Resources and Insights for Turning a Business Idea into Reality

[DoubleF]

Not sexy, but make sure you understand/learn how to track or measure certain performance metrics of what you're trying to do.

Start with something simpler like activity based costing (fixed vs variable costs) and historical/projected monthly cash flows.

The reason being is that sooner or later for lending purposes or business presentation/proposal purposes, you'll probably be asked to produce something along those lines or asked questions loosely relating to that info.

ABC and monthly cash flows will help with budgets, financial projections, historical tracking etc. you can also identifying timing differences to avoid a cash crunch (smaller per unit payments vs larger upfront fixed or monthly payments) etc.

[afc wimbledon]

On the US politics thread I posted that the general best practice when we are headed into a massive period of economic uncertainty and turbulence which we are right now in no uncertain terms is to minimize risk (debt)

Starting a new business right now is fine, mortgaging your house, borrowing money from family and quitting a secure job right now is insane

[Brupal]

Back when I was a student in the Faculty of Management at UofC practically every course required groups to study a start-up as a case study and provide reports (either finance, marketing, HR, operations, etc). You could try contacting the Faculty and make it known you’d be willing to have B.Comm or MBA students use your idea for various projects. The output is free, and you aren’t getting industry leading insight, but it could help. Just a suggestion.

[3thirty]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I do have some general Business knowledge (Business Degree 15+ years ago) and work on the corporate side of the auto industry so deal with a lot of dealers finances etc. but this is outside thr box for me so appreciate the advice and options.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by 3thirty

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I do have some general Business knowledge (Business Degree 15+ years ago) and work on the corporate side of the auto industry so deal with a lot of dealers finances etc. but this is outside thr box for me so appreciate the advice and options.

If you have a little bit of financial accumeb, that changes things a little hit.

Have you done a break even calculation to see what you need to aim for your idea to survive / profit?

Maybe look at Kickstarter and read up on how people put together successful campaigns? There's a lot of behind the scenes updates on these launches which could give insight in the types of snafu that can happen for ordering, manufacturing, assembly and fulfillment. That way you can be aware of it and try to avoid it.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I’d look at local suppliers first for trying to get a proof of concept put together before you start engaging with overseas vendors. China can basically build anything you want, but you’ll get bogged down with quality control and dealing with customs, minimum order quantities, time-zone differences, and other headaches before you get to something polished.

I have a Chinese manufacturer that makes stuff for my company we used to make here. I honestly don't have any trouble at all with MOQs, timezone differences or customs. This stuff is pretty easy these days. I mean, I guess you need a customs broker and shipper, but there are really only a few service providers that need to be involved.

My biggest headache for a couple years was the address of my factory there. You need their address to wire them money. Their address is literally "by the bus stop". My bank didn't like that. I'm sorry, I can't make them have a non-ridiculous address. Finally just got permission to wire the money myself so I don't have to jump through hoops with my bank anymore hah.

The biggest wildcard in my experience is just the value of our dollar relative to the US dollar. You buy in US dollars and when our dollar is down it fricken huuurts.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Sliver

I have a Chinese manufacturer that makes stuff for my company we used to make here. I honestly don't have any trouble at all with MOQs, timezone differences or customs. This stuff is pretty easy these days. I mean, I guess you need a customs broker and shipper, but there are really only a few service providers that need to be involved.

My biggest headache for a couple years was the address of my factory there. You need their address to wire them money. Their address is literally "by the bus stop". My bank didn't like that. I'm sorry, I can't make them have a non-ridiculous address. Finally just got permission to wire the money myself so I don't have to jump through hoops with my bank anymore hah.

The biggest wildcard in my experience is just the value of our dollar relative to the US dollar. You buy in US dollars and when our dollar is down it fricken huuurts.

