2010 Emerging Business Conversation
Posted on Mon, Apr 12, 2010
By Todd Ostrander
What is an Emerging Business?
Over the past 15 years, I have (1) started a new business from within an $800M business, (2) Entered a startup and remade it into another business entirely, and (3) took over a ‘left
for dead' business, created a new business plan and funded the new business plan with existing investors. Ironically, none of these were "Startups" from scratch even though I was the founder of each of the business plans that were ultimately funded. Today, I work with a beverage franchisor, a unified communications company, a publisher, a media software company, and a real estate investment group. The oldest of these is 13 years old, and the youngest is 6 months. All are "Emerging Businesses".
Emerging businesses look an awful lot like the companies that your friends and mine work at every day. These are businesses who have not achieved ‘critical mass' but the owners are still looking for that ‘inflection point' where it can.
An ‘Emerging Business' can be any business that hasn't hit its ‘stride' yet based on its original intended purpose. Or, it could be that the market has changed and the business has to re-evaluate its place in the ‘new market'. Each of the businesses that I've had the opportunity to work with, have all required resources beyond what they currently have.
Emerging Businesses can take many shapes and sizes. What type of business are you? This will determine how to set realistic expectations for your business and determine your options for operating and growing your business.
In the next segment, I will describe these many different types of businesses and how that will determine the decisions that ownership needs to make toward expectations and future growth.