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Baking Billions: Ron Shaich Interview

January 28, 2011 By Clark Leave a Comment


There is an excellent recent Wall Street Journal article interviewing Ron Shaich, co-founder of Au Bon Pain and Panera Bread Co.

Despite the whole carb conscious world, the chain with the word “Bread” in it is doing pretty well. Panera Bread has revenue of $1.3 Billion, and Business Week also listed it in its list of Hot Growth Companies.

In the interview, Ron discusses the ways he financed his first store, and most importantly how he specifically noticed opportunity various times.

Shaich’s advice to entrepreneurs:

“It’s not about starting a business. It’s about solving problems. That’s what being an entrepreneur is. Find a problem that there’s a better way to solve. Get a vision of how it could work better, and stick with it.”

Ron Shaich Interview located HERE.

Similar to my earlier post on franchises, Panera can be franchised (yet at a hefty sum) for anyone fitting the criteria of “Net worth of $7.5 million / Liquid assets of $3 million”

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Buffett’s buddy Ajit Jain

January 25, 2011 By Clark Leave a Comment

I read a very interesting article today in the February issue of Vanity Fair about Warren Buffett. The online version of the article, which is shorter, is located HERE.

The article (like many others) details Buffett’s modest lifestyle despite being a mutli-billionaire.

However most impressive is the articles discussion on who may helm the mega conglomerate post Buffett (Buffett himself has calculated that he has approximately 12 years left to live).

One person considered Buffett’s right hand man and potential successor is Ajit Jain. However, Jain declined to be interviewed for the Vanity Fair article and is fairly media shy.

I decided to look into who was this mystery man that the world’s greatest investor holds such high esteem and “with whom Buffett talks almost every day.” His rise to wealth is quite interesting.

Ajit Jain was born in India and received an engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharajpur.

He then worked for IBM in India…….and then BOOM, moves to the [Read more...]

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French Fries for Franchise

January 21, 2011 By Clark Leave a Comment

A friend of mine is moving forward in the process to open a franchise in his hometown back east. Obviously this endeavor costs substantial investment, but exactly how much for specific brands.

I was happy to find Entrepreneur.com’s 2011 Franchise 500 list, which ranks, and gives approximate start up costs (it is not 100% accurate however, for example Subway is $94,300 – $222,800). Nonetheless, this is a great tool for anyone interested in these types of investments.

Most interesting is that someone in a small town could feasibly open their own 7-11 and be slinging slurpees for only 30K (I’m more of an AM/PM fan with their “too much good stuff” creepy voice commercials and all).

Entrepreneur.com mentions Hampton Hotels as the highest ranked franchise, which can be yours for a naturally hefty $3-13 million.

Below is a list of some popular franchises’ investment information, whose information I pulled from each company’s website(click hyperlink in company name for additional information):

SUBWAY – Everyone loves a 5 dollar footlong!

“The SUBWAY® chain has one of the lowest start-up costs for franchise chains in the restaurant industry. In the United States, including the initial franchise fee of $15,000, these costs range from $94,300 – $222,800. These numbers, of course, depend [Read more...]

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Massaging Profits with Ron Sim

January 19, 2011 By Clark Leave a Comment

Anyone who has spent a few minutes sitting in one of those massage chairs located in Brookstone can appreciate the struggle Singaporean entrepreneur Ron Sim took building his company OSIM International. OSIM is one of the largest producers of luxury massage chairs in the world with past sales of over a billion annually (his net worth is valued at over $250 million).

The son of a taxi driver and housecleaner, Ron got his start selling prawn noodles door to door (earned 50 cents a day), and later took jobs ranging from a construction worker to an encyclopedia salesman (Sim’s rise to wealth is quite similar to Jean Paul Dejoria).

This varied past employment allowed Sim to start his first company, the R. Sim Trading Company, selling everything from kitchen items to wooden massagers.