I don’t know the OPs background in manufacturing or design, but I think it’s easy once you understand how it works and making sure instructions are clear (eg - de-burr the parts; don’t powdercoat the threads; explicitly note important tolerances if they’re making anything that needs to fit together with something else) so that you get things done right the first time around, but if I was doing a mockup to show potential investors or interested parties and didn’t know anything about the manufacturing side of things, I would make it easy on myself and use a local fab shop for a small widget run so I could focus on the business aspect rather than sorting out problems. I think it’s important for the OP to know that he could get his widgets manufactured with really high quality in China at a tiny fraction of what it costs here, but I wouldn’t start there if it was my first time and just wanted 5 widgets to show around.

[boogerz]

UofC has a good amount of free, public resources for new entrepreneurs:

https://haskayne.ucalgary.ca/hunter-...-entrepreneurs

https://www.ucalgary.ca/hunter-hub/startups


Platform Calgary is also focused on new entrepreneurs and startups:

https://www.platformcalgary.com/guide/for-startups

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I don’t know the OPs background in manufacturing or design, but I think it’s easy once you understand how it works and making sure instructions are clear (eg - de-burr the parts; don’t powdercoat the threads; explicitly note important tolerances if they’re making anything that needs to fit together with something else) so that you get things done right the first time around, but if I was doing a mockup to show potential investors or interested parties and didn’t know anything about the manufacturing side of things, I would make it easy on myself and use a local fab shop for a small widget run so I could focus on the business aspect rather than sorting out problems. I think it’s important for the OP to know that he could get his widgets manufactured with really high quality in China at a tiny fraction of what it costs here, but I wouldn’t start there if it was my first time and just wanted 5 widgets to show around.

Definitely a million per cent this, OP. Wormius knows what's up. Local - no matter the cost - to get your prototypes.

I actually build a ton of prototypes for people looking to manufacture in China. It's not an offensive request...any Calgary shop will understand what you're doing and not be bothered. Hammer it out here and get your prototype perfect before working with China.

Also, if anybody tells you India is another good place to look to have your stuff manufactured definitely think twice. I had them make some samples of some metal products for me and they were all fricken rusty with spray paint over them. On steel that was supposed to be galvanized. Like...you have to be kidding.

[Wormius]

Dragons Den is a good watch for some cautionary tales. To build some prototypes, you don’t need to mortgage your house or borrow money from friends and family. Whenever I see somebody on there that had custom molds or special tooling bought, I cringe so hard. Take baby steps.

I agree about the India manufacturing market. I bought some motorcycle accessories on eBay and they were so bad. Rusty, small spot welds, bad fit. It was laughably bad. I ended up throwing the stuff away. I wasn’t going to risk some pannier racks self-destructing while riding down the highway.

[Sliver]

Hah, I've actually built two prototypes for people that have been on dragons den.

They were both bad ideas and didn't go anywhere.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Hah, I've actually built two prototypes for people that have been on dragons den.

They were both bad ideas and didn't go anywhere.

It must feel weird dealing with those people who you know have a bad idea. My dad had a small manufacturing shop and he’d occasionally get some lunatics wanting him to build perpetual motion machines, that they were just convinced would work. He’d have to turn them down because the inevitable unhappy customer whose gizmo succumbed to the laws of physics would be too much of a hassle.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Wormius

It must feel weird dealing with those people who you know have a bad idea. My dad had a small manufacturing shop and he’d occasionally get some lunatics wanting him to build perpetual motion machines, that they were just convinced would work. He’d have to turn them down because the inevitable unhappy customer whose gizmo succumbed to the laws of physics would be too much of a hassle.

It is weird. One of them was a neat idea, but just cumbersome and impractical, so you're like, this is great and all, but nobody will actually want it.

Can be fun working on prototypes and those types of guys are generally kind of interesting. Only problem is when they want China prices in Calgary. Then you know you're dealing with a moron. And of course that's always the guy who goes on and on about how great he is because he like to 'support local'. STFU, you want the best price, so quit patting yourself on the back. Grinding me down on price to where it's blatantly unprofitable is the exact opposite of supporting local.