case. My investor funnel continues to grow. I continue to speak to more and more people – my network of contacts is growing substantially – and most are interested. I simply have to improve my close percentage.

The consensus that developed through the many discussions last week and over the weekend, and was confirmed through the survey results – thanks to all those that returned the survey! – had many dimensions. These included:

- I’m asking people to help me with my dream. I’m asking for their support. Thus, I really should do everything I can to make it as easy as possible for them to support me.
- One step in this direction involves eliminating the downside, most of the risk. Thus, I’m now offering full personal guarantees.
- As another step, as noted above, the offer is now far more lucrative.
- And lastly, clearly, in the future, when any of my investors approaches me and asks me to invest in their dream, assuming it has the vast potential that Parmasters has, I’ll be the first to sign up.

I sent an email this afternoon to a very successful franchisee, who is now a franchisor. The title of the email was “Am I crazy?” The rest of the email was basically just some venting. This gentleman is one of my mentors. I wondered if he’d ever been where I am. He replied that he had, and in fact, in some ways, he’s back there again. He noted that it’s all about momentum, and wished me “good hunting.”

He also noted that the founder of Starbucks pitched in 100 boardrooms before he found his investor. I tend to pitch in coffee shops more than boardrooms, due to the nature of the business, but I’ll happily surpass the 100 figure if need be. Whatever it takes!