However this company crashed during the 1985 recession.

Sim learned [Read more...]

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News Corp’s Rise in 2 Minutes

January 15, 2011 By Clark Leave a Comment

Below is a quick, very informative video detailing the history and various acquisitions of News Corp since it’s inception.

Most interesting to notice is that the company’s origins came from Australia, and it’s first American asset was the San Antonio Express News.

CEO/Chairman Rupert Murdoch then bought The National Star, New York Post, and 50% of 20th Century Fox (buying it in full 3 years later).

The video also lists News Corp’s eyesores, such as DirectTV and Myspace (does anyone still use this?).

For more on the Murdoch’s check out this great Vanity Fair article located HERE.

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Foreman Grillionaire: Michael Boehm

January 10, 2011 By Clark Leave a Comment

There is a common saying that “a dog is a man’s best friend”. However, man’s new best friend undoubtedly has to be the George Foreman Grill.

Everyone knows heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman promoted the product, and therefore receives all the recognition and fame (supposedly Hulk Hogan was originally offered the gig but passed on it).

However I wanted to take a look at the genius behind its invention, creation and overall movement. The device which sold over 100 million units was created by Michael Boehm.

I was pleased to find this interview of Boehm located HERE.

Most important in Boehm’s interview is to notice his thoughts on why the product worked, and what he attributes to the grills fantastic success.

In the interview conducted by Venture2, Boehm states “There are a great number of inventions out there that are very cool and unique, but if they don’t satisfy a consumer need that either already exists or is identified as a result of the invention, they don’t go too far. Conversely, there are many inventions that satisfy a consumer need, but don’t receive the backing necessary to bring them to market.”

Even though “The Michael Boehm Grill” doesn’t sound very marketable, take a moment to appreciate this man next time you’re conveniently grilling steak, burgers or hotlinks.

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Better than Canadian Bacon: Marketing advice from Guy Laliberte

January 7, 2011 By Clark 1 Comment

Recently back from a trip to Canada, I wanted to include some business advice from our entrepreneurial friends up north. I could not find a better example than Quebec born Guy Laliberte, the CEO of Cirque du Soleil, whose story is most fascinating (he is one of the wealthiest men in Canada).

Guy actually dropped out of college to become a sidewalk performer before creating the extremely profitable branded Circus.

As talented a performer as he was, his major abilities were his superb social skills and marketing intelligence. These skills allowed him to network with other performers (the initial group were performers he met on the street) as well as to build a sustaining brand (in the cut throat entertainment business).

Guy eventually partnered with another successful Canadian, Gilles Ste-Croix (click link for interview with Gilles) and Cirque du Soleil was born.

Above is a short video from Marketing Hall of Legends in which Guy describes the fundamentals of marketing that worked in his business.

For more on Laliberte click HERE, or HERE.

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Entrepreneurial Executive of EBONY Magazine

January 4, 2011 By Clark Leave a Comment

John Johnson was the first African-American to appear on the Forbes 400 list, having amassed immense wealth from his successful magazine, EBONY.

Johnson succeeded as an African-American entrepreneur during the 1940’s, thus his story is worth sharing and most remarkable. Johnson came from a very poor family but his leadership skills were exemplified early on, becoming high school student president and the editor of his high school newspaper.

Worth noting is that Johnson would go to class during the day and then read self improvement books at night. Johnson’s passion for continued knowledge helped him to eventually become accepted into the University of Chicago. He also found a mentor in Harry Pace, president of a life insurance company, and worked as his assistant. This job gave Johnson the opportunity to pay his student loans, but a larger opportunity would reveal itself shortly.

The most important aspect of Johnson’s job working for Pace was that he would put together a monthly collection of important news articles, akin to Reader’s Digest, which Pace would read at leisure.

Similar to Marcos Galperin and Mecado Libre, Johnson had the idea to apply a proven business model to an untapped market.

Johnson created his first [Read more...]

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