Toy Fair 2008...

There's no better reminder of how small you are and how big and diverse the competition is than by going to an industry trade show. As Better Indeed's first offerings will be in the board game space, Toy Fair 2008 was our introduction to reality. The good news: toys are a big, big industry; the bad news, many if not most of the thousands (yes thousands) of toy industry companies - big and/or small - are trying to win the same customer as us!

In my Fortune 500 days, we had but a handful of competitors. Most were well financed and had very smart marketing and they had to because it was often a zero-sum game. If they didn't buy my company's product, they would go to the competition. With toys, however, most families buy several if not dozens so it's a bit less bleak in terms of purchasing behavior.

Back to the show... I make it a rule to walk by every single booth with at least three ideas in my mind. In this case, I was looking for (a) companies who might distribute our games, (b) interesting/unique attributes in terms of board design, and (c) potential mentors. While in 5 hours of constant walking and talking I covered just 70% of the floor, I managed to make respectable progress in each of these three areas.

I'm truly convinced we have something that is totally different and will set the market on fire. Yes, I'm dreaming of winning several Toy of the Year awards (or at least nominations) in 2009. Aspirations like these are a blessing as well as a curse. It's good to think big and believe; but to do this will present marketing challenges I cannot even begin now to fathom. 

What I liked most about the show was the spirit of the vendors, especially the small businesses who rely on success to feed their families. They had to learn to do it all; they tired beyond recognition yet they are also terribly excited about what they do and genuinely appear happy to see bright, shiny faces like mine who are attempting to grow the industry even more.

I certainly hope our entries are as well received as they have been (so far) conceived...

 

It's not enough to simply go to your local toy store or even the local chain store to see how many other folks make games.

market is - especially when you naively hold notions of penetrating it in an enormous way - which we at Better Indeed do with our game Family Matters.

On Lawyers (Part I)...

While I can still laugh at that ageless joke "What do you call a thousand lawyers buried up to their necks in cement and thrown into the the ocean? A good start!" I will must admit to you all that some of my closest friends are lawyers.  For start-up, mistakes can be deadly so getting good legal advice is key. You might be like me, ambitious but cheap so you'll try (as I did) to go it alone. And for a time it works. Determining your optimal corporate structure can be done solo and so can writing your business plan, finding space, identifying employees, etc. But once you are ready to engage, you really need an expert. 

My lawyer doubles as a close friend so the choice was easy. Moreover, he made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Now on board, I realize I could never write legalese nor think about all the possible considerations a contract requires - even with a template. Why the legal language is as it is I understand not, I'm just happy that I have someone fluent with me. Also, he's the bad guy - not me - so I can focus on making products. I'm sleeping at night knowing my interests are protected and, hopefully, he knows that his cash-strapped client may one day repay him well above his standard hourly rate....

Nothing + 1...

I was hoping to provide readers all over the globe a daily recount of my trials and tribulations while being an entrepreneur, that is, while running a start-up: money out, nothing in. I recall some guy did this for Red Herring magazine before 9/11 but he got paid and then one day stopped. Maybe he sold it; maybe he ran out of cash (I don't have any yet so no worries there). The reasons I won't do this daily are (a) it's a terrible chore, even for a guy who loves to write and (b) it's terribly boring for those poor souls who have to read this damn thing. Besides myself and my mom, no one should care about what I did each day - and even her I'm not so sure about...

Given it's the last day of the first month in the life of my first start-up, perhaps a summary of accomplishments is in order: the "edutainment" team of Better Indeed LLC is now in place (a designer, a psychologist, a lawyer, a fixer, and me); the Business Plan is written; the Marketing Plan is together if only in draft form; the Agreements with each team member is written and now being reviewed by their lawyers; the initial sketches for our first board game have been shared/approved; the preliminary instructions have been written; and that's about all. So this is where my time has gone. Ahead of me still are too many things to mention: don't want to foreshadow; don't want to write it out because it might make me change my mind. Now back to work...

In the Beginning There Was Nothing...

My new year's resolution is to become an entrepreneur,  a word as difficult to spell as it is to successfully become. Last year, I started Better Indeed LLC, an incubator that makes/markets innovative products/services that help people live better lives.  This year, Better Indeed shall commercialize its first product - a board game called FAMILY MATTERS. Now is the time for two key reasons: (1) it's a worthy game; (2) I need the money. So far, so fun: I have a lawyer, an idea partner, a sourcing partner and a designer who is breathing life into my Creative Brief as I write this post. I have a Business Plan which will hopefully attract the necessary funding. I'm now working on a detailed Marketing Plan and budget. That's all for now. More (much more) soon!