BUSINESS IDEA | CASH FLOW BUSINESS

Due Diligence for Executives 👩‍💼 

An executive summary

Available Domain: Execsumm.com

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

The Problem/Opportunity: A single executive can change the trajectory of a business. Sheryl Sandberg at Facebook. Tim Cook at Apple. Adam Neumann at WeWork (but for very different reasons).

But for highly accomplished executives being courted by countless big companies choosing the right company to join is critically important. It could be the difference between joining Facebook and MySpace, a life altering decision. So let’s create a business to help them to make the right decision.

Market Size: In 2022, the global executive search industry was estimated to be worth €35bn.

2. Solution ✅

The Idea: A firm which completes due diligence for executives on companies they’re considering joining

How it Works:

• A C-suite level executive reaches out to the business when they’re getting to the latter stages of an interview process with a company

• The business then does a deep dive on the business, talking to employees, looking at their investors, how the market they’re in is performing and so on

• A report is generated for the exec with all of the research which helps them to make a decision as to whether this is the right company to join

Go-to-market: The best way to acquire customers here is to work with executive recruitment agencies who can offer this service to their clients and you split the incremental revenue

Business Model: Charge a fee per report

Startup Costs: $0

3. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

Exit Strategy: The move here is to exit to a large player in the executive search market, like Korn Ferry (which sounds like a punk rock band to me) who can fold this business into their own

Exit Multiple: Agencies tend to be valued on an EBITDA multiple basis, so you’d likely fetch 6x - 8x earnings

DRUNK BUSINESS IDEA

Yelp for Public Bathrooms

Ever been out in public and needed to find a bathroom?

Well our latest innovation, Yelp for bathrooms, is making quite a spalsh! With this app you can find your nearest public bathroom for whenever you get caught short. Read about other’s experiences using the facilities and make sure you leave your own review.

JUST THE TIP

Trend 📈: CBD Gummies are Big Business

The market for Cannabidiol (CBD) products has been exploding in recent years. It seems to be everywhere…in gummies, lotions, oils, lollipops, vapes, toothpaste, even a high-end sports bra. And the market for CBD gummies is growing the fastest of all of them, since it’s one of the safest ways to take it.

Business Ideas:

• Marketing agency for CBD products

• CBD Products for pets

• CBD product subscription box

THE MONEYSHOT

Bootstrapping to +$500m in Revenue

Butcher Box is a D2C pehnomenon. While other companies in the sector like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh raised hundreds of millions of dollars, Butcher Box CEO Mike Salguero took a very different approach.

Butcherbox began as a simple idea. Mike wanted to create a subscription service for humanely certified meat, hoping to get 1,000 subscribers to pay him a nice salary. Well if that was Mike’s goal…he failed miserably.

To kickstart the business Mike put $10k in the company account and launched a Kickstarter campaign, targeting $25k but accidentally raising $205k.

This was enough to get them started. And the next key was to figure out how to get customers, so Mike turned to a strategy that back in 2016/17 wasn’t as popular as it is today…influencer marketing.

Butcherbox worked with influencers on a residual basis, where they earned money each month a subscriber stayed with Butcherbox, incentivising them to drive high LTV (lifetime value) customers to the service. Combining this with Butcherbox’s strategy of being profitable on the first box meant that the company was profitable and could keep reinvesting profits in the business.

So the company hasn’t taken on any outside capital at all. Mike owns around 75% of the company and his employees own the rest, one of the simplest cap tables around.

Over the years the company has changed a lot, but Mike stuck with his core principles and has managed to build an iconic business in the D2C space.

If you want to read more about Mike’s story you can here (not sponsored or anything, just a great article!)